“Fair enough,” he said and smiled at her, his eyes doing their crazy sparkle at her.
Bridget ate one of her warm beer battered chips. “You’re weirdly accepting of that. Most people would push.”
“Most people aren’t as patient as I am. I told you I was willing to earn your trust, and I meant it.”
She couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”
He was a person who traveled in circles most people could only dream about. Circles with royal fae so ancient that humans thought they were gods.
Bas leaned his arms against the table. “Because I want to be your friend. Do you know how rare people like us are?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“People who can actually walk the astral plane and can create things in it. You have magic, Bridget. You know that, right?”
Bridget pulled a face. “Is this the part where you tell me I’m a wizard?”
“You’re not a wizard, but you are definitely a magician,” Bas replied, utterly serious. “I don’t have a letter for Hogwarts for you, but I do have an invitation to the Greatdrakes mansion, which is arguably better because it’s real, and we believe in trans rights.”
Bridget ate some more of her chips because she felt like she needed a week to process the last half hour of her life. Only carbs could save her now.
“I don’t know what to make of any of this,” she admitted.
“I know,” Bas replied, his tone gentle. “It is the truth, though. I’m not spinning some crap story to try and get in your pants, either. The details of your mind palace library, the fact you can create a pocket dimension in the astral, the way you can shift into a hawk there… I’ve only known one other magician that could do that.”
“And who’s that?” she asked.
Bas shrugged. “Me.”
Bridget chewed her lip, thinking back to all the questions she had from her day of researching. “What else can you do?”
“Give me one of those chips, and I will tell you,” Bas replied. It was the grin that made her give in and pass him one. Damn, he was gorgeous. The crazy ones were always hot.
Bas made a point of eating the chip before answering her question. “My magic is multi-disciplinary mind magic. Astral projection, telekinesis, telepathy, dream walking…”
“Woah, telepathy?” Bridget asked.
Telepathy was one of the first abilities I had,he replied straight into her head.
Bridget jolted and pulled up a mental brick wall. Bas leaned back in his chair and laughed.
“Oh, yeah, you’re definitely a magician. You barely had to think about putting that mental shield up. Which begs the question of why you have no wards set up about your little library dimension in the astral,” he said, still smiling.
Bridget looked at her fish and chips. “I don’t know how. I didn’t even know what I was doing with my mental library was anything unique. Or that it was in the astral at all.”
“I can teach you some things if you want to learn. As I said, you’re the only person I’ve met who can manipulate the astral like me.”
Bridget looked up. “Really? Aren’t you like the fae royal family or some shit? The fae would have heaps of magical people.”
“I’ve met a few who can dream walk like my Auntie Quinn and others who have telepathy. None of them have been able to walk in the astral like you. It’s why I wanted to find you so much.” Red tinged his cheeks, and Bridget felt her hard insides soften. Just a little.
“How did you find yourself in the astral anyway?” he asked.
“I had…a bad childhood. I learned how to dissociate early on. And let’s leave it at that,” she said. She couldn’t deal with possible magic and talking about her past all in one date. Not that it was a date. She didn’t think. Was it?
“I’m sorry to hear that about your childhood,” Bas replied. He sounded genuine and didn’t do anything like try to take her hand. She really hated it when people did that. “I understand, though. Trauma made me reach the astral the first time too.”
Bridget studied his face, searching for a lie that wasn’t there. “Really?”
