He winced. “I guess I kind of deserve that reaction.” Alex gestured to the chair on the opposite side of Eva, who remained passed out in her bed. “Can I join you?”
Still unsure of what to say, I nodded, and took the bag he handed me. Inside, I found a turkey sandwich and a cup of soup. My stomach rumbled. When was the last time I’d eaten? Since the Samhain Trial, everything had been a blur.
“You’ve missed three days of classes. Have you been here the entire time?”
I nodded and stuffed an oversized bite of sandwich into my mouth.
Alex’s lips tightened, and he shifted his gaze to Eva, taking in the many lacerations on her face, and shaking his head.
The tension in the air mounted as I studied him, unable to work out why he was in the infirmary. He hadn’t been friends with Eva before the Samhain Trial. They’d barely talked, except for . . .Oh!
I wanted to facepalm myself. Alex probably felt major guilt over what had happened to Eva.
I swallowed and took a drink of the water that the healers always kept on Eva’s bedside. “I can leave you alone with her,” I offered.
Alex bit his lip and a conflicted look crossed his face before he spoke. “Actually, I came to see both of you. Since you’re the only one awake, it looks like you get my full attention.” He inhaled sharply, and the following sentence gushed from him as if he needed to get it out as fast as possible. “I owe you an apology, Odette.”
I dropped my sandwich. “What?” I cleared my throat. “I mean—I don’t understand what changed.”
Alex let out a long exhale. “No, you wouldn’t. You, unlike most people here, aren’t as up on witching drama. I’ll try to explain my faulty thinking as best I can. You’re aware that Hunter’s family and mine don’t get along, right?”
I nodded.
“It’s a feud that goes back generations. His great-great-grandfather screwed mine over. Ever since, the branches of the family have hated each other. When Spellcasters cropped up before World War II, the families met for the first time in years. For a while there, it looked like they would make up and attend the same school.” His lips flattened.
I leaned forward, intrigued by the supernatural drama. “What happened?”
“Hunter’s side of the family brokered a deal with the headmaster. They excluded my family from attending Spellcasters and the feud lived on, hotter than ever. Hunter and I have known of each other’s existence our whole lives—family members still like to send birth announcements to spite the other half. That being said, we’ve only met once, and it was on accident.”
“How?” The question popped out, and while it should have embarrassed me that I was prying into someone else’s family business, I couldn’t help it. The history of the Wardwells was like watching an addicting soap opera.
“I was going to a concert in New York. Hunter and I may have never met, but social media ensured that I knew what he looked like. I noticed Hunter at the concert. He acted so entitled, so manipulative, using his magic in public when humans weren’t looking.” Alex shook his head. “He was probably just being an idiot sixteen-year-old guy, trying to impress girls, but I got unreasonably pissed and tried to leave. Hunter saw me, and we ended up getting into a massive fight.”
“So how did you get into the academy?”
“My parents are both physicians. A few months ago, Headmistress Wake’s husband arrived at our family practice after an expedition that went wrong. My family saved him and bargained my admittance.” He shrugged. “They’d been training me as if I was already enrolled at Spellcasters for years. The plan was to petition for it anyway, but the leverage was too good to pass up.”
I leaned back in my chair, taking it all in. “Okay, so I get why you don’t like Hunter. But why were you such a dick to me when we first met?”
Alex’s cheeks reddened, and a tingle of desire trickled through me. “I’m ashamed to admit it,” he began slowly. “When you arrived, Hunter and I had just argued over being placed on the same floor. My fuse was already short. Then I saw you, and . . . let’s just say you reminded me a lot of him.”
“Entitled?”
“Well . . . not exactly. But definitely a legacy—from a good family, wealthy, attractive. That you hadn’t bothered to read the paperwork frustrated me. It reminded me of something that I believed Hunter would do. So I took all my anger out on you. With every class, it became more clear that you were unprepared to be here. And I’ll admit I thought you were glory-seeking when the fae was trying to shift Amethyst through the circle. That only added fuel to my fire.”
I let out an exasperated huff. “This apology is going south fast.”
“It was dumb—all of it,” Alex amended, “but I took my first perception and ran with it. Some say the Wardwells have a temper—although I’m pretty sure that’s only my side of the family. Hunter seems to charm everyone.”
I let out a chuckle. That much was true.
I ate a few more spoonfuls of soup, mulling over what he’d told me and watching Eva’s chest rise and fall.
“What made you change your mind?” I asked finally.
Alex nodded to Eva. “After we returned from our trial and I saw your face, I knew that I’d misjudged you. You may not be prepared to be here, and you might have gone a little overboard with the saving Amethyst thing, but it’s just because youreallycare about others. You’re not some entitled legacy.”
He sucked in a breath. “And honestly, I think seeing a greater demon helped put a lot of things into perspective. You know . . . what’s important, and what I’d been trying to deny. I’ll admit that since the moment I saw you, I’ve been drawn to you. It only made me more annoyed that you could charm me so easily. All my prejudices combined and festered inside me, and I acted like an ass.”
