“You have only your name and that’s not power,” one of the guys snapped.
I gestured to how many people had their hands raised, includingseveralof his friends. “No, but that is. I had the advantage of building what I have been in secret for over ten years so I came out of the gate ready. I have the magic that the owner of Familiar Treasures will fight for. I’m so fucking powerful people assumed I was a goddess witch. What do you bring to the table?”
“Anddddyou have the sexiest boyfriend ever who redyes his hair if you ask,” Winter added, taking things down a notch. He winked at me and moved closer, leaning in but leaving the decision up to me.
I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek. “We should set that appointment now that we’re public. We need some fun, Sir Winter.”
“That we do, my lady. I’ll ask your sister. I bet Clare would be tapped in like that.”
“Just go back to the place that did your hair last time,” Kate muttered, glancing between us.
“No, becauseIdid it last time and it took us way too much magic to clean up what looked like a Smurf murder in my shower,” Nate drawled.
“And I agreed to get a few streaks to match my eyes if he redyed his hair,” I admitted, shrugging when several peopleraised their eyebrows at that. “It seemed only fair and I’ve always wanted to try it.”
“I got you,” Robin promised. “My cousin does all kinds of crazy dying and more, like fashion show stuff even. She could fit you in for a quick thing and you’d be in the best of hands.”
“Cool,” Winter said, pulling out his phone. “Let me get her number. I’ve got to screen anyone through Taylor’s people.”
“That’s new,” I hedged.
“Yeah, but needed, little sexy,” he muttered quietly. “No more waiting until people step over the line. Now we do it all right and even a bit paranoid.”
That sounded nice. Not being paranoid but catching potential issues before they were problems. Not always being scared or having reasons to break down.
After breakfast, I learned the rest of the press conference went fairly well. It was never going to be fun or everything be just fine now. No, that wasn’t reality and even I didn’t have the magic for that.
But Professor Wyatt said his piece and how things had gotten so bad that people were reviewing my work so he couldn’t be accused of anything. That Mrs. Reid had stepped in to help as my power assessor so whispers couldn’t hurt either of us anymore.
And the guard went on the record that he had no idea ever if I’d lost my purity or not. That it was standard interrogation tactics to throw a criminal off to get more information. Even under magic. Also, as someone who had a sister my age, he was beyond disgusted that the only takeaway from the public interrogation was his words.
I felt bad when he apologized for unintentionally causing me distress. He never thought that people would be such idiots to not use their heads and think for themselves, instead being sorabid like the immoral people who immediately told everyone on campus they heard me ask for a pregnancy test.
I was glad he’d gotten that in too, but I still felt guilty.
We were all lying through our teeth so yeah, I felt guilty that he would take shit for it. But I had a feeling he was a friend of Link’s and I could do something nice for him later.
Or maybe I’d already done enough nice for so many people that some were finally being nice tome.
8
I was just as shocked as everyone else when there was an announcement that all the female students were to report to the auditorium for lunch—both lunch periods even so we would miss at least one class. I was glad when Gloria and her friends were waiting for me so we could go in together and sit.
“We don’t mean to be pushy, but I honestly think helping you is healing me a bit,” Kate admitted. “That sounds more selfish than I mean for it to be.”
“Not at all, and I completely understand where your head is,” I forgave. “I’m grateful. I feel like a bobble head and a bit like a robot vacuum just bouncing into things. So I really appreciate the…”
She nodded, knowing where my head was even if it was hard to articulate.
“I know you all need to eat, but let’s do this as orderly as possible,” Mrs. Reid said loudly. “And since the female population of Morrigan is much smaller than the male, you don’t need to sit all over. You three in the very back on the right side—let’s not be silly. We can sit a bit closer together so we don’t need to yell or use microphones.”
“Do you know what this is?” Gloria whispered as we moved closer up front.
“No, and I hadn’t even heard the council made its decision yet, so I don’t think it’s about me,” I mumbled.
I really hoped not at least.
It took a bit longer for everyone to get to their seats with the boxed lunches that were provided. They were a bit light, but the people handing them out promised there would be more coming for those who wanted them.
