“How can you even concentrate with my sister’s villain monologue going at lightning speed over there?”
I frown, pausing midstep to glare at him. “I’m not a villain.”
Asher snorts. “What do you think you are to him, Noelle? The heroine? Aren’t they supposed to be selfless and considerate?”
Ugh. I knew I shouldn’t have told them anything, but Lucy refused to relinquish me any of the Fury Hill lore or share the periodicals she found last fall unless I told her what was going on with Sutton, and it all just sort of tumbled out.
Asher’s right about that much—my impulse control is severely lacking. I shouldn’t have allowed him to kiss me at all, but I’m putty any time he looks my way. Even when he’s awkward and stumbling over himself to get a point across, I can’t help but be drawn to him.
“You’re right,” I admit, slumping into a chair against the wall. “Maybe I have been a bit of a villain. How do I make up for that?”
“Leave the man alone.”
Lucy clicks her tongue. “Don’t give advice you wouldn’t follow yourself.”
“Why not?” Asher grumbles, rolling so he’s facing the back of the couch. He wraps his arms around her waist, crawling closer as he buries his face in her stomach. “Isn’t that the point of advice? He’s a professor, she’s a student. End of story.”
“I guess he’s right. Wow, I don’t like saying that twice.”
“So don’t let him be right.” Lucy shrugs. “Asher doesn’t knoweverything.”
“Hey,” he protests, though weakly.
“Plus, the whole professor-student thing doesn’t make you incompatible. It just makes the situation forbidden, which makes thingshot. Some of my favorite reality TV shows revolve around people who aren’t supposed to be together but find a way to make it happen.”
My stomach flips, a cramp making it seize up. I frown, pulling my legs into the chair, hoping the pressure might help alleviate the onslaught of discomfort.
“You said he likes you too, right? It’s not like you’re coming on to him out of nowhere.”
“No,” I agree. “Just after he explained how it’d affect him. God, I’m a bitch, aren’t I?”
“Yeah.” Lucy grins, lifting one shoulder. “But that’s nothing new. You’re also a great listener and strong. I didn’t have a crush on you growing up for no reason.”
Asher grunts, reaching up to slap his palm over her mouth. “Okay, time to go.”
I smirk. “Do you feel threatened by me, Ash?”
“Well, apparently you don’t always take no for an answer.”
“That’s not what…” I sigh, trailing off. I have no excuse for the way I’ve behaved. “I guess I just didn’t understand the severity of it all. I thought the rules were more arbitrary suggestions, and he was hyperbolizing the consequences for effect.”
I thought he was weaponizing reality to get more from me.
It hadn’t occurred to me to care either, which isn’t something I’m proud of. But if I didn’t care about his job or his feelings, he wouldn’t be able to use them against me.
The way his father had used mine over the summer.
“Maybe we should change the subject,” Lucy suggests, tossing a leather-bound journal at my feet. “You said you were looking for more Fury Hill lore. That’s an old ecosystem major’s journal I found last semester while researching for one of my classes. Lots of stuff about the layout of the Primordial Forest, how Lake Lerna wasmade. They even detail some of the tunnels through the Tenarus cave, though a lot of those entries have water damage.”
I flip through the pages, squinting at the chicken scratch writing. “And this helps me how?”
“There’s stuff about the curse too,” she says. “I don’t know. Maybe it won’t help at all.”
“Do we believe in the curse or not?” I ask.
“Doesn’t matter what you believe,” Asher replies, sitting up. He drags a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly. “Avernia does, and that’s all that matters. They’ll do whatever they need to to keep that ridiculous prophecy from coming true. Last semester proved that much, so maybe you should focus more on studying and getting out of here than canoodling with that boring-ass professor.”
“He’s not boring.”
