“Did anything else happen?” I asked.
Swallowing and giving a small nod, she backed away to sit on the edge of her bed. “When I met with my—with Gayl, I might have yelled at him, too.”
I ran a hand over the scruff of my chin, letting out an exasperated laugh. “Fates, little wolf, are you trying to get yourself thrown in the dungeon?”
“He deserved it,” she retorted, that defiant spark back in her gaze. “It went well, all things considered. I mean, I’m still alive.”
“Setting the bar high, I see.”
She snorted. “We talked about the trial. And…my father.” Her voice became hesitant as she looked down and played with the edge of the bedsheet. “It sounds like they were close. It was strange to hear him tell stories about the two of them. But…kind of nice. My father loved experimenting with magic, like me.” She shot a quick glance at the bundle hidden beneath a blanket.
“I saw you reading whatever that is through the curtain,” I confessed, motioning to the concealed book. She straightened, and I hastily added, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry. I caught aglimpse right before I knocked. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”
I craved her trust, but it wasn’t something I could force her to give me. So when I saw her shoulders loosen and that guarded expression fall, it was like a brick had been lifted from my chest.
She nodded. “It’s my father’s Grimoire from when he and Th—Gayl were young. He gave it to me tonight.” Her hands traveled beneath the blanket and pulled out the thick leather tome. As her fingers traced the outline of the moon on the cover, I noticed a small bandage around her thumb.
“What happened there?” I asked, pointing to her hand.
She shifted her arm so her hand was hidden beneath the sheets. “Nothing. Just a cut.”
I stifled a frustrated growl. It felt like I had taken two steps forward and one step back with her. Something had changed between us the other night, and I believed she was finally opening up to me. Finally trusting me. If she would simply let me in, she would see that she didn’t have to bear all of this alone. She didn’t have to hide anytime she felt threatened or someone tried to get close.
Ihatedthat this was the way she’d come to see life. It must be exhausting, holding everyone at arm’s length. I was thankful to have had my sister through our darkest days, but Rose…had she ever had anyone truly at her side? An equal, a partner, a confidant.
Even if I hadn’t completely broken through her walls, maybe I’d removed a piece of them. If I had to tear them down brick by brick, I would. Everyone deserved to have someone see them, to fight for them the way Lark had for my sister and me. Rose shouldknowshe was worth it.
“I experimented with magic when I was young, too,” I offered, breaking the silence. “I still do, but am a bit more careful than I used to be.”
She chuckled softly. “I can’t imagine you being anything but meticulously careful,” she said with a taunting edge.
“Are you calling meboring, Miss Wolff?” I stalked to the bed, hiding my smirk behind a pretend scowl.
“Oh, I would never. You just seem like someone who doesn’t stray far from convention. AproperAlchemist,” she said, putting air quotes around the term.
“For Fates sake, I have atail, Rose,” I said with a laugh. “What about that screams ‘proper’ to you?”
Looking down to the edge of my cloak, she suddenly bore a bashful expression. My smirk widened. “Whatever you want to say, say it. Trust me, I’ve heard it all.”
A blush crept up her cheeks. “Can—can I touch it?”
A rare grin split my face. She was adorable. Slipping it from beneath my cloak, I unfurled my tail on her bed, the blanket soft and supple beneath its weight.
She reached out a hand and felt along its length. I shivered involuntarily, unused to the feel of someone else’s skin against it. Flinching, she snatched her fingers back, glancing at me warily.
“It’s fine, it’s just…sensitive,” I said.
A wicked gleam entered her eyes. “What else can you do with it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you obviously like to choke people,” she said, and I rolled my eyes. I would never live that down. “What else do you use it for?”
Nobody had ever asked me that. “I suppose it’s like a third hand. It has more reach, which is convenient.” I demonstrated by uncurling it and letting it slink along the bed.
“Very,” she hummed as I drew closer to where she sat.
“Makes it easy to restrain people.”
