I swallowed hard. “I think that’s enough Luxe for one night.”
“I’ll help him get back to his room,” Arowyn offered, standing and lugging him from the bed. “I thought this stuff was supposed to make you relaxed. What a downer.”
The three of us said goodbye, Nox’s eyelids already drooping as the pair left my room and made their way to their own chambers. The night had certainly ended more drearily than I’d expected. But I was reinvigorated to explore my father’s Grimoire after the conversation about magic, eager to brainstorm new functions for spells I’d used before.
A tap on the window made me jump from the bed and hurry over to unlatch it. Leo crouched at the sill, his eyebrow raised.
“I see I wasn’t the only guest here tonight,” he said.
I laughed. “Were you spying on me?”
Stepping through the window, he tugged me to him and glowered at the door. “I got here a few minutes ago and have been waiting for them to leave.”
I wound my arms around his neck. “Do I sense a bit of jealousy?”
His body felt stiff and strained pressed against mine, and a slight scowl was still on his face. Fates, he reallywasjealous. The thought made me smirk as I rose onto my toes and brought my lips to his neck, lightly kissing along the sensitive skin. I breathed him in and let out a hum. I always loved how good he smelled, like sandalwood and vanilla.
His limbs slowly began to relax. “Still jealous?” I murmured, trailing my nose on his jaw.
“That’s not the word I’d use.”
“Good.” I placed another kiss on his neck and leaned back. “That was Arowyn and Nox. You have nothing to worry about.”
Recognition lit in his eyes at the names. “I didn’t realize Nox was so…pretty,” he said grudgingly.
“Not my type,” I said with a wink. “I prefer my men tortured and brooding. And with tails,” I added, then tapped my lip. “Which Nox might have, actually.”
With his hands at my waist, Leo pulled me closer. “You’re incorrigible.”
“And I have a feeling that’syourtype.”
His lips met mine in a sweet kiss that had me melting into him, quickly turning heated as he gripped me tighter.
“Wait,” I groaned between kisses. “I want to tell you something.”
“I will kill him,” Leo growled.
I laughed. “Possessive is a good look on you. Don’t worry, it’s not about Nox. You know I’ve been trying to find some new spell or magic to break the curse, and so far there’s been nothing. But what if there’s something we missed?”
“And hundreds of Alchemists before us? I highly doubt it.”
“No, not somethingnew. Something we already know, but that can be applied differently.”
“So, modifying a spell?” he asked, dropping his arms as I pulled away to grab my father’s Grimoire.
I nodded. “Kind of like how you changed the transformation spell when you were younger. That was a spell for transforming objects, but you went beyond that—you figured out how to transform living beings.”
He pressed his lips together. “I wouldn’t exactly recommend doing that again.”
“I know, but that’s just the basic idea. It’s how I created the spell that attacked the snow leopard Shifter that night. I combined multiple protection charms that ward off unwanted presences into something that willliterallybackfire on your attacker. There are so many ways to use our magic. We’re only limited by our own minds.” Excitement built as I fingered the Grimoire, the urge to create and experiment flowing through me.
For a split second, I saw my father with me. The father fromthe portrait Theodore gave me that still sat on my nightstand. Theodore said he was studious and passionate, eager to explore his magic and revel in new theories. I felt him here, in the echoes of these worn pages. Saw him pushing his thin glasses up the bridge of his nose. His kind smile and curious eyes.
He would be here, if he could. Guiding me and searching with me. Celebrating discoveries. Practicing our magic.
I squeezed my eyes shut, my fingers gripping the leather binding. Fates, I wanted that. I missed him, even this nonexistentideaof him, so viscerally it felt like a knife through the chest.
Leo’s lips pressed into my temple as his arm wrapped around my back. “I wish I’d known him,” he said, nodding to the book. “The man who raised such a brave, resilient woman.”
