My legs clenched together, and he smirked against my lips. “See you soon, little bird.”
He and his shadows faded back, and I stumbled forward, barely catching myself on the wall in front of me as I sucked in a lungful of air.
I touched my neck with hesitant hands. Was that what he meant by making pain feel good?
I turned back around and smoothed down my uniform. “I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged, not able to meet my gaze as he pushed out the chair next to him. “Do you want to start with Supernatural Studies?”
“Yeah, that sounds great.” I went and sat down in the chair and he handed me a book.
“I highlighted all of the text for this week in chapter two.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s no big deal.” His dimples showed as he smiled down at the page.
“So, anything new?”
“Ah, yeah, actually.” He stiffened a bit but glanced up to meet my gaze. His green eyes swirled with pain, and I reached out and touched his cheek.
“What’s wrong?”
“My father called.” He placed a trembling hand on top of mine. “We lost another family member. His sister.”
My lips pressed into a line as I moved my body toward him. “Did they bring her back too?”
“Of course they did,” he muttered bitterly. “He said humans attacked the village. A group of about five of them. They killed them but there were several casualties.”
“What did they do to the humans?”
“They resurrected them to work in the mines.”
“Fitting.”
“The only part I agree with,” he told me, his voice laced with sorrow.
I hated this for him. I never knew necromancers had such a morbid culture, and I hated that Kian was ostracized due to his beliefs. It wasn’t fair to him. I knew it hurt him still being a part of the coven and not wanting to follow their practices.
“I believe the same thing you do,” I whispered, leaning in closer as his breath hitched. “Anytime you want to talk about it, I’ll listen.”
“I feel like it’s consumed so much of my life that I don’t want to talk about it.” His voice broke, and I leaned in until our foreheads touched.
“Then we won’t talk. Just let me be here for you.”
“Okay.” His hand left mine, and he wrapped his arms around my sides, pulling me into a hug, and moving his face into my neck.
Kian’s old book scent washed over me, and I pressed my lips against his neck.
“Wren…” He let out a content sigh and held me closer.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
The door cracked open, and we pulled a part to see someone in a hood step in and shut the door.
Awareness pricked my skin, and I stood up but Kian stayed sitting with his mouth hung open.
