My stomach rolled, and I reached out and…patted her head.
This wasn’t smooth. This was awful. Abort, abort.
I pulled my hand back and stretched my arm up to scratch the back of my neck. “Ah, um. I’m so sorry. I was trying to comfort you, but that really didn’t feel that way. Felt more condescending than anything, which was definitelynotthe goal there.”
She let out a harsh breath of a chuckle and shook her head. “No. I liked it. You’re fine.”
“I’m most sorry about what happened to you,” I told her. “You didn’t deserve it, and neither did Nebula.”
“I know,” she replied quietly. “That wasn't even the worst of it.”
My heart twisted painfully in my chest. How wasn’t that the worst of it?
“Did your dad know?” I swallowed what felt like shards.
“No.” She shook her head with a sad smile. “Daryl didn’t even know I existed until a few months ago.”
My brows shot up. “Wow. I didn’t realize that.”
We stood together in silence,but my magic sparked around us in shimmering specks. I loved having her here. My heart felt like it was going to fly out of my chest and into hers, and I almost wanted it to.
“You know, I’ve thought about what Ashenfell said, and I'd like it if we were...fated mates,” I found myself saying, and my heart thumped erratically in my chest.
What compelled me to say it out loud?
Pandora's cheeks flushed a pretty rose color, and my breath caught at the sight.
“I would, too,” she rasped, curling her hand around her throat as she stared at me in awe.
“You really are my dream girl.” Gently, I reached out, focusing really hard on not patting her head this time. Instead, my fingertips brushed her cheek softly.
She blushed deeper. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
I let my hand drop as she smiled. “So, um, how is everything going?”
“I admit that I’m in over my head with my newly dubbed enemies.” She pouted, staring up at the galaxy. “Hemlock is cruel, as you know, and I accidentally met his brother, which made him mad. He hunted me down after and found me in the library when his chaos magic was out of control. We got into an argument then.”
I clenched my jaw and nodded, listening to how terrible those guys had been.
“Then Skel and Dex tried to mess with me in Demonic Feeding when I was in the closet trying to practice. My magic went crazy, though, and I passed out.” She looked at me, and I saw the tears welling in her eyes.
“That’s why I didn’t meet you after class that day, and I’m sorry for that.”
“Hey, hey, no.” I held my arms out, and she walked into my chest. “You don’t have to apologize for that.” I wrapped my arms around her, and her caramel scent was everywhere.
“They took me to Sunstone Revive to wake me up. It worked, though, so that’s good,” she said, wrapping her arms around me tightly. “Oh, and I got high with Skel after a horrible nightmare about Dex slicing into me with his shadow magic. There was a drude orchestrating the entire thing. I’d know her if I saw her, but I didn’t recognize her.”
A drude? Could it be that Charlotte did it? I mean, she was clearly worse than I’d ever thought she could be. Plus, she had asked about Pandora today, which was odd.
She clung to me, her tears wet against my shirt. It broke my heart. “Then I was dumb enough to go with my roommate to Odyssey Bluff. Iknewshe was bad because of the ring thatDaryl gave me. It turns black if someone wants to cause me harm, and it was black.”
I tensed as anger raged through me. “What happened?”
“They ganged up on me and threw Nebula into the lake. I can’t swim but went in anyway. One of the shadow demons cut my arm open, and my magic went off. I almost ate their souls, so they ran, and then Nightwind actually saved Nebula for me. Then Skel and Hemlock saw us walking back and ran Nightwind off, and took me to Sunstone Revive to heal me!” A sob broke her as she trembled in my arms.
I held her tighter, wondering how long she’d held all of this in. Had she been talking to Darkmore or Nebula about this stuff? I wasn’t sure, but I did know I would be there for her if she needed it. And she did need it.
With a soft kiss on her forehead, I whispered, "You're safe here."
