“Why not? It’s what most people think. I’ve heard whisperings. Especially in the Cafeteria, which seems to be gossip central.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it is. But intel can be found there.” He winked. “Keepthatin mind.”
“This bigger space is because I’m… stupidly claustrophobic. Sometimes it can get really bad.”
“Why is that stupid? It’s a legit medical condition.”
“It is, but I guess… it’s like when people equate actual anxiety to mere shyness.”
“Ah, got it. Dumbass judgment from dumbass fuckers.”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
He walked to me. “Personally, I try to save the whole jumping-to-conclusions thing for when I’m hopped up on one of my rages.” He stopped just a foot from me. “So, how does it work with this miraculous cure to my frostbite from hell?”
“It’s actually a form of Cryogenic Frostfire.”
He jerked back a step, then hastily shoved up his sleeve to look at the site of the wound “That’s what this shit is?”
“You’ve heard of it?”
“More like been told scary bedtime stories about it.”
I winced. “I’m so sorry.”
He swung his head back toward me. “Why areyousorry?”
“My interference did this.”
“It was that shithead, Keuric. Your interference might have created a flare of it, obviously lowering the temperature significantly, but if you hadn’t intervened…” He lowered his voice, even though I’d privacy-warded the space when we’d walked in here. He even looked around all paranoid, before settling his attention back on me. “I couldn’t hold my fire against him. Okay? He was gonna hit me. Brutally. And taking it straight through the chest would’ve been far more damaging than this arm situation over a small surface area.”
“Oh. I didn’t pick up on that at all.”
He lifted a shoulder. “I’m a good actor.”
I frowned. “The potency of your power in class… you’re strong enough to hold the likes of Keuric at bay.”
“Well, I was,perhaps, a little drunk. And when I’m upset—I’m talking the sad kind of upset, not rage—it can sometimes… weaken my power.” He walked to my snowy-white furry couch and stroked it. “Damn, this issosoft.” He threw himself down on it. “Amazing. It’s beyond comfortable.” As his eyes darted all over the room, taking in the pictures on the wall and smiling,then some of my personal effects, I saw his gaze freeze on the bed.
I knew exactly what he’d spotted.
Oh, no.
He sprung back to his feet and darted over there.
I went to stop him, but he bounced out of my reach.
He was like an excitable puppy right now.
I guess he was on a high from our victory in class earlier. Our waterfall had turned out amazing, and both the professor and Carnis had been significantly impressed.
Or maybe this was how Zayn always got after he’d come down from one of his rages.
He bounded onto my bed and snatched up Nuvri.
“Who is this?” he teased, moving the right paw, and making a growling cub-like sound. “Who am I, Evira? Tell this hot babe of an Ifrit in your room.”
“Stop,” I cried, unable to hold back a laugh.
