I swallowed at the intensity in his voice and remembered the binds of wind that had swept me between two trees and held me in place at the tree conservatory. I remembered the way we had sparred during Capture the Roses. He could dispel strong vines with the flick of his wrist and lift logs on a gust of wind. He was the definition of powerful.
When I moved my stool closer to Callan’s, he slipped his arms over my shoulders, and I rested the back of my head against his chest.
“The tattoos must have worked. You seemed like the most powerful person I knew when I first met you.”
He let out a little laugh and squeezed me closer. “You’ve always seen the best in me. Maybe I did seem confident when we first met, but in reality, I was… curious.”
“Curious?” I turned my head upward to try to get a peek at his face.
“I could sense something about you very early on. Not your power exactly. That was locked away. But…something. And you were the picture of ease. Posing in front of the academy and about to put your hand in a charging ring like a founders’ descendant.”
“I had no idea I caught your eye so much at that first encounter,” I teased, turning fully to face him.
“You caught more than my eye. And you have every day since.” His voice dropped an octave, and my breath caught at his sudden seriousness. “I didn’t know it then, but the day I met you was a day that would change my life forever. You brought a lightness into my world that I could never have imagined.” He touched a finger to my chin and tilted my head upward. “What I’m trying to say is… I love you, Briar Rose.”
I sucked in a breath. I had loved Callan for so long I couldn’t even pinpoint when it had started. “You do?”
“It’s been true for a while, local.” He tucked my hair behind my ear.
“How long is a while?”
He thought about it for a moment. “Remember the first Floral Fete, where you displayed your painting, ate those laced cookies, and became extra… talkative?”
“Yes,” I said, cringing at the memory, though not even it could dampen the moment.
“I think it started then. The idea of someone poisoning you, even if it was just with truth serum…” He scrubbed a hand through his hair.
“Justtruth serum. That was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, thank you very much.”
But I stopped teasing and leaned in, and he followed my lead. I touched a hand to his cheek. “I love you back, Callan Rhodes. And in case no one has told you, youarepowerful and kind and generous and clever, and?—”
I didn’t get to finish before a whip of wind rushed up and shuttered the wooden windows on the tree house. Then Callan leaned forward, slid his arms around my waist, and kissed me.
Chapter Fifty-Three
“You found this rather quickly,” Wyatt said when we met at the plot of land adjacent to Siskiyous Community College and the Wildflower Trail.
“This patch of thin forest hasn’t been used in decades. I have proposals in with the college and the city. If it gets approved at the next city council meeting, you’re looking at the site of Weed’s new botanical garden.”
It was strange to be in the woods, spending time with Wyatt without Callan, even if it was under the guise of field studies. Callan would have come with me in a heartbeat if I had asked, but between keeping up appearances for his field study with the politicians in Sacramento, his secret project of creating new medicines, and our normal school duties, he was busy.
“It looks good. A parking area can go right there, off the road. We can put a sign over here, then they can walk between these two oak trees to enter the gardens.”
I smiled, surprised at how invested Wyatt seemed to be. Hehad much more important things to take on, so it was endearing that he was committed to the garden. “Have you secured the funds from the DBI?”
Wyatt nodded. “It’s all approved. Just get me the agreement with the city for purchasing the land, and you’ll be able to break ground.”
“I hope I can make your deadline of midsummer. That’s only a few months away.”
Wyatt tilted his head. “You’ve never seen magical botanists plant a garden, have you?”
I frowned. “Not exactly. They’ve done some service planting in town, but they had to keep it reined in for the sake of the locals.”
“Well, then, you’re in for a show. Once we get the walls up and some fertile soil in the ground, this place will materialize in no time.”
“I hope so,” I said, trying to envision what the space would look like when it was complete. It would be a garden I could walk through with my aunt and Bryce, and with Maci. It would be a way to share myself with them without revealing everything. Perhaps it could be a place for my aunt to feel in touch with her magic. I couldn’t wait.
“Do you have any news about Professor East?” I asked.
