I kissed the top of her head and inhaled her delicious scent. “Mm… I suppose I should say stuff like that more often.”
“You should,” she teased. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.”
“You seemed to know what you were doing,” I remarked.
She shrugged. “Ivy gave me some tips.”
I smirked. “That was one hell of a first time.”
“I tend to beverygood when I put my mind to something,” she stated sternly, as if daring me to question what she was capable of.
I couldn’t, because I knew my pidge far too well. Whatever Ava wanted, she got. She already had my soul. I knew then that if I wanted to protect her, I had to follow her to the end.
I worried it’d be straight to the Warden.
* * *
I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened the rest of the day. Ava must’ve been feeling pretty damn good about it, too, because Ezekiel mentioned her mood shift the following day in the mines.
“Has my sister been acting weird lately?” he asked.
We stood in a narrow tunnel. It was a new section of the noxite mines— only discovered this semester, according to our professor. Sound echoed down the tunnel for what seemed like a mile, and I figured it must’ve formed naturally. Only a couple of us had been assigned down here— me, Ez, and Chancey on a team, as well as another mining team twenty yards down. Ez had been working outside the mines for weeks now, but they’d assigned him down here when they discovered the new tunnel. Oberi was with Ava today.
“No, why?” I said innocently. I brought my ax down onto the rock, and the impact sent vibrations up the handle. Pieces of rock crumbled from the wall and knocked against each other. A small piece rolled over my foot.
“I know how she gets,” Ez said. “She’s on new meds, and it’s important they help balance her mood. If she’s riding a high one week, I know she’s about to crash the next.”
“She’s okay,” I assured him.
Chancey stepped up behind me to haul pieces of rock into a cart. “Yeah, there’s only one thing Ava-Marie is riding, and it’s Charlie.”
Ez groaned. “Don’t say stuff like that.”
“Why not?” I teased with a huge smile on my face. “He’s not wrong.”
“I asked about her mood, not her sex life,” Ez complained. “I’m her brother. I don’t want to hear about shit like that.”
“If Chancey’s around,everyone’ssex life is on the table,” I cracked.
Chancey laughed along. “If there’s a table around,mysex life is on it.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “But seriously, don’t let me hear you talking about Ava’s sex life. You won’t be able to breathe long enough to keep laughing about it.”
Chancey bent down to pick up another rock. “Not down here in the mines, baby. Try your Air magic on me. I dare you.”
“Back to work!” a guard shouted down the narrow tunnel.
I gripped my ax tighter and turned back to the wall. “Another day, perhaps.”
“Told ya you couldn’t,” Chancey mumbled. His cart must’ve been full, because he walked off, the wheels squealing as he went.
Ez’s ax clanged against the wall. “I thought Chancey wasn’t taking bets anymore.”
“Technically, that wasn’t a bet,” I pointed out. “It was a dare. I’d take it if the guards weren’t around.”
Ez scoffed as he swung his ax again. “No point in humiliating yourself. No one can use their magic with this much noxite around.”
“Right,” I agreed flatly. I didn’t get why everyone always said that. Sure, magic was a hell of a lot weaker down here in the mines, but it wasn’t impossible to use.
