I sigh. My emotions are conflicting with themselves. My. . .stomachis wanting one thing and my mind is waring with itself and my body is being tugged in too many different directions. I want to go back into that black abyss of sleep. I don’t want to think about all of this.
“Come to the Willow of Lore ceremony with me,” he says randomly. It makes me look up at him with my brows twitchingdown. “It’s a tradition here. . . the Willow of Lore is a symbol by the gods and each year its spirits perform a ceremony around it. Everyone comes out to watch it.”
Willow of Lore. . .
The tree that stands in the center of the university. The school built around that symbol. I haven’t had a chance to see it yet. Jullia usually walks by it with Asher when they’re coming back from Stone House. It’s easier than walking all the way around the school.
“But I thought the ceremony happens on the Winter Solstice?”
It’s supposed to. Even though we haven’t learned about the tree in Professor Asier’s class, I know that. Though, I wonder why we haven’t had a chapter on the tree yet. It should have been taught when we were learning about the creation of Syngenia University.
He leans back in the chair and scratches the back of his neck. It causes his short sleeve shirt to inch up and I immediately look away before it has a chance to show any skin.
“It’s supposed to. . . “
I look back, directly – only – at his face and raise a brow. “But?”
He huffs as he smirks at me. “Butfor some reason the spirits of the willow came out early and have started preparations for the ceremony. Asher said he and Jullia saw them this morning, and they also saw black lightning strike in the Hinterwood Forest.”
Black lightning?
I wonder. . .
Opening the container I finally start eating. My stomach immediately thanks me as I shove a huge bite of still warm, cheesy goodness into my mouth. I close my eyes to savor it and to procrastinate on saying anything else.
So many thoughts and so many questions.
“I would like to see the ceremony,” I finally say. I think it will be interesting to actually see how it all works.
“Really?!” I look at him because he sounds both surprised and excited. His eyes are wide and there’s a huge grin on his face. He tones it down a bit to ask, “Are you sure you’re alright to go through? The ceremony will be happening in two hours and you just woke up from being asleep all day.”
His excitement ripples through the room like a young golden retriever would. Floppy ears, too big paws, radiant energy, joy.
It makes me so happy and warm inside.
I look down at my half eaten food and glare.Fucking hell.
“I’ll be fine,” I grumble as I take the plastic fork that had been speared in the rice and start eating it. Then I scoop some of the brown beans and eat that too. Normally Mexican food is served with black beans but I hate them, so I’m glad something must be different here. They’re almost like refried beans.
He begins to contain his excitement, but I can see out of the corner of my eye he’s still smiling. He crosses his arms and leans back in my chair as I finish eating the beans and rice and pick up another slice of quesadilla.
Side-eyeing him, I ask, “Are you going to watch me eat the whole time?”
I’m sure he smirks. “I’ve got nothing else to do.”
“What about school?”
Speaking of, I missed a whole day of classes. And attendance is mandatory. Just fucking great.
“Watching you sleep was more important.”
Watching me. . .
I whip my head to gawk at him. “You watched me sleep! All fucking day?!”
And just as I suspected. . . he’s smirking. I think my eye twitches, but I can’t do much else except shake my head at him. Whatever. So he’s a creepy sleep watcher, what do I care.
Finishing my quesadilla, he then slides over another container and opens it before me. My stomach tugs again as pure happiness bleeds through my veins. So influential that I can’t help but smile as I take the large container stuffed with still steaming vegetables.
