I tuck it back in. “Don’t worry. No one is going in there.”
His jaw twitches, and then he looks away. Then, with the clearing of his throat, he stands. “Well, I should get going.”
“Okay.”
“See you tomorrow?” He turns to face me in front of the door. “We’re supposed to be at the training grounds.”
“Meela and I were going to practice our magic… privately again. Without such a big audience.”
He nods, mulling something over. “Okay.”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Chapter 31
“Oh fuck!”
Meela screeches and hits the ground, dodging a particularly nasty shower of ice crystals that got out of control and went her way. She shoots out a wall of fire as a last resort while she hits the ground, and the ice sizzles and drops as they connect with the flames.
She stands slowly, brushing her knees off. And elbows. And… pretty much everywhere.
Then she looks at me with a look I’d imagine my mother would give me as a child who has done something particularly reckless.
“Should we break for lunch?” she asks, already grabbing her things.
“I guess so,” I laugh.
“Good. I need a bath.”
We stroll back to the castle side-by-side. Even though we’re out here practicing with relative privacy, we’ve barely mentioned this whole new shift in our friendship or our looming journey.
“You’ve always loved a challenge. A puzzle that needs solving,” she says, breaking the silence.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve just been thinking… about all of it.” She looks off in the distance, her shiny dark hair blowing on the breeze. “I’m not surprised you of all elves wants to find the pieces of this puzzle and reunite them. It’s probably been driving you crazy for years.” She chuckles to herself.
“Okay, maybe you’re right. But it’s not really about the puzzle of it all. We might all die out one day if this continues. Just because the elves are okay rightnow, doesn’t mean it won’t come for us eventually. What if everyone else starts dying? Then what? It already took air magic away.”
“Yeah, I forget air magic was even a thing… strange,” she says. “I’m not so sure it started that way, though. You’re not usually some savior who wants to help anyone and everyone.”
“What, I like to watch people suffer?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. You do have a big heart. But you also have a determined, relentless, spirit about you that won’t rest until you figure something out.”
I chuckle but there’s not much humor in it. “Well, we’re here now. What does it matter how we got here?”
“It doesn’t,” she murmurs. Then we finish our stroll in silence.
At lunch, Daegan and Raef find us. The moment they enter the room my stomach does flips.
Luckily, Daegan takes the lead. He sits incredibly close and rests his arm on the table as he leans toward me and whispers in my ear. “You look stunning today.”
His voice in my ear makes me shiver, and I’m certain my cheeks are blooming with color. Meela stares right at me and laughs.
Raef tries to lean in close to her, but she cocks her head back and makes a face at him. “First of all, no.”
