I’m completely naked now, standing in the middle of my room looking at myself, turned on by the thought of someone who hates me?
What has gotten into me?
I shake my head, trying to clear the thoughts from my mind. I put on a thicker dress—blue this time—with long, snug sleeves. Then I fix my braid.
My books, thankfully, are not ruined. Barely even a drop of moisture touched them before I was able to get them in the bag. I keep them in my satchel, just in case the weather clears and we can practice more later.
It suddenly dawns on me that I was meant to return downstairs quickly to meet Meela for lunch, so I rush out of the room and come to a halt just outside my door, finding a large body against the opposite wall.
“You’re still here…”
“I am,” Daegan says.
“Why?”
“We didn’t really get to finish talking.”
“About?”
“Where did you go today instead of the training grounds?”
“Oh.” Following my lead, we begin to fall into step as we talk. “Meela and I went outside to practice elemental magic. I found these books yesterday that are already proving to be rather helpful.”
He grunts with approval. Or curiosity? “That’s actually a good idea.”
“What do you mean ‘actually?’” I side-eye him. “As if I don’t have good ideas?”
“Well…”
I open my mouth wide, looking at him in shock. “I have incredible ideas.”
“Sometimes. Some are just plain reckless.”
“Okay. There was that one time…”
“Yeah...”
“It wasn’t my finest idea, I’ll admit. But we got what we needed, didn’t we?”
He nods thoughtfully, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
“What?” I ask, bracing for him to tease me again.
“You’re wearing blue.”
“Yes…”
He looks forward. “You always wear purple,” he muses.
That damn fluttering in my chest is back. Over an obvious statement that means absolutely nothing.
“I decided to change things up today.”
He side-eyes me once more, taking in the length of my dress. “It suits you,” he says before facing forward again.
Dammit.
“Thank you,” I say softly.
