“You’re completely demented,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
“Such a rude mouth you have,” he laughed. “It’s impressive, really. What other tricks do you have up your sleeve, freshling? Or is it just your wicked tongue that sets you apart?”
“My tongue is not the only thing that—You know what? I’m not finishing that sentence,” I hissed, getting the sense that I’d somehow walked into one of his traps.
He looked like he was about to keel over, laughing out loud in the middle of this tiny pastry shop. And yet again, I found myself disarmed by the sound of it. Of that welcoming rumble of thunder. The man was as dangerous and alluring as an aetherstorm.
After catching his breath, Kieran slipped past me, sauntering up to the counter to pick up a small brown box tied up with string. He must’ve ordered ahead.
“I told you, I’m a regular,” he said with a wink, headed straight for the door. “Have a nice morning, freshling.”
But naturally, the attractive guardsman added one more comment in passing on his way out. “Youandthat wicked tongue of yours.”
Gods, I hated him.
After picking up breakfast and surviving one particularly rude interruption, I made my way over to the Biblyos.
Earlier in the week, I made plans with a fellow Conduit from my Bios lectures, Laurel Ansari, to get together for a study session. Though I typically preferred to study alone, I liked Laurel. After the lecture in the Wyldwoods, the charming, extroverted Earth Conduit had made a habit of sitting next to me in class, often making sly but good-natured jokes under her breath that made me bite the insides of my cheeks to avoid laughing out loud. Poor Scholar Larkin.
“Change of plans, Asher,” Laurel informed me as soon as I found her on the front steps, tossing her mane of bouncy black curls over her shoulder and flashing me a wicked grin as I walked up to her. “It’s far too nice out to spend all afternoon inside studying plants.”
I could hardly disagree. It was rarely this warm, this late in autumn—or at least it hadn’t been back home. It was more likely for Atlas to see early cold fronts than this balmy breeze. My classes this week felt empty, as if half of my fellow Conduits had taken off early for a weekend on the Pyrhhan Coast.
“That so? What are we up to today, then, Miss Ansari?” I asked, amused.
“Mischief and nonsense.”
See, this was why Laurel and I got along.
“Any particular flavor of mischief?”
Laurel reached into her bag and pulled out a dark green bottle.
“Strawberry.”
I snorted. “Day drinking it is.”
In all honesty, I felt a tinge of relief. I felt comfortable enough around Laurel so far, but a hint of alcohol in my system often helped me loosen up around the presence of others. A light buzz was a balm against my social anxieties, and that strange sense of inhuman otherness that so often plagued me in groups.
“Don’t forget the nonsense,” Laurel added.
“How could I possibly?” I laughed. “What nonsense are we up to this afternoon?”
“How opposed are you to heights? And a bit of harmless breaking and entering?”
“Color me intrigued,” I replied with a grin. I was in—so long as we didn’t get caught.
“I knew I liked you, Lightbearer. C’mon,” she said, tugging at my hand and taking off towards the back entrance of the Biblyos. “I’ll show you my secret route.”
As it turned out, Laurel’s “secret route” involved the two of us sneaking through a restricted floor, climbing up some questionable looking scaffolding, and trying not to laugh every time the bottles clinked together in Laurel’s bag. Because of course she brought two.
Once we got ourselves situated up on the rooftop of the Biblyos, Laurel spread out a small blanket and sat down, stretching out her legs and motioning me to join her.
“The view is great and all, Asher, but if you gawk on the ledge for too long we’re gonna get our asses caught. Come, come. Let us sunbathe and get drunk.”
I would have to be cautious about thedrunkpart of that plan. Tipsy, maybe—but sometimes when I got too inebriated,my Resonances would start to get a smidge too comfortable. The ones I normally kept hidden got tempted to come out and play. I’d had one too many close calls in the Brindlewoods, back when I was still learning my limits—and it was sheer dumb luck that I never got caught. I liked Laurel, but that didn’t mean I could trust her with this. I couldn’t trustanyonewith this.
I watched with a little bit of awe as Laurel twirled her fingertips over the neck of the first bottle of wine, the cork simply popping out with ease.