I grin. “Well, this much is.”
“Okay. Good.”
She starts lifting slices of porchetta onto the plates as if she’s afraid it’ll get cold if she delays by even a second. The intensity in her expression, almost worried, niggles at me.
I slide my arm around her waist and kiss the crook of her jaw. She drops a piece of meat half on the counter and babbles an apology.
My gut twists. I nuzzle her hair. “Hey. Elodie. I love this. You don’t have to do everything. I can put my own food on a plate.”
She stays tensed in my arms. “It’s your birthday. I wanted to do thisforyou.”
“You did.” I lean my head against hers, breathing in the heady floral scent of her skin. “And now I want to enjoy itwithyou.”
Her body gradually relaxes into my embrace. My heart squeezes with a horrifying thought.
Why is she so on edge about getting this gesture right? So worried that I won’t be completely satisfied?
Didn’t I make it clear how happy I am to have her after her confession this weekend?
Just how awfully did the other version of me treat her to make her this nervous when she’s doing something sweet?
DidthatSalvatore make her feel she was never good enough? Did her other matches?
My jaw tightens, and I hug her closer.
I can’t actually launch myself across dimensions to stick it to the other me, however he might have failed our match. So I’ll just have to do whatever I can to show Elodie how wonderful she is, exactly like this.
Keeping one arm around her, I take over one of the forks and heap a few scoops of risotto on the plate I’ve decided is mine. “Now you need to tell me, a chroí—when’syourbirthday?”
Twenty-Seven
Elodie
The academy’s security lights cast a streaky yellow glow across the darkened green. I stand close to my friends, hugging myself and wishing I’d brought my blazer or sweater today.
Captain Ross only sprang on us this afternoon that our next intensive seminar was going to take place after school as soon as evening set in. We’ve spent the last couple hours “warming up” our bodies and our magic, preparing to face the challenges he’s cooked up.
Right now, the campus looks like it’d make a better setting for a séance than a combat session. Maybe he’s going to have us spar with unsettled spirits?
The captain casts his gaze over our assembled group with an air of satisfaction. “All the skills in the world won’t matter if you can’t use them outside the classroom, so today’s main lesson will engage you on a much broader scale. We’re dividing you into several groups and giving each an area ofthe neighborhood to explore. Each area will present its own threats and challenges. I’ll be monitoring how you do via video and giving feedback afterward.”
One of the 16thyears frowns. “What if there are drabs around?”
Professor Jovak pipes up from his usual spot next to Captain Ross. “We’ve put in place measures to discourage any non-lucents from entering the areas we’re using for training. But of course you shouldn’t use magic so flashy it could catch attention from afar.”
Ross nods. “Discretion should always be used where it’s viable. Nothing you encounter today will require a spectacle in response. Matching your effort to the threat is essential, especially when you don’t know what additional dangers you might face after.”
“That’s not ominous at all,” Cadance mutters with an amused glance toward me. I force a soft chuckle at her joke.
Salvatore shifts restlessly on his feet where he’s planted himself several paces to my left. I can’t imagine he likes the idea of me wandering off into the darkness, even though these sessions are supposed to be completely regulated and safe.
My pulse still thrums with the passion he wrapped around me in the condo’s bedroom last night, holding me tight and summoning every ounce of pleasure he could out of the melding of our bodies, as if we were there to celebrate me rather than him.
I thought he might be more hesitant about me after he’d had time to think through what I admitted this weekend, but he still doesn’t seem at all fazed.
My imagined other Salvatore makes a scoffing sound.“When has anything ever fazed me?”
He has a point there.