“We’ll get her—we’re seeing where she’s weak.”
A glimpse of Elodie walking on the green… paired with a flare of hostility that sears across my tongue.
My hold on the fabric falters, and he detaches himself. I’ve completely mopped up the spilled coffee already.
He checks his shirt, gives his short beard a little tug, and bobs his head to me. “Thank you; I’m good now. Miss Devine has kept pace with the other students in the program. I can’t say I’ve noticed anything unusual about her behavior.”
Everything I just sensed from him tells me otherwise. What doeshehave against the heir to the Devine family?
I’m not finding out any more today. Jovak tosses out a good-bye and bustles off in the opposite direction.
I grimace at my coffee cup and force myself to drain the last dregs.
My mission succeeded, and I can’t say I like the results. Or what I need to do next.
Four hours later, I’m tucked into a booth at the back of a diner, ten minutes from the academy in the opposite direction. The shell of magic I’ve cast around the booth conceals me from view and deflects any other patrons from claiming the seats for themselves.
Any patron except the woman I’m waiting for.
The bell over the door dings as Elodie enters. She surveys the room with a practiced wariness that’s obvious to me now that I know her full story.
How could I ever have mistaken her for the same spoiled Elodie Devine I taught for seven years?
On the other hand, how could I ever have imagined that Daphne Devine somehow managed to drag an alternate version of her niece from a different reality?
A waitress approaches Elodie, and whatever Elodie says sends her drifting away. With a flicker, it’s like my match isn’t even here anymore, although I can still sense her presence through a pulse in my palm that carries through my veins to my heart.
She steps through my conjured barrier, and I see her again, sinking onto the bench opposite me. She runs her fingers through her purple-streaked hair, a momentary shadow crossing her face.
My stomach knots. I don’t understand even half of whatshe’s been through. Can hardly conceive of how she got here at all.
I spent so much of the past several weeks berating her for her supposed failings. Questioning her intentions at every turn.
I watched her nearly fall apart when we snuck into that building across from the plaza, and even as a surge of concern brought me to her side, I never let go of my suspicions. I played up my tenderness, kissed her hand just to judge her reaction.
And the whole time she was fighting to keep the rest of us—even Asher;especiallyAsher—as safe as possible, while adrift in a universe she can’t call her own.
Who else have I ever known who’s shown that kind of strength and sacrifice?
She squares her shoulders and sets her elbows on the table. Just the fact that she only faltered for an instant before pulling herself together sends a twinge of pride I’m not sure I deserve to feel through my chest.
A wry smile crosses her pretty face. “So, you managed to track Professor Jovak down?”
Right to business. Well, it isn’t as if I’ve encouraged much warmth.
I’m not sure I can afford to even think about that aspect of our relationship. Not when there’s so much at stake.
Not when just looking at the sly curve of her lips makes me want to bend her over the table and have her moaning loud enough they’ll hear her back at the academy.
I tamp down the flare of heat the fleeting image provokes and focus on the much direr task at hand. “Yes. This morning, before classes. Our conversation was brief, but I did read some clear impressions from him.”
“And…?” The arch of Elodie’s eyebrows is almost playful, but there’s a tightness in her voice. She can guess the gist of what I’m going to say.
I don’t know how to put it gently, so I spit it out. “All the feelings I caught toward you are negative. Aggression, fear, happiness when you stumbled. And I heard a comment he made to someone else, maybe Captain Ross? But I can’t be sure of that part. Whoever it was, they were talking about determining your weaknesses.”
Elodie’s smile fades into a sickly grimace. “Oh. Byron was right then. There’ve been a few things, the whole time— I had no idea Jovak even disliked me.”
The pain in her expression wrenches at me. “We don’t know what prompted his actions. He might be misinformed like Kenneth was.”