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“You’d have to take off the collar for that,” Ros mutters under his breath.
“Better luck next time!” Mel calls out, her steps light on the worn boards as she walks around the side of the house. “We have some preliminary stuff to take care of before tomorrow.”
“Hey, Mel.” I push Tris away to make room, and he tumbles back to the floor. Standing, I turn to face her and nod toward Aspen, who stands stiffly at Mel’s side. “So, you’re still here.”
“Good evening, Rowe,” Aspen says, his voice calm and composed. “And Ambros, right?”
“Correct.” Ros shakes his hand.
Aspen’s gaze drops to Tris, who once more lies sprawled out on the porch in the dwindling patch of sunlight. “Good evening, Tris.”
Tris lifts a hand in acknowledgment. “We were just about to go to bed, so this is bad timing.”
“It’s not even eight o’clock,” Mel protests.
“And we were not about to go to bed,” Ros corrects. “We were still going over the potential risks.”
Aspen frowns. “Of going to bed early?”
“Of Tris and Ros forming a bond if he gets bitten three times.” I lean closer. “This one’s about sex.”
Mel’s eyes glaze over. “Oh, yeah, the bite is good.”
Aspen turns to stare at her. “You let a vampire drink your blood?”
“It was a donation.” She rolls her eyes. “Get over it.”
“Wait a second!” Tris leaps to his feet to glare at Ros. “Am I the only one you told the rest of the vampires not to bite?”
Ros’s lips twitch with amusement, and he looks away.
Tris’s mouth drops open before he snaps it shut. “Have you been teasing me this whole time? Are you some kind of sadist?”
Ros grabs his lemonade from the table. “I’ll leave you to your witchy meeting.”
“Don’t go.” I snatch up my comb and clutch it to my chest. Playing with his auburn curls is one of the highlights of my night. “I haven’t braided your hair yet.”
“You can braid it after your meeting.” Leaning down, he kisses the top of my head, takes the comb, and heads toward the front of the house.
As soon as he’s gone, Tris turns toward me. “Were you in on this scheme of his?”
Just as surprised as Tris, I shake my head. “You know I can’t keep a secret from you.”
“True.” He purses his lips. “You’re horrible at lying, even by omission.”
Is that something I should work on? I’m not sure my brain is made for subterfuge where Tris is concerned.
I give up on the idea and turn back to Mel and Aspen. “So, what’s the preliminary?”
Aspen clasps his hands behind his back. “First, I would like to see your current magic tools to assess their quality.”
Mel winces.
When I glance at Tris, he shrugs.
I turn back to Aspen. “Tools?”
“Yes, your wands…” He trails off when we shake our heads. “No wands?”
