I wasn’t going to deny the truth. “As long as you’re okay with me joining you everywhere else,” I said with a shrug, “I don’t mind not breaking my neck in your class when I slip in my own sweat.”
The sound of her laughter was like a balm on the broken parts of my soul that I hadn’t realized needed healing. “I’m still going to be walking Ribbon,” she informed me as the doors swung open. Luckily the car was empty. “We can still spend time together there.”
She was watching me now, observing me and while I wasn’t sure what she was looking for, I just told her my truth. “I want to spendas muchtime with you as possible. If I could spend every second in your presence, Emma, I would. But since that’s not possible…yet, then I had one of my clan-brothers pull some strings and beg for some favors.”
I was going to owe Rudgarso muchafter all was said and done, but it wouldalwaysbe worth it for her.
“You didn’t need to,” she told me, her hair falling over one shoulder as she tilted her head to look at me. “I’m good spending my extra time with you.” Her words were spoken so softly I swore for a moment that I’d imagined them.
Of courseI would imagine my beautiful mate saying something like that to me. It would be a dream come true. I blinked a few times before I realized that she was looking at meexpectantly.
Fuck!
“Really?” I demanded, leaning closer and accidentally shoving the cart into the wall of the elevator, creating a loud clattering noise that startled us both.
She didn’t respond right away, adjusting the cart so it was settled against me once again before biting her lip and looking at me from under her eyelashes. “We’re… friends. I don’t mind spending extra time with my friends. You’re fun to be around, Krusk. I really enjoy your company.”
She took a deep breath as we continued up the elevator, looking at the numbers changing in bright lights above our heads. “I think…” she cleared her throat before continuing. “If the circumstances were different. If things with me were different,” she clarified, glancing at me one last time before looking away. “We could be more. But we can’t, so we’ll be friends, okay?”
I nodded with enthusiasm, reaching out to take her tiny, soft hand into mine. “Thanks for letting me know that, Zemar. I’ll always be here for you. No matter what.”
She searched my face, and I let every single thing I felt for her show there. After a long moment, she nodded, releasing my hand as the doors chimed and swung open. She strode ahead of me, walking out onto one of the floors.
A shiver ran up my spine and I had the distinct feeling that the office space was expecting us somehow. The moment my feet touched the dark tiles covered with silver runes, the lighting adjusted—soft, flattering, like the last hour before sunset.
“This floor holds the Division of Modern Divinations & Magical Innovation, but everyone just calls it M32,” Emma explained as she swept a palm out, gesturing toward the empty cubicle section.
“I’ve never actually seen anyone here, but they always get somuch mail,” she told me.
It was open-plan, flooded with light, and pulsing with quiet magic. It looked more like a cutting-edge creative studio than a government office. Walls of enchanted glass scrolled through ambient illusions—drifting clouds, shifting city skylines, ocean tides.
Emma pointed toward it. “According to HR, that’s calibrated to reduce stress and encourage emotional clarity or something,” she explained. “You’ll get used to it eventually.” I nodded in response, my eyes wide with awe.
Desks floated slightly above the floor, hovering a few inches in case of sudden spell surges. Magi-screens flickered with holographic reports, spell blueprints, and collaborative thought-clouds where handwritten ideas bloomed like ink in water. The air held the crisp scent of paper, coffee beans, and the faintest trace of ozone.
Telephones on the desks glowed softly instead of ringing, pulsing in hues that changed. Some blinked anxiously, others radiated a contented warmth. In the far lounge corner, a clearly charmed espresso bar served brews all on its own. I would be giving that monstrosity a huge berth.
But what set the floor apart wasn’t the magick that pulsed in every crevice. It was the undercurrent ofsomething elsethat hung in the air. Secrets that were waiting to be unfolded. As if the floor knew something about you and was just hiding until it could jump out and surprise you with its knowledge.
She was already three desks across from me, and I rushed to catch up with her. She sent a wink my way. “It makes you nervous, right? As if it’s talking about you behind your back?”
I nodded, realizing that wasexactlyhow I felt.
“I know, it’s so creepy. It does that every time anyone enters the floor. But we’ll be done soon enough since there’s never anybody to bother us,” she soothed, emptying the cart as Ipushed it along behind her. She moved with so much grace and efficiency that I wanted to reach out my fingers and caress them along her arm.
I didn’t, reminding myself that she wanted us to bejust friendsand I would do that for her. There were no other options from me because I was going to take whatever she wanted to give me and be ecstatic about it.
I stared down at her ass for a long moment before glancing heavenward.
This is going to be harder than I thought.
CHAPTER 25
Emma
“Ihate this floor,” I sighed, turning to scowl at Krusk as the elevator moved upward. “There’s this asshole here that just gives me theick.”
He nodded, but his brows were furrowed in a way that told me he had no idea what the hell I was talking about. Grinning at him, I shook my head.
