I shoved those thoughts away.Busy. Keep your fucking hands busy.
Moving to the other side of the table, I grabbed some discarded pieces before my brain betrayed me further.
“What are you making?” she asked without looking up.
“No idea yet.” That earned a laugh from her, so I started building too.
Hours blurred together after that. The room filled with muttered curses, scattered parts, clinking metal, and occasional triumphant noises whenever one of us solved something.
Eventually, we both stepped back from our projects at nearly the same time. Olivia immediately abandoned hers and hurried around the table toward mine.
“Whoa,” she breathed, crouching slightly. “What’s this?”
“It’s a rune finder,” I explained.
Her forehead wrinkled immediately.
“Without the magic installed yet,” I added, picking up the monocle-like device and pointing toward the lens.
“It detects hidden rune placements.”
Recognition slowly dawned across her face.
“People hide magical traps everywhere. Defensive barriers. Trigger runes. This lets you identify what kind they are before you accidentally activate one.”
Her eyes widened with genuine interest.
“That’s actually really cool.”
I glanced toward her table, seeing a strange little mechanical creature sitting there on four metal legs.
“What about yours?” Curiosity got the best of me, so I went over to her table to check it out.
She followed quickly, her hand proudly smoothing over the metal shell.
“It’s like a companion bot.” Her grin spread wider. “One that would detect hostile intent once that magic is infused with it.”
I crouched beside it while she practically vibrated beside me with excitement.
“I call it the Effy.” I blinked once. “Effy, the enemy finder.”
I stared at the mechanical dog again. Seeing the adjustable military-grade lenses she’d used for eyes. The articulated joints. The rotating ears that were clearly designed as directional sensors.
Honestly? It was clever as hell.
Standing up, I nodded and turned to her. Her eyes trained on me as she bit her lip, nervously waiting for my reaction.
And all I could think was that of course she built something designed to protect people.
“I mean…” She rubbed the back of her neck, glancing between me and the little mechanical dog like she already regretted showing it to me. “I don’t even know if something like this would work. I just kept building and…” she gestured helplessly toward it “…this happened.”
When I stayed quiet, she immediately filled the silence. Words started tumbling over each other faster and faster.
“It’s probably dumb, honestly. Just some random idea. Something to keep the fingers busy.” She laughed nervously, though her fingers were already absently curling around a screwdriver. “The parts are probably worth more than the actual thing anyway.”
Before I could answer, she grabbed the little machine and flipped it over onto her lap, already moving to unscrew one of the side panels.
“No.” The word came out sharper than I intended.
