“It’s truly glorious. And you will be able to see it when you join the coven.”
“Ah, nice try.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Do you get a commission for successfully recruiting me or something?”
My expression softened. “Your mom wasn’t kicked out, just so you know,” I said, trying to be gentler. “She chose to leave. I’ll admit, your dad might’ve had a hard time fitting in. Not everyone has the constitution for succubi and headless pumpkin monsters, but from what Dagmar’s told me, they wanted a different life, one without magic.”
“And that’s what you want?”
I rocked back on my heels, not expecting that question. “Yeah,” I said. “But I mean, I’ll come back and visit. I won’t cut out the entire town. If ever I have witchlings, I’d still want them to know where they come from.”
“Yeah. I’m sure my mom had her reasons.” She folded her arms, and I could see the weight of the secret pressing down on her. What must it feel like to have your own mother keep such a big part of your identity from you?
“I’m sure she did.” Goddess, I wanted to kiss that pout off her lips. “I’m just sorry you had to get caught up in whatever reasons those were.”
Gwen’s eyes softened at that, and I realized how close we were standing.
“Thanks,” she said, lifting a hand and mindlessly sweeping a strand of wet hair behind my ear. Then, she stilled and retracted her hand as if it had been burned. “Sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
She took a giant step back to make more space between us.
“It’s okay.” I shot my hands out, reassuring her. “Really. It’s no big deal.”
She straightened her shoulders. “No, I shouldn’t have done that. That was a really stupid thing to do. I . . .” She screwed her eyes shut, and when they opened, she looked at me with stubborn determination. “I don’t think we should do our witch lessons together anymore.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised at the bud of pain blooming in my chest. I wasn’t about to admit aloud that those lessons were my favorite part of the day. “Okay. Yeah. No big deal.”
“It’s just . . . Astrid already has a target on my back and?—”
I growled.
“Astrid should play no part in your choices.”
“But she is a powerful witch who can make my life miserable. And yours,” she reminded me. “So she does play a part in my choices, whether I like it or not.”
“Gwen—”
“She clearly has a crush on you,” she blurted. “And us being in the same room together is going to make her try to destroy me, and I’m not powerful enough to go up against her. She has feelings for you, and it makes her dangerous.”
“I don’t feel the same way for her.”
“Good.” Her eyes widened, and it looked like she wished she could reach into the near past and yank that word out of the air.
“Good?” I asked with a surprised chuckle.
“Yeah. She’s awful.”
“Oh. I thought you were going to say it was because maybe you had a teeny-tiny crush on me yourself.”
“Maybe I do,” she hedged, licking her lips. Andfuck meif I didn’t want to lean in and kiss her so badly it hurt.
“Maybe those feelings might be reciprocated,” I said breathlessly.
Gwen took another step back, practically toppling over the bean bag chair, and I reached out to steady her.
“Which is why we need to stay far, far away from each other,” she said, waving her arms into an X. “You’re a counselor, I’m a camper, and both of our lives could be royally fucked if Astrid suspects even the teeniest, tiniest crush between us.”
“I don’t like having my life controlled by Astrid Cunningham’s jealousy.”
“Neither do I, but that’s the way it is.”
