Page 44 of The Banshee and the Warlock

"I'll get it," I say, leaning over and quickly making a feather appear by magic, pulling it out from behind her collar.

"Hmm." The professor turns away and looks towards the board, not seeming convinced by Anja's lie. "Today's lesson will be about locking charms, though I think perhaps some of you could do with a lesson in when to respect them." She starts to go over the lesson plan.

"For you," I say, brandishing the feather to Anja.

"Thanks. I should have thought of a better lie."

"It's okay, I could work with this one," I assure her. Though if she'd come up with something different, I might have struggled.

"Do you think she knows it was us?" She takes the feather from me, her fingers lingering as they brush against mine, sending a bolt of desire through me. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to get enough of her.

"I don't think so, or we'd have been in Headmistress Maddox's office for a very different reason this morning," I assure her.

"Do you think they'd have expelled us?"

"I hope not. I don't think Dad would be very happy about that," I say.

"My parents either. They were so excited about me coming here," she responds, glancing at the front to make sure we're not about to get in trouble again. Luckily, we seem to have gotten fairly good at covert conversations.

"Have you told them that you figured out what you are yet?"

She shakes her head. "It might not surprise you to know that when I got to bed last night, I collapsed into a heap and went straight to sleep."

"Any dreams?" I don't want her to have had more nightmares after everything we did to stop them.

She gives me a knowing look. "Yes. But not the kind you're insinuating."

"So nothing vivid?"

"Oh, it was very vivid," she responds. She looks to the front where the professor is going through copious amounts of information surrounding locking charms.

I try to focus on what the professor is saying, but I can't help my mind from wandering and wondering what Anja dreamt about.

"You were the star," she says when there's the perfect break for a conversation.

"I hope I was good."

"Very." She grins. "It definitely gave me some ideas."

"I look forward to finding out more about them."

She gives me a look that makes me certain there are fun things in our future.

Though maybe we'll skip the classroom next time.

Chapter 19

Anja

I groan and rub my temples, already wondering how I'm going to be able to cope with Familiar Training as well as everything else.

I look up, unsurprised to find Thistle soaring above me. I don't think she's ever going to stop going off and doing her own thing, but she's definitely keeping an eye on me more.

"We need to go back up to the academy," I say to the sky.

She caws loudly.

"Oh, shhh," I tell her. "You're the one who is making me go through all of this." Even from this distance, I see her give me a look and she flies off.