Page 130 of Serpent and Shadow

“Anyway, the point is, you should know by now I can actually see her there. Why do you lie to me when I can actually see the lie, just by looking at you?” He paused, as if waiting for Caelum to explain himself, or maybe just to apologize. When he did neither, Arcturus let out another exasperated sound. “You’re really stupid sometimes, you know.”

Caelum coughed out a half-laugh.

He couldn’t help it.

Even so, he was shaking his head, holding up a hand.

“I never lied,” he protested.

“You lied by omission,” Arcturus said, unimpressed.

“I’ve only just got back. Maybe I would have told you?” he suggested.

Arcturus gave him a flat-eyed, uncompromising stare.

“Don’t insult my intelligence,” the younger mage said haughtily. “Even suggesting you might’ve told me, when you clearly weren’t going to tell me, is just another dumb lie.” He pointed above Caelum’s head. “I can see that, too.”

He went back to staring down at his book, his arms resting in his lap, the quill pen still clutched in one hand.

“Is she okay?” Arcturus asked next. “Leda?”

Caelum felt his humor evaporate.

He didn’t want to lie to the kid, so he forced himself to stop before answering glibly, to actually think about his answer. He struggled with a wave of desire when he remembered looking down at her, his hands pinning her wrists to the bed, her black hair splayed on his bedspread. Gods, it had been difficult to leave her.

And what the hell had he said to her?

He glanced over at the kid, saw him staring at him curiously, and flushed.

“Are you blushing?” Arcturus asked, incredulous.

“She’s fine,” he said, answering glibly, in spite of what he’d told himself. He took a breath, leaning his hands on his knees and exhaled.

He fought to think, to give him a real answer.

“She looked tired,” he said finally. “Exhausted, really,” he admitted, a beat later. “She looked like she’d lost weight… but her magic looked strong,” he added, when Arcturus’s brow furrowed. “I could see more…” He motioned vaguely above his head. “More structure there, I guess. She was really strongly connected to her primal.”

Remembering who he was talking too, he snorted.

“You would have seen a lot more, I’m sure,” he added wryly. “But she looked like she’d been training. Magically. A lot, probably.”

Thinking about that, he tried not to let his worry show on his face.

“Why would that be weird?” Arcturus asked. “She’s in university, right? Isn’t she supposed to be learning how to use her magic?”

“I guess it’s not weird,” Caelum said, shrugging.

“Then why do you look so worried?” Arcturus asked, his voice openly skeptical. When Caelum didn’t answer immediately, he sharpened his voice. “Cal? Do you think it’s more than that? Like she’s getting ready to attack your father or something?”

Bones glanced at him, a little unnerved at the scrutiny in younger mage’s wide eyes.

The kid noticed absolutely everything. What he didn’t notice on Caelum’s face, he saw in his magic, and he only seemed to be getting more observant, and more frustratingly accurate, the longer they knew one another.

Caelum increasingly had his doubts at how much he was able to successfully hide from the kid, especially when it came to anything he was even the slightest bit emotional about. He tried not to let any of those thoughts show on his face either.

He forced another exhale, and leaned back on his palms.

“No one’s attacking Malefic,” he said. He glanced at Arcturus, and hoped he sounded reassuring. “You’re sister’s too smart for that. She probably just wants to be ready.”