Page 28 of Moth to a Flame

I nodded and pointed out my toolbox hidden beneath the morning glories.

He shrugged out of his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and went to the toolbox. I moved to the workbench and told myself very firmly that I was going to translate the new passage Gertrude had worked on and not, under any circumstances, watch him work.

I translated for eleven minutes.

Then I watched him work.

He was undoing the bolts along the broken frame section, kneeling in the dirt with his sleeves shoved to the elbows. The muscles in his forearms shifted every time he leaned into a wrench. His hands were beautiful. Veiny. Long-fingered, elegant, and strong—I could tell they were strong because the bolts were seventy years rusted, and he was getting them out like he was pulling weeds.

Stop looking at his hands, you fucking creep.

I’d basically taken this man prisoner, forcing him to live with me while we figured this whole bond out. The least I could do was not objectify him while I did it. Even if his hands were—I wondered what else those hands⁠—

He chuckled. Didn’t look up.

“Enjoying the view?”

Goddess curse this fucking bond and my fucking hormones and his pretty crimson eyes that saw exactly the kind of pervert I was.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I turned back to my laptop and read the same set of translated glyphs about five times.

He just laughed, and I could feel him grinning through the bond I was about ready to rip out my own heart to escape. That felt less extreme than trying to tamp down the swirling thoughts of his hands and his shoulders and his pierced lip that just wouldn’t leave my head.

I made myself read. Really read this time. We didn’t have much time to break this bond, and I had to come up with a new way to break my curse. I didn’t have time for distractions. Make the plan. This I could do.

I’d translated two stanzas of the song for my ritual but now we needed the counter. Two more remained, and I knew they held the answer. But translation was annoyingly fluid. There were so many ways to interpret the glyphs that it was like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle without the cover photo. I preferred the rigid rules of alchemy, but this needed to be done. Luckily, Gertrude had gotten through a great deal of it already.

Her ███ sleeps where prying eyes cannot see,

The nimble ███ alone shall hold the key.

Whom she desires must ███ of her deep,

She binds forever what she means to keep.

The first I found in my notes from a cross-reference I had from some cultivation notes I’d paid a farmer in the region for. Nectar, which paired well with the third glyph that was clearly a cup running over for drink. I caught myself smirking at my reflection on the computer screen.

“So…what exactly are you doing over there?” Hawk asked over his shoulder.

“I’m trying to translate more of the song about the Moon Queen. Hopefully, it will reveal what we need for the counter-curse.”

He wandered over and peered at the screen over my shoulder. “So not only can you do, like, fancy plant science magic, you can also translate dead languages. You’re crazy smart, huh?”

I realized then that it had been literally years since someone had complimented me, and let me tell you, that was like Papaver somniferum straight to my veins.

I’d been called beautiful, and it normally came with the expectation of deflection. Apparently, the right answer wasn’t “I know.” The same went for smart. I was supposed to toss the compliment away like I wasn’t worthy of it. But I was.

“Well, I’ve been studying this particular language for five years and plant alchemy since I was sixteen. It shouldn’t be surprising.”

He smiled. “It’s not, but it’s still majorly impressive.”

The bond was thrumming with his kindness, his admiration. I practically felt my pupils dilate as I realized he meant it, with no backhandedness at all.

His smile widened. “There you are.”

My heart was beating out of my chest as the bond filled me with a feeling that was far too vulnerable for my liking.

My first compliment in years, and because it was real, I had to deflect it.