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He snorts. “Of course I’m high.”
Of coursehe is. The fae boy takes fairy drugs to control his wild elemental magic. They have the slight side effect of getting him stoned out of his mind.
Jason, on the other hand, also in this class but on purpose sitting far away from me—and no, I’m not hurt and sad about that, and yes, this is sarcasm—is definitely drunk.
On booze.
I know because he was at a party last night and reliable sources told me he—
Scratch that. I didn’t depend on sources. I saw him with my own eyes. I went there and looked for him, to talk to him and Emrys, and found him on the floor, half-passed out, throwing his guts up. That’s not healthy. He didn’t seem happy.
But then my cousin appeared and dragged him away, a forbidding scowl on her face, leaving me with an aching heart.
Jason glances my way, a furtive look, then away, blond bangs falling in his eyes, hiding them. He squares his wide shoulders. He won’t really look at me or talk to me anymore, not since he sided with my cousin.
And Sindri is trying to distract me with his antics. Yes, I know that’s what he’s doing but I’m too upset to find them funny. Even though I find it sweet, especially coming from him, a boy I thought didn’t really like me or care about me.
Something has shifted—a dynamic, a weight, a belief. I’m not out to get them anymore, to expose their secrets. I want to know their secrets so that I can soothe their hurts and take away their pain.
This is crazy.
“Dark matter,” the teacher says. She’s a tall, rail-thin woman of undetermined age and has an aura about her that tells me she has magic. Sensing magic in others is a new thing for me. “It comprises most of our universe and yet we don’t really know what it is.”
Much like love, I think.It fills our lives and yet we don’t understand it.
But I’m not in love with them. I can’t be. Not even with one of them, let alone all four. I barely know them. I’ve barely touched the surface of who they are, what they’ve done, what they’ve suffered, what they can do.
What I can be in their lives.
And yet here I am, heartbroken and ready to do something drastic and stupid to get my boys back.
Like get up, fall to my knees and beg Jason to come back.
“Miss Apollinari,” the teacher says, obviously sensing my distraction. “We do know a few things about dark matter, as per today’s lesson. Care to tell us what they are?”
“Uh.” I tear my gaze off Jason, frown down at my notes. My non-existent notes because not only didn’t I study for today’s class, I didn’t pay attention to a word she has said. “Sorry.”
“This is a sad state for a new student to be in, Mia,” the teacher says, her voice disapproving. “Anyone else? Mr. Arash, perhaps?”
“Dark matter fills the universe,” Sindri says in his low, rough voice, leaning back in his chair, eyes half-closing. “We don’t know if it’s comprised of some exotic particle we haven’t as yet discovered or if it’s a quirk of gravity we still haven’t understood. It appears to hold entire galaxies together and to distort the appearance of space and therefore time.”
I stare at him.
“Nice, Mr. Arash.” The teacher smirks at him. “And what doyoubelieve?”
“I’m fey.” He shrugs. “The fey believe that this is all a load of horseshit, that this unknown force is merely an expression of the elemental forces fighting for balance.”
“Language,” the teacher says, albeit mildly.
“You asked for my opinion.”
“You can express your opinion without trotting on others’ beliefs, knowledge, and patience.” The teacher’s voice has turned dry. “Learn to modulate your language.”
Sindri rolls his pen on his desk, gazing under lowered lashes not at the teacher but at me. “My beliefs regarding magic are pretty damn strong.”
“Trust me, we noticed.” The teacher turns to the board to write something and it’s my turn to kick at his foot.
“What?” He grins at me, and it’s pretty devastating, that open grin, the boyish delight in his dark eyes.
