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I forget how badly the earth witch protects paper.
“I can hear you,” he says, raising an eyebrow. “It’s something that I’ve noticed since bonding with her. We’ve now been granted access to their mental link, and if you don’t have your walls in place, we catch thoughts from each other.”
I purse my lips, hiding my true excitement over that. “I see. And how is this making you feel?”
“What are you now, a therapist?”
“I could be.”
“Sure thing, Dr Bellen,” he says and I shudder as the imagery of the devil appears in my head. Or you know, my sister. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
“For real, though.”
He runs his hands through his light brown hair, looking up at the ceiling for some patience. I sip at my whisky, waiting him out.
Jasper’s a man of logic, driven by his need to have things in a precise order and way about them.
It’s always been something that I’ve found weird. That earth witches, the ones who work with the chaos of the Earth, of the land, are the ones so rigid and uptight.
But Jasper takes the trait of his people to the next level. He’s anal about everything, using schedules and lists as if his very survival depends on them.
It always throws him for a loop, and then when something happens out of the blue, something he wasn’t prepared for, he shuts down and panics.
Something like his bond with Zoe.
“She’s kind of perfect,” he says, refusing to meet my eyes. “I hated her on principle when we first met. She was late, as I expected from Eirik’s mistress—”
I choke out a laugh, causing him to blush. “Please, please, please, tell me you didn’t say that to her.”
“Not out loud,” he says, cringing a little when my laughter turns into loud guffaws. “Mate, I legit sat insulting her in my head, not realising she had shared magicae with Ryes. She remained pleasant the entire fucking time. I was devastated when Eirik told me the truth.”
That silences my laughter, realising it was more than just a simple offhand comment.
“She’s got the same connection to the plants that I do,” he says, and I nod because that’s not uncommon in soul witches. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to start things off.”
“Easy,” I say, sitting forward. “Have you got her number?”
He nods slowly, an unsure look making his hazel eyes squint as his concaved nose scrunches, causing me to grin.
“Text her. Date her. Learn what you can about her.”
And then share it all with me so I can tell Vitalis. I can’t start something up with her, blurring the lines between professor and student, but he can.
And it might be selfish, my desire to vicariously live through Jasper, but it’s also all I’ve got.
15
RYES
“Resurgemus,” Zoe murmurs, her eyes closed as she walks around in a carefully slow circle. She’s in some kind of trance, and it’s starting to get a little bit creepy.
She’s still in her pyjamas—a vest top and a short pair of shorts—and her blonde hair is mussed from the tossing and turning she does. She’s sans glasses, and her feet are bare, both things giving me worry.
Right now she looks tiny, and yes, sure, she’s not very tall, but with being so… out of it, she’s just fragile and delicate.
“What is she trying to do?” I ask quietly. It’s not like I’m going to disturb her, but I still can’t bring myself to talk any louder.
Sleep talking is something she’s always done, and I really love that aspect about her—she’s great at revealing some of her inner thoughts without meaning to.
