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“It means,” says Merritt, still by the bookshelf, idly fingering the spine of a book. “That when you do challenge her, you’re going to decimate her. You have a natural affinity for illusions that she just doesn’t have.”
“I kind of doubt that anyone is as talented as you, Sweeney,” Fielder adds.
“Why is that?”
“Because even the elder of Shadow and Veil has to use ingredients to make a believable illusion. You don’t seem to need any.”
I shake my head. “No, you don’t understand. Idoneed them. When I do my videos as Gany, I’m not taking my brown hair and turning it black. I’m not literally changing the shape of my nose. I use a wig and contour.”
“You use those things, because you thought you needed them in order to create the transformation, love. But you’re right, they aren’t traditionalingredients, so they aren’t actually contributing to the magic. That’s all you.”
Gideon can tell I’m not buying it, so he slaps his hands on his knees. “Let’s test it now, shall we?”
Nine
There’s a drip somewhere. A steadydrip, drip, dripthat’s grating against my nerves. I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything else. I’ve never heard a drip in the tunnels before. They are dry and cool, definitely not damp. Must be magic that keeps them this way. I wonder if they have to renew the magic every so often.
“You’re not concentrating,” Gideon’s voice comes from behind me.
I frown but keep my eyes closed, and try to force my thoughts to the task at hand. An illusion. They want me to just create something from nothing. To dazzle them with my abilities. The problem is, I’m still not entirely sure I believe that I’m capable of that. My brain has this block that i just can’t get past.
A yawn large enough to make my jaw crack forces its way out of me and my eyes open. “Can we try tomorrow? Its gotta be after three. I’m tired.”
Gideon looks like he wants to argue, but Ezra’s already moving forward to take my hand and pull me into the warmth of his body. His chin drops to the top of my head. “Of course, Ro.” Gideon’s mouth snaps shut and I make a note that in my training sessions with them, which I am apparently going to have, he’s going to be the toughest, the hardest to please and the one who pushes me the most. Not surprising. It’ll be like chemistry all over again, but with magic.
We trail out of the sacrarium, through the tunnel, into the storage room, and back up to the fifth floor. The journey doesn’t take long, but my eyes are drooping by the time the elevator comes to a stop, and I sway on my feet.
Gideon chuckles and pulls me into his arms. I let out a sound of protest when he scoops me up and carries me down the hall. “I’ll try harder next time, Brightwater, I promise,” I murmur into his chest.
His lips brush over my forehead and then he’s setting me on the softest mattress I’ve ever laid on. He pulls off my shoes while I blindly pull off my coat and t-shirt. Not the least bit concerned that I’m stripping in front of him, I’m that exhausted. When I undo the button of my pants and shimmy out of them, he sucks in a sharp inhale. And I’m not gonna lie. It makes me wet, knowing that is his reaction to seeing me in my bra and panties.
I crack open an eye and see him standing by the bed, gray eyes running over every inch of my skin. When he notices me noticing him, he jerks forward and pulls up the blankets, covering my flesh.
“You could stay,” I blurt, before he slips away from me. I blame exhaustion. There is no other excuse why I would offer that when I’ve made it clear, I’m not going to fuck them.
“Stay?” he parrots back at me.
I turn on my side and curl into a ball. “You know, tosleep. You could stay to sleep. Here. With me.”
Yeah, it’s exhaustion that’s making me say this. Nothing else. Definitely nothing else. “Still not fucking you though,” I murmur.
He chuckles and doesn’t respond for the longest time. So long, in fact, that I’m pretty sure I doze off before I feel the bed dip behind me, and then he pulls me back against his chest. I kind of expect him to clamp his arm around me like a band, but he only places his hand on my hip, his fingers brushing against my belly.
The last thought I have before I fall into a deep sleep is how strange it is that being in his arms feels so right.
I awake the next morning feeling awfully warm and secure. I’m in the same position I fell asleep in, curled on my side, hands tucked under my chin, like a good little girl. Gideon’s hand is still on my hip, well… maybe not exactly on my hip. It sort of dipped a little closer to the apex of my thighs during the night.
Heat is flowing from his skin to mine and I find I am immediately ready for him to move his hand a little further south. Despite my best intentions, despite that I’ve repeatedly said I don’t want them, that I will not do anything physical with them, I shift ever so slightly, hoping to help his fingers go where I want them to, but they don’t move.
Dammit.
Heart pounding at how wrong this is, I arch my back, pressing my hips into his, and am rewarded with the tiniest amount of movement, sliding just a bit farther toward my needy core. So small that if I wasn’t so wholly focused on the location of his digits, I would have missed it.
“What are you doing?” Oh, fuck. Gideon’s morning voice is gruff and sexy, and now I’m really fucking horny.
But I don’t want him to know that.
“Hmm?” I try to make it sound like he woke me up, like the movements of my body before were out of my control. I was asleep and I can’t be blamed for what my body does while I’m asleep, can I?
