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“Mr. Yorke,” Professor Masters breaks in. “Please remove yourself from the table and find a chair. This may be independent study, but you’re still expected to behave like a person with some manners.”
Hardin drops a kiss on the top of my head, his arms wrapping around my chest. “Nah, I’m good, Masters. Thanks.”
“Hardin.” Our teacher’s voice holds a warning note, but Hardin doesn’t listen and after a minute, Professor Masters seems to give up.
It’s really too bad because now my face is flaming and they’re all watching me and I really wish I could take back what I said. My eyes focus on my shoes, and I clear my throat. “So, uh, teach me some witchy shit.”
They all visibly relax on a breath, like they’d been holding it, waiting for me to tell them I can’t be with all four of them or something. Like I would tell them I’ve made up my mind and I’m not going to be with any of them.
Hardin kisses my hair again and his arms tighten, while Fielder pulls some books out of his bag and hands them to me.
“These will cover the basics.” I stare at the books, then back at him.
“You want me to just read them?”
He huffs out a laugh. “Yes, Sweeney, I want you to justreadthem. That is what one generally does with books.”
I hum and look back at them, arching a brow at the title of the one on top. Its literally calledThe Basics of Witchcraft. I shake my head. “I thought we’d be doing spells or something.”
“We’ll work up to it, Ro,” Gideon says, and I glare at him. He’s still on my shit list. “But if Saturday night proved anything to us, it’s that although you’re clearly powerful, you have no idea how to access your power.”
Ezra taps the first book. “We all read these when we were kids, and they definitely helped us figure out how to access it.”
I huff out an annoyed sound. Great, so not only am I not going to be doing spells, but I also am going to be learning from children’s spell books. Because I have the know-how of a child.
I shouldn’t be offended by that, not really, but I am.
“Come on, love, it’s not so bad.”
I glance up. “How long did it take you guys to master the basics?”
Ezra considers. “I think it took about, what? Four months?”
“But don’t think you need to do it that quickly, Ro,” Gideon says, his lips twisting. “We know you’re a total beginner and didn’t grow up around this. It’s expected that you’ll take longer.”
Oh, this motherfucker.
His grey eyes are glinting. I know he just laid a challenge down. Damn if my competitive side doesn’t peek its head out and growl.
“Four months?” I ask, opening the first book. “I bet I can do it in three. Before the end of the school year.”
Hardin chuckles and kisses me again. He can’t seem to stop. “I’m sure you can, love.”
But Gideon’s shaking his head. “I doubt it, Rosalind.”
I narrow my gaze at him. Even though I know what he’s doing, I can’t help it. “No really, by the end of the school year, I’ll have mastered the basics.”
A slow smile spreads over his lips. “What do I get if I win?”
I lift a shoulder. “I don’t know. What do you want, Gideon Brightwater?”
Heat immediately flares in his eyes and I’m thrown back to the morning before when I was writhing underneath his touch. “Oh, I’m sure I can come up with something.”
“I’ll take that bet,” Hardin says from behind me. “Ro will succeed by the end of the school year.”
I tip my head back to press a kiss to his scruffy jaw, without thinking, while Gideon says, ”I’m not making that bet with you, Yorke.”
Ezra shakes his head. “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that the reward is going to be something sexual.”
