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My eyes drifted across her skin, and heat scorched through my body.
I had to go before I forgot my resolve to give her time before I confessed my growing feelings for her.
“Thank you, Deus. See you tomorrow?” Seta smiled up at me, causing thunder to pound in my ears and electricity to hum around me.
The storm inside me demanded release, and I couldn’t do it here, not where I could hurt Seta.
Scratching at my tingling skin, I backed away. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”
The next two weeks were full of note-taking, paper-writing, pop quizzes, and lab experiments. It hadn’t been too hard to memorize a dozen incantations, draw seven different diagrams for alchemical transformation, and write two practice papers for my academic writing class.
It had been harder to keep my eyes on my own books and ignore invitations to study groups and clubs. I was growing to like the staff and several of the other students. Which made it challenging to keep up the necessary, but almost rude, exterior I needed to deter people from trying to get closer to me.
Ayla finally gave up on inviting me along every time she left our room, but she was still determined to befriend me. She hadn’t stopped giving me a full synopsis of her extracurricular activities whenever we returned to our room together, though.
The only time I was forced to be social was when working on the narwhal shifter project with Deus. Gorgeous, definitely off-limits Deus.
After the incident at the pond, it would’ve been easier if he’d let me handle the report alone. Then, I wouldn’t be reminded of the way his touch had felt… both in my mind and in real life.
But he’d stubbornly ignored my request to let me do the project and had gamely looked through every bestiary volume in the library. He’d even color-coded his notes the same way I did mine.
When we presented our outline to Professor Mackenzie, his eyebrows raised so high they nearly merged with his hairline.
He’d looked from me to Deus and back again. “You’ve picked a heck of a first project. Have you two prepared a reading list?”
Deus handed his reading list over proudly, and I followed with mine. I had to hand it to Deus; he’d come prepared, and it made us both look good.
Professor Mackenzie looked through the lists, a small frown on his face. Looking up, he stared hard at Deus. “Tell me the difference between a narwhal shifter and a selkie.”
“Uh, aside from the shape?” Deus grinned like it was a joke. “Selkies can remove their seal coats whenever they like. They don’t become human by enchantment, and being human is part of their magical form. Narwhal shifters are shifters, which means they can take on a human form as part of the enchantment, but they’re most comfortable as whales. And their horns do a lot of stuff, too.”
“‘A lot of stuff,’” Mackenzie echoed, shaking his head in bemusement before turning to me. “How much of that did you coach him to say?”
“Nothing,” I replied honestly.
The professor’s eyes narrowed, and his mouth thinned. He stared at me for a few seconds, but I refused to flinch. Finally, whatever test he was running on me, I evidently passed.
“I’m aware of your… special affinities for the sea, Seta.” His tone made me wonder justhowmuch he was aware of. “I never intended to go easy on you in this class. Doing a project like this will only make it harder for you to impress me.”
“I can do it.” I pushed my shoulders back and stood tall.
Mackenzie studied me for another moment before turning back to Deus. “And you? You’ll share her grade, and I won’t be merciful just because you’renota creature of the sea.”
“I’m ready.” Deus held out his fist for a bump. Mackenzie stared at it until Deus slowly lowered his hand.
Deus was adorable, but it took all my self-control to keep from face-palming.
“Fine. I’ll put you down for narwhal shifters, but consider yourselves warned.” Mackenzie shook his head at our foolishness and waved us away.
“Nice. Prof. Mackenzie thinks I’m an idiot, doesn’t he?” Deus whispered as we left the classroom.
We had a study period now, making it the perfect time to crack open a book from our reading lists.
Sneaking a glance up at Deus’s face, I caught the twitch of his lips.
Reluctantly, I pulled my eyes from his mouth and asked, “Why are you smiling?”
Technically, he always seemed to be smiling, but I wasn’t sure why he was happy at the moment.
