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“Genius isn’t about being perfect; it’s about never giving up.”
I laughed. “I’m nowhere near genius.”
Ram picked up a twig, turning it over in his hands. “I don’t know music, admittedly, but it was the best piano playing I ever heard.”
He only thought that because it was me playing. I wasn’t the best; not even close. But Ram had recently learned how to express affection like so many of us abused kids had to learn as adults. Now, he nearly flooded me with it.
If only he—and I—had known how to do that years ago.
“Did Jess and Marley ever come to Silver Springs?” he asked.
They were the teenagers he had found in Salt Lake running a counterfeit medication scam after their parents had abandoned them for being dark witches.
“They settled into the dorms and are attending school.”
Ram nodded and smiled to himself as he watched the river. And I watched him. He seemed calmer since he had started sending lost souls our way, almost happy.
Almost.
His smile widened, and he eyed me sidelong. “You staring at me, Sa-Sa?”
“Call me that again and I’ll toss you in the river, Ro-Ro.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” As he turned to face me and offered his hand, I noticed a plain yellow amulet around his neck.
I didn’t take his hand. “That’s a relic.”
He held it up for me to see, though there was no writing or symbols on it. Maybe it wasn’t magical after all. “I found a way to win Juniper’s trust.”
My eyes widened. “You visited her?”
“I told her to take this and make a magic dampener, but not just any kind. One that she could turn on and off on a whim. So, if I ever posed a threat to her, she could snap her fingers and turn my magic from a torrent to a trickle.”
I touched the amulet, turning it over. It was blank. “She didn’t do it.”
“She said she’s not scared of me anymore. I don’t know if I should be offended.”
I laughed and dropped the pendant. My heart raced and with each beat, it grew larger and larger. If Juniper was comfortable with Ram after their battles and blood feud, then…
Then I wouldn’t be betraying my best friend by being close to him.
Ram offered his hand again, and this time, I took it, lacing our fingers together. I smiled at him, staring into his eyes that were as dark as when you cuddle under a blanket for safety. He stared back, not with pain or rage or careful neutrality, but something soft and warm.
It had taken a hell of a lot of therapy and work on his end to be someone who could put others first. And it took a hell of a lot of therapy and work on my end to stop resenting him and to recognize the good in him again.
But maybe, just maybe, we were at a point where we wouldn’t fuck each other up.
“Your eyes are so beautiful,” he whispered. “I could stare at them all day.”
My smile widened until my face hurt.
Eat him,my brain said.Eat his whole head.
What?
He’s being cute, so eat him. Just bite his head. Bite it off and chew it into a squishy paste because he’s squishy and makes you squishy.
Instead, I leaned forward and kissed him for the first time in eight years.
