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I meet her gaze. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll check right now,” I say and rip off my shirt, dashing to the bathroom with Sera’s face in tow. The glamour ring hits the edge of the sink with a softclinkand twist to stare at my back in the mirror, holding the scrying mirror so Sera can see too.
“Anything?”
I can’t bring forth my wings, not with my native power locked away. But to my eye, at least, the muscles that support them still seem normal.
There’s no singed or blackened flesh where the wings would meet my back.
“You’re fine. It’s fine. He doesn’t know, Dove. It’s just a nickname.”
The Burrow, an on-campus coffee shop Stevie insisted I meet her and the others at before classes, is empty except for us. The scent of freshly ground coffee and cinnamon and baking pastries fill the air.
It’s kind of nice.
Not nice enough to entirely quell the strange mixed emotions about Axe’s text.
But nice.
“No one comes here,” Stevie says, sipping on her extra sweet vanilla latte. She tucks her feet under her, flattens her uniform skirt, and cozies into the corner of the lavender-gray sofa. “We basically always have the place to ourselves.”
“I wonder why? This place is really comfy.” I settle into the deep cushions of the oversized blue-gray chair across from her, cradling a warm mug of spiced cider. I let the warmth of the mug seep into me, hoping to dispel the low hum of dread and excitement and whatever else milling around in my gut.
The neutral cool tones, soft lighting, and comfortable seating make the coffee shop feel like a friend’s living room. If I were a proper student here, I could see myself writing papers and doing homework here. More people should be here. Not that I’m complaining about it.
Jess and Austin share the matching oversized chair next to me. Jess shrugs, curling into Austin’s chest. “Most students get too caught up in the tribalism of their halls. I don’t blame them. It’s enticing.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “And, I never asked, what halls are you guys in?”
Austin swallows his strange concoction of iced tea, milk, and little black balls called boba.
I think.
“Oh, we’re all in different halls. That’s why we started coming here. Common rooms are only for that hall’s members. The school is really serious about it too. They put wards and repulsion spells in all the common rooms for just that purpose.”
“I had to portal past the Pride common room to find you up there,” Stevie adds.
Jess, already finished with her hot chocolate, keeps her hands wrapped around Austin’s middle.
Not quite possessive, like Oliva pulling at Axe’s waist.
It seems, I don’t know, protective?
She lists everyone’s house halls. “Austin is in Wrath. I’m in Envy. Stevie is Lust. And you’re Pride.”
I nod.
Stevie continues Jess’s thought. “And those demons who invited you to their party, the heirs? They’re also the house heads.”
I try not to look too interested and spin my ring around my finger. “I don’t know how I feel about them.”
Austin chuckles. “You and the rest of the women here.”
Stevie leans toward me, smiling. “I’ll give ya the Spark Notes on them. Axe, the one you talked to with cheekbones you could hang from…”
Yes. That definitely describes his exquisitely chiseled face. I chomp on my tongue to keep from saying that out loud.
“He’s the leader. His full name is Troyan Axwell, and he’s the head of your house, Dove.”
I do my best to keep my face neutral as my stomach flips inside out and the war in my guts between dread and excitement only grows stronger.
