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“Did you have anything exciting happen this week?” I ask her, using my hands as a pillow.

She shakes her head. “Just more classes. I can’t wait until this is over. I feel like there isn’t anything else for me to learn.”

I snort. “You think that now, but wait until it’s time for your final. Everything I learned just seeped away. I reacted on instinct and was lucky that was enough.”

Wren narrows her eyes. “You also had to reap my soul for your final. I don’t think that counts.”

“I’m still pissed about that, and Wraith refuses to look into it. I know there’s nothing we can do about it now, but I’d feel better knowing which asshole has it out for me.”

“You’re ridiculous. Don’t you think having one vendetta at a time is enough?”

I jerk my head back when she flicks my nose. “That was rude.”

I dig my fingers into her ribs in retaliation, and she squeals. Even when she begs me to stop, I don’t let up. She’s always been ticklish as hell, and I’ve always taken advantage of that.

“Okay! Okay! You win! Mercy! Please! I’m going to pee my pants!”

“You’re damn right, I won.” I shoot her a smile as I roll off the bed. “Let’s go outside. I could use some fresh air, and we can work on your magic some more.”

Wren keeps saying she’s ready for her final and over the classes, but I know it’s driving her crazy that she hasn’t been able to do half of what I can with my magic. Of the two of us, she’s always been the one who had better control over her magic, so it surprised both of us when she didn’t advance as I had.

She was able to use her magic long before I could, and it’s strong but nothing like mine. It has me wondering if bonding with my mates didn’t affect my magic. Clearly, not how long it took me to be able to finally use it, but with its improved strength. Brenden and I have talked about it a few times, even bringing it to Wraith, but neither of them could say one way or the other.

They just don’t have the knowledge that Nex does.

If he wasn’t such an asshole, then I’d ask him. I’d have to catch him first. I swear he’s part ninja now that he’s avoiding me, Brenden, and even Wraith. It’s kind of ridiculous the lengths he’ll go to in order to avoid being around me. I’m not sure why he’s avoiding my mates now. Except Donovan—that one makes complete sense.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll never turn down playing with fire.” Wren’s grin is wicked as we head for the door and out of her home.

She’s not sharing with anyone since she still hasn’t made any friends. I don’t understand why she hasn’t, but she clams up every time I bring it up, so I just stopped asking. When she asked me to talk to Wraith about her having a place to herself, I wasn’t going to turn her down. Neither was he, apparently.

I lead her across campus and into the woods. There’s a clearing not too far from her place that we’ve been using for practice.

Whatever her reasons for not making friends are, I think that’s what makes her want to hide away when we work with our magic. I hate that she’s keeping something from me, but it’s her prerogative. She’ll break eventually and spill the beans. At least I hope she will. She always has before.

Neither of us has ever been good at keeping secrets from each other. I think it’s the twin bond we share. It’s nothing like the bond I share with my mates, which feels tangible.

My bond with Wren has been there since we were born, something that tethers us to one another in a way no one else can understand. It’s why she lost herself to grief when I died. I could still feel the bond, even in death, but she couldn’t. She said it was like it just snapped, and that’s how she knew I was dead.

I’m not sure I would’ve dealt with it any better if our roles would’ve been reversed.

“Ree?” Wren’s quiet voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I realize we’ve made it to the clearing. I was already halfway across it and heading back into the dense forest.

Oops.

“Sorry.” I shoot her a smile as I turn around. “Sorry about that. My brain went on a tangent, and I was just along for the ride.”

She shakes her head, and I know she wants to ask me about it, but she doesn’t. Probably because she doesn’t want me asking questions in return.

How did this happen to us? We used to share everything. I always knew what was going on in her life, and she knew what was going on in mine.

But I already know the answer to that, don’t I?

Michael happened.

It started when she met him, and it just got worse as time passed. Then he killed me.

It’s kind of hard to know what’s going on with one another when one of us is dead, and it’s been a struggle to regain all the ground we lost.