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“I’m not going to deny you an opportunity. I’d never do that to anyone. You know that.”

“This is the Guardian Movement we’re talking about, though, Kai. Something you’ve dreamed of being a part of since you were a kid.”

I sighed and leaned back. “If it wasn’t already off the table before with my parents’ designs for me to become the next leader of the Maven Coven, it most definitely is now after you reported to me that Lucian Black got a negative read on me and figured out something nefarious was going on with me regarding Ariana. He’s one of her fathers. He also has Ryker Morgan’s ear, the Head of the Guardian Movement.”

“That was Lucian in protective dad mode. It doesn’t mean you’d be discounted for personal reasons. Plus, Ryker is extremely open-minded, and the way you approach your magic, the out-of-the-box nature of it and your passion, would be applauded by him.”

“I doubt any father is that open-minded when it comes to the treatment of his daughter, Nyx.” I laid my hand on his shoulder. “Do this. Seize the opportunity. It’ll be good for you. Really good. And stop worrying about me. I’m fine with it. More than fine, I’m overjoyed for you.” I gave his shoulder a squeeze. “In fact, we should make time to celebrate soon, once you accept the offer.”

A huge smile spread over his face. “Yeah, a celebration sounds great. Thank you, Kai.”

“Of course.”

As he opened his textbook, citing that he needed to quickly skim over the final section he’d read over last night, wanting to be ready in the few minutes we still had until the professor began the class and all the students made their way in, movement over by Ariana caught my attention, and I saw Vorzyr striding on in.

He was wearing that high-collared fancy coat with one of his white tees beneath, both stretching across his broad chest, his thick, muscular legs encased in a pair of brown leather pants this time. He took a seat right beside Ariana, and flipped his long, black ponytail back as he settled and set up his textbook and interactive panel.

She looked up from typing on her own panel and tensed when she saw him there now sitting right beside her.

I glanced around to make sure nobody, including the professor, was looking, and then my magic sparked briefly under the table as I cast anauditory enhancementspell in their vicinity.

Their voices gravitated toward me in the next moment.

“Did you keep the flower? The Celestial Eclipse Peony?”

I started at the mention of that particular flower.

“Of course I did. It was stunning. I still can’t believe it reacted to your magic, too. That was really special.”

It had done what? Reacted to a dragon? That wasn’t normal. Not in the least.

“And it helped to demonstrate the similarity in our outcast, straddling-two-worlds statuses?”

“And that, too, yeah.”

She tensed up as he moved closer to her, his shoulder brushing her.

“If you’re tensing at me just sitting down next to you, we’re gonna have problems when we actually partner together today. Kai says that our magic will even have to interact.”

“I’m just trying to focus and prepare for class.”

“Yeah? That’s all?”

“What else would it be?”

“Well, as you made it clear in the Cafeteria, you avoiding me wasn’t actually about you being pissed at me for ruining our date by talking about the whole repression thing right after our kiss. It’s because you felt something and it scared you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You realized that I’m durable enough to take you. I felt you let go during the kiss. You’re not used to there not being a barrier to intimacy like that, and a part of you likes the barrier so you don’t get so close to anyone.”

“It was just a kiss. It happened in the moment.”

“As kisses tend to do.”

“It was a fun night, a good time. I got caught up in it.”

“You got caught up in me.”