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Thankfully, I had a distraction at hand. “Stay still and let me finish.”

I reached for him again. This time, he didn’t stop me.

Hyperaware of my palm against his forehead, I absorbed the darkness, golden strands of light burning through it.

“There. Better?”

“A million times,” he admitted, leaning in. “Did you do this so I would be added to that list of minions after all?”

“Maybe.”

“Well played, witch. Now you’ll find me at your doorstep for stationery and health emergencies.”

“And one day, I might just have a favor to ask ofyou.” Batting my eyelashes innocently, I waved before making my way to Gideon.

He was still being a casual buffoon about the many ways he almost died today, so I swatted the back of his head. “Your mother would have your hide if she heard half of this.”

“Which is why you’ll never,evertell her.”

“You don’t think she reads your reports, idiots? She’s your boss.”

He was undeterred. “She hates reports. Unless they’re bad enough for her assistant to demand clarification, she completely ignores them.”

I shook my head, but honestly, I was worried about Gideon. He enjoyed danger far too much, and near-death experiences were becoming far too frequent.

“You want to tell me what that was about?” Silver asked me, when my cousin returned to his tale.

“I know. Gideon’s getting completely irresponsible. I’m considering chatting with his dad. Not Hilda, she’d kick his ass, but Uncle Leo could talk some sense into him.”

“I mean,” my friend said, “you and two dark wizards.Flirting.”

“Hardly.” I snorted at the notion. “We were just friendly.”

“You were flirting. Look at your hair.”

I glanced down, finding locks of red hair neatly braided, and flushed.

Silver knew I started to absentmindedly braid my mess of curls whenever I was anxious.

“Just because I was a bit nervous doesn’t mean I was flirting,” I retorted primly.

She snorted, glaring at the two wizards.

“Besides, even if Iwereflirting a little, which I amnotadmitting to, it would have been harmless. They were both pleasant. It’s a shame no one else is trying to talk to them.”

“They seem to be enjoying themselves.”

That was true. The pair chatted and laughed together like there wasn’t a purposeful space between us and them.

I realized something. All these years, I always believed the elder bloods, the founders’ kids, stayed away from us because they thought they were better than us. But tonight, I started to understand it was a two-way street. We were just as guilty for that distance. When we did chat with them, they were just…normal. As normal as a dark sorcerer trying to suck the life out of me—at my request—could be, in any case.

Their younger friend, Lucky, was playing poker with a clerk and two runners, and wiping the floor with them, by the looks of it.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have such a strong divide between us.”

“Or maybe you should be careful with dark wizards,” she countered. “Even when they look likethat.”

I rolled my eyes at Silver. “You were sitting next to me through seven years of our magical theory lessons, were you not? Dark magic is just a word to define any and all obscure branches of magic too complex to fit in other categories.”