Page 54 of A Tower of Half-Truths

Thirty-Two

Not only had he kissed Mavery, she was now kissing him—and more fervently than he ever would have imagined.

Alain’s eyes closed as he lost himself in the gentle friction of her lips, the radiant warmth of her skin.

She released his shirt, but only to allow her fingers to rake through his hair, along his temples, across his jawline, as if she sought to memorize every inch of him with her hands alone.

The sensation of her exploring touch, coupled with the realization that her actions were driven by desire, was nothing short of bliss.

His own hands were still gripping his notebook.

He tossed it aside, and it hit the ground with a soft thud, though he couldn’t have cared less about seeing where it had landed.

All he cared about was giving Mavery the kiss he should have given her over a week ago instead of leaving her at her doorstep like the fool he’d been.

With his hands now free, he cradled her face between his palms. She responded by trailing her fingers down his neck. He shivered, and she smiled against his lips before parting her own.

She took his upper lip between hers, gave it a gentle tug.

A visceral sound resonated from the back of his throat.

Her efforts to heighten the kiss awakened something within him, and any notion he’d had of kissing her with tenderness turned to mist. His lips moved against hers with a forcefulness that hadn’t been there a moment ago, while his hands traveled down to her waist.

She brushed his lower lip with her tongue, and he answered by tilting her head back and deepening the kiss.

The taste of her was as complex as a rare vintage, heady enough to leave his mind reeling.

He was rewarded with a soft moan that made him fully aware of the warm desire that was pooling further down his body, threatening to strain the fabric of his trousers.

With a sharp inhale, Alain broke the kiss and opened his eyes. The Sensing spell had worn off, and so the forest had dimmed. Mavery’s lips were still parted as her eyes fluttered open.

“Well…” he said. He doubted he could manage vocabulary more complex than that.

“Well,” she echoed, and her smile brightened the world around them once again.

A moment passed while neither of them spoke.

But instead of being wrought with tension or burdened with expectation, this silence was…

comfortable. As he pulled her closer, her palms rested against his chest, his arms against the small of her back.

He nestled his face in her hair, breathed her in as though he could fill himself with her very essence.

He wanted nothing more than to continue holding her like this, with no worries about spellcraft, or covenants, or even the passage of time.

But that was not their reality; they needed to acknowledge what had just happened.

He sighed. “As much as I enjoyed that…it probably shouldn’t happen again.”

Mavery pulled back slightly, frowning. “If this is about those ridiculous Covenants—”

“Of course it’s about the Covenants. And they’re not ‘ridiculous’; the High Council enacted them for a reason. Without any standards for decorum, the entire wizarding community would be…well, it would be complete anarchy!”

She snorted. “The entire world won’t end over a kiss.”

“Perhaps not the entire world, but my career might.”

“Not if no one finds out about this—about us.”

His stomach lurched. “You’re not suggesting we try courting in secret? I told you what happened with Conor—”

She placed a hand on his cheek. “But I’m not him. I wouldn’t dream of holding the Covenants against you.” She smiled wryly. “Besides, you know I’m no stranger to keeping secrets.”

“I…” He sighed again, closing his eyes as he leaned into her palm. “I don’t know…”

“Then why don’t I make this easier for both of us and resign?”

His eyes flew open. “Please, Mavery, don’t sacrifice your career on my behalf.”

She scoffed. “A ‘career’ that’s lasted all of two months. Leyport’s a large enough city, I can find work elsewhere.” She looked downward. “Though, to be perfectly honest, I doubt I’ll find anything quite as enjoyable.”

“Then that’s all the more reason to keep things as they are.”

“But I don’t want to keep things as they are. I want to be more than your assistant.”

His instinct was to doubt her. Their kiss had been simply the result of getting caught up in the moment after a week of trials and failures.

He’d warned her of what involving herself with him would entail.

Yet, despite knowing the darkest marks of his past, she’d stayed.

At this moment, she remained wrapped in his arms.

But if they went through with this, if they got caught…

“If I lose my rank, then what will I have?” he whispered.

“You’ll still have your brilliant mind, for starters. Your good heart, your—”

“While I appreciate the compliments, you don’t need—”

“Your stubbornness”—she jabbed his sternum with her index finger—“that’s so relentless, I doubt losing access to libraries would stop you from doing anything.”

He laughed. “I can’t argue with that.”

“You’ll still have your passion for magic.” The finger that had just prodded him now stroked his cheek, leaving behind a trail of tingling skin. “And a beautiful face, with a smile that’s godsdamned sublime.”

He smiled as heat trickled up his neck. “Hmm, I don’t think those last two count as scholarly attributes.”

She rolled her eyes. “There’s that stubbornness again.” She cupped his chin. “You will always be so much more than a scholar.”

Her lips parted, and as she leaned closer, he was caught in a war between his heart and his mind.

The former wanted to forget about the Covenants and kiss her again—and never stop kissing her.

The latter knew this was no time to make any rash decisions.

Her lips were a hair’s breadth from his when he released her and slipped away.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he kneaded his temples, but nothing he did could temper the dilemma raging inside his head.

And that wasn’t even taking into account the work that awaited him in the days ahead.

The incantation might have been a success, but he still needed to finish writing his report, then prepare the presentation itself—

Mavery touched his arm. It was enough to quiet his thoughts, if only for a moment.

“What do you think we should do?” she asked softly.

He turned to her, meeting her furrowed brow. “Perhaps…we should set aside these feelings for the time being, then revisit this conversation once the presentation is behind us.”

Mavery sighed deeply. Her disappointment was palpable, but she nodded.

“All right,” she said.

“For now, let’s run through the spell again. We’ll need to measure its area of effect, as well as its duration.” He forced a smile, a vain attempt to add some levity. “I can’t say I was paying attention to either the first time around.”

They returned to Steelforge Towers two hours later, after running through the spell a half-dozen times.

Though there was no more celebratory kissing, they did hold hands on the walk back through the forest, and they continued to walk hand in hand as they progressed down the corridor to Alain’s apartment.

“What in the hells is that?” Mavery asked.

Rumbling reverberated through the corridor, followed by a high-pitched whine.

Had they not been indoors, the racket could have been easily mistaken for a train.

The further they walked, the louder it grew.

It was suspiciously familiar, and Alain’s suspicions were confirmed upon finding a man-shaped lump sleeping next to his front door.

“What’s he doing here?” Mavery whispered.

There was but one way to find out. Regretfully, Alain released Mavery’s hand and stepped forward.

“Declan, wake up!”

Declan replied with another bone-rattling snore. Alain nudged Declan’s shin with his foot, and his colleague sprung awake in a fit of incoherent sputtering. He blinked, yawned as he reacclimated to his surroundings.

“You’re back!” he said, then blinked again upon spotting Mavery. “Er, it appears both of you are back.”

“What do you want, Declan?” Alain demanded.

“Bah! Is that any way of speaking to an old friend?”

“An old friend who only turns up unannounced whenever he wants something.”

“I wouldn’t need to resort to these measures if you checked your mail every now and again. Did you even see my most recent letter?”

Alain had been so focused on perfecting the incantation, he’d let his mail accumulate again; sending Mavery down to fetch it hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“I’ll take your silence as a ‘no,’ ” Declan grumbled. “Well, you’re right. I was hoping to ask you for a favor. Why don’t we go inside and discuss this further?”

Alain looked to Mavery, who shrugged. With a sigh, he dismissed his warding magic to allow Declan entry, then unlocked the door for all three of them.

Once inside, Declan wasted no time making himself at home: he plopped himself into Alain’s armchair by the fireplace.

He emitted a low whistle as he gazed around the room.

“I’ve never seen this place so clean!” he exclaimed. “This is Mavery’s doing, I’ll wager.”

“It is,” Alain said as he sat on one end of the sofa. Mavery took the opposite end, putting them at no risk of accidentally touching.

Declan nodded. “Yes, I sensed a feminine touch soon as I walked in.”

Mavery snorted. “Being organized has nothing to do with femininity. If that were the case, then wouldn’t every assistant—as well as every arcanist, for that matter—be female?”

“You got me there,” Declan said with a hearty laugh. “Though a wizard with a knack for cleanliness is a rare sight.”

“Somehow, I don’t find that hard to believe.”

“You don’t know the half of it! Worst tower I ever saw, by far, had a—”

Alain cleared his throat. “I doubt you came here solely to discuss home decorating. What do you want?”