Page 96 of Change

But he knew I wouldn’t—those unruffled gray eyes watched me with a measured confidence. He was assured of my loyalty.

I was going to murder him.

Or even better, I’d find a way to make him confess. Mark my words, he’d be the one to tell Miles that he’d slept with his sister.

“Are you sick?” Miles pressed the back of his hand over my forehead and cheeks. “Did we go too far—”

“No!” My throat was closing in panic. Damen raised his eyebrow knowingly, and my annoyance with him spread. “Just cramps.”

“Oh…” Miles frowned, and I knew he didn’t believe me. He’d be able to tell that the crippling pain had already passed. But Miles was innocent and kind, and in a true, helpful, manner, offered me an out, “or maybe you used too much magic?”

This, at least, was enough to pull Damen out of his infuriatingly nonchalant mood.

His lazy posture stiffened, and his focus snapped to Miles. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Is this why you asked Brayden and Anthony to kill your water boy?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Bryce rebutted. “There’s no fae at this school named Kent.”

“I never saidkillanyone.” Miles held up his hand, taking offense. “And Iknowthere’s nobody named Kent. We don’t even have a water boy.”

“You don’t have…” Bryce narrowed his eyes, suspicion lacing his tone. He stepped back, now gazing at the witch in wariness. “Did youlie?”

Miles grinned, and my skin prickled as his arm brushed over mine. A trill of humor tickled at my senses, and Miles twisted his fingers through mine. “I needed a minute with Bianca,” he told Bryce, even though he was now looking at me. “And Anthony pissed me off.”

My breath seized as his adoring stare pressed into me.

“That’s enough—” Bryce’s sharp command rang through the room, but his tirade—and motion to karate chop the two of us apart—was cut short at Damen’s interception.

“I’m sorry I missed it,” the onmyoji said, glancing between the two of us. His smile was genuine once more, and my breath caught at the unexpected weight of it.

This man was going to kill me with his mood swings.

“But good job,” he added, touching the ends of my hair. “It means you’re growing. It’s really very good.”

“I know!” Miles’s chest swelled and his eyes shone as he continued to stare down at me. “Isn’t it addicting?”

My skinned hummed as their praise surrounded me, although I wasn’t even entirely sure what I’d done, or how I’d done it. I bit my lip and touched my toe against the floor.

“Thanks…” I breathed, feeling shy.

Why were there butterflies in my stomach? I pulled at a lock of my hair, twisting it around my finger as I glanced between the two men.

Why was it getting hotter?

“What in the world are you—” Bryce began, looking between the three of us in frustration, but his question ended rather abruptly. His annoyed, lax posture shifted, and his features snapped to sharp alertness.

“You cast an enchantment,” he told me, his tone almost accusing.

“I guess?” I tried to focus on him. Anything to distract me from the stifling way Miles and Damen were watching me. They seemed to be larger than normal, or maybe I was smaller? But, anyway, it was beginning to feel a bit suffocating.

“You can end it now,” Bryce said. “They can’t stop acting like fools until you do.”

I released Miles’s hand, although he reached out and trailed his finger along my elbow instead, and I pressed both my hands to my mouth. Damen moved to my other side, his hair-grooming technique growing stronger and really not quite gentle.

I started at Bryce, not entirely panicked yet, but definitely beginning to lose the strange numb serenity that had previously taken over. “I-I don’t know how…”

My brother was watching me, expectant. But why? What was he waiting for? It was getting harder to breathe, and Damen and Miles were getting strangely quiet and imposing.

I tried to implore him quietly. I didn’t know what I was doing, but he might.