Page 149 of Spark of Sorcery

“Then how can I help?”

“Can you remove the redaction? Can you see what was originally written underneath?”

I stare down at the redaction. Immediately, I can tell it is complex magic. Not something easily removed.

“I can try,” I say. She smiles. “But I’m not promising anything. Whoever placed it here, did not want it removed. Did not want the text beneath read.”

I fold up the piece of paper.

“Aren’t you going to try?” she asks in frustration.

“It needs my full attention and some time.”

“But you’ll look into it – as a matter of urgency?”

“If that’s what you really want.”

“It is.”

“Then I will.”

“Thank you.”

I hesitate, then go to move towards the door.

I don’t know what I expected to happen coming here like this, but now I feel nothing but shame, defeat, and disappointment.

“Fox?”

“Yes?”

“Are you … are you the reason Madame Bardin attacked me?”

My head drops forward. I stare down at the bare floorboards.

“Yes,” I say. “She understood what youmeant to me, probably before I even understood it myself.”

“But why–”

“Jealousy. It’s a very strong emotion.” And don’t I know that more than anyone. Haven’t I had to endure imagining her with them? Haven’t I had to watch it?

“She wants you for her own.” I nod. “But you don’t want her back?”

“No, I want you,” I say simply and watch transfixed as a shiver of a desire spirals through her body. “And I think you want me too.”

She bites her lip. “That doesn’t mean I can have you.”

“No, it doesn’t. It would break just about every academy rule going.”

She shrugs. “I have a feeling I’ve broken quite a few of those already,” she mutters.

“This one–”

“Might be worth breaking.”

My eyes flash. My fingers twitch and the shadows in my veins ache to touch her.

I close the distance between us until I’m standing right in front of her, the warmth of her skin – of her body and her blood – palatable. She tips her head back to stare up into my eyes and hers are the color of the forest back in Slate. So green, so welcoming, like home.