Page 146 of Whispers of Wisteria

I wasn’t strong enough. There was no way I could win.

They said he was stronger than Damen.

My pulse fluttered, and the light grew distant. A low buzzing filled the back of my mind, dulling the edges of everything. Every sound felt muffled, and my thoughts slipped like sand through my fingers.

And then, all at once, Jameson stopped.

I blinked, struggling to focus, and his form snapped back into clarity. His eyes were wide, shock flickering across his face—but it was only a moment before he ripped away from me like he’d been burned.

He stumbled back, his sleeve pressed to his mouth, and his hand shook as he wiped away my blood. He stared at me with a look of disbelief that quickly morphed into fury.

“You idiot!” he seethed, turning to Gloria. “You should have told me!”

“I did warn you,” she said, an edge to her voice I’d never heard from her before. “You just chose not to listen.”

My attention wandered back to him as I fought to sort my thoughts.

I wanted to ask him why he’d done this to me, but my words had never felt more distant. Everything was lost in the overwhelming heaviness.

Jameson turned without a second look and stalked out of the room, leaving the air thick with his anger.

I didn’t know why, but it didn’t matter. I wanted to collapse. I wanted to disappear.

The ground rushed up to meet me. The cold stone beneath me seemed distant as my thoughts faded.

22

Julian POV

“You’ve been taking it easy,”Pops said. “But Mai is going to be back soon, and she’s going to expect results.”

The corner of my eye twitched as I studied the runes on the floor between us. He’d decided to go over some of the lesser-known aspects of the practice today. It’d felt like we’d been here forever. My vision blurred as I sat cross-legged on the hardwood floors in my grandmother’s kitchen and listened to him lecture.

His lessons weren’t my favorite, but they were still better than Mai’s. It’d been a blissful two years.

“I thought we had another year,” I replied, trying to keep my expression neutral even as a restless heat climbed the back of my neck.

There’d be no way to hide Bianca from her, and, as a result, from Jameson.

Damen’s plan to keep them in the dark wouldn’t work much longer.

“She’s done with her research early,” he replied. “And she said she had a feeling that you’d fallen behind. If you’d kept upwith it, maybe you wouldn’t be so afraid.” He pressed his hands to his knees and cracked his neck.

“I’m not afraid.” I scowled.

He raised his brow and tilted his head. He didn’t believe me.

“Well, I’mnot,” I emphasized, ignoring the chill at the back of my neck. Even now, she could be stalking me. Waiting.

“If you’re ready, then you should know all about Veilcraft,” Pops said. My stomach sank as he gestured to the writing on the floor.

I hadn’t reviewed the banned magic in ages. “What about it?” I asked. “I thought we were going to do something useful?”

He gave me an annoyed look, but before he could respond, his phone chimed. He stood, abandoned our setup, and moved to the seventies-style kitchen table.

“Rude,” I muttered.

He’d never let me ignore him for a message.