Page 25 of Stargazer

Was he nervous?

“Not much has changed,” I deadpanned.

His smile grew. And so did mum’s.

“Well, welcome to Saint Claire, and our home,” she said sweetly. “I didn’t hear anything from your mum about you coming early?” She’d been talking to Thea about the arrangements and plans for days now.

“I’m afraid Thea wasn’t exactly privy to that knowledge when you would have last spoken to her.”

“I see,” mum replied, amusement clear on her face at his rebellion. “Well, you’re more than welcome to stay here.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience. I assured Venus I’d be more than fine to stay at whatever hotel has any occupancy.” To my surprise, Griffin was completely respectful and polite to my mother. He still had that hint of trouble and mischief to him, but the charm seemed to outweigh the rest.

“Don’t be silly, you’ll stay here. I already have the guest bedroom set up for you. We’ll deal with the other arrangements for the rest of the Knights when they arrive, but I can’t have Thea’s son staying anywhere else, now can I?” Mum insisted.

With Griffin faced away from us and his attention on my mother, Celeste caught my eye. She gestured towards him and then mouthed, “Damn, Vee. He’s so hot,” proceeding to pretend to fan herself. I gave her an incredulous look and gestured for her to stop before he turned around and saw. We didn’t need another Stone woman inflating his ego.

“Thank you for the hospitality,” he nodded in surrender to mum. Then turned back to me when he said “There’s just something about Stone women. I do love being in your presence.” He winked at me, which Celeste caught and then mimicked.

“It’ll be quite nice to have a man around here, I might get you to fix a few things as a prerequisite of you staying,” mum threatened light-heartedly.

“It would be rude of me not to offer my services to ladies in need,” he grinned at my mother and she laughed.

“Well, Griffin, I’m sure you’re tired from the drive. Why don’t you get settled in your room and rest for a bit. Vee will show you to it. I’ll prepare dinner later and we can get acquainted more then.” She gestured upstairs and I started up them.

“I’d love nothing more,” he drawled before following me with his bag draped over his shoulder.

When we were almost at the top of the stairs I heard Celeste blurt out to mum, “I definitely need to visit this academy.” Mum snorted in response and I looked back at Griff in time to see that devilish smirk take up half his face.

So much for not inflating his ego.

Standing a few steps ahead of him, he took me in from his lower vantage point and bit his lip. For a moment all my attention went to that mouth of his and my body tingled furiously until I pulled myself together and gave him a look that said ‘don’t let it get to your head’ before returning my ascent.

He chuckled and even that sound made me feel things that I had to ignore.

Having him back—having him in my house—was going to be ridiculously difficult.

I was going to need mum and Celeste to be buffers as much as possible and I was weirdly grateful that he was such a charmer because it meant they’d have no problem being that for me.

I knocked on the door. When I didn’t hear an answer, I cracked it open ever so slightly to peek in, expecting to see Griff fast asleep in bed. But when I saw the freshly changed sheets empty and unruffled, my brows rose and curiosity got the better of me.

After he settled in earlier, we joined Celeste in her reality TV marathon for a few hours. Griffin lazing on the couch with a cushion in his arms, laughing and commenting on the inauthenticity of the dating show with my sister was something I never expected to see. I’d half watched and half texted Billie and Kit.

Mum and Celeste took the reins at dinner. But even though I hardly spoke, it didn’t mean that Griffin’s attention wasn’t on me every chance he got. He snuck looks in my direction whenever the conversation allowed it. I had the feeling he was almost making sure that I was actually there. That he was here. That we were, I don’t know, together? If that even made sense.

I could have been completely off but that was the vibe I was getting.

And honestly, if that was what he was doing, I didn’t blame him because I could still hardly believe it myself. That this was real, and he was here having dinner with my mum and sister, chatting about unusual topics for a dinner table like weapons and alchemy as well as some weirdly normal topics like Love Island and economic theories. It was so extremely strange. And yet, a part of me absolutely relished how normal this felt.

I tried not to dwell on it. I still didn’t know what any of this meant and I was wary of everything. So I attempted to treat him like any other guest.

After dinner, I’d left him to his own devices and retreated to the safety of my room. Only it had been a few hours now and I couldn’t help but feel bad for leaving him alone in a strange and unknown house.

I’d come to check up on him and maybe have another conversation that needed to be had, now that the shock had slightly dissipated. Slightly.

“Griff?” I called, opening the door wider and letting myself in.

There was no response.

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