Page 116 of Gift from the Tree

Tillman’s grunt draws my attention away from Corentin. The saddened look on his face tells me he’s still eavesdropping on my private thoughts, and I give him my best warning glare to let it go. Thankfully, he respects that with a defeated nod. It’s for that reason and that reason only that I give in to this for now. If he had said a word, I would’ve kicked them all out.

For this moment, for now, I give in. Relaxing my body into Caspian’s, I open my mouth slightly as Corentin feeds me my dinner, alternating between a few bites of food to a sip of tea and again until I feel like I’m going to pop and shake my head at him, telling him no more.

Being fuller than I have in days, and Caspian’s comforting hold, my head lulls back on his chest, my eyes drifting closed. I feel him stand and place me into another set of arms. The smell of a fireplace burning on a cold winter’s night invades my senses, and I bury my nose into Draken’s chest. Laying me gently in my bed, I shiver as the cold sheets chill my skin and let out a little whine in my sleepy stupor.

“Sleep, little wanderer. I’ll keep you warm,” Draken whispers against my hair as he plasters himself to my back. That was all it took for me to enter the darkness.

It was hours later when I woke up cold and alone. Tossing and turning for what felt like forever, I finally drifted back into a restless sleep.

What the fuck is tickling my face?

Groaning and trying to swat off whatever is on me to no avail, I finally peel my eyes open, only to be met with a tendril of shadow. Bolting right up, Caspian’s leaning on the wall out of arm’s reach.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I shout, throwing my pillow at him while still furiously trying to swat his fucking shadows away.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Sarcasm drips from his words as he calls his shadow back to him, throwing my pillow at my face.

“You just woke me up, asshole. Get out of my room.”

“It’s midmorning and Corentin isn’t allowing anyone to eat until you’re up and at breakfast, and I’m hungry,” he replies casually like that explains why he’s still standing in my fucking room.

“Then go eat, Caspian, and get out of my room now. I’m not going to tell you again.” I lie back down, covering my head with my pillow, ignoring the fact he’s still in here. It's suddenly ripped from my hands and his stupid, beautiful fucking face fills my line of sight.

“It’s time for breakfast. Get up,” he demands.

“No,” I growl, anger and aggravation rising in me quickly.

“Have it your way then.”

I scream as whips of shadows latch onto my ankles and drag me out of bed. His darkness surrounds me completely just as I’m about to fucking faceplant the ground and whisks us away through the walls.

Just as fast as he snatched me out of bed, he deposits me in my seat at the breakfast table. Giving myself a second to get feeling back in my body, I look around and see the rest of the group staring at me in confusion. Reaching for a pastry sitting in front of me, I throw it as hard as I can at Caspian’s stupid fucking smirking face. Waiting until the last second, he flicks it away with his water like it’s an annoying gnat.

“She was awake,” he tells the guys as he sits in his chair and brings a mug of coffee to his lips.

“You lying sack of shit. You woke me up. And you’ll stop whisking me through fucking walls without my permission,” I holler, contemplating throwing the plate sitting in front of me at him.

“Caspian,” Corentin says in exasperation as he passes me a cup of coffee, gaining my attention from the murderous thoughts I’m having currently.

“I told you I should’ve checked on her and that he was up to something when he volunteered,” Draken says from beside me, a frown marring his face. Caspian shrugs, pulling a book out of his shadow, and begins reading like he has no care in the world that I’m fuming with him.

“How did you sleep, Willow?” Corentin asks, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Like shit.

“Fine.” I shoot Tillman a glare as he pauses with his mug to his lips. We have a silent stare off until I win, and he shuts his mouth, not calling me out on my lie.

“Did you practice your earth element any when you were at Oakly’s?” Draken asks, always able to tell when there’s a need for a subject change.

“A little bit, but I didn’t try anything big. Just threw a few dirt balls into the lake and skipped a couple of stones I made.” I sigh, releasing some of my anger at Caspian so I don’t take it out on the others.

“Damn, little wanderer, that’s impressive. I remember Tillman telling me it took him weeks to figure out how to make a dirt ball when he was trying to teach me how to make fireballs.” He beams at me with pride. His use of one of my pet names is like a bucket of ice water being poured over the flame of the aggravation Caspian created and I give him a small smile of thanks.

“I think it’ll be best for you to train with Tillman on your earth element. This is the first time in history that we can recall someone wielding more than one element. This isn’t something we’re going to make public,” Corentin informs me, although Oakly told me the same thing.

“So it’s fair to assume I won’t be enrolling in Earth Elemental class then,” I muse.

“No, you won’t.” Typically, it’d piss me off that he didn’t bother to at least give me an option or hear my opinion on the matter, but hearing Corentin confirm all of what Oakly already told me, freaks me out.

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