Page 124 of Gift from the Stone

“Willow, I can’t imagine what you feel right now, but I do know you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met in my life. But just because you’re a strong, badass bitch, doesn’t mean you have to be strong all the time. Fuck, you’ve been doing it your whole life. You have a whole slew of people here now, ready and willing to back you, teach you, stand with you, and just be here for you. You’re not alone, and everyone completely understands this is a ton of responsibility, and we want to help take the burden off you.

“We want to help you save the realm. None of us think it’s only your responsibility. You don’t have to keep these things to yourself from fear of disappointing anyone. No one will be disappointed if you’re feeling these things. Fuck, I’d be more concerned if you weren’t. I swear it too you,” she says firmly, forcing me to listen and accept her words. And it helps a lot.

“I know that in my heart. It’s my head that likes to argue with me.”

“I think it’s instinctual for you to argue,” she jokes and it’s exactly what I needed.

“That may be true… I’m going to ask Gaster to help me learn how to control his gift. Will you help me with yours?” I ask tentatively.

I do accept and acknowledge everything she just said to me, but it’s still hard for me to ask for things because in the back of my mind, I continue to look at my lack of knowledge as a weakness and myself as a burden. It’s something I’m going to have to work on putting to the side so I can learn and grow.

“Hell yeah, I will. But not this morning. This morning, we’re going to enjoy our time with no missions, no responsibilities, and no men. Aside from Jamie, who’s lurking right around the corner,” she says loudly, letting him know she knows he’s there eavesdropping.

“I’m not lurking. I felt you get upset through the bond and just wanted to check on you,” he yells back through the wall.

“Fucking bonds,” me and Oakly say at the same time. Pulling each other into a hug, we laugh and dry our faces, then pour another cup of coffee and jump right into gossiping.

This is the beauty of having a best friend built into your soul. One minute you can have a very serious heart-to-heart, the next it’s sex, men, and foods that would and wouldn’t go well with sex and men.

“Time to show you around,” Oakly announces excitedly after we finish off our third cup of coffee.

Jumping up and dragging me along, I giggle as she puts on a show, pointing out every little detail of her home. She reminds me of a very enthusiastic real estate agent showing off a grand mansion in an open house.

Their house is the biggest on the academy grounds, which makes sense because it was intended for the Headmaster’s Nexus. It’s a huge five-bedroom, five-bath, with a living room, kitchen, and two lounges. It’d probably come off crazy to me if I were still in the nonmagical realm to see that every house is massive in size, but when you have the power of the elements at your fingertips and four to five people always living together, it makes sense to build what you want and what you’re going to use.

I have no clue what the house looked like prior to now, but as she shows off the large living room, I can see her taste all over this place. The large sectional couch is covered in blankets and pillows, all bright with colors that pop off the black leather. You’d think that spectrum of colors would clash, but somehow, they match perfectly.

The bookshelves that sit on both sides of a never-ending fireplace are full, a mixture of all their preferred genres, but it’s obvious these books are focused more so on her, Jamie, and San. I know Nikoli and Ry couldn’t care less about reading and the next room is clearly dedicated to them because it’s a full-blown man cave with a mini gym inside.

She was most thrilled about showing me her bedroom and I die laughing as she Superman dives on her Nexus bed. I love the fact that the name I deemed these massive beds stuck because despite the argument from the guys, beds are never normally this big.

For hours, we sit around her room, going through all her new clothes, shoes, and she shows off all the cute little knick-knacks the guys have made or got for her. It’s so fucking cute to see her go all doe eyes when she talks about them, and it makes my chest tight thinking about my guys.

“If it’s okay with the two of you, I’m going to have lunch with Corentin,” I say when Jamie plops down on the couch beside Oakly and asks what we want to eat.

“Starting to miss those men of yours, huh?” Oakly asks with a knowing smirk.

“Yes. I’m honestly surprised I made it this long without one of them,” I state truthfully.

“We’ll walk you to the admin offices. Corentin will have my neck if you walk over there alone,” Jamie declares, pulling Oakly off the couch with him. I snort because it’s funny, but it’s very much true. Hell, I’m lucky he really hasn’t enforced the whole me not being allowed to shower alone threat.

It takes us less than five minutes to get from their house to the admin building door and the entire walk I continued to look up at his window, giddy with excitement to surprise him and see him.

Damn, I got it so bad.

“Do you want us to walk you up?” Oakly asks as we step into the foyer.

“No, I’m fine from here. Thank you for a wonderful morning. I needed it,” I tell her, giving her a tight hug. She really did work wonders for my mood today. I feel like a new woman.

“Fuck, me too. We’re going to schedule these weekly. Message me when you get home or if you want to come back over,” she declares, blowing me a kiss bye.

Turning on my heel, giggling, I rush my way up the stairs, ready to see the surprise on his face when he sees me bust through his door. My footsteps stall as I come down his hall and see his door cracked. His angry voice filters through to my ears, followed by a very seductive feminine one.

“I said that’s all. You can go,” Corentin orders.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do for you?” the female purrs. Coming up to the door, I slightly push it open more and my dragon forces her way to the surface when I see the woman attempting to lean over Corentin.

“I’m not going to tell you that’s all again. Go,” he commands, standing from his desk, causing her to step back.

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