Page 84 of The Girl Who Should Be Dead

“What do normal humans talk about when they’re not dealing with unstable magical experiments?” she murmurs. “Most of my interactions before this were with scholars, and…Misia…certainly taught me that that’s not the norm.”

“What was she like?” he asks, and his voice is way, way more gentle than she’s used to.

“Fairly sure that goes into unstable magical experiments,” she says.

He shrugs, his fingers idle around the stem of the wine glass. “People talk about their past. Current interests, events, what they did. Past friends, family members, past lovers.”

That certainly explains that, and Ambra curls her feet underneath herself on the lounge seat, staring at the wine.

“All my ice breakers usually revolve around me trying to show how smart I am,” Gurlien says, which surprises a smile out of her. “Right out of the gate, impress them with intelligence.”

“That’d be easy for you,” Ambra murmurs.

“Before I got kicked out, I tried to impress people with being competent. They weren’t going to like me because of everything else about me, but they might if they saw how good I was at anything.” He sets the wine glass down, idly picking at the plate in front of them. “It worked maybe thirty percent of the time.”

“When I communicated with scholars, about half the time they ran in fear,” Ambra says. “The other half were intensely curious and willing to barter knowledge for…a variety of things.”

“Sounds about right.”

The waiter swings by with another glass for Ambra, and they both eye it.

“Have you ever been drunk?” Gurlien asks. “I feel like this is something we should know before too long.”

“Not alone,” Ambra answers honestly. “And with Misia, we just got relaxed.”

Gurlien considers for a second. “Can you teleport while impaired?”

She raises an eyebrow at him, and he lifts his hands in defense.

“I don’t know, demons are a mystery, can demons even get drunk without human bodies? Nobody knows.”

“Wights have an alcohol that can get us impaired, but it leaves a horrific headache so I avoided it,” Ambra says, then pulls out her phone. “What do we want to bet that the experts would have ideas on if I can?”

“Oh, they’ll find that amusing,” Gurlien says, scooting close to her so he can see her type on the screen.

It’s not lost on her that he didn’t press her further about Misia. That he briefly touched on the topic, received her brush off, and then pivoted.

It’s another little kindness.

AMBRA (7:42 PM): Any red flags around getting drunk?

Immediately, both people start typing, and Ambra and Gurlien share a smile.

“I’ve never met either of these people, not in person,” Gurlien says, then equivocates. “Well, I’ve been near one, but I wasn’t conscious for it.”

“Ridiculous,” Ambra informs him, before her phone buzzes.

T (7:43 PM): Drink lots of water and have a meal with it.

MEL (7:43 PM): Don’t blow things up.

T (7:44 PM): I have NEVER blown anything up while drunk.

MEL (7:44 PM): Liar.

Ambra gives Gurlien a quick, impish smile, before typing.

AMBRA (7:45 PM): But all my abilities will be the same?

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