Page 91 of The Girl Who Should Be Dead

Immediate mistake, and the light slams into her so hard she flinches back, the pain blooming brilliant once more.

Gurlien hmms behind her, a soft sleepy sound, not quite awake.

And if he’s going to feel a fraction of what she is right now, she doesn’t want to wake him further.

Gone is the looseness of her shoulders, leaving her with a stiff neck.

On the side table, her phone buzzes, and that must’ve been what woke her, and she mentally curses it for a few seconds, before it buzzes again.

“Okay,” she mumbles again, and snakes a hand out to it, wholly unwilling to move from underneath Gurlien’s arm.

Outside the floor to ceiling windows, snow batters the glass, swirling against it, and all she can see is the cloud and the snow. Even the other building across the city street is obscured.

And still the light is too bright for her.

Awkward, she slides the tinted glasses over her face, and it helps. Not as much as it usually does, but a bit.

T (9:22 AM): Food and caffeine and time will help the hangover.

T (9:23 AM): But everyone is different. Axel likes walks to get rid of his. If you learn what Gurlien does, it’ll be helpful.

Ambra blinks at her phone, and even her eyelashes stick to each other.

She sends another tendril of power to help with her headache, and it briefly offers relief, but the moment she focuses even a fraction of her mind on something else, the pounding returns.

AMBRA (9:24 AM): Gurlien’s still asleep, I’m not waking him.

She worries at her lip, the faint ghost of his kiss lingering like a bruise.

AMBRA (9:25 AM): My head hurts and food sounds awful. I ate last night, I don’t need to today.

T (9:25 AM): take it from me, you absolutely do. Even ifyou don’t have hunger impulses, you need it. It will calm the stomach and it will help with energy regeneration and steadiness and ability to grasp any magic.

Ambra raises an eyebrow at her phone. So this T person isn’t emotionally a demon, but that’s a very demon way of interpreting power.

AMBRA (9:27 AM): Why is kissing humans different in a live body?

T (9:27 AM): Oh good lord, I am not talking about that.

AMBRA (9:28 AM): Thanks.

Ambra lets her head thump back against the pillows, but they’re not even comfortable at this moment.

T (9:31 AM): I take that back. How drunk were you to kiss Gurlien?? Unless you’re talking about an entirely different human, which has different problems.

Ambra weighs being offended on Gurlien’s behalf, especially since this T person wasn’t even involved in Gurlien’s story of the ley lines.

And Gurlien says he’s never even met her.

But other people can dislike him, and from the glimpse of his story, she can understand why that entire group would have their defenses up, why they would judge him. If they hadn’t taken the time to learn him after getting out of the College’s grasp, then they would be stuck in their perspective of him.

Which is their loss. They don’t get to know the sharp intelligence, that hunger for knowledge, or the intentional, careful kindness, the sort of kindness that comes with a second thought instead of a first.

It means she doesn’t have to share with them, either, and that warms her.

AMBRA (9:32 AM): I think I had six glasses of wine.

She doesn’t know if he’ll kiss her while sober, and even with her head hurting, she hopes he does.

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