Page 67 of The Girl Who Should Be Dead

CHLOE (1:07 PM): Lol.

CHLOE (1:07 PM): Yes, but that doesn’t make him any friends.

AMBRA (1:08 PM): It should.

It should, because who else, when faced with a gaping maw of ability, would stare down a demon and control them cleanly. And with kindness.

CHLOE (1:11 PM): Look, Gurlien can be prickly and some people find that off putting, and he has some history of doing some very questionable things before he was kicked out of the College. The kindness you see now is the result of hard work on his part, and more people should be seeing it, but it takes time.

Ambra blinks at the wall of text, practically filling up her phone screen.

It makes sense, with how everyone knows him, that he had been part of the College, but even more impressive that he somehow did something to get himself kicked out. After all the unethical things that she saw while in stasis, all the unethical ways they cut into Ambra’s mind after the death ofthe body, to have someone do something so interesting that even they couldn’t stand it…

Her estimation of him kicks up a notch.

And if the kindness doesn’t come naturally, if the care he put into making sure she was okay and unhurt and always fed isn’t an instinct for him, that’s astoundingly impressive.

AMBRA (1:18 PM): Kindness by effort is more impressive than kindness by nature. And I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.

AMBRA (1:19 PM): Though he did say to not fight anyone on his behalf. Which is foolish.

Across the room, on the marble countertop next to the cheese wrapper, Gurlien’s phone buzzes.

Ambra lifts her head to stare at it, but the shower turns off and he could emerge at any time and she doesn’t want to be caught snooping on his phone if he does.

AMBRA (1:20 PM): So how do I get him to tell me what happened to get him kicked out because that sounds like a fun story.

CHLOE (1:21 PM): Lol. Wait until he’s not spooked by accessing magic for the first time in a year. Bribe him with books.

AMBRA (1:22 PM): I’ve bribed him with an entire library if we deal with Nalissa.

CHLOE (1:23 PM): Omg.

AMBRA (1:23 PM): It’s too close to her base to go now or else I would.

The door to the bathroom swings open, and Ambra bounces up to her feet.

“Your phone went off,” she calls out across the large room.

Gurlien blinks at her, as his hair is sopping wet, hanging in his face, a few shades darker than its usual color, and anew button up is open, revealing a plain black undershirt. A towel drapes over his shoulders, one of the ones that came with the apartment, fluffy and light blue.

“Is this because I made you drink coffee?” he asks, suspicious. “Is that what this is?”

“Is this what what is?” Ambra responds.

He shakes his head at her, before scrubbing at his hair with the towel.

Smiling at the motion, Ambra sits back down, something settling in her chest.

Until Gurlien rolls up his sleeve, revealing the cut left by Johnsin.

The edges are red, visible even from this distance, as he picks up his phone. He hasn’t rebandaged yet, and Ambra doesn’t fully know enough about human biology to know if it’s normal, if he needs care, if he needs help…

Beyond her consciousness, her shoulders stiffen, the muscles freezing into place. Her stomach drops at just the glimpse.

“What did you tell Chloe?” Gurlien asks puzzled, gesturing with his phone.

“I texted,” Ambra says, the words falling out of her mouth outside of her control.

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