Page 48 of Monster's Mistake

“No, me neither.” I can’t help the smile that spreads over my face. I’ve actually been enjoying having his help inDivinationclass. “If you hadn’t helped me, then we wouldn’t be here.”

He shifts in the makeshift bed, and the blanket falls away from us. The cool air prickles against my skin, and only increases the contrast with the warmth of Meic’s hand where it’s trailing down to my hip.

“We could skipDivination,” I murmur.

“We don’t need to,” he responds. “We still have an hour or so.”

“Oh, good.” I lean in. “I plan on making the most of that time,” I murmur against his lips.

He chuckles, the sound vibrating through me, full of promise and something more. “Is that so?”

Instead of answering him, I press my lips against his. He responds instantly, pulling me closer and kissing me back with an intensity I don’t expect.

I sink into him, giving myself over to the way it feels to have his body against mine and hoping for more of it.

CHAPTER 18

Nati

Even though wemanaged to pull ourselves away from one another and leave the secret room before breakfast ended, I’m still almost late toDivination. I hurry into the room and head straight over to the seat Meic has saved for me, sitting down and letting out a sigh of relief.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi.” I can’t help but feel a little nervously giddy at talking to him now. Even though we’ve been going to the secret rooms for a couple of weeks, the intensity of last night has made me feel shyer than I expected.

“Glad to see you got here in time,” he says.

“Mmm. Me too, though does my hair look a mess?” I joke, lifting my hand to touch one of the snakes. “I wasn’t able to shower this morning.”

He laughs. “I don’t know if you’re asking that as a serious question.”

“Yes and no. The snakes make it impossible to have a bad hair day. Or they make it so I’m always having a bad hair day, it’s hard to tell. But can you tell that I didn’t shower this morning?”

He looks around and then leans in. “Only because you smell of me.”

My breathing hitches in my throat and I have to cough to clear it. “Hopefully no one else notices.”

He shrugs. “And if they do?”

I open my mouth but realise I don’t actually have a response to that. He’s the only person who is allowed to break my no-touching rule, and I assume he’s the only one who will be able to tell that it’s him I smell like. And even if someone else works it out, I suppose it doesn’t matter. We’ve not been keeping our budding relationship a secret, so it won’t be a surprise to anyone.

“I guess it’s just our secret, then,” I tell him. “You’ll just have to think of me sitting in all of my other lessons for the day thinking about you.”

He groans.

“Let’s guess, I turned you hard as stone again” I joke.

“You’re impossible,” he mutters.

I let out an amused laugh, enjoying myself a little bit too much.

Sadly, my amusement is cut short by Professor Bishop sweeping into the room. I let out a frustrated time. I guess it’s time for me to fail at divining the future from my tea leaves all over again.

“Good morning, class,” he says, and everyone around the room falls silent. “Today we’re going to be moving on from tea leaves.”

Meic chuckles at the relieved expression on my face. “Maybe you’re going to be able to see something today after all.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” I murmur in response. I suspect it’s the art of divination itself that alludes me, not specifically the tea leaves.

---