Page 81 of Elemental Affections

Kindly desist from defacing official documents you’ll ask me to file later.

Wiping the nib clean, Dae set her note on top of the copy of the Accord and slipped back out of the lab.

Chapter 29

Daewasworkingona new set of parameters for her summer project when Eunny stuck her head around the door. “Have a minute?”

Dae hummed in response, not looking up as she finished writing out her calculations for the timeframe before the figures left her. “Sure. It’s your office. I can finish this somewhere else if you need the room.”

“No. Don’t move.” Eunny vanished from sight.

Unperturbed, Dae kept writing. She’d leave for Den’olm in a few days, pending the formal offer of the fellowship. A water mage from Talihn had already contacted her about a new battery of tests for powering the wards without desiccating the surrounding landscape. Vaadt had set up a check-in schedule for the season and given Dae a vague outline of what her next steps would be come the fall term. With Calya busy cleaning up the fallout of Brint’s implosion, and Dae having received the barest of acknowledgment from her parents for passing Adept One, there wasn’t much cause to remain in the Valley. After Yerina debuted the summer solstice collection for the teashop, Dae would be northward bound once more.

Eunny announced her return with a dramatic clearing of her throat. “That thing I need you to fix?”

Dae looked up and went still as Ezzyn appeared in the doorway. His gaze flicked from her to Eunny, his expression registering a mix of surprise, followed closely by wry resignation at the turn of events.

Eunny returned her own baleful look. “Don’t fuck this up.” She gave him a nudge into the office and shut the door.

“Subtle,” he remarked.

“Indeed.” Dae sat back, arms crossing. “Not sure I qualify as something broken, either.”

She did. Was still prone to bouts of moping and sadness despite the prospects in every other aspect of her life being on the rise.

A faint smile didn’t do much to soften his wince. “I think she meant problems of my own making.” He reached inside his cloak’s interior pocket and pulled out a thin, sealed envelope. “Official notice for the summer fellowship. Congratulations.”

Dae accepted the letter with a murmur of thanks. She didn’t open it. “I saw your note.” A smirk spread across her face. “Garethe suggested I add myself to the chorus reminding you of your wrongness.”

Ezzyn groaned. “He’s insufferable.”

“Sit,” Dae said. “Or was that all?”

He hesitated, hands resting on the back of a chair. “I don’t want to intrude.”

From someone else, it might’ve sounded like a dodge, but he lingered, an undertone of hope in his voice.

She gestured toward the chair. “You know what my summer plans are, but what about you? I presume you’re finishing your Magister Three in Rhell since the lab’s all packed up.”

“My formal tier three work is on hold, though I am going back home,” he said. “You needn’t worry, I won’t go to Den’olm at all if you’d rather I not.”

“Because I’m such a distraction?” she murmured, mostly joking but still with a touch of hurt.

Ezzyn sighed, shoulders hunching. “I never should’ve called you that.” Tentatively, he put his hands on the desk. “I never meant it.”

“When I spoke with Garethe, he said that you brought up my proposal for the spring trip back over winter break. But that was it.” She held his gaze. “You didn’t push my family’s connections. Brint was lying for his own reasons—I know that now. But why did you let me believe you did?”

“I thought it was for the best. I thought it would be easier if you hated me. I thought—” He exhaled a sharp, mirthless laugh. “I thought if I told you the truth then I would only hurt you more in the end.”

“You’re a fool.” Dae shook her head. “How are you like this? You and yourbrilliant mindcan’t fathom that other people want to help you.” She made a face over the complimentary words.

“Anadae.”

“I don’t want you to avoid Den’olm, Ezzyn. I don’t want you to avoidme.”She put her hand over his, squeezed his fingers. “I want to be with you. Not just in the moment, not some casual arrangement. Something real.”

He looked at their joined hands, a somber expression on his face. “I want all of that, too.”

“Then why do you sound so unsure?”

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