Page 55 of Bonds of Magic
He must have caught my wince because when I turned to walk down the hall, he put his hand on my shoulder. It was only therefor a second before he pulled it away, but a shudder ran through my body nonetheless.
“What?” I tried to keep my voice even. I’d be damned if I sounded as electrified as I felt.
He gave me a flat look. “You sure you’re okay? You seem a little…unsteady. If it’s too late to get started tonight, we could—”
“I’m fine,” I interrupted. “Stubbed my toe is all. Putting my shoes on.”
He held my gaze. My cheeks heated. But then I remembered why we were starting late in the first place.
“Where were you earlier?” I asked. I might as well take advantage of the fact that Noah was looking at me for once. That was a rare occurrence, lately.
“Off campus. I told you that already.”
“Yeah, but where off campus? Pointe Claudette?”
“Don’t worry about it.” He started walking. “Come on. If we don’t get going, we won’t have any time left at all.”
Anger flared inside me, and I was silent for the rest of our walk. Noah was silent too, but he usually was, so I couldn’t tell if it meant anything. The fresh shirt I’d put on rubbed against the burns on my stomach, and I hoped he couldn’t see the face I was making in the dark.
Right in front of his cabin, my shoe caught on a rock. I tumbled forward, already anticipating the pain of my chin hitting the ground, but Noah’s arm swept in front of me, pulling me upright.
I yelled in pain and pushed against his arm. I ought to have been grateful he’d kept me from falling face-first on the icy forestfloor, but all I could think about was how much his arm hurt, pressed up against my stomach.
“Stop, stop,” I shouted, trying to shove his arm away.
He let his arm fall, not protesting. But he stared in consternation as I moaned, gritting my teeth against the pain in my abdomen. I wanted to wrap my arms around myself, but that would only make it worse. Instead, I hunched, hands on my knees, and tried to catch my breath. A little whimper escaped my mouth as I inhaled.
“Cory, what’s actually wrong? You’ve been walking stiffly the whole way here, and it’s clearly more than a stubbed toe.”
“I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth, still not over the pain flaring in my middle.
“Like hell you are. Was this Sean? Did he do something to you?”
That pulled me up short. “What? No. He had nothing to do with this.”
I mean, technically, he kind of had, but not in the way Noah meant. Sean didn’t set the enchantment on that door. Sean hadn’t even known I was in Hunt.
“I…had an accident,” I said, hearing how lame that sounded. “Forgot I’d lit a candle, leaned over it, and my sweater caught on fire.
Noah just looked at me.
“My skin got a little singed. It doesn’t feel great when I press on it. But that’s all.”
Noah stomped up the steps to the cabin and opened the door. “Get in.”
It was more of a grunt than a set of distinct words, but I did as I was told. My torso might be on fire, but the rest of me was cold and eager to get inside where it was warm. I shrugged off my jacket and started for the couch, but Noah shook his head.
“This way.” He pointed to a door on the far side of the kitchen that I’d never seen open. It proved to be a tiny bathroom, with a shower so narrow I was astounded his shoulders could fit inside it. There was a window above the toilet, and a potted fern sat on the sill.
“Sit.” He pointed at the toilet lid.
I did, grateful to be off my feet. The walk down from the manor wasn’tthatlong, but it had tired me more than I wanted to admit.
He pointed at my shirt next. “Off.”
“I think I’m fine, actually.”
I was a little indignant. What right did he have to bark monosyllabic orders and expect that I’d obey? I knew he probably just wanted to be sure I wouldn’t die in his cabin and leave a mess for him to clean up, but I wasn’t going to die. Not from this, anyway.
