Page 142 of The Holy Academy of Witches

“You!”

I feigned surprise, pointing to myself, “Me?”

“Don’t be cute… Why didn’t you tell me?!” She snapped.

I bit back a laugh, “I thought you knew!”

“No, I didn’t know!” She squeaked, “I thought he hated me!”

“Hated you?” I replied, frowning.

“Well maybe not hated, but liked to torture me. I thought the fake dating was just a game he enjoyed playing. Or maybe it was just a way to keep his mom’s matchmaking to a minimum.”

“You’d know if he hated you, trust me.” She rolled her eyes and I continued, walking to her slowly and placing my hand on her arm, “Sage… He’s obsessed with you.” She looked at me in alarm, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

“Nah-uh,” she fidgeted with her skirt and wouldn’t meet my eye. Crossing my arms, I leant against the sink and stared her down.

“Yes. It’s blatantly obvious.”

She finally looked at me, her eyes searching my own for any trace of a lie or joke. It saddened me that she automatically assumed people were tricking her.

“But… He’s hot.”

“Objectively.” I pretended to shudder and she playfully punched my arm, a small laugh escaping her.

“How? …Why? …When?”

I shook my head at her. “You really need to get your eyes tested, Sage, you’re ridiculously pretty, kind and very intelligent. Did it not occur to you that he’s been making excuses to continue to date you for months?”

She opened her mouth to protest when a toilet flushed beside us and Sage jumped.

“Can I come out now? I didn’t want to interrupt but…”

“No. You can stay in there.” I replied harshly, resulting in another punch from Sage. I rubbed my arm and shrugged at her before sticking out my tongue and leaving the bathroom. She could deal with that one.

Seventy-Five

Sage

Cillian was leaned up against the wall outside the bathroom, my potions textbook still in hand. I should have known it was a bad idea to leave the bathroom, maybe I should join the witch Adeline had scared senseless. Despite my reassurance she had remained, still shaking in her stall.

“I can’t talk to you right now.” I said, stretching out my arms in demand for the textbook.

“Okay, then don’t talk.” He said, ignoring the obvious context in favour of linking his fingers through mine.

He strode quickly out of the building, unapologetically towing me behind him. I went to object, but the only form of communication I could manage was a series of garbled, outraged noises. I wanted to say something snarky, something witty and challenging, but I couldn’t. And the last thing I wanted was to unwind my hand from his. I couldn’t believe that the strong hand intertwined with mine was there for a reason more than a duty, more than a game. The impossible hope became razors slicing me with each thought. Could he feel the same?

We were not going the right direction for my next class. And I still hadn’t eaten.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we passed the scattered greenhouses. He stayed silent, answering me by turning onto the path that led to the side of the lake, to the tree road. “Cillian, we can’t. We’ll get into trouble. I should go to class.”

He stopped abruptly, only giving me enough time to halt a breath away from him. I gasped, shocked again at my body’s visceral reaction to being enveloped by his warmth and citrusy smell. He was extremely quiet as he spoke, leaning down closer.

“If you want to go to class I won’t stop you. But something’s going on. I want to know what, but somewhere safe. So… Now you know what I want… What doyouwant? Because it looks like you don’t want the space you say you do.”

“I… I… I’ll follow you.” I stuttered, trying and failing to look away from the lips that were inches away from mine, the corner of which twitched upwards at my words.

As we walked above the trees, I took in the soft budding leaves reaching for the sun. Why was it so hard for me to reach for what I wanted, what I needed? As soon as we passed through the boundary he apparated us into the cabin.

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