He laughs. “Like me?”
“Oh? And when did someone last confiscate an item from you?”
“A week before you arrived. A lodestone infused with Willowbrook magic taken for 'safe-keeping' until my parents find the time to collect the item. I’m sure Mrs. Lorcan would store the tiara in the same place—hidden and warded.”
“Hidden and warded? Then how is your information advantageous?”
“Violet.” He runs a finger along my nose before kissing the tip, and I give him a warning look. Public. “I'm strongly attuned to the Willowbrook energy, which is one reason the teachers removed the stone from me. When I looked for it, I couldn't detect anything in the admin area of the academy. Confiscated items must be kept somewhere surrounded by intense magical energy, which would overwhelm any magic that’s attached to stored objects and make them harder to detect.”
“You now know where the confiscated items are kept?” I whisper, eyeing the two girls walking by the pair, who’re also whispering as they fix me with unpleasant looks.
“Yes, I do.” He hands back the phone and places a hand on the wall above my head.
“And?” Rowan arches a brow. “I hope this isn't another of your 'if you kiss me, I'll tell you' moments,” I say. “Because that never works.”
His eyes drop to my lips. “Violet, I said that once as a joke.” He pauses. “But I won't say no.”
“Good grief,” I mutter at him. “I’ve told you numerous times I will not make a public display of myself.”
“Oh? Like with Leif at the dance?” he asks, his arched brow moving higher.
“That was different.”
“Uh huh.” He drops his hand from the wall and steps back. “I know better than to blackmail you, Violet Blackwood.”
“Precisely.”
“And I don’t need to.”
Our eyes meet, his gleaming with the challenge at me to deny the times I’ve shoved him against a wall and kissed him. Me. The girl who hated touch, with a personal space boundary a mile wide, now enjoys Rowan’s attention.
I no longer avoid the guy who I’d looked at with mild irritation much of the time. Rowan understands me and curiously when he isn’t around Rowan’s still with me. Although Rowan does still irritate me at times—something definitely mutual—and that’s what usually leads to the wall shoving.
I’m beginning to suspect he likes to clash with me for that very reason.
Chapter 5
ROWAN
I’m aware of the stone's location as I’ve attempted to reclaim the object once before. I haven’t bothered since Violet arrived, as there's less urgency in perfecting the protective spell around Leif and myself. I don’t need the additional energy source the stone would give me.
Besides, I’ve a greater source now—Violet.
Shortly after the academy took the stone from me, I located the room hidden in an older part of the campus, but struggled to break and pass the wards. The area containing the room is out of bounds to students, therefore anybody seen around the place would arouse suspicion.
There’s no guarantee we’ll get past the wards anyway, but it’s worth a try with the potency from both our magic. I totally agree with Violet—we need to get the tiara in ours or Dorian’s hands asap before somebody else gets hold. Even though I couldn't find anything with the psychometry, I'm positive there's a magic block on the item. Did Sienna somehow accidentally and unpleasantly remove that? Because if she did, psychometry could work next time, and somebody may not want us to read the energy imprint.
The fire that destroyed the old academy never touched this area on the edge of the building. Some wanted the whole place pulled down afterwards, but others wanted to preserve the magic infused in the stone from years of students passing through. And so, the peeling painted walls and scuffed floorboards became a museum of sorts—a snapshot in time of a different world, with the new academy built around the magical center.
Violet wanders beside me, occasionally touching the flaking walls. “I don’t sense anything different.”
“The old library was over there.” I indicate a set of stone steps towards the end of the hallway. “Above the place magic converges.”
She perks up. “Any books left inside?”
“No. Long gone. There were witches' study rooms beneath, and I tried to sneak in there once but again, heavy wards.” I rub my cheek. “That’s where the academy stores all the confiscated items now.”
Violet’s face brightens. “Perfect. We may find other things.”