Page 110 of Dancing with Vipers and Shadows

Whatever that does seems to freeze time and space because everything grows stoic.

Except for me and him.

“You can stop time,” I hum in excitement. “Excellent skill to have.”

“Don’t copy it,” he orders with a point of his finger in my line of vision. “What’s your bargain?”

“I never offered a bargain.”

“You’re waiting to offer one, which is why you deliberately put on a show, knowing Daemon and I were watching and grading you. But pulling all those stops and showing a glimpse of how catastrophic your magic can be at your first trial is going to get you killed fast here,Ophelia.”

“Hmmm. Having you say my name like that, though, is worth showing off, don’t you think?” I whisper. “Who can see us in this frozen space?”

“As of now, no one,” he admits.

“Not even Professor Blackbird?”

He doesn’t answer.

“Then I want two things,” I declare and quietly whisper. “Kiss me, Professor North.”

His Adam’s apple moves up and down from its place at his throat. One lingering gaze between us is enough to make him curse under his breath and seal my lips to his.

Kissing your teacher in the midst of your first exam is probably punishable by suspension, but why do I get all risky when this man is anywhere close to me?

Can I blame the Notorious Worm for hyping me up?

I wish the kiss was longer, but it’s done before it truly began, leaving us searching the other’s eyes for a form of understanding as to why we’re like this.

What is this magnetizing energy between us that makes me want to never leave his side again?

“What else do you want?” he decides to inquire. “Be quick. I can’t hold this much longer.”

“I want the worm.”

His scowling expression is back as he stares at me with obvious judgment.

“Should I ask why?”

“No.” I don’t need to give him an explanation.Then again, he could be doing me a favor.“But to sum it up, I’ve been here before. This same space. Only it was when I was six and that Notorious Worm was but a baby. Despite it being tinier, it didn’t eat me when I was obvious prey. It waited for me to recover and be on my way, but I’d summoned a trident to be my weapon of choice,” I announce.

“A trident…” he whispers.

“Notorious Worms have a different form of mimicry magic that allows them to copy something that helps them protect their hidden shadow forms. Baby worms can interchange between their shells and their shadow bodies, so I witness it shift and make a trident like mine. I told it I’d come back one day, so to make something that it’ll remember me from.”

I nudge my head to my right, forcing Professor North to follow my gaze and confirm the surviving roses that weren’t completely destroyed by the battle that unfolded here.

Thanks to my spell work, of course.

“You’re saying this creature is the one you met over ten years ago and made its nest decorated in roses to remind them of you?”

“Mhmm.”

He looks unconvinced before he mutters, “That’s why it was calling you Mommy.”

My smile grows.

“Headmaster Atlas may not let you keep another pet, Miss Guinevere,” he resorts to being more professional.

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