The Coven (Coven of Bones, #1)(56)
“You know she doesn’t like the dark, and she doesn’t like being restrained. Isn’t that enough?” she asked, reaching out to touch a hand to my forearm. “Please. Let her keep her secrets.” The fact that she’d dared to touch me spoke to her desperation to help Willow, and I realized it wasn’t just my skin the witchling had worked her way beneath.
She’d found a friend, a true one from the looks of it, when I’d thought such things would be impossible at Hollow’s Grove.
I shrugged off her touch, making my way back to my desk and nodding in dismissal.
“There can be no secrets in Crystal Hollow.”
27
WILLOW
I crooked my finger twice, summoning Iban forward. He shook his head from side to side, a youthful, disbelieving smile reminding me of just how young he was.
How young we were, and the Choice he’d been forced to make before he was old enough to understand the implications of it.
“Do you ever regret it?” I asked, dodging backward as he lunged for me. His hands wrapped around air, finding the spot where I’d stood only a moment before completely empty. Slamming the side of my arm down on his back, I used his momentum against him.
My push made him spiral, his arms flailing a little as he fought for his balance, and he spun to look at me. All around the grounds in front of the school, other students did the same. Witches paired off with witches, Vessels observing primarily but interacting when they thought they would be well received.
“Sometimes,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as if it didn’t matter.
I supposed in a way it didn’t, given that nothing anyone did could ever change it. I hoped he at least found what he was looking for one day, but the fact that he’d chosen the ability to bear children over having magic when Susannah intended to allow them all to die anyway…
I sighed, spinning and aiming a kick directly for his face as he rushed me. He stopped just in time, my leg raised in the air so that the sole of my sneaker was only inches from his nose. He grinned, touching the bare skin of my ankle where it peeked out from beneath the black leggings I’d donned for the day.
The fabric was thin, hugging my curves flawlessly. There was no gap between my thighs, and I gloried in the feeling of pants that I’d been denied since arriving in Crystal Hollow. I’d gotten far too used to rubbing deodorant on the inside of my thighs every morning to prevent the chafing burn that happened when I had to walk from one side of the school to the other too many times in one day.
I pulled my foot out of his grip, tipping my head to the side and giving him a look that communicated he needed to focus. He smiled unapologetically as I stepped back, squaring my posture and readying for the next mock attack.
“Do you think you’re doing her any favors?” Gray asked, stepping up beside Iban.
“Stop it,” I snapped, glaring at him from the corner of my eye.
He raised a brow at me in mocking condescension, and I just waited for him to voice the words that made his lips tip into a smirk.
I could hear them as if he’d spoken them; feel them hanging between us.
That’s not what you were saying when my mouth was on your pussy.
I swallowed, turning my gaze away and raising my hands into fists. I waited for Iban to regroup himself after the interruption, raising his own hands and stepping toward me. He moved slower than I knew he was capable, the eyes supervising every move he made making him nervous.
“There’s a murderer in this school,” Gray said, his voice dropping to a low seethe as he placed a hand on Iban’s shoulder and shoved him away. The way the others around us stilled at the reminder of the word, at the reminder that there were twelve of us who were very vulnerable. “If you aren’t going to take her safety seriously, then let her fight with someone who will.”
“You?” Iban asked, and the challenge in those words wasn’t lost on me. It was an acknowledgement of everything Gray should have worked harder to hide, knowing that a relationship between us should have been kept a secret.
Gray ignored Iban, turning to me more fully and spreading his feet until he stood shoulder-width apart. It was the first time I’d seen him out of a suit in the light of day. His black sweatpants hinted at the deep lines of muscle in his thighs, and his black t-shirt was so fitted that everyone knew just how broad his shoulders and chest were.
He didn’t so much as raise a hand at me as he quirked his brow, waiting for me to strike.
“I’m not very likely to be doing the attacking,” I murmured, watching as his laughter began in his stomach. His chest shook with the force of it as he bowed his head forward, his eyes drifting closed.
“Have you fucking met you?” he asked, his breath a deep wheeze that drew a laugh even from Iban as he watched our interaction.
“Rude,” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest. I was far too aware of the all-too-curious stare of the other man who wanted to fuck me, not trusting anyone in this school as far as I could throw them. Iban was sweet, and I suspected he had the best intentions at the end of the day.
But that didn’t mean Susannah hadn’t already wrapped her bones around him.
I hadn’t been able to shake her words when she’d been ready to put me into the deep sleep, that Iban could be convinced to visit me. I wasn’t so sure, because at the end of the day, I suspected his vision of a family involved a wife and not someone who slept eternally and left him to raise a child on his own.