Not after today, though. I WILL learn this map. After a weekend with Savannah and Gigi I felt confident enough to venture out on my own to the restroom. It’s okay. I’ll find my way back. I just need to ask someone for directions.
Just then a classroom door to my left flew open and a tall, lanky boy stumbled out.
I gasped and hurried toward him. “Excuse me?”
The boy looked up and stopped short. A grin spread across his face. “Hi. What’s up?”
“Do you know which way to the photography class?”
He opened his mouth then shut it and frowned. “We have photography here?”
I sighed, my hope deflating. “Never mind.”
I scowled but then I noticed a cute little brunette with neon yellow boots had just left the same room he had. She looked up and smiled, then turned to me with confusion in her eyes.
“Hi! Do you know where the photography classroom is?”
Her face scrunched up like she was thinking about it. She shook her head. “No, sorry. I like your outfit, though. So grunge chic.” She waved, then they slipped through a door that led outside.
I didn’t know what grunge chic meant, but I liked the compliment. Grunge chic. What does that mean? Note to self, ask the girls. I looked down at my outfit and frowned. Grunge. Chic. I did not know the definition to either of those words. Yet she’d said it in a positive context, so it must have been a good thing. And I was quite proud of myself today for putting this look together.
Savannah had asked me what my style was, what kind of clothes I liked to wear – what kind of image I had. Naturally, I hadn’t known. Or at least, I couldn’t remember. Savannah had called herself a hipster witch whereas Gigi was girl next door. Apparently there was a name for these things and I needed to figure out what mine was. Except…I didn’t know what I liked.
Landreia had taken me shopping Thursday night and bought me a bunch of items, but she’d gotten me all black so that I wouldn’t have to worry about matching colors. It was a solid strategy but now I wanted to test things out. See what I liked.
So today, I’d put on a little black thing called a crop top with a high-waisted red plaid skirt that was extremely short. Both were Savannah’s from middle school that she’d outgrown. Luckily she’d given me a pair of black tights and these big black stretchy socks that came up all the way to my knees so most of my legs were covered for warmth. The black combat boots – which I didn’t understand the name for, I didn’t think we were headed for battle – were not as warm and comfy as the Uggs I’d had on all weekend but they looked cute with the outfit.
My hag stone necklace and Mark’s crystal necklace matched perfectly.
Though I had to admit, only to myself, that I’d thought of Riah this morning when I was getting dressed. He always wore a hoodie under his leather jacket so I’d done the same today. I wasn’t sure if I liked the short skirt and crop top yet, but I definitely liked the jacket combo.
Okay, Saffie, you can’t just stand here waiting for someone to come out. I turned right and headed down the hallway, then turned left at the fork – and ran into a dead end. I cursed. I had no idea how I’d gotten so turned around. I was going to have—
“You look lost,” Riah’s warm, deep voiced rumbled right behind me.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood tall. I spun around and plastered a smile on my face to try and not look the least bit scared. Confidence is key. “What gave it away?”
He took a few steps toward me and I drank in the sight of him. My heart fluttered with every inch he got closer. I took a deep breath but that burning ember scent of his made my chest grow hot and tight. It took a lot more effort that it should have, but I forced myself to look away from his beautiful face. My gaze landed on his amethyst ring on his left middle finger. But then he lifted that hand and scratched his jaw and I was sucked right back in.
Except he wasn’t looking at my face. His gaze slid down the length of my body like it held the key to a puzzle. Those golden eyes were sharp and intense. I made my heart skip beats.
I swallowed a rush of nerves and tucked my fiery red hair behind my ears. “What?”
“You look…” he cleared his throat. His gaze crawled back up to my face. “Tall.”
I stepped up close to him so that our bodies almost touched, then craned my neck back to see his face. “Riah, I’m the same height as your legs. I doubt I look tall.”
A wide grin spread across his face, making his cheeks dimple slightly. He chuckled. “Come on, let’s go back to class.”
He reached out and gently touched the back of my arm, then spun me around until we were facing the same direction. I looked up at him to say something witty but his eyes locked on mine and my words dried on my tongue. His smile was gone but his expression was captivating. He was too much, too close. His scent was intoxicating. For a moment we stood there, side-by-side, just staring at each other, and I thought I was going to pass out if I didn’t start breathing.
And then his hand pressed into the small of my back and I gasped. He gently urged me forward and I realized he was waiting for me to walk. My cheeks warmed. Way to be weird, Saffie. I cleared my throat and forced myself to start moving. One foot after the other, there you go. We walked for a few moments in silence but I was hanging on his every breath, waiting for him to say anything at all.
“Dangerous.”
I jumped and stopped walking. “What?”
He stopped and turned back to face me. His golden gaze slid down my body then slowly back up. Very slowly. “You look…dangerous today.”
“Dangerous? How?” I said in far too soft of a voice than I wanted to use with him.
He smiled a crooked grin that did weird things to my insides. Then he shrugged and spun back around. “Maybe it’s the tights,” he said as he started walking again.
My eyes widened. The tights? I frowned and hurried after him. When I finally caught up to his long stride, I hissed, “what does that mean?”
He chuckled again and it sounded like music, but he just shook his head.
“Riah.”
“I do like your outfit, though,” he said while completely ignoring my question.
“Thank you.” I had no idea what had come over me, but found myself reaching out and tugging on the zipper of his black hoodie that he wore under his black leather jacket. I stared up into his eyes. “I had inspiration.”
His lips parted and I had the sudden urge to kiss him. If he wasn’t so much taller than me, I might have actually tried.
“You’re a good girl, Saraphina, and I want to treat you as such. However, that outfit makes it difficult to do.” His eyes flashed bright. Then he leaned down closer to me, and whispered, “hence…dangerous.”
I stopped breathing. My pulse thundered through my body. I swallowed roughly and licked my lips. His eyes tracked the movement. “T-t-th-thank y-you?”
That wicked grin spread across his face again as he laughed. “You’re welcome. Now…after you?”
He reached out and yanked a door open. Bright light spilled into the hallway and that already familiar chemical stench hit my nose. We were back at class. And I hadn’t paid any attention to how we got there. Again. I sighed and glanced up at him. He winked then sauntered into the class like he owned the place.
I groaned. My head was a mess but my heart was nearing on not-functioning. That boy was going to kill me. I shook myself then looked up – and found Savannah and Gigi staring at me with wide eyes and jaws dropped. Great. They saw that.
“Safferella!” Savannah hissed and pointed to the stool beside her.
I hurried over and sat down. “Hey. Sorry, I got lost. I don’t know, either.”
“And Riah brought you back?” Savannah hissed under her breath.
My cheeks warmed and I knew I was blushing. I shrugged in hopes of looking nonchalant. “Yeah, he found me in the hallway.”
Gigi shook her head. “Girrrrrl. He’s like your knight in shining armor.”
Savannah tugged on my jacket sleeve. “Spill it, ma’am! What did he say? I saw the way he was looking at you. He’s smitten. I know it. And that wink, oh my god.”
“Yeah, girl. Start talking.”
“All right, class. Happy Monday,” Ms. Kelly yelled over the noisy classroom. Once they quieted, she lifted her hand in the air. “If you’re still taking pictures, go on and get out. If you’ve finished your roll and are ready to load your film, then come with me.”
I jumped up even though I hadn’t actually finished my roll of film, but I was desperate to get away from this conversation by any means necessary. I wasn’t ready to talk about him or how I felt about him. It was still too confusing. I needed to process it more.
Savannah rolled her eyes and handed me the roll of film out of my camera. “We both know you didn’t finish this and are avoiding us. That’s cool. We’re patient.”
Gigi nodded with a devious looking smile. “We’ve got all the time in the world to talk about him.”
I groaned and grabbed the film out of Savannah’s hand then raced after Ms. Kelly. Two other girls, whom I hadn’t learned the names of yet, followed her in there as well. I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing, so I let them walk in front of me. Ms. Kelly led us into the darkroom, which was actually not that dark at all but lit with a red light, then she walked over to a door on the side wall and opened it up. The two girls bounced right in after her so I hurried in — and froze.
The room was tiny like a closet and it was pitch black inside.
Ms. Kelly stepped in until the soft red light from the darkroom lit her face. She smiled. “We can’t turn the light on until the door is shut. Come on in, I’ll explain inside.”
Oh. Right. No light in the darkroom. That makes sense. I nodded and hurried into the little closet sized room. There was enough of the red light inside for me to see the other two girls standing in the back of the closet and Ms. Kelly was on the left.
“Saffie, can you close the door please?”
I threw my hand behind me — and my palm hit something firm and warm. I jumped and spun to see what I’d hit and my breath left me in a rush.
Riah.
My palm was flat against his stomach. Heat rushed to my face and my pulse skipped a few beats. My body locked in place. The warmth radiating off of him was enough to make me sweat. His golden eyes met mine and I sucked in a gasp of air. He arched one eyebrow then glanced down. SHIT. My hand was still on his stomach. I tried to yank my hand away but my body was disobeying me. Instead, I slowly dragged my fingers down, feeling every ripple of his abs through his shirt. His eyes widened just a fraction.
“Hello, Riah,” Ms. Kelly said cheerfully behind me.
He looked up at her then nodded into the room. “May I?”
“Of course. Shut and lock the door behind you, please.”
I stepped back to make room for him but there just wasn’t room. There was a counter on the back wall and one of the girls was standing in front of it. I couldn’t go any farther. The sliver of red light was closing by the millisecond, yet everything seemed to slow down around me. Riah’s body loomed over me like a shadow of a tree – and then his arm brushed against mine. I sucked in a breath and held it. There was nowhere to go and he was everywhere. Even though we both wore leather jackets and hoodies, it still felt like our bare skin was touching from the heat in his body.
The smell of burning embers filled the air around me. It hit me like a brick wall and to my horror, I swayed into him. Riah’s arm shot out and wrapped around my waist. And then I heard the click of the door…and we were drenched in darkness. I felt each of his five fingers pressing into my side and it sent bolts of electricity racing through my veins.
“Incoming…lights…”
Riah’s hand squeezed my side – and then it was gone, replaced by sudden cold air.
I shivered but it made my arm bump into his even more.
Bright white light shined from the ceiling. Ms. Kelly smiled. “Sorry, just want to take a second so Saffie knows what we’re doing.”
We’re torturing me, right? That’s what this is? That’s why he’s standing so close to me? I glanced up to Riah and then his gaze found mine. My heart fluttered like the traitor that it was. His gaze dropped to my cheek, then came right back to my eyes – which meant I was probably as red as an apple right now. I clenched my teeth together and peeled my eyes off of his.
But Ms. Kelly didn’t seem to notice any of this or my panic. She grinned and held up a silver metal contraption. “Okay, Saffie. When we turn the lights back off I’ll be taking each of your rolls of film one at a time and loading it on to one of these. Once we’re all done, we’ll go back out into the class and develop them. All right?”
I licked my lips and nodded. “Got it.”
She reached for the light switch and darkness swallowed us whole once more.
“Okay, Ali. You’re first. Film please.”
“Here you go,” Ali said without hesitation.
It was weird to be in complete darkness while knowing four other people were right beside me and I couldn’t see them. For a moment, my eyes tried to adjust to see but no matter how hard I tried everything was black. My other senses kicked in stronger. I heard the cracking of chewing gum from the girl beside me. There was a clicking sound coming from where Ms. Kelly stood.
And then there was Riah. I was overly conscious of everything. The sound of his breathing. The smell of his leather jacket mixing with his burning ember scent. I couldn’t see him but I could feel him. There was some kind of energy radiating out of him. It was hot and pulsing with electricity that made the hairs on my arms stand tall.
“You’re all set, Ali,” Ms. Kelly said, her voice a lifesaver in the dark. “Okay, Katie?”
Katie bumped into me so I jumped out of her way…and my back slammed into Riah’s chest. I gasped. He gasped. I was flush against him, from my shoulders down to my thighs. Our bodies touching in too many places. Heat exploded inside me. I was tiny, so my shoulders fell just under his chest…and my lower back pressed into his hips.
His breath brushed over my hair and then his hands gripped my hips. I bit down on my cheek as raw, hot energy rushed through me like I’d been plugged into an electrical socket. Every nerve ending in my body was on fire. I’d never felt my pulse beat that erratically. I knew I needed to move but my brain seemed to have melted.
Riah cleared his throat then lifted me up by my hips. I inhaled through my nose and instinctively reached down and grabbed his hands. His fingers dug into my skin as he lifted me off my feet then gently placed me back down on the ground so that I wasn’t pressed against him. His grip loosened but mine didn’t. My brain was just not with it, there must not have been enough blood getting there. My hands had not received the memo to let go.
“All right, Saffie. Your turn.”
My roll of film was sandwiched between my palm and the back of his hand. I stared down at where I knew my hand was despite the darkness, yet it didn’t move. Riah pulled his right hand free from my hold then grabbed my left wrist – the one holding the film – and lifted my arm up in the air until I found Ms. Kelly’s outstretched hand.
The coolness of her skin jostled me long enough to clear the Riah-induced haze in my brain. I dropped the film into her hand then yanked my hand back to my chest. Riah chuckled in my ear and it made me shiver. I pulled both of my arms into my chest and held them there.
“All right…here you go, Saffie.”
I threw my arm out until I felt the cold metal hit my fingers. Then pulled it back into my chest like the life saver it was. Breathe, Saffie. Get control of yourself.
Ms. Kelly cleared her throat. “Okay, Riah? Your turn.”
“I did mine myself while you did theirs,” he said with his deep, rumbly voice.
“Oh fantastic. Then let’s get back out into class. Riah, open the door please.”
A split second later I heard the creaking of the door and then that soft re
d light spilled into the closet. Riah pushed it all the way open and stepped aside. I didn’t wait. I rushed out of there and practically sprinted for the door out of the darkroom. I needed space. I needed light. I needed air.
I needed to get away from Riah before I lost my damn mind.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Riah
June 11th 1692
I paused between two large pine trees, letting their overgrown branches hide me as I watched her. She walked about fifteen feet ahead of me with her little spotted dog trotting along at her feet, his tail wagging and ears perked up. As she walked, the forest came alive for her. Birds flew over her head from tree to tree, singing their hearts out. Butterflies hovered around her fiery hair. Squirrels and rabbits bounced after her.
My Saraphina.
She may have belonged to the Earth and arcana, but nature treated her for her other side. Her Seelie side. It was an interesting side effect for our kind, that this realm loved us so, when so many of my kind did not reciprocate. But Saraphina was made for this realm. She loved it so fervently it was contagious.
It’d been six months since I was sent here to be her guardian and she’d changed me forever. Any preconceived notions I had of this realm were dust in the wind because of her. But it was not only my mind she’d changed. She’d changed my heart. Each and every day it only grew worse.
With a heavy sigh, I watched as the object of my desire walked into a clearing within the forest. This was my favorite place to watch her, for every time it was like the Earth itself sighed in relief at her arrival. The ground glittered gold under her feet at every step. The air cooled. And although the sky was not yet black, fairyflies swarmed around her.
I cursed and leaned my head against the trunk of the tree.
This job was bittersweet. Not for the first time I wondered if Prince Thorne hated me and chose this assignment as punishment. Though I knew it not to be the case, especially since he had no way of knowing the ways I loved her. They were my deepest, darkest secret…and there they would remain. For no one could know the depths at which my heart hurt for her.
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