Page 61 of Wicked Dove
Kael takes them out, holding them in his palm between us. “Alone, their job is to grow a pretty flower, but combined with the right ingredients things can get… heated,” he murmurs, as vague as ever.
“How?” I push, and he lifts a brow at me.
“How about we take the class, and you’ll find out,” he smarts, and I roll my eyes at him.
“How about you sit here with your sass and I’ll take the sheet and grab the ingredients we need,” I retort, snatching the paper up and scurrying to the back of the room before he has a chance to stop me.
I spy Ocean already there and hurry to her side. A knowing smirk crosses her lips, but she doesn’t say a word. I hate it. I don’t, but I should.
“Are my eyes deceiving me, or is Kael being nice?” she asks, amusement lilting every word from her lips, and no matter how much I try to glower at her, I fail terribly.
“He wouldn’t know how to be nice if his life depended on it,” I grumble, and she laughs.
Refusing to see the funny side of the madness that is my life, I gather the ingredients as they’re labeled on the sheet and scurry back to my table, feeling no relief from being out of his presence for a moment.
I flop in my seat, spreading the jars out in front of me, all while ignoring Kael’s presence, only to lock eyes with Rion in front of me. Shaking my head, I narrow my gaze on the instructions as if they’re a step-by-step guide to surviving this damn place.
Silently, Kael and I combine the first three ingredients, working in sync, before he holds the fourth ingredient out toward me.
“I’m good, you do it,” I murmur, but when he doesn’t move an inch, I’m forced to look at him.
“You’ll like it,” he states as I eye him nervously. “Do you not trust me?” His green eyes swirl as he eats me up with his stare. I raise my eyebrows at him, and he rolls his eyes in return. “Just do it,” he grunts, placing the vial with pale blue liquid inside in front of me.
Gulping, I eye it for a moment before peering at the soft pink liquid in the main glass pot between us. Taking the four drops of the blue concoction, which I can’t even pronounce the name of, I add them to the pink mixture.
I watch in amazement as the colors swirl together, dancing in an array of purples as they combine. Mesmerized, I don’tlook away until it’s all one. When I lift my gaze, it’s to find Kael looking at me.
I blush, waving him off quickly. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” he challenges, and I scoff, shaking my head as I look anywhere but at him.
“Like there’s a decent human being underneath all that.”
His hand lands on my shoulder as he leans in close, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear as he whispers. “I’m not a human being.” He leans back with a wink like he hasn’t just stolen my breath and I swat at his chest.
“You’re an ass.”
“There’s only one reason someone would be interested in a skank with purple fucking hair, and it has to be because of how easy she is.” The snide remark is loud enough for the entire class to hear, and it’s no surprise when I follow the sound and find that it’s Willow standing proud and sneering at me.
Instead of biting back with a pointless remark, I disregard her attempt to bring me down. It will only piss her off more when she doesn’t get a rise out of me.
Turning my attention back to the sheet in front of me, Kael’s hand drops from my shoulder to my thigh. “I’ll protect you, you know,” he whispers, as though it’s the secret to getting out of here.
“Of course,” I murmur, refusing to look at him, but he gets the hint all the same.
“You don’t believe me.”
My gaze latches onto his before I can think better of it. “When have you ever given me a reason to?”
The truth hangs in the air between us, leaving him speechless and me defenseless, so I do the only thing I can do, and that’s carry on with the experiment.
Kael watches as I take control of the concoction, until all that remains are the poppy seeds. Both of our hands touch the pouchat the same time and the soft, warm contact startles me. My gaze latches onto his, a warmth brightening his green eyes, and it leaves me breathless.
Slowly, he pulls his hand back, letting me take the final ingredient, but not before he runs his fingertips over mine, making me shiver as I remember his touch in the bathroom back at The Sanctum headquarters.
I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as I sprinkle the poppy seeds in, watching the liquid bubble immediately before Kael tugs me back a step, just in time for the crackles and bright lights to stream from the jar.
I gape in disbelief at the bursts of color that fill the air before me like fireworks.
