Page 59 of Magic in the Woods
“It’d be so much easier for me to win if you tell me what the task is.”
“I don’t know what the task is,” I lied.
“I know you know.” She snapped her head to me, her eyes squinting. “You have to know. You probably chose the tasks yourself to vet potential partners.”
Slowly, I side-stepped along the wall, trying to put some distance between us.
In an instant, Petunia closed the distance I’d gained, her fingers wrapping around the lapels of my jacket, pulling my chest against hers. “Please?” she whispered, her lips brushing my ear.
My body tensed as her hands traveled up my chest, wrapping themselves around the back of my neck. Her touch didn’t feel right—it felt harsh and exacting. She was touching me toget something from me. It felt so different from the way Dafni had touched me, her hands soft and her touch gentle when she’d wrapped her arms around me when I’d carried her back to my room.
I grabbed her wrists, removing her hands from my body, pushing them back toward her.
“I don’t know what the task is,” I said. “I’d like you to leave.”
“You want me to leave?”
This time I took a step toward her, and Petunia instinctively backed away. “Yes, get out of my room.”
“Dafni was just in here…you didn’t kick her out,” Petunia spat.
I refused to bait her further. Telling her I’d already chosen Dafni would only further enrage her.
Petunia continued backing away toward the door. “I guess I’ll just have to impress you at the air task today…show you how powerful I am…prove to you that I’m better than Dafni.” She opened the door. “Is that what you want? Do I need to prove myself to you?”
A growl escaped my lips.
“Fine. That’s what I’ll do,” Petunia said as she exited my room, letting the door slam closed as she left.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dafni
“Don’tyou look all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. You have a certain glow about you…”
Brooke was sitting on the bed when I scurried in, using both of my hands to keep Gideon’s shirt pulled down over my thighs. The door closed behind me, and I let out a sigh of relief. I hadn’t run into anyone on the way up here.
Brooke stood and walked around me, examining me from head to toe. “Are you wearing one of his shirts?”
I looked down at my body. Yes. Yes, I was. I vaguely remembered putting on one of his shirts to sleep in last night after he’d helped me strip out of my uniform. I’d been too tired to care what Gideon saw of me.
“Did you two…?”
“No!” My face heated as I turned away from Brooke’s critical eye. “We didn’t do…whatever you think we did.”
“Then what did you do?” Brooke asked.
“We didn’t do anything?—”
“Liar.”
“Fine!” I let myself fall back onto the mattress, covering my eyes with the crook of my elbow.
“Yes! Spill, Dafni.” I felt Brooke’s weight settle into the mattress next to me.
“He touched me.”
“Where?”
