Page 36 of Magic in the Woods
I tucked the paper into the pocket of the ridiculously scratchy jacket the Academy made us wear. “No, it’s not.”
There was a pause before I heard fabric rustle and felt the warmth of her breath against my neck. Her hand rested against my chest softly before her fingers curled, grabbing onto the muscle beneath my shirt.
“Have you been in here, waiting for me?”
I sucked in a shallow breath, inhaling a scent that was excessively sweet. “No?—”
“Shh…” Her finger met my lips, stilling them before she dragged down, hooking the tip of her finger on the inside of my bottom lip. “Let’s not move our lips like that.” There was a pause before I felt the lapels of my jacket being pulled down, her body sliding higher up my chest. “Let’s move them like this.”
I didn’t have time to dart my tongue out, to wet my lips before hers pressed against mine. It was sloppy and manic, like she might not have known what she was doing yet still couldn’t get enough. I groaned as I felt the green plaid skirt that all the female witches wore brush against my pants, teasing me, tempting me to find out what was underneath. Recently, I hadn’t dared to get involved with a witch, not with the evaluations coming up. It’d been a long time…two years since I’d touched someone intimately. It’d gotten too risky. The witches all competed for my attention, and if I gave one just a sliver of acknowledgment, they’d all demand the same.
But this…this felt different. She wasn’t trying to reach for my belt—she wanted to be touched in the most basic of ways.
I unfurled my fingers, bringing my hands up to her chest, wrapping them around her neck beneath her chin.
Her neck was…wet.
Was it blood? Was she bleeding?
I pulled away. The woman groaned in protest, her neck pushing against my hand as she tried to get close again.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, bringing my other hand to feel the side of her head. Where was the wetness coming from?
She grabbed ahold of my wrist as my fingers got caught in a thick section of twists by her ear. “I need you…your lips on mine.” Again, she attempted to get close.
I sighed. I wanted to kiss her again, to feel her lips on mine. Maybe this next time I could take control, suck her lip into my mouth…bite down.
No.Something wasn’t right. That sickly-sweet scent coupled with her throwing herself at me in a dark room…who was this witch?
I kept her a good distance away from my face with the hand still wrapped around her neck. “By chance, are you a water element?” The water elements trained in potions, mostly. Love potions were a common beginner’s potion. The sweet scent rolling off her skin reeked of one.
“Yes. Are you?”
I fumbled for the door handle behind her as she giggled, thinking that I might’ve been searching for something else. We both squinted as light from the outside hit our dilated eyes. It took me a moment to see her clearly.
She was flames, fire, as wild and free as the curly hair that framed her face and hung down her back in long waves. A facethat was clear of the sores that plagued the witches that lived here. Instead, there were tiny orange spots over the bridge of her nose and along her cheeks. Like the sparks that spit above a roaring flame.
I blinked a couple of times. Had I absorbed some of the love potion through her lips?
I watched her face fall the moment she saw mine. The dark circles, the black veins traveling down my cheeks. My face was negating the love potion—or maybe it was just wearing off.
I didn’t want her coming down from the love potion inside the closet. She’d be scared, coming back to consciousness in a dark room with a strange man. I felt the need to bring her somewhere comfortable. Somewhere safe.
“Come with me.” I pulled back my hand, replacing her neck with her hand, gripping her boney palm tighter than I would ever dare to grip her neck. I pulled her out of the closet and down the hallway into the dome. I felt the stares of the other witches piercing like daggers in my back as we walked past.
My room was on the far side of the dome on the first floor. Quickly, I unlocked the door and pulled her in behind me. I let go of her hand, watching her stumble into my room as I latched the door. When I flipped on the light, I found that she’d already made her way across the room.
“Books? You have books?” She ran to the bookshelf, kneeling in front of the rows of spines.
Had she already forgotten about wanting to kiss me? I sighed. I couldn’t compete with books.
I had two bookshelves in my room that stood next to each other. One for fiction and one for nonfiction. They took up a decent amount of space in the room, but they were worth it. Books were my only source of entertainment and how I learned about the world above ground. I’d spent countless hours here inmy room reading my books—both fantasizing and studying what life was like beyond this place.
She picked out a fiction title, a book of fairy tales. Sitting back on her feet, she thumbed through the pages. I couldn’t help but notice the smile on her lips, how the corners of her eyes crinkled.
“You read these?” she asked. I sensed a bit of tease in her voice. She continued flipping through the pages as she waited for my answer.
“I have to learn somehow,” I said.
