Chapter Thirteen #3
“Do you have any theories?” she asked, almost excitedly, forgetting for a moment the seriousness of their task. Instead, it felt like collaborating with Dahlia on a project. Or when she consulted on incantations for de novo spells.
“What if it has something to do with Ilex Hall? Or Hawthorn?” he suggested. “My brother suggested the Wilds themselves could be influencing it.”
She tapped her finger idly as she considered this idea.
“Have you visited the college historical center?” she asked as she shuffled through the file folders to look through anything from the Annex, a building that held a small museum and research center dedicated to Hawthorn, its founders, and Galloway. “We should check the records there.”
She looked up to see if he agreed and found him looking not at the scattered papers, but at her. Her cheeks flushed, again, at the intensity of his gaze. She sat back and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him. Shut it down. “But don’t think I’ve forgotten about seeing the pall itself.”
It worked. The heady mix of something like tenderness and heat in his gaze vanished.
“Let’s stick to the original plan. We’ll wait until campus empties after graduation.
It’s safer that way.” Based on what he’d revealed about the pall this evening, she agreed that it made sense to wait to maintain the warding seal until the students were gone, but she didn’t understand why he seemed so anxious about her entering the pall.
Was there something he didn’t want her to know about yet?
Unless it was just some misplaced chivalry.
The ghoul attack seemed to have shaken Taliesin more than her, and she was the one with a ghoul burn on her arm, not him.
Well, he’d find out soon enough that she wasn’t some damsel who needed fussing over.
As if he could read where her thoughts wandered, Taliesin asked, “How is Rodrigo? Are his wards holding?”
That was the last thing she expected him to ask. “So far. He shut down for a day to clean up, but he opened back up in time for the next week. He said business is slow, though. People are feeling skittish.”
Taliesin looked around the quiet coffee shop. “This place should be full of students studying for finals. They should be loading up on caffeine and sugar.”
Finals week started Monday, and underclassman would move out the following weekend.
The relief would be temporary, because families of graduating fourth-year students would begin to fill in the hotels and bed-and-breakfasts from Galloway to Atlantia in advance of the graduation ceremony.
Campus would be quiet again in two weeks.
“The university historical center is closed during the summer,” she said. “If we want to start our investigation there, it has to be before they leave for the year.”
“Between visiting the historical center, finals, all that graduation prep we both have to do…” He trailed off, and there was a sly smirk on his face that made her want to throw a piece of paper at him. He let out a dramatic cough. “I can’t risk another bout of pall sickness so soon.”
She sighed theatrically, trying to tamp down her own grin.
“Once again, Arthur Taliesin gets what he wants,” she said in a singsong, and his smirk widened into a smile.
Her stomach fluttered, and something else in her stirred.
How was he even more handsome when he smiled?
She cleared her throat. “I’ll make us an appointment at the historical center. ”
As Maggie began reorganizing the papers into manageable piles, trying very hard to not look at Taliesin, Liv walked over to their table with a bin to collect mugs and plates. “How was everything?”
“Perfect, as usual,” Taliesin said, and he seemed to have shed some of his earlier awkwardness.
When Liv dropped a plate with a clatter, Taliesin interjected with an unfairly charming “Oh shoot!” and helped her stack the remaining dishes.
Maggie smiled at the non-curse and suddenly found herself strangely grateful for an excuse to spend time with him. Even if she shouldn’t want that at all.
Liv turned to Maggie. “How do you know Little Artie?” Maggie couldn’t contain her smirk. There was nothing little about Arthur Taliesin.
Taliesin groaned, and Liv laughed. “Can we please leave Little Artie in the past? Maggie is my colleague at Hawthorn.”
“What is it you teach up there again?” Liv asked him.
“The required materials alchemy courses, mostly.”
Liv grimaced. “I nearly failed that class. Both semesters! But you were always smarter than us by half.” She said it warmly, but Maggie noticed Taliesin’s face fall slightly. Liv didn’t seem to see it, though, and went on. “I’m sure Simon loves having Uncle Artie in town all the time.”
“Not nearly as much as I love having him nearby.”
Liv continued chatting with Taliesin as they gathered their belongings.
He reached out in an offer to carry Maggie’s bag, but she huffed and hiked it up her shoulder.
At the door, Liv squeezed Taliesin’s arm and exchanged nice to meet yous and good nights with Maggie and Taliesin before locking the door behind them.