Chapter 16
When Bryn finally woke up for real that Saturday morning, she was already having second thoughts.
Not about the sex—the sex had been incredible.
She’d had no idea that Amelia was also just a little bit kinky, and the discovery had been extraordinary, fantastic, exciting, and new. And definitely fun.
Then again, Amelia had left in the middle of the night.
What if she regretted it? That was the worst part.
Bryn had skipped breakfast at the castle, which she normally did on Saturday mornings.
She liked to take a hike around the campus—the kind of hike she had never taken when she was a student there.
Partially because there were only limited paths students were allowed to hike, and mostly because the campus just wasn’t that interesting to her when she lived there all the time.
For a good portion of her school years, she had just been waiting to escape it.
But now, back again, only temporarily, she realized what a gorgeous place Grimoire Academy really was.
Acres and acres of land. The parts nearest the castle were more utilitarian—a paddock for the horses and livestock, the extensive gardens, a rather large stable fit for many uses, including medical appointments for all the school’s various animals.
But beyond that, there were some zebras still living in the wild from when they’d been released there decades ago.
The land was not formally fenced in at the boundaries; it was magically protected by barrier spells that three experts in the field needed two full weeks to maintain each summer.
They kept out strangers and kept in the wildlife.
Not that, on her walks, Bryn had ever encountered any of these beasts.
At least the tigers had been rounded up a long time ago—she didn’t fancy meeting one of them.
But the local native wildlife was still active.
Coyotes, deer, loads and loads of rodents, rabbits, and birds, the occasional skunk family.
Only when she was forty-five minutes into her hike did she realize she hadn’t left a note or even texted Amelia.
What if she had come by the cottage to talk, or eat, or kiss?
She’d have found the cottage empty, and Bryn hadn’t even gone to breakfast. What if that was sending the wrong message, making it look like she wasn’t interested when she definitely, definitely was?
Not that what they had done had been any kind of big deal, but she shouldn’t be out of range. She quickly sent a text simply saying, Taking a hike, see you later.
Amelia had sent back a thumbs up. Thumbs up?
What the heck did that mean? Thumbs-up emoji.
But she kept hiking, her thoughts whirling around her.
She visualized them, like her thoughts were a series of sparkles surrounding her head—different sizes, different colors, some with spikes, some with gentle curves …
The sex had been absolutely spectacular.
She’d do it again in a heartbeat. She’d do it again right now if Amelia booty-called her—a concept that should obviously be a verb.
She would be back at her cottage faster than she even thought was possible under normal circumstances, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.
But Amelia had texted a thumbs up, which was basically a neutral acknowledgement.
What did it mean? What were they even doing?
It was already April. The MSEs were the first week of June.
She’d be gone after that, back to her apartment, back to Denver, back to the mountains.
A totally different world than this. No more teaching, or grading, or lesson planning.
It was strange to think of how recently she’d been looking forward to that release: a clear path forward, no more being bad at her job all the time.
Yet now it felt different. Was that only because she and Amelia had fucked?
Because that felt like a wildly insubstantial reason to feel less bad at her job.
Plus, this was only sex. Maybe a fling. That’s what she could call it. Very brief, very hot, and then very over. No doubt that was how Amelia was thinking about it. That was how Bryn had conducted every sexual encounter of her life. No pressure, no big deal.
Except, every time Bryn even thought about Amelia, it felt like the circuit boards all over her body lit up with electricity, like she couldn’t wait for the next time they saw each other, even if it was in the corridor and all they could do was smile hello before vanishing into their respective days.
But maybe Amelia had a different kind of second thoughts.
By the time Bryn got back to the cottage, she’d pictured Amelia there so frequently that she was almost surprised to find it empty.
Amelia had only been to visit twice. Bryn had only been at the school for two months.
She had no business thinking about it like this was her life. It wasn’t. It wouldn’t be.
Bryn was not the type of person who ended up with Amelia Hexford.
She’d always known that. Amelia would probably marry some super smart hottie who only ever looked artistically disheveled and knew exactly how to navigate conversations with the Governor Schneiders of the world without being so intimidated that sweat pooled in her unmentionables.
Back at the cottage, she set up her paper grading, which she mostly did in Professor Herringbone’s study.
But the idea of going to the castle right now and possibly having to face Amelia (which might be great or might be devastating), let alone anyone else, was too much to handle.
What would Mr Wicks think if he knew that they had— Screw it.
Mr Wicks was just some dude; his judgment was irrelevant, though Bryn had to admit she didn’t want to be judged—not by the people at the school, not by the board of governors, not by anyone.
And certainly not for the feelings she had for Amelia.
She set a timer and diligently graded papers for two hours, at which point she was not quite caught up, but caught up enough to at least feel better about things.
She set the timer again and did some lesson planning, though this was slightly less disciplined.
Halfway through, she stopped for a snack, and that quickly turned to imagining Amelia there with her, also eating a snack.
And that quickly turned to imagining Amelia there, eating a candlelit dinner, sharing a bottle of apple cider.
Relaxing in the flickering shadows, her skin, kissing …
Before she knew it, Bryn had run out the last of her timer, not lesson planning, but fantasizing.
This was absurd. She sent another text to Amelia, hoping to sound casual and not weird.
This time the text read, Thinking about you, with a smiley face.
Not a heart. A heart would potentially be overstepping, but a basic smiley face was as neutral as an emoji could be following the words thinking about you.
If Amelia thumbs-upped this, well, it would probably be the last text Bryn ever sent, because she’d have to leave the country and change her name.
Instead, nothing. Left on delivered. She finally surrendered to the inevitable and went up to the castle, fearing encountering Amelia in a corridor and having an awkward one-sided conversation.
But she didn’t. She made it to the kitchens and collected some food for later so that she wouldn’t have to leave the cottage again.
So much work to be done, she told herself.
She needed to start outlining the book that she hoped her publisher would ask her for.
The second volume in her series of spell books for the everyday witch.
She had a career, and it was definitely not teaching.
She was … excited to get back to it? To her tables for one at breweries and cafés, to her evenings in a neat, orderly apartment, to refreshing her emails way too often, hoping to hear from her editor that it was time to discuss a second contract.
Any day now, any week now. She felt almost certain her first book had sold well enough to warrant another, though she had often felt like success in publishing was about the personality of the author, which did not work in her favor.
Bryn wasn’t really sure she had much of a personality, but she was very good at spells.
And the more she’d planned out her next book, the more prepared she’d be when (please let it be when) her editor came calling.
She did not see Amelia in the corridors, but she did encounter Piper as she was leaving the castle on her way back to her cottage.
“Oh, nice to see a friendly face,” they said. “After the day I’ve had.”
“Bad one?” she asked, thinking about how much she’d sometimes envied the Phys Ed teacher for not needing to grade papers.
Piper linked an arm through hers. “Do you have a week for me to verbally process?” But their voice was light enough and Bryn found that even though she halfway wanted to hide in her cottage for the rest of her existence (or at least until she left the country and changed her name), she didn’t mind lingering in the grounds at her friend’s side.
“Maybe not a whole week. What’s up?”
“So, you know that today was the big governors’ tour, right?”
She looked over, frowning. “Governors’ tour?”
“Yeah, poor Amelia. She’s had it even worse than I did. The governors don’t like the PE program, but at least I was only on their hit list for an hour. Actually, it was just under an hour, though it felt like an entire agonizing year. Amelia’s been stuck with them since 7 a.m.”
“7 a.m.?” Bryn echoed. Why hadn’t Amelia told her? They’d stayed awake until— She had no idea when they’d finally gone to sleep.
Piper looked at their watch. “Yeah, I think they should be finishing up soon, though.”
It was already four in the afternoon. “That’s like a … nine-hour day with the governors.”