Chapter 3
Ellie
With instructions to return before the first morning bell to get our schedules, we file out of Professor Mallory’s office into the stale, colorless hallway.
Reid walks ahead of me, hands in his pockets, with his coat draped over the crook of his arm.
My gaze keeps catching on the lines of his waistcoat, following it down to the gray trousers that fit snugly around his hips.
While a nervous flutter flits through my chest at the thought of spending so much time with Reid, this is not how I wanted things to go.
I’d been expecting—hoping—to make friends with my classmates: intelligent, like-minded young women who’d get together for study groups, gossip, and emotional support.
If most of my time will be spent in self-study with Reid, the odds of that happening are slim.
I descend the stairs to find him waiting, lost in thought.
“I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say, pausing as I pass him.
“Wait.” He faces me, running his fingers through his chestnut hair. “We should do something together. Get to know each other?” He exhales. “We’re gonna be spending a lot of time together, so we should get on good terms, yeah?”
“I suppose that’s true…”
“Glad we’re in agreement,” he says, except I don’t quite agree. “We should—”
“No offense.” What’s the best way to word this? “I’m not comfortable going off with you alone. I barely know you.”
Reid laughs. “You don’t need to worry about that. You have any friends?”
My mouth tightens. “I have roommates.”
“Great, let’s find them.” He tugs his coat on and heads for the exit, leaving me to hurry after him.
A sizable portion of the earlier crowd lingers outside, looking for people they know or conversing with friends. Within seconds of stepping into the brisk, late afternoon air, Alexis plows into me.
“There you are,” she exclaims as I recover my balance, pulling out of her spirited hug. Her warmth sticks with me—perhaps I’m doing better at making friends than I thought?
“I passed five of the tests!” she says. “They said I might have an affinity for water. How’d you do?”
Reid clears his throat, drawing her attention. She blinks, as if suddenly realizing he was walking with me instead of near me. He quickly introduces himself.
Alexis shakes his hand while side-eyeing me. “Your study partner?”
“We both placed advanced,” I explain, unable to meet her eyes. Steeling myself for the anger that I hadn’t clarified my skill level. “The only two. We’re stuck together.”
“Really?” She doesn’t even attempt subtlety as she looks Reid up and down, but it calms my nerves that she moved on so easily. “You make that sound like that’s a bad thing.”
“Which is why I’m taking her out to show her otherwise,” he says, seemingly unbothered by her stares. “Care to join us?”
“I’d love to!”
I’m about to protest, but Reid cuts me off.
“Great, follow me.” He strolls along a path that meets the gravel road leading to Haven. Alexis silently squeals before skipping after him.
My jaw tenses. He isn’t that good-looking, despite his perfect hair and uniform that seamlessly follows the cut of his body.
Torn between hating how different this is from how I imagined making friends and not wanting to miss out on the opportunity, I hurry to catch up, then ask Alexis about Sophie.
“Haven’t seen her,” she says, waving her hand aside. “She wasn’t in my group, so she must have placed low. She better not be in either of the window rooms when we get back.”
A cringe pulls my face tight. If Alexis’s suspicions are true, then our roommate relations are likely headed in a rocky direction.
“Hey, Cay! Wait up!” Reid calls.
I almost trip glancing at the student walking ahead of us, his hands in his pockets and his head down. He stops, turning back as Reid jogs over to him, and the universe stutters to a halt.
He’s a few inches shorter than Reid and otherwise similar in build, but where Reid’s appearance exudes care and precision, he’s all casual.
The waistcoat of his Academy uniform hangs open, while dark, unkempt hair gently curls away from metallic eyes that tug with a magnetism unlike anything I’ve ever known.
My gaze drifts to the mother of pearl button at the top of his collar—undone, in complete violation of the rules of propriety. The neck should remain covered in mixed company at all times.
I avert my eyes, tearing them away from the glimpse of skin beneath his chin. But Reid and Alexis don’t appear bothered, and I don’t want to come off as an uptight prude, so I lock my gaze on his face as he approaches.
His soft yet striking face.
“Ellie, Alexis, this is Caeo. We’re basically brothers,” Reid says, patting him on the back.
Caeo’s half-hearted smile sends a flutter through my stomach, and my palms are sweating as I shake his hand and mutter a quick “Hello.”
Alexis drops into a curtsy when introducing herself, her eyes practically salivating as they sweep across him. There’s a minor relief that I’m not the only one caught in his gravity, but I wish I had her confidence to hide behind.
Reid turns to Caeo. “How’d your placements go?”
“Terribly. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Sounds like you could use a drink.”
Caeo shakes his head. “I don’t know. I have class in the morning.”
“So do we,” I say, thankful for an excuse to pull my gaze toward Reid. “And I never agreed to go drinking.” My nerves are coiling at the very idea—it’d never even be considered at home. Even special occasions are typically limited to lemonade.
“You never agreed to anything.” Reid slaps his hand on Caeo’s shoulder. “Do you really wanna be alone and miserable right now?”
Alexis rests her fingers against Caeo’s forearm. “That sounds awful.”
He eyes her warily, and her mouth curls into a disarming smile. Then he glances at Reid and me, and I attempt to veil my face with an impassive shroud to hide the irritation flickering behind it.
“Fine,” he grumbles, his shoulders sinking.
Before I know it, they’ve all made plans, choosing the Kettle Maker tavern for food with hopes to go somewhere called The Duck after. Alexis never let go of Caeo’s arm, and Reid rolls his eyes before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her away.
A sharp thump pounds in my chest as Caeo’s eyes land on me. He tilts his head slightly, as if inviting me to lead the way. My nerves swell, but I force myself to trudge after them.
“So, how did you end up on this outing?” Caeo asks, falling into step beside me.
It’s easier to keep my eyes off his jawline while walking, and my heart quickly settles back into its annoyance at this turn of events—everyone else seems so at ease, with me clearly the odd one out.
“It’s a bonding exercise,” I mutter.
“Bonding?”
“Reid’s my study partner. Alexis is my roommate.”
“Huh. They didn’t give me a study partner.”
“That’s probably a good thing.” I narrow my eyes at the back of Reid’s head.
Caeo laughs; a light, uplifting sound. “He’s not that bad, he just takes some getting used to. And he’s really dedicated to incanting, so you don’t have to worry about him holding you back.”
I bite back the witty response that pops into my head, worrying it’ll seem too judgmental. Other options fly through my mind, but now it feels like I’ve waited too long, and it’d be more awkward to belatedly respond than to let the conversation die.
I chance a look at him—he doesn’t look bothered. Maybe a response wasn’t necessary?
His lips curve into a slight smile that sends a slow heat rising to my cheeks. I hurriedly turn away, scouring our surroundings for something, anything, of interest.
Unfortunately, there’s not much to look at.
We’re walking along the road to Haven: a wide stretch of gravel cutting through a sea of packed, gray dirt.
My view of the town is exactly as it was at the Academy—colorless slums between us and Haven proper, with its colorful clock tower rising above—but slightly closer since we’ve been traveling for a few minutes.
Small clusters of newfound friends travel both ahead and behind us, filling the chilly air with overlapping conversations and bursts of laughter.
Alexis giggles at something Reid said, drawing my curiosity, but I cringe at the idea of clumsily trying to catch up and walk alongside them. Instead, I glance at Caeo and say the first thing that pops up.
“How far is the Kettle Maker?” That’s me, the queen of riveting conversation.
Caeo shrugs. “It’s a walk. You can get to Haven’s outskirts in about ten minutes if you’re fast, but everything worth going to is further.”
I need to come up with some conversation topics, quick.
“Did you grow up here?” I pull my coat tight around me. The winter sun will set soon, and the air’s already turning colder by the minute.
“Basically. I don’t remember living anywhere else. I think I was four when we moved here.” He glances in my direction, seemingly untroubled by the chill. “Where are you from?”
“Durnam.”
“The capital? That’s pretty far.”
“It was a three-day carriage ride. It was my first time traveling, so it was nice to see the countryside. Until we got here.” My upper lip curls as I gesture at the empty expanse of dirt that surrounds us.
Caeo’s eyebrows tilt up. “What? Is learning to fight fae not your idea of a fun time?”
A sharp laugh slips out of me. “No, definitely not.” After an exhale, I drop my gaze to the gravel in front of my feet. “Attending the Academy wasn’t my first choice, and it doesn’t help that it’s completely devoid of life and beauty.”
“Good thing you brought some with you.”
I stumble, glancing back up at him. A subtle smile graces his features, his gray eyes impossibly bright.
A heat rises in my chest. Is he… flirting with me?
“Besides, it’s not lifeless here.” He gestures ahead at Alexis and Reid. “Just look at how much fun they’re having.”
“They’re excited to go drinking.” I’m reading too much into things. He couldn’t have meant it like that.