Page 122 of First Ritual
Bedwyr’s gaze shifted from me to the door.
Sven and Corentin waited there, planning to corner me, no doubt. I also didn’t want to be in Bedwyr’s company longer than needed.
Sage banished the hologram and started for the door.
“Bye,” I said to Bedwyr before jogging to catch up with her. “I had a few questions. Do you mind if I walk with you?”
Sage linked her arm with mine. “Ask away, my dear.”
I tried not to smirk as Sven and Corentin stood aside for the councilwoman, their eyes narrowed as I slipped through their trap.
They followed us to the eating chamber, likely listening as I dredged up fake questions for Sage. When we reached the eating chamber, I untangled from her and slipped through the midst of the chatting and feasting magus to exit the other side.
I picked up my pace, not dropping it until I’d arrived at my quarters and locked the door. Only then did the weight of the day slide from my shoulders, the incredible tension from the need to appear put together leaving until I could be alone with the chasm within.
Knock, knock.
“Bronte, we know you’re in there. Wild wants us to bring you to dinner.”
Ignoring Sven was futile. Corentin less so, and I assumed he was there too.
“I’ll break down this door.”
Yep, Corentin was there. I swung the entrance open. “I’m not coming to dinner.”
“You are,” Corentin said simply.
I crossed my arms. “I have food in here. And I’m not. Enjoy yourselves.” I tried to slam the door.
Sven stopped the door, wincing as his foot was crushed. “Why won’t you come? You’re acting strange since the lake.”
“I don’t always go to meals.” Not since the lake.
Scrap that. The journey might have made me feel like shit, but that wasn’t the cause of my current spiral. I’d felt kind of okay until the affinity test and what that revealed.
“Wild says you commonly miss breakfast, rarely lunch, and never dinner. And that you only miss breakfast so much because you’re stealing food from birds.”
I’d laugh at how much he noticed my eating habits, but he’d only noticed because he had a boner for watching me eat. Pretty sure feeding me was a fantasy of the creature stashed inside him. “Sometimes dinner, as it turns out. Goodnight.”
I slammed the door.
Sven stopped it again, grunting in pain. “You’re worrying us, Bronte. That’s why we want you to come to dinner.”
“Don’t be worried. You barely know me. I don’t need your help.”
Corentin hadn’t budged. His focus bore into my face. “I know what you’re doing.”
I met the gaze of the magus so similar in size to Sven but so filled with darkness. “What’s that?”
“Pushing everyone away.”
He was right. “I’m used to handling my own issues, and that won’t be changing because I’ve joined a coven. Like I said, you barely know me. Recent situations might have thrown us into each other’s company, but don’t think that means I’ll lean on you guys or anything. That’s not the type of relationship we have.”
Sven’s brows shot up. “Ouch.”
Corentin pressed his lips together. “There are ways to deal with chaos.”
They thought this was chaos. I mean, yeah, some was. The rest was a crisis of mammoth proportions. I seized hold of their assumption, a decoy to keep them away from what was really going on. “I’m not sure who you are to lecture me on chaos with how poorly you manage your own.”