Evaline:
Mallory linked her arm through mine as we stepped out of the last lecture hall of the day, the late afternoon sun stretching long golden lines across the academy courtyard.
"I still can't believe you got five reward points for disappearing," she muttered, nudging me with her shoulder. "Unfair."
I laughed. "I didn't disappear. I was working."
The excuse was out of my mouth before I could stop myself, and I regretted it almost instantly.
"Yes," she deadpanned. "Working."
The way she stretched that word had heat creeping up my neck. "You are impossible," I told her.
"And you," she shot back, grinning wickedly, "are glowing."
"I am not glowing."
"You are. It's sickening. Radiant. Suspiciously satisfied."
I swatted her arm, but I couldn't stop smiling.
It had been over a week.
A life-changing, bond-deepening, breath-stealing week.
And now I was back in the middle of academy life as if nothing monumental had shifted beneath my skin.
Except everything had.
