Faerie Marked (Fae Academy for Halflings Book 1)
Page 24
I hurried to interrupt him, heart thumping. “I’m sorry, Headmaster. My, ah, my father is a very private person. He doesn’t like me giving out our numbers.”
“Well, we’re going to need a way to contact your father if you’re to continue here at the academy.”
“Oh, absolutely. I’ll have him call you. Thanks again!” I pushed away from the desk and bolted for the door, leaving Leaves stuttering behind me.
Close one. I’d have to be super careful going forward. Leaves couldn’t find a way to contact my uncle, or this whole thing would be blown.
I exited his office expecting Melia to still be there waiting for me. I certainly didn’t expect to see Mike.
Something fluttered in my chest. I stopped, taking him in for a long moment before speaking. “What are you doing here?”
He just stood there, swiping at his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. His eyes were red, shoulders slumped forward, and hair all askew. If I didn’t know any better, I would have called his look downright devastated.
Had he heard about Roman, then? Had the news spread through the school already?
“Hey. Can I walk you back to your dorm, Tavi?” he finally asked me, his words watery as if there were still tears yet to be shed.
My heart melted for him. “Sure.”
I started toward him and he stepped aside to let me walk past. Almost as though he couldn’t stand to be so physically close to me, which confused the hell out of me. But after a few steps he caught up and our footsteps fell into an easy rhythm as we walked side by side.
“Are you okay?” Mike asked, his voice cracking slightly.
“I’m alive,” I answered simply. “About the best I can tell you right now.”
“Tavi, I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you when you told me you’d been pushed off the balcony. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. I was acting like a jerk, and you didn’t deserve any of it.”
I tried to shrug and found the motion awkward with the soft cast and sling over my shoulder. “I’ve got some bumps and bruises. Nothing you could have prevented.”
“You have to believe me when I tell you. I didn’t know about Roman. I didn’t know. He kept a lot from me.”
His insistence nearly broke my heart. “I know you didn’t. Roman told me.”
Mike stopped in his tracks. “What did he say?” he asked, his voice strangled, eyes glassy.
“He said you were too honorable to do anything about your situation, so it was up to him to do it for you.”
Mike sucked in a breath and shook his head, his normally bright-gold hair gone dull. “He was my best friend,” he said slowly. “We’d known each other since my first visit to the mortal world. I can’t believe he was—”
It hit me then: Mike couldn’t have known Roman was half wolf-shifter.
“—a murderer,” Mike finished.
“We can’t always know everything about a person,” I said softly. Thinking about Uncle Will and how if I had my way he’d never know where I was. My heart lurched. “And I think it was because he was your best friend that he did what he did. He cared so much about you, he wanted to make sure you earned your spot in the academy. Even if it meant picking off those he saw as serious competition.”
We approached the door to my dorm and I stopped, not ready to go in just yet. Wanting the two of us alone for as long as I could manage. There were still a lot of unanswered questions. “Why do you need a spot at the academy, Mike?”
Instead of answering, he kept his gaze on his shoes, mouth zipped closed.
I sighed. If he wanted things to be this way… “We all have our reasons for being here, and maybe we don’t want other people to know them. But maybe we should work together instead of standing against each other in competition. And one day, when we feel safe enough, maybe we can share our secrets.”
I wanted to tell him, I realized. I wanted to tell him everything about me down to my last secret, even when he had the power to destroy me entirely.
Mike only smiled. “I agree. One day.” Then he bent and placed his lips on my cheek. And the simple action rocked my world to the point where everything tilted and I knew, nothing would be the same again.
My mouth rounded in an O. I didn’t let him see it.
“If you’re up for it, do you want to meet at the library tomorrow? Five o’clock?” he asked. “We still have a few tests coming up before winter break and Christmas. I mean, I don’t want you to push yourself if you’re not feeling well, but things haven’t been the same without you, Tavi, and I could really use some normalcy right now.”
How could I say no? “I promise I’ll be there.”
I watched him leave, Mike glancing over his shoulder at me before he turned out of the hallway. My heart fluttered at the sight.
Oh, crap.
The last thing I needed to add to my crazy life right then was falling in love with the future king of Faerie. Yet that’s exactly what was happening to me. My head was screaming at me to run but my heart didn’t seem to care.
I didn’t want to stop it. No matter how dangerous.
No matter what Kendrick Grimaldi would do to both of us if he found me.
The End
Continue the Fae Academy for Halflings novels with Faerie Gift.
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About the Author
BREA VIRAGH is a USA Today bestselling romance author based in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is a proud Gryffindor, a graduate of Brakebills, and a member of Fairy Tail. When she isn’t writing and daydreaming about her newest project, her hobbies include binge-watching HGTV, scouring thrift shops for goodies, and maintaining her alpha status among her puppy and three cats.
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