Page 66 of An Arcane Education
“Alright, fine. You answer my question and I’ll tell you a secret. How about that?”
I consider his proposal and decide that it’s probably best to get my frustrations off my chest anyway. “Fine. I’m upset because we’ve been flirting on and off for almost two months now, we kissed, and I had this stupid hope in my head that it might turn into something more.”
He cocks his head to the side. “And something happened to change that hope?”
“You looked pretty damn cozy with the pretty blonde professor last week, and no offense, but I’m really not into being a secret side piece while you publicly date someone else.”
Alaric sighs and says, “I know this will sound like an excuse, but it’s not what you think. There are a lot of things at play behind the scenes right now, and I need to play my cards right to get in with… certain faculty members.”
“By holding their hands and flirting publicly?”
As the conversation progresses, Alaric becomes increasingly more frustrated, tapping his fingers on the desk, pulling at the back of his neck, and being generally restless. “I need to get close to Erin because she has information that isn’t readily available to anyone besides her and her mother, as far as I know.”
“What kind of information?”
“Something related to my research.”
“Ah, yes, the super secret research that you can never talk about that seems to be a convenient excuse for every secret you keep. Right.”
“I will tell you someday, but right now, I can’t. For your own safety.”
“For mysafety?” I shake my head.Unbelievable.
“Yes. But I can assure you that any flirtation I have with Erin is purely strategic. I have no romantic interest in her, even if I may be misleading her to believe otherwise. You’ll just have to trust me.”
It should bother me more that he just admitted to leading on another woman for nefarious purposes, but for some reason, it doesn’t. “I don’t want to be some pawn in this ridiculous game you’re playing.”
“You’re not. I care about you a great deal, Vivian.”
My traitorous heart constricts at his words. “Whatever. Anyway, I told you why I was upset, and now it’s your turn to hold up your end of the deal. What’s your secret? Or, one of thousands, I guess,” I add bitterly.
The corners of his lips quirk up in the slightest of smiles, but his eyes hold an apprehension. “Can I trust you to keep this information to yourself?”
“Sure, what’s another item on the never-ending list of secrets?” I roll my eyes. When he doesn’t respond, I clarify. “Yes, I’ll keep this information to myself. I haven’t told anyone any of the other things you’ve asked me to keep secret.” I don’t mention that Max managed to guess about our relationship. I trust her to stay quiet.
“My magic is unique in that I don’t have just oneAffinity. And one of the things that I’m able to do is sense small things about others through skin-to-skin contact. Mostly emotions and the type and strength of their magic. It’s a subtle sort of power, not as strong as, say, an empath, but it gives me some insight into a person.”
“That’s really interesting. Is that why you touch me all the time?”
He shakes his head. “No. I touch you because I’m desperate to feel you all the time, and so far, those passing touches are all I’ve allowed myself to indulge in.”
I wish I could easily write his words off as lies, but there’s a sincerity in his expression that’s impossible to feign. “Well… I like it too,” I say, because I’m not sure how else to respond.
“That’s not the secret, though. At least, not entirely. I wanted to tell you that in the times Ihavefelt your power, it’s been much stronger than expected. There’s something still holding you back, but once you manage to unlock your full capabilities, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely.”
“But how? And why me? That doesn’t make any sense.”
He shrugs. “Sometimes it just happens that way. Strength and skill aren’t always dependent on genetics. There are a lot of variables that can influence one’s magic, and sometimes the key to unlocking your power is to experiment with various methods until you find the right one. While we understand a lot more about magicthan we used to, there are still many unexplainable aspects of it.”
“That’s… bizarre,” I say, trying to find the right words to express myself. I’ve been struggling more than almost every person on this campus trying to do first-year magic, and here’s Alaric telling me that I may be stronger than most of them. It’s a lot to process.
“I’ll be happy to continue working on it with you, even after the semester ends,” he offers.
“Won’t that look suspicious to people that you’re still tutoring me even after I’m out of your class?”
