Page 41 of This Witch Is Not Wicked

Cillian put both hands around his mouth. “Boo! If I have to sit here and watch, you could at least make this interesting.”

Wolfe shot him a glowering look. “You’re next.” He turned his attention back to me. “What’s wrong with you today?”

I glanced around the field behind the castle where we liked to spar. In our previous home, it had been rolling green hills. But now it was a marsh full of tall grass and soft ground and a lot of the flowers Enid had pointed out to me when we’d gone on our walk a week ago.

Wolfe had been ecstatic about the location, going on about how the uneven, soft soil would challenge us, help us grow.

We’d all lost the same brother, but Lor’s supposed death had affected Wolfe the most. He’d blamed himself for the longest time—until he met Niamh, and she helped heal something in him. He no longer blamed himself for what happened to Lor, especially now that we knew our brother wasn’t dead, but he still remained vigilant about training us.

The problem was that I couldn’t stop thinking about Enid, about our date a few nights ago, about how close her lips had been to my mouth and how close I’d been to testing the boundaries of this fake relationship. I’d so badly wanted to kiss her, and I was kicking myself, wishing I had.

But I also didn’t want to cross a line.

Wolfe’s wooden sword slammed into my ass, and I flew forward and to the ground.

“Hey!” I flipped over, now on my back.

“That was brutal,” Cillian said. “Also very entertaining.”

“This is great,” another voice said, Barty and Tal landing in front of the back doors that led to the castle. “I haven’t been this entertained in a long time.” Barty’s wings folded around his body.

Perfect. We had an audience.

“Keep going.” Tal motioned. “We’re taking a break from door opening to watch you.”

“My idea,” Barty added.

“No it wasn’t,” Tal said.

Perfect. Here we went.

“Yes, it was,” Tal said.

Cillian groaned and flopped onto his back. “Of all the things the castle could make sentient, it had to be the bickering gargoyles.”

“What is the matter with you?” Wolfe asked, his huge body looming over me as the gargoyles’ arguing faded into the background. “If this was an attack, you’d be dead.”

I rolled my eyes and sat up, slinging an arm around my knee. “It’s not an attack. And if we are attacked, we have an entire royal guard to protect us, plus you. I think I’ll be okay.”

Wolfe’s eyes narrowed like he was seeing something beyond my words. I shifted and looked away. That wasn’t normal for my older brother, who tended to shove down all his feelings and ignore everyone else’s. But being with Niamh had changed him, and now he was peering at me with an intensity that made me want to disappear.

“What’s wrong?” Wolfe dropped down next to me. “Out with it.”

“Hey!” Barty yelled as Tal poked him with a talon. “Stop it!”

The problem with being in a fake relationship was that I couldn’t openly talk about what was wrong. What was wrong was I wanted to kiss Enid, to do more than kiss Enid. After she’d sat on my lap on our date, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her body, her lips, her . . . everything. And I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

“Great, now they stopped sparring,” Barty said. “We came all the way here for nothing.”

“Well, it was your idea,” Tal said, opening his wings and taking off.

“No, it was yours!” Barty took off after him, both gargoyles soaring over the castle and disappearing.

“You’re distracted,” Wolfe said. “It’s not like you to be distracted.”

“Well, he is courting the most terrifying woman I’ve ever met, so maybe that has something to do with it.” Cillian raised a brow.

I threw my wooden sword at him, and he ducked just in time.