My heart pounded. My stomach hurt. Sometimes I hated how sick empathy made me feel. Or maybe I just hated that I was thinking of that drawing, of those lovers in the shadows of the bookcases … of how the two of us could be living that moment now if we stepped away from the fire just a few feet …

Despite my annoyance with myself, I had to bite my lip to keep from tasting his again. I backed away to a more appropriate distance. “You’re a heathen. You just like to stir people up.”

He raised his thick eyebrows. “Did I stir you, Andromeda?”

I blushed, and Magnus—the little demon—smiled.

“S-stop that,” I said.

“You kissed me, remember?”

I snatched up his sketchbook and shoved it into his chest. My force showed in the shock of his expression.

“Peggy is rude,” I said, scrambling for anything I could to change the subject. “If she doesn’t start treating me and Saba like her equals, I can’t work here anymore.”

Magnus’s expression dropped into confusion, followed by distress. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Good. I’m … I’m going to leave, now.”

“You really shouldn’t get too attached to her.” His voice stopped me as I spun on my heel.

“What do you mean?”

“As soon as you cleanse the entire castle Saba will leave. At the rate you’ve been working, that shouldn’t be too long.”

I spun slowly back around on my heel to look at him. “Is she your caretaker while you’re cursed?”

“You could say that.” He closed his sketchbook and hugged it to himself. “She’s the most important person in the world to me. I love her like family. But I’m telling you not to get too attached.”

“Are you trying to tell me who I can and cannot make friends with?”

“I’m telling you you’ll regret it if you do.”

I opened my mouth to speak, then changed my mind and left the room. It wasn’t worth it, arguing. It’s not like he could stop me from keeping the only friend I’d made here. The only person in the house I cared about.

Except, no. That wasn’t true, and the thought of it made my stomach flutter in excitement.

Because, if I was honest with myself, I cared far too much for Magnus, too.

CHAPTER 15

I managed to avoid Magnus for two days straight after that. I had no choice. That kiss had been … surprising. Mortifying and wrong, and yet, somehow it felt like the truest thing I’d ever done. I wanted it again … and again … my God, what was wrong with me?

I had kissed my employer, and the more time we both had to forget about it the better.