Three weeks later, exam season hit Arethia like a storm.
I'd spent most of that time buried in textbooks, attending study sessions, and doing everything possible to avoid being alone with Malachi. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to him—I did, desperately—but every time I saw him, I remembered the kiss and the way he'd looked at me in the library, and I just couldn't handle it.
So I'd been spending more time with Kai instead. Study sessions in the common room, lunch at the dining hall, walks between classes. He was easy to be around. He didn't push for anything more than friendship, and didn't make my heart race in that terrifying, overwhelming way Malachi did.
But I could feel Malachi watching us. Every time Kai laughed at something I said, every time we sat together in class, I'd catch Malachi's expression across the room, and he clearly was not happy about it.
I tried not to think about it. I had exams to worry about.
