He disappeared into his room while I blinked dumbly.

“A minute for what?” I asked, walking to his open door. As I stuck my head in, he pulled the same hoodie from last night over his t-shirt, then rustled in his suitcase for a toque like mine, but blue. He’d already donned a pair of black sweatpants.

I finally clued in. My sleep-deprived brain was not performing at its best this morning.

“No, Ezra!” I exclaimed. “It’s fine. You’re exhausted. You need to—”

“I’m good.” He flashed me a grin as he tugged his socks on. “I haven’t gone on a run in a while. It’ll be good for me.”

“But—”

Catching me with one arm, he drew me out the door. “Let’s go for a run, Tori.”

“But—”

Arm around my waist, he leaned down, almost bumping our foreheads together. “You can’t talk me out of it.”

No, I could not. Not when the sudden closeness of his face had imploded my thoughts.

Back out in the crisp December air, we did a round of stretches, then we were off. Ezra led the way, following a groomed gravel path into the sweeping lawns behind the manor. We’d never run together before, but it was easy; he slowed to a walk whenever I started gasping too pathetically, and his warm encouragements were a nice change from Kai’s barked commands.

I loved Kai, but he was one hell of a hard-ass.

That wasn’t to say Ezra let me off easy. Whenever I was certain I couldn’t run anymore, he’d call me on, cajoling me into that extra fifty feet before I slowed. We made a wide circle around the academy buildings, and by the time we’d reached the manor’s sprawling back lawn again, I was spent.

Steps dragging and chest heaving, I groaned pathetically. “You might be worse than Kai.”

“Me?” he asked, all innocence.

I decided not to explain how I couldn’t let him down when he had so much faith that I could keep up—and as a result, I was trying hard not to puke on the grass.

“Next time,” he said, bending his arm behind his head in a stretch as we walked, “we won’t go so easy.”

“Easy?” I spluttered, aghast. “That was the toughest run I’ve done yet!”

“Twenty miles next time, minimum.”

“Twenty? You’re insane if you think—” I glimpsed his sparkling eyes and burst out with a laugh. “Oh my god.”

His grin broke free, lighting up his face and erasing the signs of his exhaustion. He looped his arm around my waist and pulled me against him, not breaking stride.

“You did great.” He smiled down at me. “Every time I thought you were done, you kept going.”

My cheeks flushed and I couldn’t miss the heat rising from his body and soaking through my clothes—but his arm was already sliding away. I straightened, cheeks still warm, and wondered if I was imagining that he was touching me more than usual. Had he missed me the way I’d missed him over these past weeks?

He stopped, hands on his hips as he surveyed the lazy slope that swept up to the towering manor. “All right. Time for our final sprint.”

I snorted. “Yeah, uh-huh.”

“I’m serious. We always finish our workouts with something competitive.”

Like competitive pushups. I shivered at the reminder.

“This is the starting line. That tree is the finish. First one there wins.”

“What’s the prize?” I folded my arms, eyeing the distance. Not that far but not twenty yards either. “You, Aaron, and Kai always bet something.”

He rubbed the hint of shadow along his jaw. “Winner’s choice, I guess.”

Ooh, I liked the sound of that. Grinning, I got into a starting position. “You’re on.”

He took the same position. Clearing his throat, he deepened his voice to mimic a sports announcer. “On your mark. Get set. G—”

“What’s that?” I gasped, pointing behind him.

He snapped around to look—and I launched into a mad sprint, arms pumping. Ezra swore and took off after me, but I had a head start. I would reach the finish first and totally win this.

Right as I drew level with the target tree, hands caught my waist. Ezra swept me off the ground, still running—an impossible feat if not for his inhuman strength. He stopped just past the tree, laughing too hard to hold me up. My back slid down his chest and my feet landed in the grass.

“I can’t believe I fell for that,” he said breathlessly. “You’re such a cheater.”

Whirling to face him, I smirked. “I was manufacturing a combat advantage, not cheating. Kai’s been teaching me.”

“A race isn’t combat.”

“Maybe I was running for my life.”

“From me?” He arched a playful eyebrow. “Does that mean you don’t like being chased?”

“Depends who’s doing the chasing,” I shot back teasingly.

“Oh? So is it the chase you prefer, or the catch?”

I tossed my hair with pretend haughtiness. “You think you could catch me?”

“Pretty sure I already did.”

My heart did a crazy tumble through my chest and a grin stretched my mouth. I couldn’t hold it back any more than I could stop the blush heating my cheeks.

“Well,” I began dramatically, spreading my arms as I stepped backward, “do I look—”

My heel caught on a tree root hidden in the grass. Squealing, I pitched over, arms wind-milling. My back hit the ground, the air punched from my chest, and I blinked dazedly at the overcast sky.

Damn it.

Ezra’s face appeared above mine. He crouched at my side, his expression drawn into grave concern. “Tori, are you still with me?”

I choked on a laugh and whispered, “Ezra? Is that you?”

“I’m here.” He took my hand and patted it gently. “Just hang in there.”

I fluttered my fingers. “Everything is growing dark.”

“Go toward the light, Tori.”

My eyebrows quirked. “Shouldn’t I go away from the light?”

“It doesn’t have the same ring,” he decided. “You’ll have to go toward the light.”

“Toward the light it is.” I waited a moment. “Now what?”

He took my hands and folded them on my chest in the classic body-in-casket pose—and I lost it. Cackling with laughter, I sat up and checked the grass stain on my elbow.

“Next time, I’ll make you laugh first,” I promised.

He grinned as he stood. “You can try.”

I took his offered hand. As he pulled me to my feet, his attention flicked across the wall of trees that marked the shift from manicured estate to wild woodland.

A moment later, Aaron jogged out of the trees. The alumni were right behind him, clipping along at a much faster pace than Ezra and I had. We watched the distant group run up the path toward the manor. Their voices floated on the still air, words indistinguishable but the bantering, taunting tones easy to recognize. They were egging each other on as they ran.

“Glad I didn’t go with them,” I muttered. “Look how fast they’re …”

I trailed off as a straggler stumbled out of the trees, the gap between her and the group widening by the second. She stumbled again, pushing herself, but her stride was stiff and awkward. The alumni at the rear of the group glanced back, noticed her struggling—and kept running.

“Why aren’t they stopping?” I whispered.

As the group stretched into their final run for the manor, a few more alumni spotted the woman but none hesitated. Aaron was at the front of the pack, focused on his victory.

The manor was right there and the woman would be fine. It wasn’t a big deal—yet I found myself leaning forward, silently begging Aaron to notice that a member of his group was being left behind.

Almost at the castle, he finally looked back. He saw the woman. He looked forward again.

My chest constricted.

Then he peeled away from the front of the pack. With swift strides, he sped past the others. Reaching the woman, he drew her to a halt, his head bent forward and a hand on her shoulder. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

Beside me, Ezra exhaled too, his narrowed eyes on Aaron. We stood silently as Aaron walked the woman to the manor. They disappeared around the west wing, the last to finish their route.

None of the other alumni had stopped to check on their companion.

Chapter Eight

A yawn stretched my mouth so wide my jaw crunched. I belatedly clapped my hand over my face.

“Sleep badly?” Sin asked sympathetically.

“It’s not so much the lack of sleep,” I muttered, “as the abundance of exercise.”

The car’s leather seat vibrated under my butt as the vehicle rolled along a smooth road. The interior was so quiet I kept forgetting we were in motion. Sin sat beside me, a seatbelt across her chest as she flipped through her potion-splattered grimoire.

After our run, Ezra and I had rejoined Aaron for an indulgent breakfast of crepes, fruit, fresh-baked croissants, and hand-squeezed orange juice. Aaron had left shortly afterward for his first itinerary appointment. He’d apologized again for canceling our run, which I appreciated.

Ezra had dozed off in his chair before breakfast was even over. I’d ordered him back to bed, torn between guilt that I’d cost him sleep and a warm fuzzy feeling that he’d gone with me despite his exhaustion.

That had left Sin and me to entertain ourselves. Valerie had rambled off a long list of suggestions on how we could spend our morning, which was why we were currently being chauffeured down a winding road through the trees. In one of the small communities that bordered the Sinclair Academy’s twelve hundred acres, an Arcana guild boasted a first-class apothecary that attracted visitors from across the province. I wasn’t all that interested in alchemy ingredients, but Sin was too shy to go alone, so here I was.

“So …” I drawled. “Feeling better after yesterday?”