The Ex Hex (Ex Hex #1)(32)

“But you created a job for yourself where you’re always traveling,” she said, straightening up. “And back . . . back when we were, um . . .” She tucked her hair behind one ear, cheeks coloring prettily. “When we were involved, you said you never liked to visit your hometown.”

“Well, yes, but that’s because of my father, not because of the town itself,” he replied with what he hoped was a rakish grin. This conversation was beginning to skirt too close to things Rhys worked very hard not to think about, so a little rakishness was needed.

And it clearly did the trick because Vivienne narrowed her eyes, but didn’t press further, and after a moment, she lifted something out from underneath a pile of papers. “Okay, found my library card, so let’s get you over there. It’s on the way to my first class.”

Another trip across campus, this one shorter since the library was just up the hill from the history building, but this time, Rhys sensed something . . . different.

This part of campus looked the same as everything else—the brick, the ivy, all of that—but he could feel it in the air.

Magic.

Before he even asked, Vivienne nodded. “The other part of the college is here. In those buildings.” She nodded at a cluster of four smaller classroom buildings, all grouped together underneath a copse of massive oak trees, shaded even on this bright sunny day.

“When I was here, they were just mixed in, in the regular classrooms,” Rhys said, and Vivienne rolled her eyes.

“Right. Well, that only worked until the first time a regular student bumbled past the wards and into a class on augury and tried to take a video of it with his cell phone. A couple of years ago, all magic classes were relocated to those buildings.”

“Makes sense. And the bumbling students?” Rhys asked as he watched a couple of girls in jeans and sweaters jog up the steps of one of the magic buildings.

“Kept out by the same kind of repulsion spell that protects the back room of the store,” Vivienne answered. “Easier to maintain and make stronger when it’s over one central location, not a bunch of separate classrooms. Plus this arrangement keeps them out of everyone’s hair.”

They were at the library now, a building Rhys had decidedly never visited in all his time at Penhaven, and it was appropriately Gothic-looking with huge white columns and pointed windows.

Still, Rhys paused outside, jerking his head back toward the magical part of the college. “You never hang out with them? Even though they’re witches, too?”

Vivienne followed his gaze and shook her head. “No, they’re . . . look, you can meet them if you want. You’ll see.”

“Vivienne Jones, you snob.”

She snorted at that, and then gestured for him to follow her. “Come on. We might not be talking to them, but we’re definitely using some of their resources.”





Chapter 14




Vivi had never liked Penhaven’s library. Maybe it was too close to the witchy side of things, or maybe it was the fact that, unlike the rest of campus, it was dark and slightly foreboding, almost medieval with its narrow windows and dark stone, the towering shelves blocking out what little light did manage to make it in. Even with the banks of computers in the center of the first floor, Vivi still felt she was stepping into the twelfth century or something every time she came in here, and as she led Rhys toward the back, she actually shivered a little, pulling her jacket tighter around her.

“Bloody hell,” Rhys muttered next to her. “Do they hang meat in here?”

“It’s not usually this cold,” she replied, frowning. Seriously, the library was not always her favorite place, but it usually wasn’t quite this chilly and oppressive. And when she glanced around, she noticed that the few students in there at this time of the morning were clearly feeling it, too, huddled at the study carrels, their shoulders up around their ears.

“Heating must be out,” she said before looking over at Rhys. “Good thing you brought a jacket.”

“Also good thing I’m from a country for whom ‘chilly’ and ‘dank’ could be written on the flag or possibly in some sort of motto,” Rhys said.

Viv opened her mouth, wanting to ask him more about Wales, but she shut it just as quickly, shaking her head as she continued to head for the Special Collections. Bad enough Rhys had found out that she’d studied Welsh history in college and grad school. She didn’t need to make any more small talk with him that inadvertently revealed too much.

Not that she’d studied Wales because of Rhys—she definitely had not. Not even a little. Yes, him talking about it that summer had piqued her interest, but you didn’t devote years of your life to study because a guy you went out with for three months talked about it one time.

Just like her never actually going to Wales had nothing to do with him, either. It was a small country, but she could’ve avoided him because what were the chances—

“Vivienne,” Rhys whispered, leaning down so close that his breath wafted warm over her ear, and now her goose bumps were from more than the cold. “We’re in a library.”

She stopped, confused, and then Rhys put a finger over his lips. “You’re thinking too loud.”

Vivi wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or flip him off, so she settled for ignoring him.