3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Quinn

Okay. Deep breath in. Hold it - aaand slowly let it out.

I’m not freaking out. Just because Bennet and I happened to encounter some sort of magic at the same time doesn’t mean anything. Surely, it was a simple timer or alarm system I felt when we both caught that pocket watch and nothing more serious. If it was more serious, I’m sure something would have happened by now.

I attempted to cast a basic identify magic on the pocket watch but it came back with nothing so either, one, it’s completely fine. Or two, and the thing that has my stomach clenching with nerves, is that the timepiece did something and now that it has, it will ping as completely inert because the magic was already triggered.

I guess there’s no point in worrying about it right now. Especially not while Bennet is here with me, helping me sort through these boxes.

Bennet was kind enough to run out to a nearby shop to pick us up some dinner. I made sure he brought back a receipt so we’d be reimbursed from Stephan later. He really didn’t have to offer, I would have been fine taking care of all of this myself. That doesn’t stop me from being grateful that he did.

After eating shrimp fried rice and sucking down my peach smoothie, I dive elbows deep into these magical items.

Bennet pulls out another tag from the little box on my desk. He writes something down before lacing it around a pair of shoes. “These ones are innocent but weird,” he says, holding them up for me to see. “Makes the wearer more flexible.”

I can’t help but snort. I adjust my glasses before I look up at Bennet from my place on the floor. “Sounds like they could be fun in certain situations,” I tell him with a little wink.

Bennet looks away, shaking his head at me. For a split second, I worry that I’ve gone too far but then I see the way he’s trying to hide his smile. “You’re worse than some of our students, Quinn.”

“That’s the secret to feeling young, surrounding yourself with a bunch of students.”

Bennet chuckles, setting the shoes into a box before moving onto something else. I enjoy watching him work. If I didn’t already know that Bennet used to be a scout, I’d be able to tell by his body. He’s got broad, strong shoulders that taper down into a thin waist. His hair is long, pulled back into a bun at the top of his head but even from here I can see the bits of gray that thread through it. It makes him distinguished in a sexy way. His face is square with a strong jaw that’s covered in dark stubble that matches his hair, including bits of gray around his mouth.

He’s handsome and kind and strong and oh my gods, I need to get a fucking grip. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure he’s around ten years older than me which means there’s no way he’s interested in me. Why would he be? I’m a nerdy witch while he’s the Tracker and Field coach. He teaches a few scouting classes as well, teaching archery, survival skills, and basic magic that most scouts depend on when they’re adventuring.

If only I could get my heart to stop leaping anytime I think about Bennet, that’d be fantastic.

I focus back on the task at hand. I open a new box, smiling at what I find. “Holy shit,” I murmur, marveling at the tack of little papers in this box. “Look at this, Bennet! An entire box of fire messages.”

Fire messages are little pieces of paper that are enchanted to fly anywhere in the world, so long as it’s staying in the same plane of existence, to any person so long as you know their true name. To buy these at a magical shop would cost a pretty penny, but here we have a full box!

“Part of me wants to suggest we pocket these so we can properly retire,” Bennet says, his voice going soft. I look over at him, finding him grinning at me.

“Right,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Like you’d want to retire in your prime.”

Bennet snorts. “My prime? This is not my prime, Quinn. You should have seen me in my adventuring days. You’d be amazed at the things I used to get up to.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” I tape the box back up, marking the contents on the top of the box with a sharpie and standing up with a groan so I can move the box into the finished pile.

Bennet moves to where a few boxes were left on tables in the front row of the lecture hall. He carefully moves to sit in a chair, gingerly setting himself down.

“You don’t really wanna hear stories about my glory days, do you?”

“Of course I do. I want to know everything about you,” I say before I can really think. Okay. Shit. That sounded really fucking eager, too eager. I turn towards him, hoping my eyes aren’t as wide as they feel. “I mean,” I start, clearing my throat. “If you want to share, I’m happy to listen.” Then, not wanting all this heat on me, I quickly add, “are you alright? You look sore.”

Bennet watches me as I ramble, the tiniest smile playing at his lips. He looks down at the box in front of him for a long moment before finally responding. “It’s my hip.” He says it like it’s some deep dark confession. “It’s the reason I don’t adventure anymore.”

“Oh,” I breathe out, leaning against my desk. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Bennet waves me off. “It’s alright. Everyone knows the dangers when they become an adventurer. They just never think it’ll happen to them .”

“Why do you think I’m behind a desk instead of out there,” I say, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. “That shit is scary out there. I was only out there for a year before I hung up my staff.”

“You got out at exactly the right time for you,” Bennet says with a shrug, like it’s not a big deal despite the fact that sometimes, when I’m lying awake at night and my brain is running a mile a minute, I fear that may have been my biggest regret in life. That I gave up before my time. “Anyway, I took on a wyvern. It almost won. That’s why I have a limp sometimes. Damn thing acts up if I’ve been on my feet too long. Or if I walk on it wrong. Or if there’s a storm coming. Fuck, the thing acts up whenever it damn well pleases,” he adds with a chuckle.

Bennet rubs at his hip as he adjusts in his seat. He pulls something out of the box in front of him. I get the feeling he’s embarrassed to talk about this, but all I keep thinking is how strong he is, to go through this type of injury and live with it. I knew he had a limp sometimes and even walked with a cane on occasion but I never really wondered what had happened. It’s just part of Bennet.

“So,” I say with a grin, changing the topic. “About that glory day story.”

The sigh I get in response makes me giggle with amusement. It sounds like it’s coming from the very depth of Bennet’s soul. I’m about to sober up and tell him he doesn’t have to tell me anything he doesn’t want to, but then he’s jumping straight into a story.

“There was this dungeon crawl I was a part of,” he starts, looking over at me occasionally to make sure I’m still engaged. Of course I am. How could I not be? I’m soaking up every single word out of Bennet’s mouth like I’m a sponge feeling water for the first time.

“We were looking for this enchanted library in the depths of some power hungry witch’s basement. There was so much about that place that still gives me the creeps to this day. Let’s just say, you really shouldn’t try engineering undead sentient plants unless you’re sure you can actually handle them,” he says with a snort, shaking his head. “We found him eaten by his own experiments, still holding a cleric’s shield like that’d somehow hold them off.”

I shudder just thinking about dealing with something like that. No fucking thank you! I’ll happily take my boring teaching job over that any day of the week.

“Once we made our way past the magically made greenhouse filled with giant worms whose shit was being used to feed the undead plants, we found his bedroom. That’s where we found the greatest discovery ever.”

There’s a long pause. I clench my fingers around the side of the desk, only just realizing how thoroughly I’m engrossed in Bennet’s tale when the thing creeks beneath me. “Oh my gods, you can’t just stop there!”

Bennet grins. “Just making sure you’re paying attention.”

I roll my eyes at him. “I’m not one of your students. Keep going! Was it the library?”

“Nope. Even better than the library. Well, it was better in my eyes anyway,” he says and the warmth of his chuckle makes my chest flutter. “We found a cat.”

“A cat? A cat is better than the enchanted library?”

“She wasn’t just any cat! She was a fae cat stolen from the fae wild. She fed off magic and when she was sated, she was probably more intelligent than me!”

“Seriously?”

“She could speak clear as day with all of us in our heads and I shit you not, she was probably the funniest cat I’ve ever met. She was perceptive as hell. She could tell a good person from a bad one the moment she met someone.”

I can’t help but mirror Bennet’s grin. My smile is so wide my cheeks are beginning to hurt but I don’t care, I need to know the ending of this story. “What happened to her?”

“She stayed with us for a while. After completing our mission with the enchanted library, we started looking into how to get Sylvee back to where she came from. It took us another year of dragging her along with us before we found a witch who would open a portal for us into the fae realm.”

“Right,” I say slowly, “because most witches don’t like messing with the fae. They have their traditions and rules about who should be allowed to come to their realm.”

“Exactly, but because we had Sylvee with us, we found someone willing to take the risk, hoping that she’d be able to bridge the gap for us if needed. It turns out, she was a member of the royal family.”

“You’re shitting me! How the hell did she end up with that power hungry witch to begin with?”

“The royal prince had started developing magical abilities and accidentally teleported her into our realm,” Bennet explains. He runs a hand over his beard in thought. “Poor kid was so distraught about the whole thing. He wouldn’t stop thanking us for bringing her back.”

“That’s a really lovely story,” I say once Bennet is done. The fondness in my chest is growing tenfold as we spend the night together. As if I wasn’t already gone on the guy, now I have to learn just how kind and heroic he is? “Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“It’s no big deal,” he says, waving me off.

“It’s a big deal to me. I like hearing about you,” I say softly.

Bennet’s cheeks turn an adorable pink beneath his beard and my stomach warms at the sight. We spend the rest of the night finishing up the boxes and sorting them. We’re filling out the door and locking up behind ourselves at around ten at night. Not for the first time tonight, I’m just so glad that Bennet offered to help with this.

“Good night, Bennet. Thank you again for helping me.”

“You’re welcome, it was a pleasure spending time with you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I nod, giving him a little wave as I head over to my car. “See you tomorrow.”