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I didn’t want to press Trixie too hard for the details. She was talking about magic voluntarily, and that was a big step in the right direction. I made a mental note to have Vix send Belinda a big thank you fruit basket.
“That’s good,” I said. “I’m happy for you.”
I squeezed Trixie’s hand, then pulled mine back. I was relieved when Trixie relaxed, shifted even closer to me on the couch, this time relaxing against me like a languid cat in a puddle of sunlight.
“Any word on your brother?” Trixie asked without turning to look at me. Almost as if she could read what had been going through my mind a minute before.
“Vix is on it,” I said. “She tracked down Sebastian’s last known hidey-hole, but he abandoned it about three days ago. He’s a hard man to catch.”
“I wasn’t worried.” Trixie didn’t sound like she quite believed her own argument. “Do you regret not having a chance to really be a candidate for the The Circle because of Sebastian?”
“No,” I said. “I have no interest in being elected. What about you? Do you wish you were up there debating tonight?”
“Zero percent.”
Trixie paused, then opened her mouth to say more, but she stilled at Merci’s next question. Merci had asked something about their feelings on two candidates not showing up for the debate. I listened in curiously for their responses.
“I’ll take this one, Merci,” Levian answered smoothly. “It’s come to my attention from multiple sources that there’s a good reason the other two candidates are notably absent.”
“Oh?” Merci prompted.
“It’s because Dominic Kent and Trixie Gardens are dating,” Levian said. “We all know that according to Clause 873 of the Code of Candidates Campaign Conduct, any two candidates who are romantically entangled are disqualified from being on the ballot.”
Merci sucked in a breath. “Indeed, you’re correct about Clause 873 of the CCCC. That is, if Dominic Kent and Trixie Gardens truly are romantically linked. But I haven’t seen any statements from either candidate regarding such an engagement.”
“I think it’s obvious,” Levian said. “They’re not trying to hide it. I’ve been flooded with messages on social media from people who’ve seen the two of them together.”
“Levian’s got some weird magic floating around him,” Trixie harrumphed in reply at the television. “I was working on auras today with Belinda. Levian has a stupid aura.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll trust you on that.”
Trixie crossed her arms with a huff, then turned back to watch Levian and his apparently-stupid aura.
“I’d be willing to bet Trixie and Dominic would admit to it if asked,” Levian said. “They didn’t even make an effort to show up tonight to defend themselves.”
“Great,” Trixie grumbled. “He basically just invited a flood of reporters back into our lives. Just when I thought we’d seen the last of them.”
“I’ll have my PR team put out a statement.”
“Huh?”
“Easy way to solve it,” I said. “I’ll have them put out a short statement saying that we’re dating.”
Trixie’s eyes were as wide as if she’d slipped on Emmy’s science goggles.
“Look, I know it’s probably not ideal to interact with the media,” I said to Trixie. “But strategically, it might solve one of our problems. The reason I wanted to keep my distance in the first place from you was because I didn’t want Sebastian to know you were important to me.”
Trixie was holding her breath.
“But I’ve been doing a terrible job of staying away from you,” I said, my voice coming out all husky. “I can’t help it. I know I should feel sorry about it, but I just can’t seem to muster one ounce of regret for the time I’ve gotten with you.”
“I never wanted you to stay away from me.” Trixie didn’t meet my gaze. “I can take care of myself.”
A pinch of regret needled at me. The thing was, Trixie couldn’t take care of herself. Not against Sebastian. Nobody could. I didn’t say as much out loud because I could already feel the guilt starting to gnaw at my stomach. The little drip of guilt that told me I was putting my needs above hers. My need to be with her over her need for safety.
“Being upfront about it will help keep reporters off our backs. No fun in breaking a story that’s already been broken. I’ll just do it first.”
“Well in that case...” Trixie took a deep swig of wine. “Why didn’t we think of this weeks ago?”
