He was already rolling primer onto the second wall.The first one was almost back to pink.He dropped the roller with a curse when he saw her. “Vana, please. Can you fix this?”She linked her fingers and took a deep breath. She was going to miss that color. It was the same color as her gemstone. Bright and happy, and it had always made her smile. “I can try.” She puckered up.“Wait.”She stopped mid-pucker. “What?”“What’ll happen if, you know… it doesn’t work?”She lost the pucker. Nothing like instilling confidence. “I don’t know.”“Do you think, that is… should I kiss you?”After the night she’d spent last night? Aching and lonely and frustrated? Vana shook her head. Forget what his kiss would do to her magic; she had to think about what it’d do to her. “No, this should be fairly straightforward.”He didn’t look convinced.Truth was, she wasn’t either. But what was the worst that would happen? The gargoyles would turn to stone?Speaking of which, she should probably look for them at some point.
