Made of Matter

Chapter Ten

I'd forgotten my robes back in my room. I realised within ten minutes of finding Stephen sitting at a table in the corner of what I supposed was the kitchen.

He wasn't alone, there were others in the room sitting around tables drinking tea and conversing quietly with one another. Stephen had two mugs sat before him and his head was bent over as he read a newspaper.

The room had a sharp chill to it, no one else seemed to notice though they were dressed in their own robes, several with civilian sweaters underneath. I thought to turn back to go and get my robes but Stephen looked up and motioned me over.

I sat beside him and he wordlessly slid the mug over to me, steam rose from its surface and I was met with the fragrant scent of coffee. I thanked him as I lifted the mug to my lips and blew before taking a sip, feeling the liquid warm my insides.

Stephen said nothing as he continued to read and I sat drinking my coffee. The silence was nice so early in the morning, and so was the leisurely way in which I could enjoy my coffee. But despite the warmth, the coffee brought to my insides my skin was chilled and my knees bobbed up and down in an attempt to warm myself. Stephen's hand underneath the table was placed on my knee where he squeezed and I yelped with the ticklish feeling, several masters looked at me and I averted my gaze flat onto the table to stop my cheeks from burning. But Stephen did not say anything. He kept reading his newspaper and as I awaited him to move his hand he didn't, the weight of it on my knee was all I could focus on and my anticipation was building hoping he would speak, wondering what I might say.

'Stephen-' I began but as his eyes lifted to meet mine they dragged over to the open doorway where a figure stood.

'What?' I asked him and his grip on my knee tightened. It was Lee and the dark look on his face made it clear he wasn't happy to see me in Kamar-Taj. Lee's solid form shifted through the tables and he gave tight smiles to the other masters before he stood towering over our table.

'What are you doing?' Lee asked his gaze skirting between Stephen and me, thick brows lowered.

'Catching up on current affairs,' Stephen replied coolly though Lee's question was not directed at him. A smirk played on Stephen's lips, his eyes on his newspaper but his fingers dragged up my leg to stop higher on my thigh. I straightened in my chair hoping to shake his hand off but his fingers tightened and I met Lee's questionable gaze,

'Stephen can't dismiss me,' I told Lee as if that was explanation enough for both my leaving the London Sanctum and my master's controversial touch underneath the table. But Stephen's hand crept higher and my voice was shrill as I corrected myself, 'Doctor Strange can't dismiss me. I have to leave of my own volition or the Sorcerer Supreme can rematch me.'

'Lina, you did leave of your own volition?' Lee's frown dropped as he chuckled, 'Or is something else going on here?'

Even though it was a joke, Lee's eyes crinkled in humour at the idea that something was going on between Stephen and me, a muscle still twitched in his jaw and his arms folded across his chest.

'I don't fuck my apprentices if that's your question, Tate?' Stephen looked up from his lashes, and I had to take a sip of my coffee to keep from exhaling a breath of relief, 'your fiancée had a temper tantrum and left. I assume it was you who talked her out of doing something as stupid as requesting a new master?'

With my mug lifted to my lips, the engagement ring on my left hand was obvious and Lee's eyes locked on it. His brows quirked and a small smile played on his lips. When our eyes met there was an understanding. I had accepted the proposal and everything that came with it. We would be together and have a family. Although I'd have to catch him and tell him my own demands, my expectations, things would have to be on my timeline, not his. And that meant after my apprenticeship ended with Stephen, not during.