It was much later that I had an opportunity to talk with Alexandra privately. By that time, the general gathering of witches had separated into groups between two and six people. Someone played a board game, someone blasted music, and someone tried to emulate moving magic chess from Harry Potter with varying degrees of failure. Someone left the party entirely by now.
The kitchen, though, was mostly quiet at the moment, and this is where I pulled Alexandra at. Not that she resisted—the woman looked about as tired from the company as I was. The first thing she did was making herself a cup of tea and letting out a deep, long-suffering breath. Then, as if by magic—ha!—she became my bore of a teacher again.
Except, even now, her eyes weren't as sharp as they usually were, and weariness showed in the downward curve of her shoulders.
"Did you want to tell me something, Diana?"
I sat down opposite of her, propping my chin on my hands. I was tired too.
