have another shot.”
I internally winced. I actually did have a secret plan, but it was to find a way to save my mother while masquerading as my worst enemy. It galled me that in the process I’d managed to improve House Redbriar’s reputation more than the real Cly had ever done. But of course I couldn’t tell Darshan any of that, especially not with Aegis standing over my shoulder as always.
Darshan seemed to take my silence the wrong way. “Can’t tell the no-name, huh.” His smile was crooked. “I should’ve expected that. A part of me had hoped that after everything…”
“Darshan,” I began, a pang in my chest.
“It’s fine,” he said with a sigh. “Don’t mind me, I’m a scholar by nature. I’m used to asking questions without easy answers. You’ve made my calling a less lonely place, and that’s enough. Besides,” he added, forcing humor into his voice, “the duel was probably the closest I’ll ever come to getting hot and heavy with Arcturus Nightfeld. Even if I was too busy getting kneed in the gut by Arcturus Nightfeld to enjoy it.”
I nearly choked. “He’s an asshole!”
“Yeah,” said Darshan, “but he’s hot. He oozes Great House arrogance. I know perfectly well I’d hate him if I got to know him. But you’ve got to admit he’s hot.”
“That is very fair,” I said, flinging an arm over my heating face, which heated further as I remembered what had gone down between me and Acubens. “I’m constantly amazed by how simultaneously attractive and awful they manage to be.”
A banging came on the door to our study room. “Cly! Open up!” came Acubens’s cheerful voice.
“Oh no, I’ve summoned him,” I muttered under my breath, pinching the bridge of my nose.
I walked over and yanked the door open. Both the Nightfeld brothers stood outside, alongside one of the library’s little floating carts, piled high with textbooks.
Acubens smirked at me. Arcturus glared at me. I couldn’t decide which of them filled me with more foreboding.
“We thought we’d join you in your studying,” said Acubens. “It’s midterms for all of us, after all.”
“This is our private room,” I said.
“Actually, it’s our private room now,” said Acubens smugly. “You only had it booked until the day of the duel, technically. It’s just that you forgot to give the key back to the front desk. We’ve booked it for the rest of the semester now, but we’ll graciously let you use it too.”
I gritted my teeth. I’d completely forgotten that our booking had run out, with everything else that had been going on. “We’ll find a different room, then. So sorry to trespass, I’ll give you your key.”
“It’s midterms week. There are no other rooms. The whole place is packed, in case you didn’t notice when you were coming in.”
I debated my options. I could pack up and leave, but to where? Back to Cly’s room, with Cly also there? And I didn’t want to uproot Darshan, when none of this was his fault.
“I guess we’d all better study together, then,” I gritted out. “I sure love studying!”
My only consolation was that Arcturus looked equally grim as he filed in after Acubens, like he hated the idea of being here as much as I did. I imagined it couldn’t be pleasant to sit in the same room with the people who’d just beaten him in a duel he was sure he’d win. He found a chair in the corner of the room, instead of around the table like the rest of us.
Acubens slid into the seat next to mine, delivering his textbooks from the floating cart to the table with a thump. All the textbooks were his, I noticed, with none covering upper division course material for Arcturus. “Isn’t your brother going to study too?” I asked him.
Acubens rolled his eyes. “My brother does his studying ahead of time.”
“Then… why is he here, in this room for studying?”
Acubens actually looked a little embarrassed and defensive. “Isn’t it obvious? He’s my chaperone.”
I struggled not to laugh as I looked at Arcturus, watching us hawkishly with his arms folded across his chest. He was definitely giving me girlfriend’s-dad-with-shotgun vibes. I thought I could begin to understand why Acubens acted out so much, when he was smothered with that level of overprotective big brother. “I’d feel bad for you, if you didn’t kind of need a chaperone,” I said, enjoying Acubens’s scowl.
Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as I thought. It was easier to have fun with Acubens’s outrageousness the