“My memory doesn’t really work like that anymore,” he conceded.
“Poor baby, having to learn like us mere mortals,” I teased, though it’s a serious subject. He’ll be dealing with the trauma from his head wound for the rest of his life. For someone who spent years pushing away his feelings, not being able to fully control them must be so upsetting. “It would be smarter to focus on finishing the article. At least other people will read it. All ten scholars who might pay attention.”
“You know there’s a lot more interest in Auralia than there was before the war.” He pressed a warm kiss to my forehead. “Come on. I’ll help you study.”
The thought of returning to political science and comparative religion was not exactly enticing. I hated those subjects. Economics class was all right. Might not be a bad idea to revisit the section on inflationary pressures since my country is facing them right now. Biology and ecology, though—he suffered through those subjects for me.
“You don’t want to go back to studying plants. Be honest.”
Lorcan pulled a pillow up to rest against. He handed me a marked-up textbook from the bedside table, where it’s been sitting, untouched, next to my framed picture of mossy frogs, ever since I unpacked the items Scarlett brought from Scotland. “I don’t mind. Seriously. I’ll help you.”
“We have more important things to think about than my useless academic credentials.”
“You never know, Princess, when it might come in handy. We’re close. Let’s finish what we started?”
This is how, when I should have been courting the international press and arranging for carefully selected journalists to cover our wedding, I ended up re-reading textbooks last cracked when my father and Cata were still alive. Before I knew I had a brother.
My notes are a time capsule. Barely history, yet so far in the past that reading them makes me feel ancient. Not necessarily wise, though. I still have a long way to go before I live up to my name’s meaning.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
The night before our wedding, I tried and failed to take my political science exam, twice. The second time the satellite signal dropped out and booted me out of the system, I cursed and threw a pencil at the wall.
My frustration was enough to draw Lorcan’s attention.
“Everything okay?” He’d been in the library killing time, waiting for me. This is the last assignment to complete. He’s been done for days.
“No. It crashed again.”
We have got to get a better internet system in Auralia.
“Is this really how I want to spend the night before my wedding?” I pouted, twining my arms around his neck. “Come on. Don’t make me do this again. It’s pointless.”
Lorcan chuckles. “It’s the last step. You can do this.”
“Icoulddo this, if the internet connection weren’t so spotty and I weren’t neglecting a thousand other things to take a test for a class that ended a year and a half ago.”
He picked me up, which, admittedly, isn’t hard for him to do. It puts us at eye level.
“Come upstairs and finish the test. One more time, Zosia.”
“Why?”
“Because you want to.”
“I don’t, actually. Right now, I want to throw the computer out the window.”
Lorcan sets me down, brings me in close and strokes my hair. “Finish the test. This is a night to leave the past in the past.”
Grumpily, I collected my books and followed him out. Lorcan took the laptop from me. He also scooped up his notebook and pencil case from the table outside the office where he was guarding my time against interference. I assumed he was reading, because Palla had been with him for a while, until Lorcan sent her off with a maid for bedtime. Ever since he’s come back, Palla has been more willing to leave her knife under her pillow.
“What have you been working on?” I admit I’m curious. Lorcan hasn’t shown me a single drawing since I gave him those pencils. Not one. He’s almost as shy about showing off his sketches as I’ve been about showing my body.
“I’ll show you if you take the test.”
“For a third time,” I sigh.
“How badly do you want to see what I’ve been working on?” He smirked. I side-eyed my fiancé. “The connection will be better outside of your study. One more time. I won’t make you do it again.”
