Chapter 14 #2
“Extensively,” I confirm. “I can send you a resume?”
Komarov interrupts, glancing at the bartender, “No, she can’t. She’s a student.” The bartender mumbles an apology and shrugs before quickly moving on to serving others.
This guy is getting on my nerves. “What the hell? I could really use that job!” Did he forget that his buddies whisked me out of Portland without allowing me to grab my savings and belongings? How am I supposed to live without money?
Komarov rolls his eyes. Rolls. His. Eyes. I see red, opening my mouth to argue.
“Your first assignment: Read your student handbook.” His expression is stolid. He glances past me and gives a slight chin raise to someone before refocusing on me. “Go home.”
I glance over my shoulder to find Callum standing there with an amused expression.
“I’m here to escort you back to the dorm,” Callum declares.
“We still have another hour of Independent Study,” I snipe with all the vitriol of someone who just spent the last hour being ignored, then cock-blocked, then job-blocked.
Callum’s lips twitch with mirth as they ask, “Probably best we limit the amount of time the lush lord vampire and the boozy bartender spend together in the pub, yeah?”
“Hey! I prefer port-soaked prince vampire, thank you very much.” Komarov feigns a pout before taking a cheeky sip of his drink. Fuck, it’s obnoxious how endearing their exchange is.
Callum throws me a questioning look, and I put my hands up in surrender. “You got me with boozy bartender,” I agree. “I do my best studying with a bourbon.”
“Well, Miss Solis.” Komarov sends his devilish smirk my way. “At least on that we can find some common ground.” Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes, this little tête-à-tête between these two is irritatingly charming.
“Not sure if alcohol is the most healthy foundation for a relationship.” A casual smirk lights up Callum’s face.
“Ne pyosh—ne drug.” If you don’t drink, you’re no friend. Both Komarov and I say the common drinking phrase at the exact same time before turning to stare at each other, wide-eyed. I’m taken aback that he’s fluent in Russian. Or at least speaks it well enough to know drinking proverbs.
“Adorable,” Callum says, with a laugh. “A little more common ground, I think.”
I don’t really want to examine our similarities at the moment. Komarov has been a royal pain in my ass; I refuse to think of him as anything else. I slam the rest of my drink with a huff and pass Callum on the way out the door.
I step outside into the night air, Callum on my heels. The night is warm with an underlying chill, hinting at the fast-approaching autumn. I forcefully inhale, gulping in deep pulls of air. I feel combustible, like one wrong jostle and I’ll blow. A stick of dynamite on a Saturday morning cartoon.
We walk in silence for a moment, me focusing on my breath and Callum humming a song I don’t recognize.
I mull over my day, frustrated by everything that continues to go wrong.
How the hell am I supposed to catch up if I can’t locate my books and my professor won’t teach me?
I can’t have Callum over here humanizing (magica-izing?) Komarov through shared jokes and witty banter.
I blurt out, “You know, he just drank at the bar and flirted with some woman for most of the night.”
Callum laughs, the sound warm and silky, like honey dissolving in a hot cup of tea. I thought surely I was about to get chastised, but they just shrug. “Yeah, that sounds like Nik.”
“You know him well?” I glance at Callum out of the corner of my eye.
“Yes, we are sort of like family,” they confirm, brow creasing. “You really don’t know anything about our world, do you?”
“I’m catching up, but I haven’t even been aware it existed for a full week.” I sigh. “I wish everyone would cut me some slack. I can’t be expected to gain a lifetime of information in just a few days.” I rub the bridge of my nose; a headache is setting in.
They hum, neither in agreement nor disagreement, just acknowledgement that I spoke.
“He prevented me from getting a job at that pub. Basically told the bartender not to hire me,” I complain.
Callum waves my musings off with a quick flick of their hand. “Students aren’t allowed to work without permission from their academic advisor. So technically, you’d need his go-ahead. He was just saving you the trouble of applying for approval.”
I think out loud, “Well, that’s a stupid rule.”
Callum lets out another honeyed laugh. “Maybe.”
We walk in silence the rest of the way to the dorm, while I consider all the new information I received today.
Kingdom laws, magica families, mating, Challenge Epochs, and the fact that the realm is in a tumultuous time in part due to the actions of my deeply hated family.
Callum is a prince. Boden is a prince. Komarov is a dick… and also a prince.
Before we walk inside, I figure it’s worth a shot at asking about tracking down my books.
I need to know what I don’t know. “Callum, my textbooks never got delivered. I keep asking people how I can locate them, and nobody seems to know. I’m really trying to learn and do well here. Do you know what I should do?”
“Have you tried the front desk?” They quirk a brow.
“That’s the first place I tried.”
Their lips pinch together as we walk into Havard Hall. I follow them up to the front desk, where that same unhelpful girl is working.
“Vesta, Lena hasn’t been able to locate her books. Can you check what’s up?” Callum asks her with a glowing smile.
“Prince Callum,” she stutters. “I told her that they must be out for delivery.” Vesta glares at me.
Callum leans over the counter and looks up at her beneath long lashes, a smile playing on their soft blushed lips. “Would you check in the back for me, please?”
Her eyes widen as she nods breathlessly, before walking into the back room.
Callum is beautiful. Of course I knew that the moment I saw them, but the more I study their face, the more mesmerizing their features, the more alluring their presence becomes.
I almost feel bad for the girl, all that heady attention directed straight at her.
“Ah, so that’s how you get things done around here,” I tease in a quiet voice.
“What do you mean?” they ask innocently, blinking their striking emerald eyes at me.
“You just have to be a beautiful prince, with flirtatious lashes and a sultry voice, whenever you ask for something,” I say with a hmph.
They burst out laughing so quickly it startles me. “Oh, so you think I’m beautiful?” With all that warm honey goodness melting into my bones, I can’t help but share their smile.
Vesta comes back to the counter, her arms stacked with books.
I bounce on my feet excitedly, my sour mood completely forgotten.“You found them!”
She mumbles briskly about them being behind something or other. I grab the books and thank Callum for their help. I have the strangest urge to hug them and never let go.
They just shrug with their hands in their pockets.