1
Elvira
A few months before
I CHECKED THE CLOCK. He was running late.
Going on about dead kings and entitled nobles.
He took his time explaining the details of an old document.
When I looked around the lecture hall, I didn't see any bored students.
Instead, everyone focused on the screen.
He had achieved the impossible, as always.
Levi Hawthorne, a wordsmith of unparalleled skill, held every student in the lecture hall spellbound, including me.
The man in front of us had our attention.
He was lecturing on King John, one of the worst Plantagenet kings.
King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta.
He turned a dull, sleep-inducing topic into a gripping story of political intrigue, rebellion, and human rights.
But I didn’t care about any of that. I had a dinner to attend, and Professor Hawthorne was running fucking late.
I wondered what the dinnercouldbe about.
Wyatt said nothing more than,“Let’s go out tonight,”but I sensed it might be significant.
I didn’t want to jinx it by assuming he would pop the question, but my heart couldn’t help leaping to that conclusion.
"Oh, my god."I jumped at the whisper and turned toseeJess standing in the aisle.
She shuffled into an empty seat beside me, her razor-pleated yellow skirt swishing as she moved.
Her silk blue blouse matched the skirt nicely.
However, the purple cat-eye glasses made her look older than her thirty years.
Jess's style was uniquely her own—thrift store chic, as my roommate Billie once called it.
She meant it derisively, but I thoughtit wascute.
"How does he do it?"Jess whispered."I can'tgetthis generation, with the attention span of a goldfish, to listen to me. And look at them. They are awestruck, watching boring images of washed-out tapestries as if it were a superhero movie."
"Careful. That's my PowerPoint you're dissing."
"I'm not. It's a perfectly good PowerPoint. The best PowerPoint I've ever seen. No wonder he’s gone viral. Did youknowthat one of his lectures now has a million views?
"It's a talent,"I said, answering her earlier question.
"Those gorgeous gray eyes and that jawline don't hurt,"Jess sighed. I turned my attention back to the lecture just as Levi turned off the projector, turned on the lights, and asked the audience for questions. A student in the front row asked something that I didn't quitehear.
"Well, if you were listening to the words coming out of my mouth, Chester, you would haveheardmy opinion on that."Levi's snarky response is not lost on the class. Snickers and giggles rumble in the hall.
"And then he turns into a dick,"I whispered to Jess.
"Still would fuck him, though."
I rolled my eyes.
"How do you do it?"Jess sighed, rested her chin in her palm, and leaned forward as Levi answered another question."How do you work under a man this hot and not try togetinto his pants every day?"
That's because Iknewhow irritating hecouldbe.
Being Levi's teaching assistant was not for the weak.
Plenty took the job thinkingit wouldbe a good way to start their academic careers.
And like na?ve squires, not a single one lasted more than a few months.
They left scarred, dazed, and broken. The only TA to reach two years and not quit was me. And I hated my job.
"I don't need to do anything. I have a boyfriend, remember?"
Jess nodded dismissively, and then her eyes widened."Speaking of which, Iheardyou have dinner tonight. Do you think he's finally gonna?"She wiggled her ring finger.
"Who told you Wyatt and I are going out tonight?"
"Billie."
I sighed. "Are there no secrets in this department?"
Jess shook her head."We're history buffs. We love gossip."
I sent a text to Wyatt.
Me: You told Billie about our dinner plans?
I didn't expect him to respond immediately. He usually took forever to reply to me, even though he barely took his eyes away from his phone.
Wyatt:There's something I wanted to ask her, so I had to spill. Was I wrong?
As I was about to respond with a 'no', Jess gasped."Oh, he's definitely proposing."I flung my phone away from her face."Privacy!"I scream-whispered. She mouthed 'sorry' with a smile playing on her mouth. I sent the text to Wyatt, and another text popped up.
Jess: I'm so happy for you. You didn'thearthis from me, but apparently Billiesawyour man in a jewelry store looking at something-something.
My heart leaped with joy, and another unsettlingfeeling. Apprehension. I ignored it. Things are going well right now. Wyatt and I had been distant lately, but that must be because of our schedules. He was busy, and so was I. We had little time to do stuff together.
Me: It's going to be funny when the gift turns out to be a pair of earrings!
Jess: It's not.
She added a GIF of Beyoncé doing the “Single Ladies” dance.
I swallowed a laugh and put my phone away. I glanced at Jess, who was staring at Levi as though she cared about what he was talking about, but Iknewbetter. She was mesmerized by him, forgetting she was a whole-ass married woman.
"Why don't you like him?"Jess asked. I didn't need toknowwhichhimshe was referring to.
"He hatesme.I'm just returning the favor."
She frowned and whipped her head to face me.
"No! He doesn't hate you!"She spoke so loudly that Levi stopped speaking, and his gaze snapped to us.
A scowl marring his handsome face when he spotted who had disrupted his train of thought.
It wasJess who had spoken, but his gaze zoned in on me.
As though I were the one at fault. My cheeks heated a contradictory reaction to the cold room we were in.
Icouldnot tear myself from his captivating gaze and remained still, like prey confronted by a predator.
Jess shrank."Sorry,"she mouthed, and he returned to his lecture. She had broken his cardinal rule. Be silent or be banished.
"See? He always thinks I am the one in the wrong."Jess looked like she was about to rebut me, but I asked,"What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I need to speak to him. Hopefully, he can give me a letter of recommendation that I can use when I apply to Yale?"
"Yale?"Jess had been working here about the same time I came, and as far as Iknew, wanted to continue working here.
"Shoot, I didn't tell you. I was at Ren Faire last week and hooked up with this guy who turned out to be a Yale professor. They have an opening in their history department, and he wants me to apply. I will have a job with benefits. None of this adjunct bullshit."
I blinked, surprised by her forwardness. Jess was not the type of person to cheat, let alone have one-night stands at conventions, of all places."You're applying for a job you got through sleeping with a guy?"
She frowned."I didn't sleep with him. What do you mean?"
"You know what hookup means, right?"
"Shoot."She slapped her forehead."I mean, hook up. Link up. Talked to each other and became friends. Not sleep, oh my god. Who do you think I am?"
I suppressed a giggle."I had to ask."Jess's penchant for misusing colloquial language made her fun to be around.
We became friends when she sent a mass email to her students telling them they should make sure their papers should be 'pressed' when they submit them.
She meant for them to be well done. But when her students responded with laughing emojis, she asked the only black woman on the faculty south of forty why.
She was so embarrassed when I explained what pressed means in AAVE, and she's never used AAVE again.
But that did not mean other slang terms were not victims of her butchering.
Another student asks Levi a question that snatches my attention.
A young woman with brunette bangs and red streaks in her hair asked, "In your book, The Fall of the Plantagenets, you say that Richard III killed the princes in the tower?
" What do you think about the new evidence that shows one of them was killed by Margaret Beaufort and the other survived.
"Icouldnotseeher, but Icouldhearthe smirk in her voice. Oh no. This was going to be bad.
"Well, my thoughts on that is it's bullshit,"Levi said.
Nervous laughter rumbled through the audience.
The girl crossed her arms."So you think we should disregard the evidence based on what? Because you don't like that it conflicts with your theory, or becauseit wasa woman who came up with it?"
Oh, No. No no, no, no.
Levi's eyebrows shot up."I would have thought that a feminist such as yourself would not take the claims of a fan club of a problematic medieval king so seriously.
Claims that blame a woman with little motive, means, or opportunity to commit this crime are flawed.
The king, however, had every reason to want them gone and is a strong suspect. "
The girl's voice shook slightly as she spoke."You cannot still believe that Richard had anything to do with—"
"I don't need to believe it. Show me actual proof, not a bunch of letters."
She snorted."No wonder you were humiliated."
"Getout of my class."His voice was stone cold.
The girl remained seated. The room was so silent, youcouldheara pin drop. Again, the girl had her back to me and, frankly, the entire class, but she was so still that Icouldonly imagine the shock on her face.
"I am not in the habit of repeating myself, Miss Victoria.Getout of my class, or I will fail you."
The girl finally galvanized into action, got up, packed her bag, and rushed out. As she passed by me, I was sure Isawtears streaming down her face. Levi got back to teaching the class as though nothing had happened. Jess sucked in her breath."That was dramatic."
"Yeah, he's still touchy about the interview."