Chapter 15
Rayna
Letting Dominic sleep in her bed had only meant to be a onetime thing.
Just Friday night because he’d been there, and she’d been too tired to care about kicking him out.
But considering he hadn’t exactly followed all the normal rules for a Study anyway, it was no surprise he didn’t follow that one either.
On Saturday evening, when Rayna was swiping on her phone in bed, Dominic knocked on her door and crawled under the duvet like a big bull in a porcelain shop, trying to be as quiet and unassuming as possible.
And on Sunday evening, he was already in her bed, reading through the welcome manual binder, when she came out from her ensuite.
But he behaved. As much as his persistence arse could, at least.
He flirted during his lessons, and except for a few sneaky caresses across her fingers and wrists, he kept his hands to himself.
At night, he stuck to his side of the bed and made no attempt to touch her, being the respectful gentleman he claimed he was. Nor did he push through the imaginary wall of pillows that divided their spaces. So, in the end, she stopped grumbling at him to go back to his own room.
Rayna woke up beside Dominic on Monday morning too, then after breakfast and showing him how to use the equipment in the makeshift basement gym, they gathered in the library-cum-office room at the front of the house.
“Is it similar to the video call you can make on a phone?” Dominic asked when she explained they were going to talk to head historian, Monty, from the lab through the computer.
“Yeah, essentially,” she said and did her best to answer his questions on how video calls actually worked.
Dominic’s eyes were bright with intrigue when Monty first appeared on the computer screen.
He peered around it as if he might find the man standing behind the screen.
But Monty quickly recaptured Dominic’s attention as he questioned him on his experience of the future so far, with the usual cheeriness Rayna hadn’t seen on the black man’s face a week ago.
But as the meeting went on, Rayna dominated more of the conversation with Monty as the older man detailed the case study report she had to work on with Dominic, as well as generic reports and checkups that had to be conducted with every Study.
“So, yes, as for your question,” Monty said, rolling a hand to gesture through the screen, “focus significantly more on the large socio impacts of Dominic’s direct actions as part of the nobility, but who he speaks of and their doings can be included in a subsection. Is that clear?”
The keys on the keyboard clicked under Rayna’s fast fingers as she made a note of what Monty had explained in a document while his face took up the rest of the screen.
She was sitting in the black, swivelling chair before the dark varnished desk, the blue, sunny sky illuminating the room from the window behind it. While Dominic was in a velvet scallop chair, watching her type in a mixture of confusion and fascination.
To their backs, two of the cream walls of the small office-library were lined with matching, dark varnished bookcases stuffed full with a variety of books that were probably long overdue a sort through. There was an empty space where Dominic had taken the chair from.
“All clear,” Rayna said as she finished typing. “Thank you.”
“No problem. Any more questions?” Monty said with a grin. When she shook her head, the older man’s friendly brown eyes shifted away from her. “You, Dominic?”
“I…” he started, then paused. “There was much I did not understand, so I am not entirely sure how to ask for an explanation.”
Rayna smiled as Monty chuckled. “Don’t worry,” the older man said. “You’ll understand significantly more as time goes on. But other than that, is there anything else you’d like to ask?”
“No.”
“Well, I think that is the end of this meeting then. Rayna, I’ll email you the updated document for general reporting on how Dominic’s getting on, and Ash will get in touch with you to confirm the dates for his monthly checkups.
I’ll speak to River too when he pops into the lab later today to collect Dominic’s ID, but as for the case study report, fit it around your schedule for the museum project, and we’ll do a check-in in a month’s time, yes? ”
Rayna nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. River’s coming here tomorrow, so I’ll discuss breaking down the reports with him too.”
“Perfect,” Monty said with a satisfied nod. “I believe, if I remember correctly, you’ll be taking Dominic to the museum on Wednesday, correct?”
“That’s right,” she answered.
“Well, Dominic, as I’m sure Rayna has already told you, you’re in for a treat.” Passion lit up Monty’s face. “Fronis Museum is wonderfully rich in Khaas’s history and has several displays that are part of the International Cultural Exchange programme.”
Dominic flashed a modest grin, but Rayna thumbed in his direction. “He hates museums.”
Monty’s face and shoulders fell in complete heartbreak as Dominic flew around to her with his lips parted in shocked complaint. She nearly cackled at how comical it was.
“Ah,” Monty said sadly. “Well…that won’t do.”
“No, no,” Dominic immediately said, clearing his throat. “I do not hate museums. She is wildly exaggerating what I said.”
Rayna gawked in disbelief. “No, I’m not.”
“I said,” Dominic cut in, “that I had never truly had the opportunity to appreciate the cultural value of museums previously. But this is my chance to do so.”
Oh my—his guy…
She chuckled in outrage, shaking her head slowly, while Dominic wore the fakest grin ever.
Monty laughed. “Well, either way, I hope you enjoy the museum and the project itself. I have a meeting with the Evidence team soon, so I’ll leave you two now, but take care, and we’ll speak soon. Bye.”
“Bye,” Rayna said as Dominic wished the older man a good day.
As soon as Monty ended the meeting, Rayna whipped around and smirked menacingly. Dominic glared back in betrayal.
“Why on Neves would you tell him that?” he demanded.
“Why the fuck did you lie to him?”
“I cannot have him thinking less of me for not appreciating museums now, can I? I have already embarrassed myself enough in front of him. A man has his pride, Rayna.”
She scoffed. “He wouldn’t have thought less of you.”
“He looked very near close to tears.”
“He did, didn’t he?” she said with a cheeky smirk. “I didn’t think it would upset him that much, honestly.”
Dominic shook his head. “You are a dreadful woman for taunting the old man.”
Rayna rolled her eyes, her grin widening. “Anyway.” She shuffled her chair closer to the desk. “Let’s go over the research report together quickly so I can explain what you didn’t understand, and then we’ll make a start on it later today after your lesson, or when River comes tomorrow.”
“As you wish,” he answered, angling his legs to face her more directly.
“Okay, so, in the most basics of terms, we know a bit about you already, but the research or case study report helps us create a picture of your life within the wider context of what we know about the Tregency period already, so that we can make comparisons, new inferences, change or confirm what we thought, etcetera, etcetera.”
He mulled over what she said with a blank stare. “What do you know about me already?”
She gestured to herself with one hand. “I only know what River, Monty, and V have told me, but the POTeM Evidence team collected information on you before you arrived. It’s part of the process of preparing to bring any Study here.”
The spark of curiosity flashed so brightly across his face that Rayna knew what Dominic was going to ask next before he’d even voiced the question.
Smiling, she gave a slight shake of her head. “No, I can’t tell you what they found. Not just because I don’t know, but we’re also not allowed to tell you anything about your life beyond what you’ve already experienced.”
A line formed between his brows. “Whyever not?”
“Because knowing what is going to happen in your life could influence your choices when you go back. And changing even one thing that is meant to happen in your life could have drastic consequences on the timeline of the world.”
Not that he was going to remember what he was told, seeing as his memory would be wiped before he left. But he wasn’t supposed to know that either.
“So you cannot tell me anything?” he confirmed.
“Yup.”
A distant look of thought floated over his narrow stare before he blinked and straightened. “What if I were to discover it myself, however? Is that not permitted either?”
She bobbed her head from side to side. “Well, technically, I can’t stop you from doing that. So yeah, you could search yourself up on the internet and stuff. But you can’t do it in front of me, and you can’t tell me what you found out either.”
After giving him another moment to quietly consider what she’d said, she added, “Is that all cleared up? Can I move on?”
He gave a single nod. “Yes. Although...” He leaned forward, peering at the keyboard. “May I try pressing this...keybox?”
“Keyboard,” she corrected laughingly. “And yeah, you can.”
They swapped seats but it became rather difficult for her to concentrate on explaining the report further when the entertainment of Dominic pressing one key every twenty seconds was so hilariously distracting.
Jake:
So I was wondering after our messages yesterday
If things are going well with work would you be free anytime soon to meet?
Rayna:
I really want to say yes but I honestly don’t know if I’ll have any free time yet
I’m sorry
Jake:
No its fine don’t apologise
If you don’t know you don’t know
Rayna:
But towards the end of the week I’ll probably have a better idea so I’ll let you know
Jake:
Ok that works
I don’t mind waiting