Page 44 of Gothikana

Her eyes went to Mr Deverell taking his wrapped sandwiches. He never ate in the hall with everyone else. A young female professor wearing a simple blue sweater and jeans, her blonde hair in a ponytail, approached him. Corvina watched as she laughed at something he said,resting her palm on his bicep, and something hot and ugly took hold of her insides.

‘What are you staring at?’ Troy asked, back on his feet, following her gaze.

‘Just that professor,’ Corvina replied, shrugging like her insides weren’t on fire. ‘I haven’t seen her before.’

‘That’s Dr Harbour,’ he supplied helpfully like the endless source of information that he was. ‘She’s in the history department. She and Mr Deverell had a thing a while back.’

God, how many women on this campus had he been with?

She gulped, glaring down at her boots. ‘Are they still together?’

Troy shrugged, unconcerned. ‘Probably. Who cares?’ he said before suddenly his gaze sharpened on Corvina. ‘You care.’

The denial flew from her lips. ‘Nope. Not at all.’

Troy, the jovial boy who loved to tease her, looked at her with seriousness beyond his age. ‘Look, Purple, what you do is your business,’ he told her quietly, his attention on her. ‘And not that I have any issues with Mr Deverell. He’s always been cool with me. But just so you know, that’s not a guy I’d ever want to be alone with on a dark night. Not to mention, it’s against the rules so don’t tell anyone. Just be careful, okay?’

Her throat tight, Corvina nodded, not really knowing what to say.

‘Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,’ he reassured her, giving her one of his side-hugs. ‘But damn, Purple, you had to go find the devil of Verenmore, didn’t you?’

Troy shut up as they joined the others, giving her his trademark grin. ‘Let’s get to class.’

Corvina waved him off. ‘I need to go to the library.’

‘I’ll come with,’ Jax said from her side. ‘I have to return a book.’

Nodding, Corvina started cutting through the garden to the side of the academic wing that led to the dungeon library, the wind extra cold on her face. It was a foggy morning, the white mist heavy around the castle and its occupants, humans shivering in the cold as they went about their day. She wondered for a moment if she should worry about Troy knowing, and then discarded the thought. She trusted him and he’d been nothing but good to her. He was her friend.

‘So, you’re done with Deverell’s paper?’ Jax started in the way of conversation, his cheeks ruddy in the wind, hands in his jacket pockets.

Corvina nodded, grateful for her fitting black woollen skirt and dark purple sweater that broke the wind, her legs encased in her thigh-high warm boots. ‘Finished it last night,’ she told him, gripping the strap of her bag. ‘You?’

He slid her a grin. ‘Almost.’

‘We need to submit that today, you know?’ she reminded him as they rounded the corner of the academic block. The heavy double doors of the dungeon with their wrought iron frame were open, a set of wide stone steps leading down to the entrance.

‘I’ll get it done before class,’ he assured her, taking the steps four at a time.

Corvina rolled her eyes, a smile tipping her lips at him showing off his athleticism for no reason.

‘That was very unnecessary,’ she told him, descending at her normal pace as he waited.

‘Did it impress you though?’ he asked good-naturedly. ‘Or should I add a backflip next time?’

A chuckle bubbled out of her as they entered the library, a few students already in line to return books in front of the desk. Corvina wasn’t surprised. Monday mornings and Friday evenings had the most traffic in the library since Mrs Suki was on leave at the weekend.

Jax took a book out of his bag, heading toward the queue as Corvina turned left toward the shelves.

‘You aren’t coming?’ he asked loudly, earning a ‘Silent, young man,’ from Mrs Suki at the desk.

Corvina indicated the shelves at the back, telling him quietly she needed to borrow some books, and he nodded, going to stand behind a few students.

Corvina headed toward the Literature section, hoping to find a few novels to read over the week. She passed a girl perusing a book in the History aisle and finally turned to her destination. Mrs Suki had told her one day about a special shelf where she’d stashed all her romances, unbeknownst to the university — vintage romances from her day, erotic romances, historical, and even some paranormal. Corvina was a sucker for those.

Fingers skimming over the titles, she plucked out two small shifter romances, continued skimming, paused over Jane Eyre, and took that out as well.

Armed with her three books for the week, she left the aisle and began walking along the short corridor that led to the main library area.

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