Page 36 of Ulune's Daughter

“I understand your feelings,” Jane says. “But I think you need to strike while the iron is hot. Your discovery is sexy. It’s prestigious. A year or two from now, the novelty will have worn off. There will be more criticism and less awe. Take advantage of this moment. As Carrie said, once you have tenure, you’re always tenured. It won’t matter if the discovery of Isla Cedros fades into memory, or if you decide you never want to do another day of field work. You’ll always be a full professor.”

I abandon the cat treats and offer Whitey a sliver of cheese, which he gobbles down like he hasn’t eaten in a month, smacking his jaws together. The sound draws chuckles out of all three of us.

“But what if field work really suits me?” I ask. “Full professorship comes with administrative burdens. I’d need to sit on committees, teach a full course load, mentor thesis students, publish regularly. All of that sounds like Hell, honestly. I want to be out in the field. I want to make the next big discovery. I want to recover the nextcalicem Sulis Minervae. I understand the benefits of full professorship, and I want you both to know how grateful I am for everything you’ve done to get me to the position where I have a choice like this. I’m just not sure tenure is for me.”

“You don’t have to decide today,” Jane assures me.

“Or tomorrow,” Carrie says. “Meet with the committee. See who is on the panel and what they’d require. Then we can assess this with clear eyes.” Her lips quirk.

I lift my wine glass to her. “To your very clear eyes.”

Chapter12

A Semi-Charmed Kinda Night

LAW

“Luca! Luca!”

It takes me a moment to register my mate’s voice, calling my brother’s name.

A moment too long.

She catches up with me as I hesitate on the steps of Bodeman Main. Her hand alights on my forearm. A touch that races down my spine and tightens my balls. I turn so I can look into those bright eyes. Beautiful mate. Excited mate.

“Sorry. I was miles away.” I touch my temple. “I didn’t hear you.”

A frown wisps across her brow and I realize I’ve said the wrong thing. Luca’s an Air-mage. He can hear his name spoken a half-mile away.

But her frown clears and she offers me a wry smile. “I didn’t mean to interrupt a deep thought. I wanted you to know that I read your essay. It was excellent. You should think about expanding it for your thesis. I’m just back on campus, but I’ll inform the bursar today that you’re hired and send you a calendar so you can pick times to work on the exhibit with me.”

That will please Luca, I’m sure. I return her smile. “Thank you.”

She looks me up and down. “You seem different today. It’s more than the hair and the eyes and the clothes, something’s different.”

I’m not who she thinks I am. That’s what’s different.

I could tell her now. I could explain. But she’s smiling at me, talking to me familiarly, making plans with me. If I tell her who I am, then I’m a stranger to her again, despite all we’ve shared.

I don’t want to be a stranger to my mate.

“Do you have time for coffee?” I ask, knowing she’s shared that odd, human ritual with my twin.

“It’s almost lunch-time. How about lunch instead?”

Her enthusiasm, particularly after her reservations about my twin during her hen-huddle with Doctor Prince and Madame Serpa—reservations which are entirely justified, even if her belated delivery of that excellent Gouda cheese was not—tells me I’ve made the right choice.

It’s tempting to take her hand, or offer her my arm, as I escort her through the campus toward the town’s main street. This is our first courting ritual, skin to skin. I don’t want to have it in the Bodeman Main dining hall. My mate deserves better. Soon, I’ll be able to treat her as she deserves: dinner at the finest restaurants in London, New York, LA, Tokyo. For now, it’s the Bevington Café where my mate orders a steak sandwich on focaccia and I follow suit. When she orders a complicated coffee, she shoots me a wink and I wonder if this is an inside joke between her and Luca.

The thought that they already have inside jokes irritates me. I must make more effort to spend time with my mate in my skin.

She sits down across from me, brushing back wisps of hair that have escaped her long braid, teasing me with hints of her delicious scent. She bites into her sandwich and eats with the same gusto she shows when she eats with my Cait. I like her lack of inhibition.

When she begins to talk about the essay Luca sent her, I realize I may have miscalculated. Beyond what I overheard last night, I don’t know what the essay was about; I’ve barely seen my twin in days. I make a mental note to have him send me everything he turns in to Kellan so I’m not lost during these conversations.

Since the topic of Luca’s essay is a conversational minefield, I steer away to something I at least know about: her recovery of that silver cup.

“You said you’re just returning to campus. Have you been artifact hunting?” I ask.

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