Page 129 of Cathmoir's Sons

“Professor Wright,” I say coolly. “I thought you were in Scilla, leading Madavar’s team in the hunt for Ulune’s Daughter.”

“Terrible storm, just terrible,” he says, not releasing my hand. His palm is damp. “Our expedition ship was damaged, so I’ve returned to Bevvy while it’s repaired. I hear one of the other ships sunk. Terrible. I hope Professor Wyndham’s expedition hasn’t suffered any losses from the storm?”

His eyes are too eager and I hate the way he calls my alma mater “Bevvy,” like he’s one of us.

“Not that I’ve heard,” I say, which is true. No one’s mentioned any damage. My equivocation also suggests I’m not on site with Caileán’s team.

Wright’s eyes narrow. Weren’t they brown? Now they’re so light they’re the amber of a good beer. Has he been drinking from the Fountain of Youth and Better Looks or something?

“That’s ... good,” he responds, drawing out the second word so long I know he means the opposite. “Shall we sit together? I’m going to audit the class today. I’m sure what the Capricorn and Professor Blink have to say will be illuminating.”

Or inflammatory. I’m hoping for inflammatory.

“Of course,” I say, all fake academic collegiality when I really want to strangle the asshole with his own power tie for his cruelty toward my mate.

I take a seat at the edge of the aisle, forcing him to climb over me, and trade smirks with Rho who is watching while he continues his conversation with Blink and Lords. By the time Wright settles into the seat next to me with a huff, I have my attentive student face on.

Blink breaks up the huddle at the front of the room by moving toward her podium. Lords claps Rhodes on the shoulder before he swings around the table and takes the vacant seat. Rho strides up the aisle, his mantle flaring behind him. He stops beside my chair, leans over to give me a searing kiss, and smooths his big palm down my cheek.

“See you back at the den in two hours, kit,” Rhodes says before he gives me a wink and walks out.

A year ago, I’d have had to keep a straight face instead of watching my hot boyfriend walk away. But a lot has changed in a year. So I watch him, and bask in the envious gazes around me, and wear my shit-eating grin unabashedly when I turn back around to pay attention to Professor Blink.

She introduces the “esteemed panel.” I was right about both the animal-rights activist, whose name is “Ed, just Ed,” and the climate-change denier who is Professor Lessarn from Madavar. Professor Wright’s presence makes more sense if he’s here to support his colleague.

That doesn’t stop him from whispering to me as Professor Lessarn starts talking about the natural cycles of heating and cooling, solar activity and variations in Earth’s orbit accounting for the current warming trend, and the importance of magi not interfering in geological processes mortals don’t fully understand.

“Prince Lucas, I won’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed by your refusal to join my team in translating the Sulis Minerva inscriptions, but I appreciate your loyalty to Professor Wyndham. Loyalty in any form is—” He sniffs. “Admirable.But now that Professor Wyndham is withdrawing from the Bevington faculty, I hope you’ll reconsider your position. You’ll need an advisor for your final semester and I?—”

My classmates roar with laughter at something Professor Blink has said, and I glare at Wright to shut him up.

His mouth works but he stops talking long enough for me to hear Professor Lessarn say, “What we’re seeing now is nothing more than natural warming.”

“The entrails don’t lie,” Professor Blink rejoins to more laughter. “But I don’t need divination to see a future plagued by scorching heat, terrible storms, and rising seas. This is the consequence of human activity and mages have an ethical obligation to help counter our species’ impact on our world.”

“It’s more than an obligation,” Lords says. “It’s a duty. Magi have stayed out of human conflicts for over a century, but this isn’t a war of men against men. It’s a war against the planet. A planet that we share. The humans won’t just destroy themselves; they’ll destroy the Unseen World, too.”

“But, Evan, we must respect the autonomy of the non-magical communities,” Professor Blink interjects. “It’s through education and guidance that?—”

“Garbage!” Ed, just Ed, reaches his boiling point and explodes. “You don’t believe in education and guidance. You just want to sacrifice innocent animals to your dark gods. Murderer!”

The two professors and Lords look at Ed like he’s the one spilling blood across the table.

Professor Blink tries to recover. “Er, as I was saying, we can’t presume that the ability to wield magic gives us the right to usurp human decision-making?—”

“What decisions did you allow the animals you slaughtered?” Ed, just Ed yells. “The koalas? The otters? The baby pandas?”

“I’ve never even seen a live koala,” Professor Blink says wearily.

“I have,” Professor Lessarn says. “They have koalas at the San Diego Zoo. They smell like chest rub.”

Ed, just Ed’s right eye begins twitching. “Za-za-za-zoooo?”

Lords slides a pen that’s within Ed’s reach to the other side of the table.

“Getting off the subject of koalas,” Professor Blink says, her robe sleeves fluttering as she rubs her hands up and down the edges of the lectern. “I appreciate that we could substantially influence the advance of global warming with magic, but?—”

“That would be unforgivable interference based on our incomplete understanding of a tremendously complex system,” Professor Lessarn interjects. Professor Blink snaps her mouth shut. “Models on both sides of the Veil fail to predict weather patterns with any accuracy. That shows our imperfect understanding of these systems. We risk meddling in things we don’t understand.”

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