Page 83 of Cathmoir's Sons

“Please go ahead and yell. I deserve it.”

She splays the three pictures of me and Law across the desk with her fingers. “Maybe there’s some way we can spin this?—”

I shake my head. “I’d like to minimize the impact on Bevington’s reputation, but I’m not going to hide my relationship with Law, Luca, and Rhodes. They deserve betterthan that. They deserve for me to fight for them. To stand up and proclaim proudly that they’re the men I choose. I won’t hide.”

She sighs again.

“But we can be strategic,” I say.

“Is that why you asked for an emergency meeting this morning?”

“We have a small window of opportunity before someone who wants to hurt me goes public with those.” I nod at the pictures. “I met with Teddy and her husbands last night. We have a proposal for you.”

Emilia rubs the back of her neck. “Merciful Mother. Whatever it is, I’m sure the college will agree. The upside of such famous alumni? Everyone wants to come to their alma mater. The downside of such famous alumni? Teddy and her husbands wield a terrifying amount of clout with the board.”

“This will earn Bevington significant good will from all of us. I know I’ve put you in a bad position. I want to make it right.”

She narrows her eyes as she looks across her desk at me. “Any chance of getting Evan Lords as part of whatever deal it is you’re about to make me agree to?”

I open my mouth, close it. It hadn’t occurred to me that Bevington would want its most infamous crow back. And I may have burned that bridge.

“As what?” I croak.

“Officially? We’ll call it a consulting position. Unofficially? I need him to mentor our new Mr. Black. Charon is ... very green. He’s making enemies left and right. I don’t want to go against his family, either. The Carvers have beenextremelygenerous donors. But Charon needs guidance before he puts Bevington in a position I can’t maneuver out of.”

“I’ll ask,” I promise. “Evan isn’t Charon’s biggest fan, either.”

Dean Quinn nods sadly. “Please tell Evan that I asked about Charon’s part in his conviction when I interviewed him forthe position. For the little it’s worth, Charon seemed genuinely remorseful. He said he believed Evan would be acquitted of the charges because the evidence was so thin.”

I’m not sure if that’s better or worse. I might chicken out and ask Rhodes to talk to Evan. If I were Evan, the last thing I’d want to hear is that the man who gathered evidence against me thought it was insufficient for a conviction.

“Tabling Evan for a moment, what else does this deal involve?” Dean Quinn asks.

I outline the plan we came up with: Teddy and Gabe take my classes and any classes that Carrie was scheduled to teach that the school doesn’t already have covered. Charlie offers a special magickal athletics clinic, to avoid stepping on the coaching staff’s toes, while he gathers support for his petition to the Aedis Astrum. I withdraw my tenure application and take a year’s sabbatical while I hunt for Ulune’s Daughter. Whatever treasure I recover goes to Bevington less my team’s usual finder’s fee.

Emilia nods along to each point.

“You’ll stay on as museum staff,” she says, definitely not a question. “Create an exhibit for us from whatever you find. I can’t tell you how much the Magi of the Mists exhibit has done to pull in donations this year. Teddy’s clout aside, that’s the only reason I’m going along with this. You’ve really fucked me over, Kells. You and your damn Cait deserve to squirm a little.”

I hold my palms up. “I understand. If you want me to withdraw from teaching immediately, I will.”

“Oh, no. Your Winter Study is too much of a draw and I’m not penalizing our students for your impatience. You’re going to stick out Winter Study and weather the sneers. And if I really wanted to be a sadist, I’d stick you with Rowan Wright as a co-instructor. Don’t think I haven’t guessed what’s going on behind all this. I’m sorry he caught you. But I’ll reiterate that if youhadn’t been flouting academic standards, then he wouldn’t have anything to blackmail you with.”

I wince. “You’re not that much of a sadist, are you?”

“No. Also, his student reviews are atrocious. I’d rather pull out my own teeth than have him teach here. I understand why they keep him on at Madavar. The money he offered would have been tempting any other year. Fortunately, this is the one year I feel comfortable telling him where to stuff his bribes.” She shakes a manicured finger at me. “Just make sure I’m as comfortable next year.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t ma’am me when you’re in the doghouse. Now, I’m on board, but you know this is going to Academic Standards. How do you propose to deal with them?”

“Any chance of postponing the hearing until after Winter Study? Law has some plan he won’t tell me about but he says his third of the situation will be resolved today. Rhodes is going to withdraw after Winter Study. The White Cloaks will take him early. That just leaves Luca. I won’t derail his academic career, so I’ll take the suspension or whatever else the committee levies so long as Luca can stay enrolled and graduate.”

Emilia taps her fingernails on her desktop. “Erasmus has something like two years accrued vacation time. I could force him to take a month’s vacation. New academic regulation against excessive accrued vacation time. Committee can’t meet without all its members. That will really ruffle the old bird’s feathers.”

I can’t control a chuckle. “Emilia.”

“Ha, not a word out of you. You have no idea what it’s like to deal with him day in and day out. He’s a nightmare. If I could make the vacation permanent, I would. All right, that’s what we’ll do. Postpone your hearing until February. If Lawson hasn’t told you what his plan is, I’m not going to ruin the surprise,but I’d agree that he has a solution to his part of the problem. You just make sure Rhodes files his withdrawal application this week so there’s time to process it over Winter Study. Although I absolutely hate the idea that he won’t graduate. He’s been a superb student. A real role-model, that boy.”

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