Page 24 of Vengeful Princess

Rather than asking whether I minded if he sat next to me, Cassian dropped into the adjacent chair and pulled out a tablet to make notes on. He didn’t spare me a second glance, and after a few tense moments, I relaxed.

Maybe he preferred sitting at the back of the lecture theater. Plenty of students did. In the week since my arrival, I’d learnedthat only the students sitting in the front half of lectures were called on to provide answers to questions.

Which was good since I had no answers to give, not having studied the syllabus or completed any of the required reading.

I half-listened to the professor drone on, but it wasn’t long before my eyelids started drooping. This guy was so boring. He could build a brilliant career as a content creator for people with insomnia. I felt tempted to record the lecture for the next time I had trouble sleeping.

A husky voice in my ear roused me from a pleasant daydream involving a naked Cassian Forsyth. If the real-life Cassian was half as delicious as my dream, I was in big trouble.

“Do business ethics bore you, Miss Ricci?”

I jolted awake, quickly brushing my sleeve across my mouth in case I’d been drooling.

“What?”

“You seem to have trouble focusing.” He chuckled with amusement as the professor scrawled some bullet points on the large whiteboard.

“I didn’t sleep well,” I huffed, unsure of why I needed to explain myself to him. It was really none of his business.

“Here, drink some of this.” Cassian reached into his bag and pulled out a large travel mug. “It’s black coffee with a shot of vanilla,” he explained when I hesitated. “You look like you could do with some caffeine.”

A girl sitting in the row in front turned around and scowled at me, obviously offended that Cassian was offering to share his coffee with me, so I scowled back. She huffed and turned away.

“Thanks.” Refusing his offer would be a dick move when he was being nice, and I desperately needed a pick-me-up. One sip of hot coffee and I was in heaven. A faint moan of appreciation slipped from my lips as the complex flavors hit my taste buds.

Lord, this was nothing like the cheap blended coffee the cafeteria served. No, this was high-quality, freshly ground coffee. Delicious and just what I needed to lift my energy levels.

Cassian smirked as I guzzled more than my fair share.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” he whispered as the professor finally noticed we weren’t paying attention to his boring-as-fuck lecture.

“Do you have something useful to contribute, Mr. Forsyth?”

I watched as Cassian turned and fixed the man with a hard stare. For several long seconds, Professor Ryan stared back at him. But then, to my surprise, instead of calling Cassian out on his disrespectful attitude, the professor dropped his eyes, coughed, and continued with the lesson.

What the fuck?

Not wishing to draw any more attention to myself, I passed the coffee mug back to Cassian with a murmur of thanks and started making notes. The rest of the lecture passed in a blur of monotony. By the time it ended with instructions given for an essay we needed to write before next week, I’d woken up a bit.

I’d love to say it was purely down to the caffeine hit, but in truth, it was more the fact Cassian’s delicious citrus scent kept me squirming in my seat the entire time.

None of the notes I’d written made sense. If the professor had called on me to answer a question, it would have ended badly. Luckily for me, after his little stare-off with Cassian, he didn’t look in our direction again.

Thank heavens for small mercies.

The minute the professor left, Cassian glanced at his phone and jumped up. I’d half expected him to make conversation, but it seemed like he’d forgotten I existed. Part of me slumped with disappointment. It was nice to feel noticed by an attractive guy, even if that guy was someone I needed to fuck over at some point soon.

But, as I reminded myself, I wasn’t here to hook up with anyone. Least of all the target of my father’s dastardly dealings.

It was better for me if Cassian didn’t become my friend. While I needed to get to know him a little, I couldn’t afford to forget why I was here.

“He’s not interested in you,” my new best friend from the row in front of me sneered.

“Nor in you, it would seem,” I remarked, enjoying the way she flushed red at my words.

“He only looks at rich girls, and that’s definitely not you.” The way she cast a dismissive glance at my generic jeans and faded hoodie told me all I needed to know about her opinion of my fashion sense.

Not that I gave a fuck what she thought.

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