Page 65 of Bonds of Magic
“You may hear whatever you like,” she replied tartly. “It’s no business of mine.” Her hands tightened around the box. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do with my time than to—”
“Is that why you were meeting with Rekha Bakshi?” I asked, reaching out to place a hand on her arm. “Did you give her a necklace like the ones in the box?”
I knew she wasn’t going to tell me anything. But since she seemed to have decided against killing me, I thought I should ask. At the very least, what she refused to tell me might be its own kind of answer.
Teresa drew herself up to her full height. She was only five-foot-two, but she gave the impression of looking down her nose at me anyway.
“My actions do not concern you and I am under no obligation to tell you about them. You’re not even a real professor.”
“I think it concerns everyone if you’re putting our students in danger. Did you give Erika Martinez one of those necklaces?”
“If you’re implying I had anything to do with that poor girl’s death—”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m coming right out and telling you that something is wrong at this school, and I’m trying to figure out what it is. Erika was my student. So is Rekha. So are all freshmen. I don’t want any harm to come to them.”
“And I do?” Teresa asked, affronted.
“Honestly, I didn’t think you cared about any student until they’d reached their junior year. Which is why I’m asking you to explain what you’re doing here tonight.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I do not take kindly to the suggestion that I might harm a student, much less one as defenseless as a freshman. Neither do I appreciate your high-handed manner and questions. I don’t recall anyone appointing you High Inquisitor.”
She straightened her shoulders, then shifted the box to one hand so she could use the other to pull her blouse and blazer down more tightly.
“As far as I’m concerned, Erika’s death was the accident Isaac said it was. But if you’re interested in people acting suspiciously, then you’d do better to investigate why valuable items have been disappearing from faculty members’ rooms ever since the semester started. Better still, ask young Hans why he insists on skulking about the grounds at all hours of the night. Ask Sheridan why he’s jumping at shadows, or Autumn why she’s not allowed to work in the Hearth laboratories alone anymore. You’re clearly going after the wardkeepers, but you’re interested in the wrong one.”
“Hans is doing what?” I asked. “And what do you mean, Sheridan’s jumping at shadows?”
“You’ll have to ask them. I really don’t have time to entertain your little games anymore.”
With a final toss of her head, she stalked off down the hall.
***
I wasn’t sure if Teresa’s claims were truthful or baseless insinuations, but either way, I needed to look more closely at Sheridan. So three nights later, I knocked on his door. I carried a bottle of Lustau Pedro Ximénez sherry—though a cheaper bottle than the ones I’d seen in his rooms a few weeks earlier.
When Sheridan opened his door a crack and looked at me suspiciously, I hefted the bottle and attempted an easy grin.
“Want a drink?”
He blinked at me. “Why?”
“I realized I never followed up with you after that arrow landed in your apartment. Just wanted to check in. As for the drink, well, it’s better than drinking alone.”
Sheridan huffed a little laugh. “I suppose it is.” He opened his door wider. “Well, don’t just stand there. Come in before someone else sees that bottle and wants to join. I don’t intend to split it three ways.”
I raised an eyebrow, but he’d already turned away. Did he really intend for us to finish the bottle tonight? I didn’t dislike sherry, but I had no intention of drinking enough to let my guard down.
A few minutes later, we were comfortably ensconced in a pair of gold velvet wingback chairs in front of the marble fireplace in hisliving room. The place was still a pigsty, but I’d only had to peel two socks and one shirt off the back of the chair before sitting down. Could have been worse.
I brought the glass of sherry to my mouth, allowed it to touch my lips, but didn’t swallow. Sheridan downed his first glass like a shot of tequila and poured himself a second.
“So you got your window fixed,” I said, waving my glass in the direction of the window in question. The leaded glass was crystal clear and smooth, with no sign that it had ever been otherwise.
“I did.” Sheridan’s eyes narrowed over the rim of his glass. “But come now, Noah. That can’t truly be the reason why you’re here. Fixing a window is the work of a moment, even if you’re not a Hand. You know that.”
I wondered if I were really that transparent. Then again, if Teresa were to be believed, Sheridan was already on edge. Maybe he was suspicious of everyone right now.
“Alright, you got me.” I took an infinitesimal sip of sherry, then sighed and rested my glass on my leg. I shifted towards him in my chair and said in a serious voice, “I never did find the students who were responsible.”
