Page 38 of A Tower of Half-Truths
“Ah, and who is this lovely lady?”
“This is Mavery, my new assistant. Mavery, meet Volsegar the Fourth.”
“Bah! No need to be so bloody formal. My Gardemancy students call me Professor Ward, my friends call me Declan. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all friends here.”
He extended a hand that dwarfed Mavery’s. She cracked a grin as they shook hands.
“Your surname is actually Ward?”
He beamed. “Since the day I was born! That my magic and my name happened to be a perfect fit, well, I call it fate—and the good kind, too. Once knew a lad named Burncock. You don’t want to know what fate had in store forhim!”
Declan guffawed while slapping his knee. Alain sighed and rolled his eyes with the agony of someone who had heard that joke a hundred times too many. Mavery, however, gave Declan a genuine chuckle. She then laughed even harder at Alain’s scowl.
“Finally!” Declan reached forward and clapped Alain on the shoulder. “You found an assistant with a sense of humor.”
“Yes, Volsegar, becausehumorought to be a scholar’s most important attribute.”
This comment came from the professor who had just entered the room. Mavery recognized her as the same professor whose class had overwhelmed her Senses. While the professor’s blue-gray complexion suggested she was Nilandoren, her height—she was a few inches shorter than Mavery—suggested otherwise. The wrinkles around her mouth, but not her dark yet piercing eyes, suggested she was someone who frowned more than she smiled. Her wiry salt-and-pepper hair framed her hawkish face like a frazzled halo. The professor stopped in front of Mavery.
Trailing behind her was a much younger woman whose black robes marked her as the professor’s assistant. She was the same height as the professor, with black curls and a heart-shaped face covered in freckles. Of all the scholars Mavery had met today, this woman was, by and large, the most attractive of the lot.
“So,” the professor said, “not only does Aventus remain among the living, he’s managed to hire a new assistant.”
Her eyes flicked up to Mavery’s face, then down to her feet. From her hard stare and even harder frown, she was not impressed with what she saw. But Mavery didn’t take offense; she gatheredthis woman was exceptionally hard to please.
“You’re a bit old to be an assistant,” she said bluntly.
Well, Mavery would take offense tothat.She placed her hands on her hips and returned the older woman’s hard stare.
“I’m in the middle of something of a career change.”
Declan chuckled. “Come now, Nez, go easy on the new—”
The woman veered on him. Though Declan was over a foot taller than her, he recoiled at her steely glare.
“Don’t you dare use that familiar tone with me, Volsegar. It’sNezima. Understood?”
Declan mumbled an apology.
“As for you, Aventus,” she said, pivoting on the spot, “I hope the reason for your visit is to pick up some of the slack that your colleagues, myself included, have had to assume in your absence. I’ll have you know, I’m teaching four classes this term—four!I haven’t had that kind of workload in a decade.”
Alain winced. “I’m sorry for putting you in that position, Nezima.”
She huffed.
“I am, truly. But I’m afraid my reasons for being here today are solely for research.”
“You’re conducting research again?” Nezima’s eyes widened briefly before narrowing again. “How nice for you. I’ve little time for it myself these days. Case in point: my next class starts in five minutes. As much as I would loveto stay and engage in idle chatter, I must be off.”
She turned to Mavery. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Mavery swore she saw Nezima’s expression soften slightly. There was a look behind her eye that was unreadable. Mavery glanced at Nezima’s assistant, who was staring at the floor as if she were trying to ignore this entire conversation.
“Best of luck with your…career change,” Nezima said to Mavery. “You’ll need it.”
Nezima approached the door to her right. It opened at the flick of her hand, and she pointed for her assistant to go inside. The younger woman rushed in the office, where she exchanged the stack of papers she’d been holding for a thicker one. Meanwhile,Nezima left the common room without another word.
The assistant closed Nezima’s door behind her with one hand, careful to not spill the papers pinned under her other arm. Before she trailed after Nezima, however, she stopped and looked at Alain.
“Er…hello, Aventus.”
