Luc contemplated her, his frown shifting to amusement in a way that unsettled her.
“You know what, Lila? Have it your way.” Settling down next to her, Luc unraveled his scrolls and produced a pen from his robes. A small tablet of wood served as his traveling desk, and he laid a blank scrap of parchment on this, propped up one leg to support it, and began sketching an indefinite object. First, a large oval. Then, a smaller oval next to it. He connected an arc to this shape.
Lila sat up straight, her irritation boiling over. So he thought he could get her to leave by forcing her to abide his presence?
Ha! He would regret that, and he would leave first. She’d make sure of it.
Peering over at his drawing, she waited until he was nearly finished to make her observation.
“I could do better than that.”
“It’s called adraft.”
“Still, I could do better with my eyes closed.”
“Then do it. With your eyes closed.” He offered the tablet to her, condescension in his eyes.
“I will,” Lila shot back. She’d never drawn anything with her eyes closed, but she’d been sneaking glances at Luc’s doodles for ages, and though this creature was unfamiliar, the form of it was simple. When she felt ready, she shut her eyes and tried to measure where her pen should go by placing the fingers of her other hand in pivotal spots.
It didn’t help. Her finished drawing was a jumble of unintelligible lines.
“All right, so it’s not better. But it’s nearly as bad.” She shoved the sketch at him.
Luc smirked, then softened.
“Why are you really here? Did Castor piss you off? He tends to do that.”
“I’ll nevertell you.”
“Why not?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“The instructors would disagree with you. I understand far more than the average angel.”
“And yet, you know so little.”
“What doesthatmean?”
“I don’t feel like explaining it to you.”
“Oh? I thought you enjoyed teaching me. What was all that yelling in workshops about?”
Workshops? Oh, yes. The heated squabble they’d had over a group metalworking assignment, when she’d yelled at him for disparaging Castor’s work and he’d yelled at her for caring more about defending Castor than doing the assignment properly.
To be fair to Luc, Castor’s work left much to be desired. To be fair to her, it was her duty to defend Castor. But never mind it. They wouldn’t quarrel anymore. Luc would be in the architect program, and she would not. They’d never take a class together again.
An odd pang of loss wrenched Lila’s chest.
“I don’t remember.” She glanced away. “You don’t occupy that much space in my mind.”
“Yet you know what I know and don’t know.”
“Are you done?” She threw him a glare. “Can’t we sit in peace?”
“I’ve been perfectly peaceful. You’re the one who insulted my platypus.”
“Yourwhat?”
