Page 16 of Malice in e minor

“She’s supposed to be here in five minutes. Your office hours and her advisor hours interact. So, adjust your erection and don’t be an asshole.”

Motherfucker.

All of this was weird and Faustus was kind of an ass who thought I should just be grateful and ignore all the red flags. I mean, I was, but I was also fully prepared to leave and sleep on JaToya’s couch until I could get another job and apartment.

I was excited about my composition advisor. I was introduced to her music in undergrad by two of my professors. I was given one of her violin solos for a jury and we performed an orchestral piece at the end of the year. I ended up doing a deep dive into her and her works after I drank two pots of coffee to write a paper on tonal harmonies two days before it was due and then ended up not needing that much caffeine to finish.

Needless to say, I was a big fan of hers and nervous as shit. I didn’t know if this was going to be a never meet your heroes moment or I was just going to make a complete fuck muppet of myself. I did that sometimes.

My palms were sweaty and my heart was racing when I knocked on her door. So far, only the dance students had been welcoming. I hadn’t really interacted with the theatre, creative writing, or art students, but the music students didn’t like me. Orion Hart didn’t play even play the violin and was way more famous than I’d ever be and he didn’t care for me much either.

I didn’t care about anyone else, but I really hoped Aurelia Barclay didn’t dislike me because of how I got here.

Oh, Motherfuck. Orion Hart answered the door. What was he doing here, anyway? I meant Blackvale in general, not this office. He just smirked at me and damn, he was pretty.

“Try not to look so disappointed. It’s bad for my ego.”

I looked down at my phone. I wasn’t super early, but I guess I’d interrupted their session. I grumbled an apology and moved to step back, but he opened the door wider.

“Sorry? I didn’t know it was your office hours. I can wait.”

“I’m Aurelia’s latest boy toy. We’re madly in love. She was just about to spank me.”

“You little shit. You couldn’t handle me. Stop harassing my students or I’ll make you stand in the naughty corner. Harlowe, ignore him and get your ass in here. He’s my new assistant.”

I hid my smile as I walked in. She might end up not liking me, but that just cemented it. I liked more than just Aurelia Barclay’s music. She pointed to a chair across from her.

“Sit. He doesn’t bite. I want to hear all about how you got here.”

“Um, I’m still not exactly sure.”

“Well, I saw the video of you playing in the subway. I caught your compositions and the half of the Devil’s Trill Sonata before the video cut out. Devil’s Trill is technically demanding, but so were the pieces you wrote. I’m more curious about what someone with your talent was doing in the subway instead of here or on an actual stage.”

Oh. Some of us wanted our asses kissed and others were extremely uncomfortable with praise, especially when it came from other artists we respected. I was pretty sure I was about as deep purple as the polish on my toes.

“My mom got sick my last year in undergrad. She’s in the hospital now. There was an incident involving an influencer with less than thirty followers, a shitty manager who was breaking all kinds of labor laws, and an eviction happy landlord that led to me playing in the subway,” I grumbled.

“Sounds like fate.”

“Sounds more like a man with too much money and a brother who is deep in religious psychosis decided not to hire a car that day.”

Yeah, there was my mouth again, but I didn’t believe in fate. I also wasn’t remotely religious. If someone had been meddling in my life, they hadn’t been very nice about it. My mother caught my father cheating when she was just about to pop with me and kicked him to the curb. I didn’t blame her for that in the slightest. Every time my life started working out, it tended to go ass up. I wasn’t all that convinced it wasn’t going to do that now.

“You met Gadreel?” Orion said, perking up.

“I got stalked by Gadreel. He was the one who posted the video of me playing in the subway and he crashed my train ride here. I don’t believe his brother is the devil, but no one will tell me if his parents hate him enough to call him Lucifer.”

“He didn’t tell you to call him Luca?” Orion asked.

Well, that answered the question of his name, but not why his brother thought he was the devil. Cullen said Luca too.

“He never spoke to me. We broke eye contact, and he disappeared. Dr. Faustus showed up after that and invited me here, but I only had a day to decide and I had to come here at a weird time because apparently, they were worried I’d run and not come.”

“I see why they worried. You have this way of dipping into the dissonant and making us think you aren’t going to resolve it, but then you do it perfectly. What are you working on now?”

“Professor Barclay⁠—”

“Aurelia, please.”