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Since ridiculous is my new normal, I just pick up the books I ordered to be delivered directly to the house, and head out to meet my guidance counselor.
"Your schedule isn't going to be easy, Lady Rhodes."
"Hel," I correct out of habit. "You can drop the lady."
The Rhodes, I can get used to. I've never been one to go by my family name, so Stovrj doesn't mean much to me. The “lady” bit, however…
"Ms. Rhodes," the small, skinny man rewords. "You'll have a test every other week in the first semester to cover your first and second years, and while things do slow down afterwards, it's only because the curricula of the last two years are considerably more demanding. You'll still attend all fourth-year classes, and it is up to you to catch up in order to pass your tests. The instructors will be at your disposal to answer questions, but I won't lie." He shakes his head. "I don't know one student who's had this kind of workload in the past."
He doesn't trust I can do it. I grin. "Understood. Can I have my curricula now?"
The man hesitates, a hand on the brown folder between us on his glass desk. "If you don't manage to test out of all of your courses, we can review yourschedule. It’s not a problem. Just reach out and we can make the timetable more manageable.”
I’ve never heard anyone as condescending. I know right there and then that I’ll manage his hellish schedule, if only out of spite.
CHAPTERNINE
A DIFFERENT KIND OF SPELL
Turns out, if morphing lead into gold isn’t common practice, it’s likely because the process is annoyingly lengthy and boring as all purgatories.
I did wonder why the poor didn’t bother to learn the craft. Given the fact that it’s alchemy rather than magik, they could buy pounds of lead for cheap and all their troubles would be over. Now I know better. What peasant has a full five hours to spare, staring at a mostly empty bowl of spider legs in order to sharpen the container? And it’s just step one in a long list. I have all the time in the world, and I’m struggling to keep my focus on the assignment after only one hour.
We have a two-day session to get the assignment done, and I can already tell I’ll walk out of this room with a pounding headache.
I don’t have many courses this semester, and most of them are hands-on, practical lessons such as this one. The only reason why I’m back at Five is to maintain the illusion of normalcy. In a few weeks—fifteen, to be exact—I will turn twenty-five, and come into my reign without need of a regent. If I can manage to write my second thesis before then, all the better. If I don’t, I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with being the first Ravelyn king to hold a master’s. The rest of my lineage didn’t bother to go past a bachelor’s degree, but studying does entertain me. After the crown is truly mine, I’ll have other concerns.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Mr. Heffur.”
All of my attention immediately leaves the chalice and zeroes in on the girl striding into my metamorphosis class. There goes my hour of work. I’ll have to start again from scratch.
It takes me far too long to compute what I’m looking at. The preppy young woman dressed in a coordinating ensemble—beige skirt and pink cardigan over a white shirt—looks nothing like the vixen in the duke’s garden. The only thing they have in common is the uncontrollable bird’s nest atop the heart-shaped face.
"Ah, yes, Lady Rhodes." The professor doesn't glance up from the rim of his own goblet.
Lady? Fucking lady.
“I was told you had a conflict in your schedule—astrology before my class, right? Come in, come in. We only just started."
Instead of returning to my work, I watch her walk to the empty seat no one ever wants, front and center, right in front of Heffur. Her hair bounces happily with each of her steps. She should look ridiculous, but as put together as she is right now, the wild curls seem to be a purposeful style.
She pulls out everything on the list of required ingredients from a light blue satchel. The first thing I note is that while a metal goblet is required, hers has a glass bowl, though the rim is silver.
"You've prepped already." The teacher seems both surprised and impressed.
"I knew I'd be late. Is that all right, sir?"
She sounds respectful and subservient. I want to puke.
"Of course…" Heffur hesitates. "You sharpened the container yourself, yes? The spell won't work for you otherwise."
From my vantage point close to the window and three rows back, I see her jaw tick, but she hides her annoyance under perkiness. "Yep. I did it while we waited for the lunar eclipse, sir. I used a magnifying glass to cut down the time. That's allowed, right?"
At that, the teacher does finally drag his gaze away from his spell, and gapes at her. "My lady, that's a dangerous practice. Done wrong, you could burn your eyes out or worse.”
"I researched it, sir." She's all smiles. "And it worked out."
The professor blinks slowly. "Well, everyone, I was going to mention the custom later, but as Lady Rhodes has brought it to our attention, I will tell you about intense sharpening. With a magnifying glass, one can expedite our current spell, but at great personal risk: should you break your concentration for even an instant, the goblet will reflect the intensity of your focus right back at you, which can cause harm or even, in extreme cases, death. I will now demonstrate the practice, and those who wish to attempt it may. I strongly advise against it, however."
