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Darwin’s hand tightens on my thigh.
O shakes his head. “I didn’t know she was seeing anyone in particular. She didn’t bring anyone to Lammas.”
That tracks. She might have been seeing Gabe by then but he wouldn’t have gone to the fires with her because of Darwin.
“Did you see her there?”
O nods. “My family always comes to the Bevington festival. I talked to her for a little while, mostly about the professors who were coming to Bevington from Addlestone. She wanted the low down. She said she was already on campus working on a research project, but she didn’t mention anyone special.”
“What research project?”
No one’s mentioned that before. I assumed she bumped into Gabe at campus parties because she lived in town.
O shrugs. “Got me. She said she was working for an Addlestone professor who’d moved up already and he was a hard ass.”
“She didn’t say which one?” When O shakes his head, I sweep a glance over the boys flanking me. “Who’s the Air professor from Addlestone?”
On Darwin’s far side, Gabe leans forward to answer me, showing he was listening even while he was talking gamer shite with Wyatt. “There isn’t an Air professor from Addlestone. Professor Thorpe-Clarkson teaches Air-magic and he’s been at Bevington since the dawn of fucking time.”
That gets chuckles all around the table.
“Professor Dello taught Air-magic at Addlestone,” Darwin says to me in an undertone. “He stayed at Addlestone to teach the lower years since Professor Thorpe-Clarkson and Madame Serpa were already at Bevington.”
“I thought Madame Serpa was an Earth-witch?” I respond in the same tone.
“Earth and Air, or so I’ve heard.”
I nod. The professors aren’t loud about their Elements. The only ones I’m actually sure of are Gabe’s mentor, Professor Dantel, Mrs. Anderson, Professor DeWinter, and, after she helped heal me, Doctor Prince.
“Who would Jade have been working for?” I ask.
Darwin rubs my thigh. “First I’ve heard of it.”
“She never mentioned it?”
“She said she’d had a job over the summer that finished before we met but she never said it was for an Addlestone professor. I don’t think Lords knows, either. He’s never asked me any questions about it.”
I pull out my phone and send Lords a text.
He must have his phone surgically attached because he responds before I can even take another bite of waffles.
Controlling Crow: I’ll meet you in your suite at five to discuss it.
I tip my phone screen so Darwin and Charlie can see it. They both nod.
Although brunch starts a little strained, by the end, our friends are joking with Darwin like he’s always been part of our crowd. And Darwin? I’ve never seen him look more relaxed. If he’s missing his usual crew of football players and clones, you’d never know it. He smiles; he cracks jokes; he joins in everyone teasing me about Dinger; he touches Gabe at least as often as he touches me. He’s not just trying to fit in. He’s enjoying being with us.
As we walk back to our suite, I tuck under his arm and look up into his face over the collar of his pea coat.
He gives me one of his trademark smirks. “What, Teddy?”
“You seem exceptionally chill, mate.”
“Any reason for me not to be?”
“No, I just thought it might take you a little while to ease into hanging with us.”
Darwin snorts. “I’ve been trained to handle fae courtiers since birth. Brunch with your friends is hardly challenging.”
