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He huffed as he realized I wasn’t changing my mind about going to her, for now, anyway.
My housemate and best friend, Osric, was in the living room, reclining with effortless elegance on the couch in a black satin dressing gown and slippers, casually swiping and tapping on his phone, while a war movie on the widescreen TV popped and banged out sounds in the background.
Osric was a prince of the Fae and had no financial need for a housemate. In fact, he paid the entire rent for our three-bedroom penthouse himself, the deal being that I would cover the monthly bills instead. Even with the apartment being so large, the bills were a small fraction of my paycheck. The arrangement was about as good as I could have found in New Lincoln, especially in the Kings’ Hills, where only the wealthiest residents lived.
Osric liked our living arrangements a lot, too. He’d proposed sharing a place not because he was on a limited budget, but because he had limited patience for—well, for just about everybody, except me.
He enjoyed my company, and I his, though his prejudices against other races—especially humans—did test me at times. He had a good heart deep down though. He was just overburdened by the obligations of his birthright, being heir to the Fae Kingdom in England.
I often suspected he would rather have ditched it and been free to do whatever he wanted. Though he never went as far as saying it out loud.
I did wonder: what would he do, if free of obligation? Him studying here seemed to be a delay tactic, to stave off an unwanted marriage, but it was hard to read him otherwise. On top of a normal courseload, he’d signed up to audit my class this quarter, the university having no problem with him just auditing, even if we lived together. But he had no real interest in literature or any academic pursuit, so far as I could tell. Much more interested in following politics and the news, and also, the ladies.
His way with the ladies was something to behold. They were falling at his feet half the time. Vamps, elementals, shifters, even the occasional Fae in town, they seemed to just follow him home and had to be pushed out the door the next morning, his eyes looking a bit hollow after each encounter. It was a good thing our bedrooms were at opposite sides of the penthouse. All that noise would have been awful for my sleep.
If only I could charm Cecilia with such ease.
I sat in the recliner across from him, sighing loudly. Still staring at his phone, Osric reached over to the TV remote, and lowered the volume until the movie’s raucous booms and shouts were reduced to a murmur. Not looking up, speaking from the side of his mouth, he asked with a dry tone, “So, how did it go with the little human? Have you decided on a date for the wedding yet?”
I tutted softly. “Don’t be a dick.”
Casually tossing his phone onto the couch beside him, he stretched and yawned, before asking, “No, but really. How did it go?”
I shrugged. “About as well as you can imagine.”
“That bad, eh?”
Sighing, I pulled and poked at the recliner arm’s luxuriant suede. “I have to be honest, my friend, this is no joke. I really like her. And my bear is pining for her.”
“Well, that’s quite a problem then.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Look, Aaron, old bean, I must admit, the girl’s easy enough on the eyes, and there is a certain,”—he waved his palms in circles, casually— “je ne sais quoiabout her, granted, but have you given thought to the possibility you’re just smitten with her because she’s your first human student? That she’s just something new, different?”
“Nope. This is something else.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I’ve seen humans around downtown New Lincoln lots of times. It’s not like they’re an alien species to me, you know.”
“Of course, of course. And I did sense she might be a cut above other humans I’ve interacted with…but that’s not saying much,” he said with a smirk.
“That’s your mom talking.”
“Quite possibly, yes. But it’s me talking too.”
I huffed, not really agreeing. He wasn’t half as prejudicial and pretentious as he made himself out to be. It was almost a taught response. Not really him. Despite the Fae’s historical dislike of other races, he treated the vamp and elemental girls the same as the Fae he brought home. With entitled, yet polite, disinterest.
I shifted in my seat. “You know, the only thing that’s stopping me from getting her address, and going and sleeping outside her front door, to be near her, as my bear is urging me to do, is the fact she’s a student. And not only that, but my student.”
“So, she’s your student, so what?”
“So, it means it would be unethical for me to…be in any kind of intimate relationship with her.”
Maybe I would have to wait on my plans of wooing till this quarter was over and she was out of my class?
Osric scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Oh, poppycock! This isn’t the United States, dear chap.” He sat forward, his eyes fixing on mine. “This is New Nebraska, for goodness’ sake. Hardly the land of prudes. And anyway, I thought shifters had overwhelming urges for the carnal? You’ve been without it too long. Time for you to start exploring, and if this human girl is your first port of call, so be it.”
