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“When I call your name, please identify the bone to which I’m pointing.” Moldoveanu walked in front of the first row of the class, hands behind his back as if he were a military man. “I want to gauge your proficiency with the basics before moving on to more complex lessons. Understood?”
“Yes, Headmaster,” we all responded. I noticed no one slouched or drifted off to sleep in this class. Everyone was perched on the edge of their seats, quills dripping ink ready to scratch across blank pages. Well, everyone except for Thomas. He was craning his neck around, trying to gain my attention. I pressed my lips together, ignoring him. He’d done enough damage during folklore. I did not wish for that situation to repeat itself in this lesson. Moldoveanu was not nearly as forgiving or scatterbrained as Radu.
“Audrey Rose,” Thomas whispered when the headmaster stepped briefly into a supply closet. “Please, let me explain.”
I flashed him my most warning glare, courtesy of Aunt Amelia. If he ruined my prospects of placing in this academy, I’d murder him. He sat back but did not remove his gaze from me. I kept my mouth shut tight, afraid of unleashing a litany of unpleasant curses at him. I stared straight ahead, ignoring him.
A large blackboard took up the wall behind Moldoveanu’s desk, its dark surface clean of any marks. The headmaster rolled a skeleton out of the supply closet and placed it beside him. He picked up a pointing stick and began indicating each part he wanted us to identify. I shifted in my seat, hoping I’d not miss something easy. Thomas fidgeted, his focus burning a hole in my concentration. I gripped my quill, knuckles going white.
“Mr. Farrell, please name this bone.”
I fought to keep my eye roll internal.
“That’s the cranium, sir.” The Irish boy pulled his shoulders back, grinning as if he’d found a cure for some rare illness and not correctly pointed out that it was a skull.
“Mr. Hale? The next one, please.”
“Clavicle, sir.”
The lesson went on in much the same manner. Each student was given something ridiculous in its simplicity, and I wondered if I’d been wrong about the difficulty of this class. Then Moldoveanu abruptly dropped the pointer and went back to the closet. He returned with a tray of what appeared to be chicken bones in jars of clear liquid. I sniffed the air. It wasn’t carbolic acid or formalin.
“Miss Wadsworth, come to the head of class, please.”
I took a deep breath, stood, and forced myself into action. I halted next to the headmaster, attention fixed on the jars in his hands. He offered me one.
“Observe and report your findings.”
I lifted the jar to my nose and inhaled. “It appears to be a chicken bone soaked in vinegar, sir.”
Moldoveanu gave a curt nod. “And how does that substance affect the bone?”
I fought the urge to sink my teeth into my bottom lip. The classroom was suddenly so quiet my ears were ringing. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on me, dissecting my every pause and movement. I mulled over the significance of vinegar, but my attention was sliced in half.
Andrei snorted. “Looks like she might be ill, sir. Think
her constitution is damaged?”
My face burned as the class laughed at the jab. The headmaster didn’t so much as blink in their direction, and he certainly didn’t offer any assistance to me. Furious, I began to retort and was promptly cut off by Thomas, standing so quickly he knocked his chair over.
“Enough!” he demanded, voice colder than the storm raging outside. “Miss Wadsworth is more than capable. Do not mock her.”
If I had been mortified before, it was nothing compared to the utter embarrassment I was drowning in now. Moldoveanu drew back, staring at Thomas as if a lizard had suddenly been granted the ability to speak.
“That will be all, Mr. Cresswell.” He pointed to the overturned chair. “If you cannot sit there quietly, then you will be asked to leave. Miss Wadsworth, my patience is growing thin. What might happen to a bone in vinegar?”
Blood was still rushing about my head, but I was too angry to care. My thoughts suddenly cleared. Acid. Vinegar was an acid. “It will become weaker. Acid is known to erode calcium phosphate, which renders bone more flexible, too.”
Moldoveanu’s lips almost twitched into a smile. “Prince Nicolae, identify which joints correlate to which movements in our bodies.”
I released my breath and returned to my seat, fuming that Thomas had once again made me into a spectacle in front of our peers. Intentionally or not, he was doing a fine job of hurting our chances in the assessment course. For the remainder of our lesson, I kept my eyes fixed on my notes, afraid of what other foolish thing Thomas might do next.
“My brother begged me to speak on his behalf.”
Daciana dragged the writing chair out of my bedchamber and placed it before the settee. Anastasia would be joining us in an hour or so, but for now it was just Ileana, Daciana, and myself.
A tray of food sat untouched in front of us. I had all but lost my appetite. I motioned for them to take the settee and plopped onto the chair opposite them. I did not want to comment on my frustration with Thomas, but Daciana wasn’t about to accept my silence.
“He feels dreadful. I honestly don’t believe he thought how his actions would come across. Thomas sees the world in equations. A problem for him has a solution. He doesn’t figure in emotions, but he’s trying. And willing to learn.”
