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“And yet you wanted to hand it tome.”
“That’s different and you know it.”
“And how?” she asks.
“Because I didn’tneedthe win.”
“Neither did I.”
I clench my fists and take a deep breath, to still myself. “Let me rephrase. I didn’tdeservethe win.”
“How could you possibly know? We only found out today I was the front-runner.”
“Mr Ambrose had already told me.”
Her eyes go wide. “He did not.”
“When you left. He told me.”
“Then why did you self-sabotage? Why didn’t you just hand in your essay?”
“Because you were gone for so long, and if I won just because of what happened—because of what you had to go through—that’s not the kind of victory I wanted.”
“So you thought you would simply hand me the trophy?”
I shrug. “You tried to hand it to me.”
She gives me a haughty look. “Make no mistake, Blackwood—I demand a rematch. You and I, in the arena of the greatest academic institution of the country.”
I give her a solemn nod. “I’m for it. Oxford, three years, one rematch. A fair one, this time. No self-sabotage, no sacrifice of love or show of devotion.”
“It’s agreed.” We shake hands. “Just try not to submit any blank pages this time.”
“At least I would never submit a chapter from a salacious pirate romance.”
Her lips quirk. “How could youpossiblyknow whether or not it’s salacious?”
“Because it’s a book about pirates—and we all know how you feel about those.”
She smirks and steps closer, hands behind her back. “Still jealous over a fictional character, Zachary Blackwood? It’s a bad look.”
“Still in love with a villainous pirate from a children’s book, Theodora Dorokhova? That’s a bad look.” I stretch out my open palm towards her. “And I want my copy ofPeter Panback.”
She bats my hand away. “You’re not getting it back. Ever.” Her smile widens. “And to answer your question, I don’t see myself in James Hook—and I don’t like him because he’s like you.”
“I never asked you that—I would never ask such a nonsensical question.”
“You asked it black on white in your annotations.”
I clench my hands into fists. “Theodora. Those were myprivateannotations.”
“Yes, and I’m answering youprivately. I don’t like him because he’s like you. I like you because you’re like him.”
“What—cadaverous and blackavised?”
“A man of indomitable courage.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Because it took me so much courage to hand in a blank piece of paper for my assignment?”
