I caught a whiff of menthol muscle liniment, woody cologne and the musk of a male body that had worked hard all day as he drew closer. I shook my head; I was not going down that track again. Merlin had been kind and weird and smart and I’d been crushing on him bad, while he’d been completely oblivious.
“Surely you can see I have enough on my plate.”
“Yeah, I know.” He looked up at the stars that were beginning to peep through the darkening sky. “You know they’re setting you up for failure, right?”
“Yes, but it occurs to me you shouldn’t be telling me that.”
He shrugged, his smile curiously boyish for a moment. “The university doesn’t employ me, the Dragon Corps does. Each one of us does a stint here to try and sort the wheat from the chaff, and you.” He stopped and turned to face me, eyes raking over me and my book pile. “You’re not chaff.”
I swallowed hard. He was watching me in that way men do when they’re making a play for a woman and are pretty sure they’re going to get what they want. I admit, I was a little damn disappointed that the play was to entice me to beat him up with weapons, rather than roll around naked in bed. You are a strong, fiercely independent woman who needs no man. A pair of very fine green eyes is not enough to turn your head, I told myself.
Whatever are you talking about?
Nothing.
Ye gods, you’re not doing those affirmations again, are you? I am loved, I am loved, I am loved ad nauseam was too much the first time.
Shut up. Go away. You need to teach me how to shield.
Yes, I do. Just a word to the wise
, your other suitor is running around trying to find you. While I would enjoy watching a dominance fight between your two males a great deal, I’m not sure you would.
Not my males and thank you for the heads up.
“Is this the point where I accede to your every wish, transfixed by your lambent green gaze? You’re making too big a deal of what was a lucky strike. Do the dashing officers of the Dragon Corps so seldom get put on their butts?”
“No,” he said, suddenly serious, “but I like it.” He watched my eyes widen and then spluttered, “That didn’t quite come out the way I meant it. Look, Lorikham, it’s a great place and everything if you want a career, but soldiers like me? We went to Rotherley. History is military history, none of this other wifty wafty crap. You train hard and often and emerge a warrior. It just gets old, schooling a bunch of clueless merits. The riders usually are technically very sound but have no ability to diversify on the fly. They’re trained to fence like an old, stately dance, all precise steps and choreographed interchanges and no one ever gets hurt. It felt nice to have someone actually fight back for a change.” He shook his head, his smile sheepish. “What the hell do you have here, anyway? Surely these aren’t all textbooks? The merits should have better upper body strength if they are.”
“No, a lot is introductory stuff, beginner level texts to help make up for the fact that I wasn’t schooled in Aravisia,” I said.
“Bhechro said something about that. They expect you to get on top of all this and do all the same assessments?”
“Didn’t you hear his little speech?” I said. “My failure is a foregone conclusion. I’m merely keeping the place by Miazydar’s side warm until someone more worthy comes along.”
Keel’s expression was a curious mix of disgust and guilt. I guess he was as much a product of this system as anyone. He frowned, then stepped forward, placing a hand on mine. “Tess, I’d be happy, no, honoured to help. This is bullshit by anyone’s standard. Sundering bonds came about because some people never learn to respect and care for their dragons. It’s supposed to be for the dragon’s benefit, not as some kind of bargaining tool. I did alright in history and anatomy. I can fill you in on the basics. Be quicker than wading through these mighty tomes.”
“You’d tutor me one on one? Don’t you have better things to do with your time?”
His smile was bright in the low light. “No, not out here. The village pub is OK, but the rest is dodging the merits who think they can rise up the social ladder by marrying a dragon rider.”
“Oh, poor, poor Keel, getting all that pussy thrown at you.”
“And dick. It wasn’t until I made it clear that was never going to happen that the fellas backed off.”
“I think I see the appeal now,” I said with a grin. “You expect me to protect you from the ravening hordes of women.”
His eyes grew hooded and his smile lazy. “Well, if you scratch my back…” I felt an involuntary shiver up my spine. This was a look I’d never seen on Merlin. I’d seen him concerned, frustrated or amused, but I had never seen that kind of effortless, unrelenting heat in his eyes. Mine dropped down to his lips, full, slightly chapped, as if he didn’t take too much care of them, but they were relentlessly perfect all the same. I’d have stripped off all my clothes, Jez and Tess be damned if he had. I thanked all the gods I had my arms too full of books to try that now.
“Tess!” I didn’t get a chance to reply, Flea’s voice ringing out across the darkened grassed area. We both turned to see him run up. He pulled up short, his eyes dropping down to where Keel’s hand lay on mine, then went wide when he saw who Keel resembled. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“You’re addressing an officer in the Aravisian Dragon Corp,” Keel said with a snap. “You’ll do so with respect, or you’ll get a short, sharp lesson.”
“It’s not Merlin Keel is, was—.”
“Is,” he insisted.
“One of my tutors. He was just helping me with my books.”