“I note that you’re not laughing about the clever little joke in my reasoning, Milo.”
Orhe could be making a joke and Milo was too in awe of his demon’s vast knowledge and experience to recognize it. Another reason why a relationship with Quirion would never work. He was way out of Milo’s league.
“Sorry, Qui, with you, I’m never sure.”
“It’s fine. Part of my charm, to keep you guessing. It also keeps up your interest.”
Milo could have sworn Quirion was flirting. But he didn’t, because, obviously, that was his wishful thinking grabbing the reins. He did lean back into Quirion’s huge body, though. Just because he had no chance with the demon didn’t mean he wouldn’t take advantage where he could.
“So you don’t think she’s sick?” Changing the topic back to Mildred seemed to be the safest option.
“I honestly don’t think so and even if she was, there’s little we can do. We have to wait and see, at least with her. Regarding this stupid test, we have to start acting immediately.”
“You seem very angry.”
For a moment, Quirion went very still. Since he couldn’t see his face to search for clues as to why, Milo waited. He didn’t wantto give up his comfortable position against Quirion’s warm belly—yes, Milo didn’t even come up to his pecs, and no, that wasn’t a problemat all—and letting the demon get his thoughts in order was always a wise course of action.
“As you already know, the SBW and I have…history.”
“You explained that.”
“After you got this email about the test, I went to Barion to find out what had happened. Usually, they don’t do tests. You’re accepted for your research or not. Turns out, somebody we both know and detest complained, which led to Rasputin doing some research—research, I might add, they should have been doingbeforeoffering the funding in the first place, but things went downhill quickly after I left—and through his research he realized that you are closer connected to Sammy than your CV had made them believe.”
“And through Sammy, to you.” Milo was no idiot. He might not be part of the book club, despite Sammy’s repeated invitation, because non-scientific books held little appeal to him, but he was a part of the group, mainly because Sammy had adopted him and the sway he held over his paranormal friends was mind-boggling. It became even more astounding when one realized how powerful these paranormals were. Each of them was a force to be reckoned with, together, they were the culmination of power in the supernatural world. And because power always made people wary, especially those who thought themselves to be powerful as well, Milo could see the problem. It was university politics all over again, which only showed that certain things never changed, no matter the species.
“I’m very sorry, Milo, but it seems my acquaintance to you is the reason they don’t want to give you the funding.” Quirion sounded so apologetic, but it wasn’t the prospect of losing the funding—that would be a bummer, no doubt, but not the end of the world—that made Milo’s heart clench. It was one simpleword. Acquaintance. That’s what they were. Acquaintances. He hated that word.
“I thought I had to do the test and then get it?”Focus on other things despite your crushed hopes.
“Well, they will give you the money when you pass.”
“Which means they don’t think I will.”
“Oh, they very much count you not passing, which is why, for the next two weeks, until you have to take the test, we will be studying like never before. You will show them.”
Quirion was in full-on battle mode, ready to take on the evil SBW, and Milo was grateful for his help and devastated because nothing more than the funding would come of it. He was quite sure he would pass, because once Quirion set his eyes on something, he delivered. He was also happy because he would spend two weeks, fourteen days, nonstop with his demon, which was Milo’s version of heaven and hell all in one and he was so messed up, he didn’t even know where he would begin should he ever find the courage to visit a therapist.
“I take you are familiar with the books I need to read?”
“I am.History of the Elves on the Irish Islesis not the best of its kind, though decent. There are some flaws, a bit of wrong information, but I will point those out to you and teach you exactly what to say to get the points but not repeat the wrongness. Now come on, there’s a lot to do.”
“Of course. Just let me put a notice in that I will be absent for the next two weeks for research.” Usually such a leave of absence had to be requested at least four weeks prior, especially during the semester. Milo knew, though, that the dean would greenlight it because the man had been upset about the lost funding. He hadn’t outright said that he didn’t like Devon getting the money, though it had been clear in the undertones of the carefully delivered speech he had held for Milo. And even if there were trouble, if Milo got the funding from SBW, he could technicallygo solo, without a university backing him. His assistant teachers, all of them graduate students, were more than capable of taking over his courses until he was back. When the email was sent, Milo was ready to tackle whatever Quirion had in store for him. Which turned out to be heaps of books.The History of Elves on the Irish Isleswas a mind-numbing six volume monstrosity full of superfluous—and, according to Quirion—partly wrong information he nevertheless had to ingest. When Quirion saw his long face, he smiled.
“Don’t worry, Milo. I have the important bits boiled down to a few hundred pages. The author, Professor Celandra Greenleaf, loves to elaborate and digress, which is why the work is so long. Nobody ever told her how terrible her writing is.”
If Quirion ever met her, he would. Milo just knew it.
“Then hit me.” Milo opened a new document on his laptop, the one he had at Quirion’s library because as they had learned the hard way, technical equipment didn’t like jumping from dimension to dimension too often. It was one of the problems Barion and Jon had to battle when filming in different dimensions. They had the most breathtaking special effects—reality, just not from Earth—but the average life span of one of their cameras was under six months. Less for the bodycams the demons used for close-ups during the battle scenes, though that was more because a hard-working demon couldn’t be bothered being mindful of equipment when he was busy showing off his or her newest fight moves. Priorities and all that. It also meant Quirion had a stack of cell phones in his desk for when the one he was currently using inevitably breathed its last. For the same reason Milo had two additional cells for swapping, courtesy of Sammy, who had insisted on buying them for him. As vehemently as Quirion had protested getting a smart phone in the first place, he was now adamant about keeping it.
Quirion started talking and Milo felt himself drifting into this special mental state where he absorbed new information while simultaneously basking in the soothing cadence of his demon’s voice.
“As I said, Professor Greenleaf is horrible at writing. Her introduction to her own books is tiring at best, though abominable is the word I would go for. That woman has absolutely no sense of writing style. Anyway, thanks to that, you can happily forget about the first hundred pages of the first volume. It all starts with the first elves arriving on the Green Isles, and of course…”
Chapter Ten
It was the fourth day of their intense study binge, and Quirion was pleased with himself about Milo’s progress. He had known his man was smarter than everybody else and seeing his gorgeous, breathtaking brain at work was a joy in and of itself. Milo already had theHistory of the Elves on the Irish Islesdown and they were now working onBiology, Seen from a Magical Perspective. Luckily, that book was more of an essay than actual science, which left them more time for the other two topics. Those consisted of several volumes, where it wouldn’t be as easy to skip.
At the moment they were taking a short break to sip some chai tea, extra spicy, because that was Milo’s go-to drink when he was studying. And of course, Quirion had learned to make it just the way Milo liked it.
