"Here's an idea," I said. "If you wanted to move in with Codric, Alar could move in with me."
Shovia scrunched her nose in a way that telegraphed her lack of enthusiasm about the idea. "That's kind of hasty, especially for you. As for Codric and me, we enjoy each other between the sheets, but we are not each other's forever partners, and I don't want to be stuck with him in case things sour between us or either of us decides to move on."
"That's awfully sensible of you," I conceded, "which is unusual."
She shrugged. "I just have more experience in these matters than you, and I know that the honeymoon usually doesn't last. Also, Codric and I don't really have much to talk about. He's a good guy, and he's charming and attentive in bed, but he's a bit of an airhead. You know what I mean?"
So was she, and they seemed perfect for one another, but I bit my tongue not to give voice to my thoughts. "So, you'll just keep sneaking into their room and Alar into ours?"
"Yeah. It adds to the excitement. I get to spend the night with a hot guy and the rest of the time with my best friend. For me, that's the best arrangement. Besides, I'm pretty sure there's a rule against swapping rooms without permission."
I'd read through the entire rulebook, and something about what she was saying rang a bell.
I walked to my desk and pulled out the book, flipping through it until I found the relevant section and read it aloud. "Cadets are not permitted to change assigned quarters without submitting a request accompanied by a valid cause and getting approval from their supervising officer."
"See? Not allowed." Shovia stood up and pushed her feet into her boots. "I don't think that wanting to sleep with your boyfriend every night counts as a valid cause."
"Even if it was, I wouldn't be comfortable submitting such a request." I stood up as well. "I guess we'll just keep sneaking around, then."
She started lacing up her boots. "Much more thrilling that way."
"I could do without that particular thrill," I admitted, moving to my wardrobe to pull out my own boots. "I don't like all that sneaking around, and I like waking up with Alar by my side."
The medallion Saphir had given me was wrapped in a pair of socks and hidden inside one of them. I unwrapped it carefully and hung the string around my neck, hiding the medallion under my shirt.
It felt warm against my skin, but then I had second thoughts about wearing it to conditioning. But where could I keep it? Our room didn't have a lock on the door, and the idea of leaving something so important unprotected made me uneasy, although I wasn't sure why.
Elucians were supposed to be the most devout followers of the Precepts of Truth, but I wasn't so naive as to believe that everyone followed them to the letter.
Every society has its share of rotten fruit.
The only place I could think of, though, was under my mattress, and that was a really obvious hiding place.
I took off the medallion, wrapped it in the socks again, and lifted the mattress.
"Don't leave it there," Shovia said. "Stick it under the wardrobe. If you push it far enough, no one will see the bundle even if they think to look under it."
"That's brilliant." I smiled at her. "Even if they do, they'll think that a pair of socks just rolled under there. I doubt anyone will bother fishing them out to look what's inside."
Shovia snorted. "I wish we had one of your Gran's stinky herbs. We could have put it in the socks as a deterrent."
The image of potential thieves smelling what they thought were dirty socks made me laugh. "You have the best ideas, but regrettably, we have nothing stinky we can use."
"I can get a pair of socks from Codric. The smell coming out of his laundry bag could be deadly to small animals."
I crinkled my nose. "For real?"
"No, not as bad, but close."
I was glad that she was the one spending her nights there and not me. I don't think I could have gotten into the right mood if the room smelled bad.
Then again, knowing Shovia, she was exaggerating to get a laugh out of me.
Dropping to a crouch, I pushed the small bundle as far as it would go under the wardrobe and hoped I would be able to pull it out when we returned.
"We should get going." Shovia checked the time. "I'm not looking forward to climbing that hill with a rocks-stuffed pack, and if we are late, Captain Odinah will double our load."
I nodded. "That's exactly what she'd do."
