“Knockball was created in the 5540s,” Aunt Tirtzah said. “So it’s a hundred and twenty years old.”
“Really?” Curiosity piqued, I tried to imagine students in old-fashioned uniforms knocking about a ball.
Daziel and Aunt Tirtzah laughed, and I bumped Daziel with my shoulder. “Leave me alone,” I grumbled, but I was smiling.
He grinned back, but the grin faded as he turned to Aunt Tirtzah. “You think I’m a threat to Naomi.”
“Are you?”
“No. We’re betrothed. Any threat to her is a threat to me. I am beholden to protect her.”
I scrunched up my nose. “That’s a little paternalistic.”
He frowned. “How is it paternalistic to say I want to keep you safe?”
“Because I’m responsible for my own safety.”
Now he looked full-on irritated. “Oh, and you’re so good at safeguarding yourself?”
I glared at him, peeved he’d alluded to my run-in with the winds before my aunt. “I’ve survived this long.”
“All right,” Aunt Tirtzah interrupted, looking back and forth between us. “Daziel, I’ll be frank. You seem like a nice boy, but your kind have a reputation for mischievousness. If you’re going to continue staying with Naomi without any interference on mypart, I’m going to request you attend twice-monthly events at mine.”
Daziel perked up. “Parties?”
I should have anticipated Daziel would be thrilled by this turn of events.
Aunt Tirtzah raised her brows. “Occasionally. Also luncheons and dinners.”
Daziel smiled. “And what do I get?”
“Not banished.”
He grinned. “Fair enough. I warn you, though, I am not easy to banish.”
“I wouldn’t challenge me,” Tirtzah said calmly. Probably Sanhedrin members were better spellcasters than Lyceum students.
“Also, she’ll tell my parents,” I said. “Which might be worse.”
Daziel dealt me a mock-hurt look. His hair was particularly disarrayed today from practice, and my fingers itched to comb it into place. “You haven’t told your parents about me?”
I rolled my eyes. “Have you told yours?”
Daziel ignored this. “I’ll make a deal. For each visit, we see a new part of Talum.”
Given my aunt had threatened to banish him if he said no, I didn’t thinkIwas the person he should bargain with—but it sounded fun. “Deal. Unless I have an exam to study for.”
He groaned. “Youalwayshave an exam.” He appealed to my aunt. “Can’t you do something about it?”
She regarded him from above her tea. “About…exams?”
“They are the bane of my existence,” he said, a touch melodramatically. “Do you know, she refused to go seeThe Barber and the Violinist, playing forthree nights only, because of anexam?”
“Actually, I think that was because I had to finish an essay for my Keft class.”
He sighed. “Icould have written the essay.”
“I don’t let him,” I told my aunt quickly. “He helps me study but doesn’t do any of my work.”
