“He was accepted here, same as any of us,” Harold said quietly. “Financial limitations shouldn’t matter. Within these walls, we’re equal.”
“We’re not, but what would you know? You Americans don’t understand British hierarchy.”
The conceit in James’s voice rubbed me the wrong way, especially when poor Harold hunched into himself, looking oddly humiliated. There was a social structure here, just as there was in theton,but James didn’t need to be so heavy-handed about it. It wasn’tHarold’sfault he was unfamiliar with centuries of English bigotry.
I wasn’t exactly sure what James was alluding to about St. Clair, but if I was stuck with a knave for a tutor, then I needed to be prepared. “So why did your friend leave?”
“He couldn’t keep up, I suppose,” James replied, his gaze meeting mine and seeing my troubled expression. “Don’t feel too sorry for him either. My friend is a marquess, and an honorary degree will probably be conferred upon him just for living here. Some highborn toffs don’t even have to take the examination. A waste of time and coin, if you ask me. Why even attend university, if you’re not interested in doing the actual work?”
“An excellent question,” Will said, clearly trying to reduce the tension. “Though I must admit, it’s much harder than I expected it would be, so perhaps an easy degree is a blessing in disguise. For aristocrats, anyway.”
I nodded, thinking of my cousin. “University is the done thing as part of a gentleman’s education, at least if one isn’t lucky or wealthy enough to go on a grand tour.”
The twins sighed in unison.
“I’d give my left arm and leg to be able to go to Europe for a year or two,” Kristof groused. “See the Roman ruins, get my portrait painted in Paris, visit Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace, run with the bulls in Pamplona, participate in an orgiastic Dionysus bacchanal in Athens. Nowthat’san education.”
I nearly spluttered at the last, feeling my face flame. They were loose with their words, but I was enjoying every scandalous moment. Girls were never allowed to talk like this. Honestly, whatwasan orgiastic bacchanal? I knew who Dionysus was—the Greek god of wine and ecstasy—so it wasn’t hard to deduce.Wasthatwhat Ansel was doing? No wonder he was so excited about going!
“Why the clergy?” I asked curiously, considering that neither of the twins seemed too reverent in nature, not that I was judging. Perhaps, despite their brazen natures, they would make excellent clergymen.
“We are neither the heir nor the spare in our family,” Klaus replied. “As third and fourth sons, we could have bought a commission in the navy or gotten an education to become a reverend, the most prestigious genteel profession, so we chose the latter.” He eyed me. “What about you? What’s a duke’s nephew interested in studying? Shouldn’t you be in line for the dukedom?”
Ansel would be in line for my father’s seat after my little brother. “My younger cousin is the heir apparent, so I’m the spare,” I said. “But my uncle is healthy, and I hope he lives a very long life. As far as study, I’m interested in astronomy, specifically.” I felt my cheeks warm with embarrassment. “I should like to build my own telescope one day.”
Admiration bloomed in Klaus’s eyes. “Capital!”
I peered at the dour-faced James again. “If you’re Third Wrangler, are you a tutor, then, as well?”
James nodded, and for a brief moment, I wondered whether I should switch to him, but the way he had treated Harold stuck like a thorn under my skin. It was a gut feeling, nothing more, but something told me I’d be better off with St. Clair. He might dislike me, but at least he didn’t seem unduly spiteful.
When a chair scraped loudly against the stone floor, I glanced over my shoulder, noticing that the crowd in the dining hall hadbegun to thin. My stare snagged on a lone figure on the other side of the room, poring intently over a book, while picking at the remnants of some cut fruit on a plate. My pulse picked up while my eyes greedily absorbed every detail.
As if he’d felt the weight of my scrutiny, Tarik St. Clair glanced up, that fiery blue gaze colliding with mine. Even with three very long tables between us, it felt like he was an arm’s length away, the sheer magnetism of him intense and annoyingly overpowering. I could feel his animosity like a tangible touch.
“He really does not esteem you,” Will murmured into my ear, making me jump. “If looks could kill, you would be floating down the River Cam.”
I didn’t think it wasthatbad. I yanked my gaze away and pretended to be unfazed, even though my heart was galloping like a runaway horse in my chest. It thumped even faster when my voice came out unnaturally loud in the suddenly empty, cavernous room. “I don’t care what that pompous jackanapes thinks of me.”
James brayed with laughter, eyes lighting with malice, and I swallowed my discomfort.
“I think he heard you,” Will said, seeming perturbed, but I focused on the table instead of turning back around. “If you’re not careful, he could make your life very difficult.”
“He can try,” I gloated, standing. “But I can handle whatever he throws at me.”
The twins chuckled. “You’re plucky, Roz. Come out with us tomorrow tonight, after curfew. We’re going to a new gambling den that just opened.”
I lifted my brows. “Don’t the proctors frown on that? You could be fined or face rustication.” I’d overheard Ansel bemoaning fines he’d been forced to pay out of his own pocket many a time for flouting the curfew because of the ever-vigilant proctors who kept track of the students breaking any rules, though he’d never faced suspension. One more privilege of being a peer.
“Not if we don’t get caught,” Kristof said with a wink.
I had a feeling that carousing with those two would be an experience to remember. Grinning at them, I grabbed my bag. “I would love to. But alas, I’ve been summoned by my uncle to London. Count me in for next time, though.”
My skin felt as though it was on fire as I walked past St. Clair’s table, the press of his hostile gaze like blades upon my skin. It was a decidedly strange feeling—one I’d never felt before, and I could not decide whether it thrilled me or warned me off. In truth, there was an unhinged part of me that wanted to provoke him further for no reason at all, as if itlikedbeing the insufferable center of his attention. Flustered, I hastened my steps but froze when his throat cleared.
“Lord Ansel,” he called out. “A moment, please.”
I stopped and forced my stare to meet his, inhaling sharply at his otherworldly beauty. I kept my lips pressed together so no sound would escape them—namely, the feminine sigh that would most certainly give me away as I swooned over his elegant features up close. St. Clair’s thick, dark hair was rumpled and fell into his brow as if he’d run his fingers through it too many a time. My own fingers itched stupidly to do the same, and I fisted them closed.
