“I see.” Professor Griven nodded thoughtfully, still tapping the ink pencil against his desk.
“Professor please—that’s not true,” I finally got out, though every word was squeezed though a throat that couldn’t get enough air. “I was the one who saw that Larson was cheating off me—I realized it right after the part of the test where we had to translate the fable about the fox and the hare from the Ancient Tongue to the Common Tongue!”
“Liar!” Chud Larson’s no-color eyes flashed with fury. “You’re a liar, you little fucker! Admit you cheated off me or you’re going to be sorry!”
“Enough, Cadet!” Griven thundered. “And watch your mouth in my office!”
“Well, he’s lying!” Larson snarled. “I have the right to defend my honor.”
“You would—if you had any honor to defend,” Griven snapped. He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a cadet who was simultaneously so stupid and so duplicitous,” he went on, glaring at Larson. “Stop lying—you’re insulting my intelligence by expecting me to believe your falsehoods. It’s clear that you were the one cheating off Lysandra—not the other way around.”
“How do you even know that?” Larson demanded. “He could be lying!”
“No, because the rest of his test is correct—Lysandra only missed one other question. Whereas the second half of your test, Larson, is almost entirely wrong. In fact, you scored so low that, were you actually a First-year cadet, I would dismiss you on the spot,” Griven told him. “Unfortunately, you were given the benefit of the doubt in your studies last year and were allowed to bond with a dragon. So now we’re stuck with you—but that doesn’t mean I’ll put up with your dishonesty!”
“What are you talking about?” Larson demanded. “Why are you always picking on me?”
“I’m not picking on you—I’m disciplining you,” the professor said sternly. “For cheating on the exam and lying to my face, I am hereby demoting you in rank. You’ll pack your things and move back to one of the First-year dormitories.”
“What? But I’m a Second-year!” Larson whined.
“Not anymore, you’re not. I’ve become convinced, both by your performance on the second half of the entrance exams and your abysmal grades on your final exams that you have been cheating your way through your classes,” Griven told him. “Effective immediately you’ll be taking all of the First-year classes over again. And I’m going to inform all of your instructors that you need to be watched. From now on, you’ll be taking every test separately from the rest of the class and you’ll be at the front of every classroom so the professor can keep an eye on you.”
Larson stood up so suddenly he kicked his wooden chair over with a clatter.
“You can’t do this to me!” he roared, pointing a finger at Griven. “You can’t fucking send me back to the First-year class!”
“And yet, it appears that I am, in fact, doing exactly that,” the professor said coolly. “I want you to think very carefully about what you say to me from now on, Larson. I can make your life here even harder if I choose to.”
Larson’s thin-lipped mouth worked as though he wanted to say something else and his jaw clenched so hard I could see a vein throbbing in his temple. At last he turned to me.
“You’ll be sorry,” he grated out. “So fucking sorry, you little shit!”
Then, without another word, he slammed out of Griven’s office hard enough to make the door rattle in its frame.
14
AURORA
For a long moment, there was silence. Then Professor Griven cleared his throat and nodded at me.
“I’m sorry we had to have that unpleasantness, Lysandra,” he said, his voice perfectly cool. “But I had to know if you were allowing Larson to cheat off your test on purpose or not.”
“Sir,” I said, my voice shaking. “Why would I do that? I don’t even know him.”
Well, except for the way he’d nearly beaten me up in the Head Master’s speech the day before, but I didn’t think that was relevant.
“I didn’t think you did, but I had to see your honest reaction to my accusation,” he remarked. “Tell me, Lysandra…” he leaned forward, pinning me with a frown. “Why didn’t you come to me after the test and tell me that Larson was cheating off of you?”
I felt my skin heating with a guilty blush. To be honest, the thought of reporting the huge upperclassman hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’d already had trouble with him once—I didn’t need to pin a target on my back by telling Griven what he’d done. But I couldn’t say that, exactly—it didn’t sound right.
“I didn’t know if you’d believe me or not. And…I didn’t want to make Larson mad at me,” I confessed.
He frowned.
“I’m sorry to hear that you’re lacking in courage, Cadet. Your father would be ashamed.”
I nearly choked at his words. Maybe my father would be ashamed of me. But damn it, I was doing the best I could here!
