Page 37

“Are you studying literature, history, or philosophy?” she asked, changing the subject, reminding me of everything Alarik was teaching at Vanderwood.

“Literature as a major, philosophy as a minor,” I confirmed, trying to ignore how the right corner of Alarik’s mouth lifted as he leaned back in his chair and continued to turn his wine glass without taking his eyes off me.

“Then you and Julian must share an interest in reading,” Tania remarked with a smile.

I had to grin slightly because the image of Julian with a book in his hands popped into my head.

“No, good heavens, Julian is more of a musician.”

My words made Tania pause. It seemed as if her eyes were filling with a glint.

“Really?”

“You two would get along great,” Nash remarked with a laugh, and Tania blushed visibly, now staring at him.

She swallowed and quickly reached for the glass in front of her, taking a sip.

Alarik stared at her intently. “Indeed.”

“If he ever shows up here again – which I highly doubt – you should ask him to play with you.”

“Nash. You really should give it a try.”

Nash gave a gentle chuckle, a slight blush on his forehead, and looked down at his empty plate, while Tania stared at him as if she wanted to say something else, but hesitated before she hastily reached for her napkin, wiped her mouth, and eventually rose hastily.

“I think I'll say good night, too. It's getting late…” She gently touched Nash’s shoulder as she walked by. “Nash” Then she looked at me. “Bayla, it was nice to meet you. We definitely have to talk sometime.”

Oh yes, we did.

Something told me that it would mostly be about Julian, and I didn't know what to think about that.

Something inside me wanted to dig deeper, and the reason was probably that everything that reminded me of Julian had disappeared overnight.

Tania stared at Alarik. It seemed as if she wanted to say something, but then she looked away from him, turned around, and left the room.

For a while, Alarik stared at the passageway she had disappeared through, playing with the rim of his glass, before his stare drifted back to his half-full wine glass.

I followed his gaze to the intricate, well-defined vein pattern on his hand, his little finger adorned with a gold Copeland signet ring.

He let the tip of his index finger, a faintly pronounced vein running along its length, glide carefully over the gold-plated rim in a circular motion, as if it were something fragile that his subconscious wanted to explore with his cautious, guiding fingertip as slowly as possible.

With a gentle tingling sensation in my lower abdomen and heat flooding my face more intensely than usual, I forced my gaze away from his hand and tried to focus on something else, only to find my eyes drawn to his forehead, where a pulsing vein peeked out from beneath the messy strands of brown hair along his temple.

His gaze was so fixed, so lost in thought...

I wondered what was going through his mind.

Was he already regretting bringing me here? Was it the drama at Vanderwood that was troubling him? Or was it his family?

Suddenly he looked up, just with his eyes, and his fingers froze when our eyes met.

I immediately looked down at my plate, realizing only now that I had forgotten to eat.

I swallowed, pressed my lips together as lightly as possible, and reached for my glass of water, but realized too late that it was already empty.

It was as if I could still feel Alarik’s intense gaze on me, but I didn’t dare look up until he suddenly rose.

“Good night. If you need anything, I'm a few rooms away.”