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I ordered another round of drinks to avoid every bit of this conversation. Sex and money. Two of my least favorite subjects, as they were every bit non-existent in my life.
It was one thing for my roommate and friend to treat a meal or cover a little extra every now and again. More than once, Bo had had to cover more than her share of the rent and utilities. I always paid more the next month to balance things out, even if that meant only eating meals at Bespelled Brews.
Quite another thing to let your roommate pay for everything. Boudica’s family always provided above and beyond for any daughters born to her tribe, and so she didn’t have to worry about stuff like finances.
And sex…
If I could find someone who just wanted to scratch some itch and not expect anything in return, then maybe. But it never turned out that way. A long list of app-based hook-ups that I’d since blocked on my contacts attested to the fact that things couldn’t be casual. There were always emotional expectations, and I didn’t have the capacity for that. Maybe I never would. The field I want to be in was competitive. And I didn’t do the whole ultimatum well.
If a guy made me choose between them and my work, I would choose work every single time.
Thankfully, Bo didn’t feel like arguing tonight, either, though she usually lived up to her warrior queen namesake, whose blood flowed through her veins.
Whatever she might have said, she washed away by knocking back the last of her drink.
I sighed and buried my face in my hands, letting the anxiety of my grades wash away from me. At least the semester was over. Just one more to go. And, if it went well, I would be on my way to Coventry.
I could do this. There was a one week break before the new term started. Maybe I could rest…
Bo nudged my shoulder. “Hey, you know I’m more the ‘castrate the bastard’ kind of friend. I’m no good at the ‘you got this’ pep talks. That’s your job.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry, I’m not being very good company—”
“Drink up, witches!” Tia, the pixie who owned Bespelled Brews, dropped another round of the house special in front of Boudica and me.
“Whoa, that was fast,” I said. “I just placed that order.”
Tia’s heart-shaped face was full of mischief. “This round’s free, courtesy of those hulking brutes over there.”
I followed Tia’s wicked gaze toward three orcs dominating a corner of the bar. They were brutes, all right, with swagger to match. They hailed from one of the five founding families by the look of them.
I’d seen them before, but I rarely stayed on campus long enough to form any attachments to anyone. The undergrad students were completely unrelatable anyway, and I opted to take all my grad courses remotely.
The orc in the corner, who had been mostly in shadow, leaned forward so his face was in the light. His features were carved from unyielding stone, broad with prominent cheekbones and jawline. Large ropes of braids held his black hair back, which ran down the crest of his head. Silver rings graced his ears from lobe to pointed tip. Highborn orcs usually shaved down their tusks to be manageable for the modern age; his were proudly on display. His companions’ tusks were also distinctive, albeit more discreet.
They must have been part of the new wave movement among the younger generations; traditional customs were all the rage among them now.
The notch of a scar in his brow gave him a rakish appeal, and it lifted when I looked in his direction. I raised my drink to him in thanks and knocked it back in one long swallow.
A near-feral gleam tinged his gaze. His companions were not so subtly checking me out as well.
Tia gave a little hoot and fanned herself with her menus. “Hot damn, all three of them look like they’re about to spread you over that table and have you for dinner.”
I flushed at Tia’s words. I knew what I looked like, and I was nothing spectacular. Pretty in a certain light, but nothing like Bo, who was a queen and goddess combined. Literally. “How do you know they’re not lusting after Bo here?”
Bo snorted, a very unladylike sound. “My entire aura screams lady-loving lesbian, my friend, and those orc sons know it. Besides, I went to school with Declan Tharraka once upon a time, and trust me. He’s not lusting my way.”
I gulped, my foggy brain clicking together the face with the familiar name. Declan. Tharraka. That name had graced many pieces of internal forms and documents while doing my TA duties for Professor Snowden. Declan was spoken about in those stuffy academia circles as if he was the grand orc lord resurrected from myths.
What in the hell was he doing here? And why in the hell didn’t he look more…scholarly? “Declan? Declan Tharraka?”
“Yup.”
“From the Tharraka clan, the highest ranking, most influential clan living in Orc Mountain?”
“That be him,” Bo said merrily.
Oh hell. He was my chief rival for the Coventry internship, though he probably did not know who I was. All the Elfhame faculty said that he was a shoo-in for Coventry.
