Page 23 of Cathmoir’s Sons (Bad Boys of Bevington #5)

Chapter 23

Eating Crows

KELLAN

I thought that deeply disappointed look was hard to bear from my parents, but Emilia Quinn’s sad glare beats theirs hollow.

“Kellan, they’re students,” she says, her tone heavy. “ Seniors .”

“I know.” I understand what she’s saying. They’re months from graduation. Why didn’t we just wait? “Emilia, I absolutely hate doing this to you. I feel like I’ve failed you. You bent over backwards to get me back to Bevington. You gave me free rein with the exhibit. You got me started on tenure track. I appreciate every bit of it. And I’m letting you down.”

Dean Quinn sighs. “You’re making it hard for me to yell at you.”

“Please go ahead and yell. I deserve it.”

She splays the three pictures of me and Law across the desk with her fingers. “Maybe there’s some way we can spin this?—”

I shake my head. “I’d like to minimize the impact on Bevington’s reputation, but I’m not going to hide my relationship with Law, Luca, and Rhodes. They deserve better than that. They deserve for me to fight for them. To stand up and proclaim proudly that they’re the men I choose. I won’t hide.”

She sighs again.

“But we can be strategic,” I say.

“Is that why you asked for an emergency meeting this morning?”

“We have a small window of opportunity before someone who wants to hurt me goes public with those.” I nod at the pictures. “I met with Teddy and her husbands last night. We have a proposal for you.”

Emilia rubs the back of her neck. “Merciful Mother. Whatever it is, I’m sure the college will agree. The upside of such famous alumni? Everyone wants to come to their alma mater. The downside of such famous alumni? Teddy and her husbands wield a terrifying amount of clout with the board.”

“This will earn Bevington significant good will from all of us. I know I’ve put you in a bad position. I want to make it right.”

She narrows her eyes as she looks across her desk at me. “Any chance of getting Evan Lords as part of whatever deal it is you’re about to make me agree to?”

I open my mouth, close it. It hadn’t occurred to me that Bevington would want its most infamous crow back. And I may have burned that bridge.

“As what?” I croak.

“Officially? We’ll call it a consulting position. Unofficially? I need him to mentor our new Mr. Black. Charon is ... very green. He’s making enemies left and right. I don’t want to go against his family, either. The Carvers have been extremely generous donors. But Charon needs guidance before he puts Bevington in a position I can’t maneuver out of.”

“I’ll ask,” I promise. “Evan isn’t Charon’s biggest fan, either.”

Dean Quinn nods sadly. “Please tell Evan that I asked about Charon’s part in his conviction when I interviewed him for the position. For the little it’s worth, Charon seemed genuinely remorseful. He said he believed Evan would be acquitted of the charges because the evidence was so thin.”

I’m not sure if that’s better or worse. I might chicken out and ask Rhodes to talk to Evan. If I were Evan, the last thing I’d want to hear is that the man who gathered evidence against me thought it was insufficient for a conviction.

“Tabling Evan for a moment, what else does this deal involve?” Dean Quinn asks.

I outline the plan we came up with: Teddy and Gabe take my classes and any classes that Carrie was scheduled to teach that the school doesn’t already have covered. Charlie offers a special magickal athletics clinic, to avoid stepping on the coaching staff’s toes, while he gathers support for his petition to the Aedis Astrum. I withdraw my tenure application and take a year’s sabbatical while I hunt for Ulune’s Daughter. Whatever treasure I recover goes to Bevington less my team’s usual finder’s fee.

Emilia nods along to each point.

“You’ll stay on as museum staff,” she says, definitely not a question. “Create an exhibit for us from whatever you find. I can’t tell you how much the Magi of the Mists exhibit has done to pull in donations this year. Teddy’s clout aside, that’s the only reason I’m going along with this. You’ve really fucked me over, Kells. You and your damn Cait deserve to squirm a little.”

I hold my palms up. “I understand. If you want me to withdraw from teaching immediately, I will.”

“Oh, no. Your Winter Study is too much of a draw and I’m not penalizing our students for your impatience. You’re going to stick out Winter Study and weather the sneers. And if I really wanted to be a sadist, I’d stick you with Rowan Wright as a co-instructor. Don’t think I haven’t guessed what’s going on behind all this. I’m sorry he caught you. But I’ll reiterate that if you hadn’t been flouting academic standards, then he wouldn’t have anything to blackmail you with.”

I wince. “You’re not that much of a sadist, are you?”

“No. Also, his student reviews are atrocious. I’d rather pull out my own teeth than have him teach here. I understand why they keep him on at Madavar. The money he offered would have been tempting any other year. Fortunately, this is the one year I feel comfortable telling him where to stuff his bribes.” She shakes a manicured finger at me. “Just make sure I’m as comfortable next year.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t ma’am me when you’re in the doghouse. Now, I’m on board, but you know this is going to Academic Standards. How do you propose to deal with them?”

“Any chance of postponing the hearing until after Winter Study? Law has some plan he won’t tell me about but he says his third of the situation will be resolved today. Rhodes is going to withdraw after Winter Study. The White Cloaks will take him early. That just leaves Luca. I won’t derail his academic career, so I’ll take the suspension or whatever else the committee levies so long as Luca can stay enrolled and graduate.”

Emilia taps her fingernails on her desktop. “Erasmus has something like two years accrued vacation time. I could force him to take a month’s vacation. New academic regulation against excessive accrued vacation time. Committee can’t meet without all its members. That will really ruffle the old bird’s feathers.”

I can’t control a chuckle. “Emilia.”

“Ha, not a word out of you. You have no idea what it’s like to deal with him day in and day out. He’s a nightmare. If I could make the vacation permanent, I would. All right, that’s what we’ll do. Postpone your hearing until February. If Lawson hasn’t told you what his plan is, I’m not going to ruin the surprise, but I’d agree that he has a solution to his part of the problem. You just make sure Rhodes files his withdrawal application this week so there’s time to process it over Winter Study. Although I absolutely hate the idea that he won’t graduate. He’s been a superb student. A real role-model, that boy.”

“The White Cloaks don’t require a degree,” I say. “And how could you possibly know what Law’s planning?”

Emilia makes a zipping motion across her lips. “Go talk to your paramour. And tell him I said congratulations. I’m going to think a bit more on Rhodes’ situation. There has to be some solution where he gets a degree. Have him file the application anyway and if I can come up with something else, I’ll let you know.”

Sensing that we’re nearing the end of this painful conversation, I say, “Thank you, Emilia. I really am sorry.”

She humphs. “Not enough. Tell Teddy I’ll need to meet with her and her husbands this week. I have Wednesday afternoon free. And they should bring the babies. I didn’t get enough time with Carrie’s namesake when they were here for her memorial.” Emilia wipes quickly at her eyes. “Goodness, that catches me at odd moments. I still can’t believe Carrie’s gone. But it will be wonderful to have Teddy, Gabe, Charlie, and Darwin back.”

“Wonderful or terrifying?” I ask, remembering what they—we—were like as students.

“A bit of both, just like having you on campus.” She flaps her hands at me. “Off you go. I’ll let you know if the odious Professor Wright pays me a visit.”

“He was going to send the pictures anonymously.”

“Coward,” Emilia says.

Since I agree, I just nod.

She flaps at me again. This time, I go.

She gets the last word. “I want an invitation to Cait House.”

Before I close her office door behind me, I smile and say, “Yes, ma’am.”

Rowan seems to be giving me time to change my mind. My first class of Winter Study goes off without the sneers and jeers I fully expect from students when my affairs with three of their classmates become known.

Before their attention is overshadowed by scandal, I go over the recommended and supplemental readings for the class and launch into what I think of the “World Tree” method of Plane Walking. It doesn’t work as well for me as the “deck of cards” method, but several of the students had the benefit of Atropos Moirae’s sophomore class on Infinite Universes before she and her co-divinity, Joe, went off to do whatever Fates do. A half-dozen of them pick up on the theory so fast I’m tempted to try a Plane Walk in the first class. But I don’t want their classmates to feel excluded.

At the end of the discussion, I return to the front of the classroom and lean against my desk. There’s no lectern, no podium in my class. I never liked being lectured to and never want to lecture to my students. That alone probably makes me unfit to be a Bevington professor.

“Before you all go,” I say, stopping several students who are starting to move toward the door. “I’d like you all to hear this from me rather than the campus grapevine. I am in a relationship with three of your classmates: Law and Luca Cathmoir, and Rhodes Hale. I want you all to know that I didn’t go into this lightly. I knew what it would mean for me choosing them and choosing to make our relationships public. It’s highly unlikely I’ll be teaching at Bevington past Winter Study. I hope none of you face the same choices I’ve faced. But if you do, remember, we’re not promised another minute, much less another day, with the people we love. Some things are too important to wait. Some people are too important not to sacrifice everything for. Okay, that’s it. Class dismissed.”

No one moves. I wait for a minute, looking around at the eyes that stare back at me.

I clear my throat.

Thirty-two hands go up, including those of the two Cait who have slipped in through the seminar room door as I’ve been speaking.

With a sigh, I start taking questions.

Most of them are of the “what’s going to happen to your spring semester classes” variety. I don’t want to steal Dean Quinn’s thunder, so I just say that the administration will find substitute teachers for my classes. Others ask if I’m staying on at Bevington even if I won’t be teaching classes. I demur that it’s up to the Academic Standards committee. A few ask if I’ll be going after Ulune’s Daughter, which I confirm. That reminds me that I need to call a team meeting to start making plans for the expedition to Scilla.

Finally, I get around the room to the twins, who haven’t taken their eyes off me.

“Is it true you won’t be part of the faculty awarding my grades and degree?” Luca asks.

Whispers ripple through the room as my students realize who the two men standing by the door are.

“That’s right,” I respond. “I’d recuse myself from any decision involving your grades and degree anyway, since you’re my research assistant, but I don’t anticipate being part of the teaching faculty past Winter Study.”

Luca nods and I resist the urge to stride over and kiss him. I know what he’s trying to do. I doubt it’s what everyone will remember from this Q and A, but I appreciate his effort.

“Law, you have a question?”

“A few,” he says. His lips are twitching and I can tell he’s fighting a smile. “Is it true that I’ve been granted early graduation and as of today am an alumnus of Bevington College?”

I gape at him. He’s graduated early? That’s his plan? I blink and somehow muster a response. “Yes, I’m guessing that’s true.”

He nods. “Is it true that Luca and I are your fated mates?”

It’s my turn to fight a smile. “Yes, that is true.”

He crosses his arms over his impressive chest, pulling himself up to his full height. “Is it true that you’re a queen of Faery?”

“Yes,” I say, unable to fight the smile anymore. “I’m still nonplussed by that truth, but I can’t deny it anymore.”

Laughter ripples softly around the room.

“Is it true that Luca and I are your consorts?”

“And Rhodes,” Luca barks.

Law rolls his eyes. “And the human.”

“Yes, it’s true. Although I’m going to kick you out of the harem if you don’t start being nicer to Rhodes.”

Now the laughter is open and infectious but it doesn’t sound cruel or mocking.

Yet.

“Finally, is it true that we fought at your side at Jedburgh Abbey to defeat the Thunderer and his army of barghests, that Rhodes died there, and you and my brother brought him back from the Mother?”

I nod. “Horrifyingly, all true.”

The low noise that runs through the room is impressed instead of amused.

“Ah, one more question,” Law says.

I glare at him. “Really? We’ve been here for almost an hour and you’re not even a student here anymore.”

Law grins, showing the tips of his sharp teeth. “But you’re a consummate teacher. One more question. Is it true that you love us too much to make us your dirty secret?”

I blink mistily at him. Damn Cait. “Yes, that’s true.”

A chorus of “awws” runs through the room.

I wipe my eyes. “Okay, that’s more than enough. Class dismissed.”

Thirty-two hands go up.