He saw the nervousness in my shaky lips, his urge to make something greater out of me escalated. He spoke of marriage as if it was nothing but business and I graded it as him weighing up possibilities.
Afraid of insulting him, I promised to ask my grandfather for permission even though I knew that I would never marry Tonio.
“Claire and you could be sisters,” he added. “How relieving, to have a Volk watch out for my daughter.”
“Volk?” Tonio asked. I didn’t notice his presence behind me as his father overshadowed it.
He lifted the empty bowl off my place and handed it to a waiter before sitting down across from me.
“Wolf,” his father answered. “Volkov means, of wolves.”
My chin dropped. He knew my name better than I did.
“You should try some of this veal then,” Tonio scooped some of it onto our plates.
This morning he avoided looking me in the eyes, and I wished he knew that I saw Elvora leaving his room.
“That’s no way to treat a lady,” the Doctor scolded him, “we want her to consider marriage after all.” More than just a daydream of his; it became a serious proposal to which Tonio nodded, agreeing.
Overstrained, I shook my hands as I didn’t want Tonio to misinterpret the situation and accuse me of sidestepping him.
“What is it, dearest?”
“Wouldn’t Elvora be a better match,” I stuttered and regretted opening my mouth when Tonio dropped back in his chair.
Doctor Di Centi shook his head and waved it off. “No, no, I don’t like the Tysniri,”
“Father!” Tonio exclaimed.
“What is it with you today?” the Doctor laughed and turned to me. “Who are they? Merchants, tailors, what else? Not once has a Magician appeared in their line before her. We will not fuse blood with them. I won’t spoil the chances of getting my very own granddaughter Mage.” He patted my hand and got up from his seat. “What are the odds of her getting red hair? There’s so much of him in you. I certainly hope you remember me when that day comes and try your hardest passing it on.”
After he left, Tonio moaned while chewing the rest of his meat. “Elvora? Pathetic,” he scoffed and threw his fork on the plate. He had stuffed his cheeks and struggled to swallow it.
“You spent the night with her, I figured-,”
“You figured, how smart. Great. Excellent. Where were you last night? Do you think my father will be happy to hear that instead of producing heirs for him, you occupy Claire’s opportunities of doing so with your childish play?”
The words faltered in my throat, paralysed. His attitude towards me changed, he stopped choosing gentle words.
“Don’t look at me like that, all innocent and secretive,” he said, “my room’s right across from hers. What do you think will happen next?”
I shrugged my shoulders. There were various answers in my head and they all ended with me being expelled from the academy.
“Listen, personally, I don’t care if you girls enjoy yourselves. Behind closed doors, that is. First thing Elvora will do is tell her minions about it. They will spread it for her and all eyes on campus will follow you.” He sent shivers down my spine, and the picture of Elvora’s smile froze me. “As soon as you two do something suspicious my father will know, disagree, and marry her off to the Prince of Heior the next morning. That’s not what we want.” He switched to his father’s seat and leaned in. “This is where I’ll sit in a few months. Kress will sit on your current place, Claire beside him and after her, Bryon. You’ll sit to my right unless you continue your foolish act. Then, none of this will happen and we won’t see either Claire or you, ever again. I repeat: That’s not what we want.”
The thought of losing Claire put heavy weights on my heart. I feared it would rip from my chest.
“So,” I stuttered, “I just have to, what? Uphold a fantasy? How would that look?” I agreed on playing by his terms and was certain that it was the only way of keeping Claire by my side.
“Say, you’re here to see me, when you’re asked. He doesn’t check into which room you end up going. Uphold the fantasy, as you say.”
I looked around and hinted at Loyra with my eyes, who stood by the door. “The servants are loyal to me, you don’t have to worry about them,” he added.
I didn’t answer. It was obvious anyway.
If I wanted to see Claire, it had to be that way. I questioned myself if I would go that far for someone I met just a few days ago. But it was more than just a hookup. We were tied together through my name. As far as I knew, my grandfather could’ve had his own arrangements with their family. Though, I couldn’t grasp why he would use me like a chess piece. Either way, we didn’t cross paths by coincidence and there would be no way to cut ties with them without losing the privilege of studying in the Dicheval academy. I couldn’t afford it. Not after everything I had gone through.
“I can assure you, there will be no marriage between you and me for many years. It’ll become irrelevant, and people will forget about it. Claire, on the other hand, is promised to Kress, who isn’t amazed by it either. He won’t prevent you from being her lover, it’s a handy way of keeping her away from Prince Fellis. That’s where you play your part.”
At first, it sounded absurd to me, but I understood. For them, marriage was a matter of forming an alliance. It had nothing to do with choice. As long as I followed his instructions, everyone would benefit from it. But there had been one problem in his equation.
“Does Claire know about any of this?” I asked.
“Not directly. She knows that she has to accept the proposal
