“But fear not,” Uncle Leo continued. “Mr. Viridian has valiantly offered to look in on you occasionally.”
Aurelie’s eyes shot up to his. “What?”
He held her gaze for a moment. “He’s doing me a favor, Aurelie. You will be polite to him.”
She looked away before he could see her emotions flaring.
“He’ll also be escorting you to dinner next Saturday with my friends, the Applebaums. They have several children around your age I’d like you to socialize with. Their daughter, Lavender, will no doubt be a positive influence.”
Aurelie bristled again, knowing full well what he wasn’t saying, and about whom. “I’m hardly achild, and I’m around my peers every day.”
“The other students—”
“I was referring to Kiara.”
Her uncle cleared his throat. “Yes, well. It’s important you socialize with peopleoutsidethe university grounds. You can’t stay here forever, you know.”
Aurelie didn’t see why not, but for once, she managed to bite her tongue.
Leo sighed and rose, kissing the top of her head as though she were still seven years old. “I won’t always be around, Aurelie. It will do my heart good to know that you have other people in your life to rely on when I’m gone.”
The words he wouldn’t say hung in the air between them: that no matter how intelligent, hard-working, or responsible Aurelie was, he didn’t believe she could make it on her own. If only he could see what she was truly capable of, if only theworldcould, he wouldn’t try to shoehorn her into a role she’d never wanted for herself.
Somehow, she would find a way to prove Uncle Leo wrong. If she played her cards right, she’d never have to hear the nameMiles Viridianagain.
Chapter 4
Aurelie
Between Uncle Leo’s urgent departure and Aurelie’s exams, the week passed like a runaway train, leaving Aurelie flailing to keep up. She’d passed everything—just—and was grateful simply to have survived till Friday afternoon. While sleep was tempting, she could hardly pass up the opportunity for uninterrupted tinkering this weekend. Alas, for perhaps the first time in her life, she was woefully bereft of ideas. Crumpled pieces of paper, each representing a discarded notion, surrounded her wastebin.
Abandoning her lab for the time being, she met up with Kiara to make their afternoon rounds on campus, searching for any fallen branches or crumbling bricks. There was usually plenty to note, as the university hadn’t had much in the way of upgrades for the last one hundred years.
“What will you do this weekend?” Kiara asked, plucking a yellowing leaf from a low-hanging branch.
“Besides sleep? That depends. What are you doing?” It was mid-November, a time of year Aurelie enjoyed because it meant the coming of cold weather, when she had every excuse to stay indoors and tinker in her lab. For some reason, people were perplexed when she chose to be a hermit on a warm day.
“I have to visit my grandparents.”
Kiara’s grandparents lived several hours away by coach. Wardanwas a small, quaint town that made the capital city look like a bustling metropolis in comparison. “Well, it has been a while since you visited them.”
“A year,” she said, nodding. “But I hate it there. They don’t even have gas lamps. I’ll be forced to read by candlelight every night.”
“The horror,” Aurelie said, shuddering.
“I’ll be back by Monday. Maybe we can go off campus for a change?”
Aurelie eyed her suspiciously. “Did my uncle put you up to this?”
“Maybe...”
Kiara lived in an apartment in town, so it was natural for her to do things away from the university. Aurelie hadn’t realized quite how narrow her world had become until now, when suddenly everyone seemed to want her horizons to expand.
“Just promise me you won’t try to skip out on the dinner with the Applebaums,” Kiara said, nudging Aurelie with her elbow.
“Oh, hedefinitelyput you up to this.”
“Yes, well, he does employ two-thirds of my family.”