Chapter Five – The Princeps’s Inner Sanctum

“Will our esteemed guest enlighten us on the reasons of his enlisting in our school?”

To Lawrence’s slight shock, Anton, seated now with his legs crossed, was lighting a pipe. Actually, it was Abelard fixing it for him. With practiced elegance, Anton gestured with the pipe, not bothering to thank his acolyte for doing that for him, as if he expected Lawrence to start blabbing already.

“We weren’t introduced,” Lawrence said. Felix had allowed him to return to his place – Bastien’s place – but not before exchanging a playful hiss with the Sun King himself. It appeared quite obvious that Bastien let his subordinates get away with many things. Despite his aloof and distant demeanor, he was quite loved. Or at least these first impressions led Lawrence to think so.

Anton, for a change, stopped and looked at him with what seemed to be appraisal that resembled reluctant respect.

“Anton von Strassberg,” he said, eventually stretching his hand out in greeting. “Lawrence Garth, your name… is quite common.”

His Dark Eminence had the sharpest eyes Lawrence had ever had the opportunity to stare into. But he didn’t feel intimidated in the least. His training had prepared him to use all the people involved in an incident as leads and sources of information. If what Ali said about Anton was true, the young von Strassberg – a name Lawrence was familiar with – had to know at least a thing or two about Lukas’s death.

“It is my name,” Lawrence replied calmly. If these people thought he would cower before them only because they were rich and had power, they needed to reconsider. Not many things impressed Lawrence in this world, let alone scared him into acting submissive.

The others witnessed their exchange with curiosity, better concealed in the scholarly Eldric’s case, less so where Viv and Felix were concerned. Norris the big guy seemed the least impressed, however. For him, Lawrence could very well have been absent from the room. However, he wasn’t entirely impassive. Now and then, his eyes flicked cautiously to Bastien; Lawrence thought he could read pain in those brief glances.

Abelard mirrored his master’s attitude to a tee, with a dash of disdain for spice, without a doubt.

Lawrence took all their faces in, meeting their eyes steadily. He wouldn’t volunteer the smallest bit of information. If they were so curious, they’d be better off continuing their interrogation.

“So, what brings you to Veridien?” Anton hung his pipe at the corner of his lips. The scent of expensive tobacco filled the air.

“I need to deepen my knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek,” Lawrence replied. “But you must know all that. The moment I came in, you mentioned the Foreign Service. So how about you ask me what you truly want to know? Something you couldn’t read in my file.”

Anton removed his pipe slowly from his mouth. That was the extent of his manifestation of surprise.

But Felix chose to be more vocal. “I’ll be damned. Princeps,” he elbowed Bastien, his voice dropping to a whisper filled with innuendo, “je crois que je tombe amoureux.(1)”

“Very well,” Anton said with a glacial smile. “Why here? Why now?”

“I am training to become the best our country has to offer,” Lawrence said. “Veridien is the best for my purpose.”

Anton bit down hard on the pipe. His eyes met Lawrence’s stare without blinking. “Why a last-year transfer instead of pursuing a four-year education cycle?”

“Cheaper,” Lawrence replied. “And you must know that someone called in a favor to get me in here.”

He counted on Marius Vassier to hide his traces, because the man was good at his job.

“So you can’t afford your studies,” Abelard intervened with a sneer.

Anton put one hand up to stop his acolyte from continuing that thought. “Your presence here elicits… interest,” he said.

“As would happen if one of you started attending any other school in the land,” Lawrence replied. “I understand.”

Abelard scoffed to show what he thought about the impossible scenario Lawrence had just presented.

“Are you an interesting man, Garth?” Anton asked, cocking his head to one side and staring at him obliquely.

“I doubt it. I was born to serve. That is what I will do.”

Anton smirked. However, Lawrence could tell that His Dark Eminence hadn’t obtained everything he’d hoped for so far.

“Bastien thinks the opposite. He believes you are far from being dull.”

Lawrence turned his attention back to the Sun King. All he received was an open, curious stare, one that appeared void of ulterior motives. Was this how he would fail? How he would fall? “He flatters me.”

“How do you find Veridien so far?” Felix jumped in. A short look in Anton’s direction told Lawrence that the relationships between the members of the Golden Circle could very well be more complex than seemed obvious at first glance.

“Different,” Lawrence said. “Especially the food.” Although he hadn’t given Anton and his dog the satisfaction of feeling insulted and showing it, he did need to give these people something they expected, so they remained on familiar ground as far as he was concerned.

“In what sense?” Viv intervened eagerly. “What kind of food do you people eat?”

You people. As if Lawrence had happened to come here from a land far away. “Definitely nothing as sophisticated as what you eat. Also, the portions here,” he added, willing to show the Golden Circle what an inferior brute he was, “are incredibly tiny. Not exactly enough.” Since Ali could very well be feeding them information, let them believe that he had pedestrian interests such as what went into his belly.

“So why did you skip dinner?” That was Norris asking.

Had he skipped dinner? Lawrence had gratefully accepted the tea and biscuits sent to his room at five o’clock, but he hadn’t realized that dinner had already taken place. Of course. Who should have told him? He hadn’t seen Ali since lunch, and Herr Becker wasn’t at all forthcoming when it came to his orientation. Despite what the Rector told him, Lawrence would have to learn the rules of the place on his own.

“It wasn’t on purpose. I was focused on preparing for my first lessons tomorrow and didn’t realize it.”

“That’s perfect,” Bastien said, clapping his hands together. “Will you come to my room later?” He leaned forward and shielded the side of his face with the back of his hand as if the others couldn’t hear him whispering. “I have a few friends down in the kitchens.”

Kitchens. As in more than one.

Bastien continued, oblivious to Lawrence’s deductions. “I’ll have them send up some real food for you.”

“Real food?” Lawrence couldn’t help smiling. “What could you mean by that?” Bastien was so close, smelling of roses and mint. His breath caressed Lawrence’s face gently and briefly.

“You must be famished!” Bastien exclaimed and took Lawrence’s hand. “Apologies, my dears, but I cannot allow Veridien to leave such a poor first impression on our transfer student,” he said to no one in particular, while taking Lawrence with him.

If he’d been a pettier person, he would’ve sent a triumphant glance Anton’s way. The young von Strassberg had a dark, venomous look on his face, and that sneer made his face appear uglier, older.

Felix was letting Viv know his opinion of their leader’s penchant for stealing the most interesting people and keeping them to himself instead of sharing them with the group, while Eldric appeared completely uninterested. Norris, however, looked like a kid whose favorite toy had been snatched away. They all appeared to be in love with Bastien to some degree, although their love wasn’t necessarily the romantic type. Therefore, Bastien, by picking him, was igniting jealousies and who knew what else.

On the bright side, Lawrence would get the chance to see Bastien’s room. Lukas must have been there many times. Would it be possible to find traces of him still present in his former boyfriend’s room, kept as mementos?

It was worth investigating.

***