Elite (Society of Secrets Book 1) by Rosemary A Johns

Author:Rosemary A Johns [Johns, Rosemary A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Rabbit’s Study, Royal Hall College

Now alone in the study with Rabbit, I snuggle further onto his lap, as he sits behind his desk. The golden sun streams through the window across the open books, which are piled in front of us. I stare at them in awe.

Rabbit loops his arm around me and holds me tighter against his chest; his legs are lean and hard beneath me. Yet there are tremors running through him and dark shadows under his eyes.

He’s exhausted.

How is he still functioning on so little sleep?

I lightly trace over the wrinkled page, which is like a fallen leaf. “But this is…it’s one of the rarest books in the library. I’m not even allowed to look at it normally, let alone take it out.”

Rabbit smiles. “Perk of being a professor.”

“Or do you mean being an Elite?”

“Both.”

I’m mesmerized by the way that Rabbit’s elegant finger strokes down the page, as tenderly as if it’s a woman’s face. “Elizabeth the First may always have been her own mistress and had no master. But that didn’t mean she never loved. It could be argued that she loved too deeply, in her own way. This is about Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, to whom I am distantly related.”

I twist to glance at him. “Are you related to the royal family too?”

He squirms, avoiding my eye. “I am the royal family. Plus, you can pretty much assume that I’m distantly related to most people with a title. But I was abandoned by my father in this university years ago. Then he died, and I inherited the title Duke. Yet my brothers and step family are the ones who attend the royal events and represent our name. I’m more like the novelty act, when they want to roll out the…”

“Gorgeous genius?” I suggest.

“I was going to say geeky Duke.” Rabbit meets my gaze now, and I’m caught by how blue his eyes are this close. “But I prefer your version. Now, you’ve taken me away from my story.”

“What a bad girl I am.”

Rabbit’s pupils dilate. “I’d agree, apart from the fact that you’re the best student who I’ve ever taught.” He taps the book. “Dudley was possessed by the Queen, as surely as any jewel she owned. I don’t know if that’s love but I do know that she kept his final letter, before he died, in a keepsake box beside her bed marked: His Last Letter.”

“I think she loved him.”

“Did you think that I loved you?” Rabbit asks, quietly. “It’s not sudden, you know. Good god, I’ve been falling for you all term. You possess me, as much as Elizabeth ever did Dudley.”

He grips my hand between his, and my breathing becomes fast and rapid. I turn on his lap to face him.

Fuck, this is hard to say.

I need him to understand how much I’ve craved him all term as well. Although, I’m never telling him the fantasies that I’ve had of him, during tutorials, pounding me over his desk or bending Hatter over and punishing him for being such an asshole.

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