The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 24: Holy cats

Lucius sat with his lips pursed tight as Tom tried organising the stack of books he'd basically just poured over his desk. It was, most likely, the rumoured stash of hidden literature Ethan had hinted at earlier, and while Lucius certainly was intrigued, he still gave Tom a disapproving look.

"You thought it wasn't that urgent, huh?" He leaned over to poke one of the books, aligning it on the desk with another. "My chest is an unholy spider web but you just walked out of there, thinking it could be saved for later."

"It seemed like the wrong time for bad news, I suppose." Tom shrugged, and Lucius drew a breath through his nose.

"Unbelievable. I could be dying but no, let me live in blissful ignorance and sit there being all love--"

He shut his mouth, upper lip curling before muttering.

"Unbelievable."

"What were you about to say?" Richard asked from the couch he was sharing with Ethan, looking awfully smug all of a sudden.

"Doesn't concern you," Lucius replied, knowing full well that would not be the end of it.

"They already know what happened," Tom confirmed, and Lucius furrowed his eyebrows.

"Wha— How?"

"Well, Anthony's mouth smelled of blood, and it for sure wasn't his." Ethan gestured at nothing. "I actually recognized the scent too, had I been uncertain before."

Lucius scowled, turning his eyes to Richard who shrugged.

"I just heard it."

"You what?" Lucius' glare intensified, and Richard looked offended.

"My room is so close to yours," he defended himself. "I'm not gonna cover my ears just because you decide to force germs down Anthony's throat."

"Can we please just call it kissing, if we're going to address it anyway?" Lucius rubbed his temples, voice nothing but a resigned whisper. Then he turned to Tom.

"So, what? Did you know as well?"

Tom raised his eyebrows, giving the other two a glance.

"Uh, well... Not specifically, but it's not like I was surprised."

Lucius groaned, but gave up his attempt to scold the three of them. He supposed they would have found out eventually.

"We all figured it would happen sooner or later," Richard said, and his smug grin returned. "Apparently this Samueli fellow told Eliza, who told us, who kind of already knew before."

This time Lucius chose to ignore Richard, instead turning his head to look at the books.

"Let's see if we can find something." He opened one of the older looking ones. "We don't know if it's dangerous, so I'd rather get rid of it sooner than later."

Tom obediently opened another one, reading through the index with a frown, while Lucius looked more closely at the one in his hand.

"A hundred ways to get rid of blight?" he read, realisation dawning on him rather quickly and he glanced at Tom in disbelief. "Tom, I'm pretty sure this is a gardening book."

"Yes," Tom said, only sparing the book a glance. "I grabbed it by mistake. It's a good read though."

"How in the name of snowflakes can there be a hundred ways to get rid of blight?" Ethan's eyes were wide, and Richard looked thoroughly amused.

"A lot of them are combinations." Tom waved his hand dismissively and placed the book he was holding down on the desk. "So anyway, this book could be of use, I think."