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The lecture was particularly tedious today. Noggle droned on and on about the minutiae of factors leading up to Mab's first battle with Bogdana, somehow making what should have been a thrilling tale as stale and boring as day old toast. Even Jude, who was usually infuriatingly astute in class seemed near doze listening to Noggle. Cardan smirked watching her try to keep her head propped up on her hand.
Her hair was down today, the chestnut brown waves covering the odd roundness of her ears. The way she sat also obscured the curves of her waist and hips, and Cardan wondered if this was done on purpose to draw attention away from the features that set her apart from the Folk. If that was her plan, Cardan could have told her it didn't work. There was still something indelibly, and distractingly different about her that she couldn't disguise so easily. He would have, too, but then she let out a bored sigh and tucked her hair behind her ear and Cardan found himself tracing the edge of it with his eyes.
Suddenly, Jude stiffened. Then she turned her head sharply towards Cardan, too quickly for him to glance away. Her honey brown eyes widened for a moment, then she scowled at him and turned her attention firmly back to Noggle. Irritation welled in Cardan's chest and throat. They would be breaking for meal soon. He made a note to find a punishment for Jude's impertinence. Mortal as she was, she was still a resident of Elfhame, and he was still her prince. He would teach her proper manners and respect if Madoc wouldn't.
"Anyone?" Noggle raised his voice and looked out over his class expectantly. "Does no one have the answer to my question? Fand? Valerian? Very well, perhaps Jude knows." From the corner of his eye, Cardan saw Jude's cheeks pinken and her shoulders twitch up towards her ears. She probably knew the answer, she usually did, but Noggle liked to call on her to answer his questions more as a way to shame his fae students than to give her a chance to show her intelligence. Cardan was fairly certain everyone was aware of it, even Jude herself, if her reaction was anything to go by.
"How dull," Cardan scoffed, cutting off Noggle before he could repeat his question for Jude to answer.
"Your highness?"
"Perhaps if you had been around during Mab's troubles with Bogdana, you could have bored the hag to death," Cardan said. "Then we wouldn't need to worry about her skulking about to this day."
"Well, I-I..." Noggle stammered as he drew himself up indignantly, his face red and cheeks puffed. For a moment, Cardan wondered if he would be stupid enough to chastise a son of Eldred, even if Cardan was his least favorite. To his side, Cardan heard Jude let out huff of air, and he glanced over, expecting her to look annoyed, but instead he found her trying to hide a smile behind her hand. She looked away when his eyes met hers, but Cardan was sure he didn't imagine the gleam of mirth he saw.
"It is very important," Noggle said over the tittering of his class, " to know the factors leading up to-"
"No, no," Cardan cut him off with a wave of his hand. "That is enough. I cannot sit here another hour and listen to you make my great-grandmother's battle victories sound so mundane and boring. Move on to something else." Noggle hemmed and bristled, but eventually he cleared his throat and moved on to the next lesson. At least there was one person who knew to give Cardan the respect due him.
He glanced at Jude again. She was turned away from Cardan and whispering something to Taryn. He couldn't see if she was still trying to hide her smile or if she'd managed to school her features back into her usual scowl.
"Ahem." Cardan turned and saw Locke sitting behind him, a knowing smirk on his face. His tawny eyes darted between Cardan and the Duarte twins mischievously. Cardan met his friend's gaze archly, and then turned his attention back to Noggle and the next lecture topic. It was nearly as dull as the last, and Cardan wondered if he interrupted the teacher again if he was likelier to get another smothered laugh or a disapproving scowl.