Just who was this Professor Aldric?

Chapter 3

“I know,” Aldric muttered irritably before his office door even shut for the second time. He was sitting on the desk they had provided him with his feet in his chair, but even with his back to the door, he could tell it was Zasia. “Can we just skip the screaming and yelling part this time? You can walk off all disappointed, and I’ll spend the rest of the day getting drunk. We each have our roles in this stupid play.”

He waved the rum bottle he was nursing for emphasis. A crate of similar bottles sat in the room's corner. It was one of the first things he’d blown his money on after moving in.

“Aldric, I...” Zasia began, then faded off in a rare moment of speechlessness. “I don’t even know where to begin, honestly. That was about the worst thing that could have possibly happened. You just threatened a student and probably terrified the rest of them!”

Aldric knew that, of course. Worse, he’d just threatened the heir apparent to one of the Four Great Houses of Rhagia. Kedrin carried a lot of influence as the headmaster of this school, but even he would have a hard time dealing with a pissed off noble house with that level of influence, “politically neutral” school or not.

Aldric knew he’d messed up, and he wasn’t in the mood to be told off for something he already knew. Hearing that damn name again, being reminded of that human shaped piece of shit, had just set him off. He could still feel his gut twisting in anger, even now.

“I wasn’t actually going to hurt him,” Aldric groused, ignoring the dark parts of him that told him that was a lie.

“That’s not the point, Aldric, and you know it!”

“What do you want me to do about it, then?” He was opting for his usual tactic during their fights; pig-headed obstinance. “I think we’re well past apologies. Should I buy the kid some candy? Shower his daddy in gifts as I prostrate myself before him?”

“I... I genuinely don’t know,” Zasia answered, sounding more worked up than he’d ever seen her before. “This is so far beyond what I thought you were capable of. I knew it was risky, but to think it would turn out like this...”

“Gee, if only someone had told you that something like that might happen,” Aldric answered, voice thick with sarcasm. He finally got down from the desk and turned to face her, speaking only after he’d taken another swig from his bottle. “Now that we’ve established that I’m a failure and I hate myself, can I please go back to drinking? I’m certain I’m good at that, at least.”