The test
"Are you guys ready for the test?" The teacher outside the room asked.
One of the teacher's assistants went inside the room and placed two papers and answer sheets in front of their chairs, on the desks as the seats faced each other.
The test was organized in one of the event rooms so that the royal Prince's presence wouldn't affect the studies of other students who might start coming out of their classes to see them.
"All the best, Delilah," Tianna looked at her sister, who nodded at her.
Seeing there were three chairs in the room, the assistant, who didn't know that one of them was using help, took away one of the chairs without saying anything.
When Katherine turned around to enter the room, she looked at the man who was taking away the chair and her pupils dilated.
"Woah, Mr? Where will he sit?" Katherine raised her voice, but the assistant didn't come back, making her scowl.
"Now how will you write my paper?" She asked, looking at Maximus, who looked at the girl's back as they entered the room.
Tianna sat in one of the chairs, looking at her cousin who sat in one of the chairs with a scowl on her face as she looked at the man who was supposed to help her.
"He did the right thing. Since you are not the one writing, why do you want to sit?" Maximus asked before he held her hand and pulled her out of the seat, making Katherine look at him in pure disbelief
He wasn't serious, was he? Was this man for real? How could he just pull her -
She was the injured one, for god's sake!
Tianna looked at Delilah, who was fighting with the elder prince's secretary before looking at the questions on the paper.
The questions weren't necessarily tough, but it was the way they would be presenting answers that would be judged by the teachers of this Elite University.
"Here, you need this," Maximus handed the question paper to Katherine, who rolled her eyes at him and motioned him to come closer to the wall, a bit closer to Tianna.
"At least allow me to lean on the wall," Katherine scowled.
Maximus rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"The more nooks you will find in the situation, the slower I will write," Maximus said, and Katherine sighed.
She read the first question which was about the further classification of the plant kingdom and smirked inwardly.
It was like a child's play for someone like her whose entire life was spent in forests between herbs and had chosen Plant microbiology as her mainstream back in the day. It will be quite easy for her.
Maybe if she gets selected, she can use her time to find out more about-
Plans started to form in Katherine's head before she cleared her throat. She needs to concentrate on the test first. She nodded at herself.
"Okay, start with making a chart. Write plant kingdom in the middle and divide it into two parts- Cryptogamae and Phanerogamae. Now under Cryptogamae, write -"
Katherine started speaking, even spelling the spellings, and Tianna, who had chosen the same subject started writing what Katherine was speaking, using some of her own knowledge to differentiate the answer.
Katherine didn't stop speaking until Maximus's phone rang in the middle of the test and she looked at him.
She noticed how he pulled his phone only a little, looking at the name and pushing it back into his pocket.
'Hmmmmm... Suspiciasooo,' Katherine nodded her head before sighing.
She shifted her weight on her left leg, sighing as she felt the need to sit somewhere. Her legs, though healing, weren't completely alright and the fact that she had to stand was making it worse.
Maximus noticed her discomfort, his grip tightening around the pen.
"I can't take it anymore," Katherine groaned and was about to sit on the cold floor when Maximus held her hand and pulled on his lap, making her widen her eyes.
"Stop disturbing me. I don't have all day for this," Maximus said, Katherine's heart skipping a beat when she felt his warmth engulfing her.
If only she could place her head on his chest and-
Katherine cleared her throat.
"I... I..."
"Next question," Maximus ended the fourth answer and looked at the girl.
"It's about the essay on the political affairs of the werewolf community relating to the rogues. Do you want to skip it?" Maximus asked and Katherine scoffed.
"Why should I? Who would know about it better than me?" Katherine smirked before she started speaking about all the pointers one by one.
"The rogues in the southern regions are the ones that don't follow the rogue head's orders. There are around 6 camps there. All of them are ruled by different leaders. Their identity is the Black emblem on the outfit that each one of them wears.
The last time the soldiers tried to attack the rogues of the eastern regions, but they forgot about the main fact. The rogues had the benefit of the dungeons that were built underground. We can say that it was purely a lack of proper search before attacking and -"
Maximus who was writing what she was saying word by word, paused, his hand frozen in its place.
"How do you know about the underground dungeons? That information wasn't released to the locals, no articles were issued. In fact, even the alphas of the neighboring regions weren't told about it," Maximus asked, looking at the girl, noticing how her pupils dilated.
It was almost as if some kind of realization dawned upon her and she wasn't supposed to share this information with him.
Tianna, who heard his words, looked at her sister, who was too shocked to react and her gaze turned serious.
She didn't know what was going on with her cousin. If it had been the previous Delilah, she would've become a blushing mess already and not been able to speak in front of the secretary, let alone sit in his lap so carefreely.
"I... I heard it from-" Katherine started, his stern gaze, making her want to keep looking into his eyes as her senses finally registered their proximity.
'Seriously, Katherine? Just because you didn't have a romantic life doesn't mean you will have to find romance in everything and everyone. He will behead you if you don't answer him right now!' Katherine scolded her mind which was drifting into regions where it shouldn't.
"I overheard people talking in the royal palace. The chief and his guards were talking about it. At that time, I was sitting near the lake. They probably didn't know about me being there. I didn't mean to eavesdrop,"
Katherine whispered, using a reference to that one memory of Delilah where she had indeed heard something about the dungeons.
"And for some reason, you thought the information was causal enough for you to write it in a useless exam?" Maximus asked.
Katherine knew she should stop speaking and right now wasn't the time to argue if she wanted to save herself from trouble.
"I am sorry," Katherine whispered, averting her gaze away from his face.
Maximus looked at the girl, his thoughts in turmoil.
Just when he thinks there is no reason to be suspicious of her, she gives him one more reason for him to observe her.
Seeing her answering all the questions and wanting to help her sister by hook or by crook, he thought that he could let her go. Her knowledge was on par with Delilah and maybe he was just overthinking things.
But seeing how she knew so much about the political affairs of the royal Kingdom and information about rogues that even the soldiers in the royal Kingdom couldn't bring, he didn't know what to think about it.
Maximus has deliberately chosen to point her out about the dungeons because he also knew that the chief and others knew about it. He just wanted to see her reaction. And just like he guessed, she mentioned the chief too.
Not only was she observant, but she was cunning too.
Did she turn cunning recently or was she always like this?
Maximus looked at the girl, who was looking anywhere but at him, and deliberately moved his legs, making her jerk forward slightly, her hand instinctively landing on his chest.
Her pupils dilated as she looked into his eyes briefly before quickly removing her hand.
"I still have the rest of the answer to write. Start speaking," Maximus said.
Katherine nodded shyly, heat creeping up her neck.
Once the exam was over, the girls were asked to wait outside while the teachers checked their sheets. Tianna had deliberately avoided the political question since she didn't have any information that kind of changed her answer and kept it different from Delilah's.
Meanwhile, Maximus looked at Prince Elwin who was walking to him.
"Brother," Prince Elwin whispered and Maximus quirked his brows at the Prince.
"Did you talk to my brother?" Prince Elwin asked and Maximus hummed vaguely.
"This girl, Delilah Rosewood, we need to put a spy on her. I will arrange for someone. She is not so simple. I can't keep a gaze on her all the time.
They will be starting University on Monday and many alphas will attend too. It would be better to keep her under observation. This girl knows about rogues more than your soldiers," Maximus scoffed and left the Prince standing in his place in surprise.
This girl knows about rogues more than his soldiers? Why was this statement both intriguing and insulting?