Chapter 538

Luca glances up at me. "Nothing," he murmurs, blushing a little bit as he gathers his book back up. As he does I realize that his actions were not performative or attention-seeking at all, but instead the very real result of very real frustrations.

In a flash, I wonder how and why I didn't feel that down the bond - has he been closing that on me? Or...

"Seriously, Luc," Rafe says from his chair, leaning forward towards him. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry," Luca says, shaking his head and looking down at his book. "I didn't mean to interrupt - just...pretend it didn't happen. Book...slipped out of my hands, is all."

"Luca," Jesse says, quietly closing his own book in his lap and peering at my mate. "We...genuinely want to know. Seriously, four of us are in the same class - maybe we can help."

"In the same class but in vastly different groups," Luca murmurs, looking around the room with a flash of embarrassment at Ben, Daphne, and me. "You guys covered this stuff last semester. Just...I'll figure it out."

"Well, if we already covered it," Jesse says, moving softly as he slips to the floor and moves to Luca's empty side. "Then we can help."

We all sit quietly, Ben pretending to read and Daphne continuing to sew, as Luca sighs and looks back down at his book. "I just...have a lot of trouble understanding these schematics," Luca says with a sigh, putting the book down on the table where everyone can see it. I lean forward a little, peering at the book, confused.

"What is it?" I ask, interested and feeling for my mate, trying to pass encouragement down the bond but feeling it hit a bit of a brick wall. What's up with that, anyway?

"It's...the history of a battle," Luca says, glancing over at me, continuing to sound embarrassed. "The map shows...where the troops were when they started, and where and how they moved, how many troops they lost. And then the textbook poses a question - what's the best thing to do next? And I'm supposed to write a damn essay on what the best move is, and why but..." he sighs, shaking his head and dropping it, looking absolutely defeated. "I just can't make sense of it - I don't understand this map stuff."noveldrama

"Oh," Jesse says, nodding his

sympathy and reaching for the book, tilting it towards the pair of them. “I mean, it's not instinctual, Luca - ite makes sense that you're struggling with it but it just takes time. It's like learning to decode something, or read a new language - you just have to get used to it, and then it starts to make sense."

Luca grimaces at him a little, like this isn't precisely helpful right now, and Jesse laughs, his eyes crinkling up as he shrugs at Luca. "I'm sorry," he says, "I don't have a better answer than that."

"It's cool," Luca sighs, taking the book back and laying it flat on the table again. "I'm just...screwed."

"You're not screwed," Rafe says

gently from his chair, his deep voice ringing out. We can help you learn it. But actually..." he grimaces now like Luca isn't going to like what he has to say next very much either, "the person who can really help you is?"

Rafe's grimace deepens as, to my surprise, he shifts his eyes to Jackson.

We all go a little still and quiet as each of our gazes moves to my right, to my big tough mate, whose head is down, studying his own book.

Silence rings out in the room for a beat and then Jackson raises his head, looking around in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Jackson can read a battle map faster and better than anyone I've ever seen," Rafe says, casting a hand out towards Jacks even as he looks at Luca. "He can just...glance at it and know exactly what happened. It's impressive."

Luca scowls, shifting his eyes to Jackson, clearly bitter and a little bit jealous and looking like he's not precisely sure how that information helps him. At all.

Jackson drops his eyes to his lap and gives a little shrug. "It's not a flex or anything - we've been doing it since we were kids. I learned how to read a battle schematic before learned the alphabet. Like Jesse said, it's just...time."