Rowan now experiences the unique educational trauma of a student who confidently raises his hand for every question, only to produce answers so spectacularly wrong they should be preserved for scientific study. First came his catastrophic miscalculation regarding Carlton's feelings toward Johan—expecting pleased nostalgia but receiving apocalyptic rage—and now this. He'd assumed Carlton would sooner eat his own crown than hear tales of reconciliation with his arch-nemesis, yet here stands the Empress, expression ravenous for information rather than blood.
Academia's most persistent failure has nothing on Rowan's current batting average.
