"We haven't broken up!" His voice cracked with urgency. "You promised you'd stay in the capital with me. The Core Research Lab is in the Northwest—you'd actually drag yourself out there just to get away from me?"
"Les, we're done."
I cut him off. "I've already told you to stop hounding me. Whether I go to the Northwest or the Southwest, it's nothing to do with you."
A cool, low voice came from behind me. "Madge."
I turned. Dustin Vance was standing there, and I had no idea when he'd arrived. His gaze dropped to where Les was gripping my hand, and his brow creased, just barely.
Les recognized him instantly. The color in his face shifted to something stiff and deferential.
Next to Dustin Vance, a junior scholar like Les didn't even rank.
"Professor Vance." Les let go of my hand on reflex, straightening up with an awkward greeting.
Dustin didn't look at him. His eyes stayed on me, his tone unhurried. "Come with me. I need to talk to you."
"Okay." I followed without hesitation.
Les tried to come after us, but Taylor Reed stepped into his path, smooth and wordless.
All he could do was stand there and watch me walk away with Dustin, his eyes full of frustration and panic.
We reached a quiet corridor. Dustin stopped and turned to face me.
"You passed."
Joy surged through me before I could contain it. "Thank you, Professor Vance!"
"Don't thank me. You earned it." He paused, his tone still level. "That's not why I asked you here."
I blinked.
"My family won't stop pushing me to marry. I need a wife on paper—someone to put in front of the elders and get them off my back."
He held my gaze, direct and unapologetic. "I know you just got out of a relationship. A ring on your finger would keep certain people from bothering you again."
My mind went blank. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Dustin Vance—the name the entire research world treated like myth—was asking me to marry him?
