Chapter 7: The Lazy Study Method

James's study method for the Emblem Trial was to lie on his back and let three borrowed bloodlines do everything.

On the first day, the cheese was on the high shelf.

Old James would have stood on a chair.

New James lay on the couch and lifted two fingers.

Skyfold took the cheese off the shelf, across the room and into his hand.

"That is wasteful," said Grant, from the table.

"It's efficient."

"It is a high-order flight discipline. You are using it for cheese."

"It's very good cheese."

On the second day, the dishes were in the sink.

James lay on the rug beside the stove with one hand trailing toward the basin.

Tidecall pulled the soapy water up in a ribbon.

It scrubbed every plate in the stack, rinsed them, and set them in the rack without a clink.

Harry came out of the bathroom with his hair wet and stopped dead.

"You are doing that in front of people."

"It's the dishes. Nobody's looking."

"I am looking."

"You're people?"

Harry opened his mouth, shut it, and went very pale around the lips.

"If anyone from my clan hears of this," he said quietly, "I will personally drain you."

"Noted."

"The plates are very clean," Harry added after a moment, with great reluctance.

On the third day, the theory books were on the far side of the table.

Felix tutored him in the evenings, sitting cross-legged on the floor with a pastry and a diagram.

James took the books to bed.

Skyfold turned each page for him, and he did not once have to lift a hand.

"Does the heir sleep during lessons?" Felix asked, watching the book flip itself.

"I'm resting my eyes."

"They're closed."

"That's how you rest them."

Felix laughed so hard that he rolled onto his back.

By the end of the week James could recite the six classes of bloodline magic and the four tide laws.

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