Harriet spent most of the Easter Vacation working at the Union - planning debates, inviting speakers and arranging sponsorship deals for the following term. Despite the stress, Harriet loved it. The fact that Tom had also decided to stay in Oxford for the Vac only improved matters, and they spent every night together. Even more conveniently, George seemed to have left for the holidays, which allowed Harriet to push him out of her mind.
She spent the final week back at home, relaxing with her aunt, uncle and cousins.
Trinity term began in late April, and from the beginning, it fulfilled all its promises. The unseasonably warm first week weather made the college look more beautiful than ever and encouraged lazy days of sitting by the river. Unfortunately, it also made focussing on revision for Collections a real challenge.
“Don’t worry,” Caroline told her. “Summer doesn’t really get going until May Eve. There’s an all night party, then in the morning, the choir sing from the tower. From then on, the college finally allows us to sit on the grass and use the punts. Plus, there’s the ball at the end of term.”
“Of course, that means that revision for Prelims is going to be hell,” Josh added with a shrug, “but you win some, you lose some I guess.”
Harriet shuddered at the thought of Prelims, the end of exams, but they were still weeks away.
Ben looked smug. Law students took their first year exams at the end of the previous term, so he didn’t have to put up with Collections or Prelims. He launched straight into training for Summer Eights, that term’s rowing competition.
Tom sulked even more than the rest of them. In winter, he hadn’t missed out on much by only being able to come out at night, but he talked longingly of sunny days. Despite her horror at his revelations at the end of last term, Harriet smiled whenever she thought of him and the merest sight of him made her heart race. They didn’t talk much about their intention to stop the Summer Party, but concern about it hung over them. No viable solutions presented themselves.
Harriet also wondered about Joe, the Cavaliers candidate who had lost Torpids. She hadn’t seen him since, and the rumour was that he’d dropped out of Oxford. She didn’t know whether he’d heeded Ben’s warning and fled, or whether the Cavaliers had killed him first. She wished she could find out who they planned to reject next so she could help them.
Collections came and went without any real crisis. The night that they finished, Tom came to her room just before midnight and insisted that they were going to have a proper Trinity experience. He led her down to the river. At first, Harriet walked slowly and unsteadily, picking her way along the dark path, terrified of falling in. In the end, Tom, who could see perfectly, simply picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.
“What are we doing?” Harriet asked, laughing nervously.
“Going punting,” Tom replied with a smile. “Who says you can only have summer fun during the day?”
He placed her softly down by the riverbank and then she saw it. Tom had covered one of the college’s punts with fairy lights and a bright lantern. Peering closer, she saw that he’d also filled it with brightly patterned blankets and cushions, and placed a Fortnum and Mason’s hamper and his gramophone inside.
“Wow!” she exclaimed.
Harriet had already been punting a few times with her friends on the hotter days. She couldn’t steer the boat herself at all, despite several attempts, but had enjoyed sitting there whilst someone else used the long pole to push it along. Despite the fun, she’d always experienced a tinge of sadness whenever she’d seen a punt with a couple go past, knowing that she couldn’t do that with Tom. She hadn’t considered the possibility of a night-time trip. The college didn’t allow it, but they never seemed to apply the normal rules to Tom.
Tom helped her into the boat, and she settled down amongst the cushions. It had been an unusually hot day, and some warmth remained in the air despite the late hour.
“Do you like this?” Tom asked. “I thought it would be fun. Can you see all right?”
Harriet smiled. “It’s amazing. I probably can’t see as well as you, but the lights certainly help.”
“I’m glad you approve. Open the hamper.”
Harriet did so and found an entire picnic.
“We’ll have that when we reach the meadow,” Tom explained. “For now, why don’t you open the champagne and raspberries?”
Harriet admiring the Laurent Perrier art deco style champagne bottle decorated with little flowers. She wondered whether Tom had liked that style as a human.
Tom jumped onto the pointed end of the punt and began to push it through the dark water. His movements were fluid and firm and he moved the punt faster than Harriet had ever seen a human manage. Harriet looked around her at the overhanging trees and the swans on the river and felt something approaching absolute happiness.
“We don’t need the sun,” she said. “This way is much more magical.”
She took another sip of champagne and lay down, looking up at Tom with total love. Harriet lost all track of time, but eventually, Tom moored the punt and helped her out. Carrying the hamper and lantern, they walked through the dark meadow until they found the perfect spot, under an overhanging tree, then spread out a rug.
Harriet poured herself and Tom another glass of champagne, dropped a raspberry into each glass, and investigated the other contents of the hamper. She pulled out crusty bread and various dips. Underneath, she found salami, Parma ham, smoked salmon, and different kinds of olives. She ate hungrily, feeding Tom particularly delicious morsels and hoping that he could appreciate them. When she’d eaten her fill, she lay back on the blanket and drew Tom’s mouth to her neck, reasoning that he probably deserved to have his favourite food too.
He used just enough mind control to make it astonishingly pleasant rather than painful, but not so much that she wasn’t aware of what he was doing. She closed her eyes. The warm air contrasted with the cool of Tom’s body even through his pink and white striped cotton shirt. He only drank for a few moments, and then he licked her neck to close the wound and kissed her passionately.
Harriet ran one hand up and down his back and cradled his head with the other, drawing him ever closer. After a while, she drew her red polka dot dress up around her waist and guided one of his hands down.
The romance of the occasion seized her, and Tom’s cool fingertips had only been stroking her for a few moments before she was overcome. She took a few more sips of champagne to recover her composure then opened the fly of Tom’s jeans. On her knees on the soft blanket, she got to work.
They lay on the rug for a while in their dishevelled clothes amidst the remains of the picnic, cuddled up to each other in blissful silence. Harriet could quite happily have stayed there forever but somehow managed to pull herself to her feet, and they returned to the punt. On the ride back, she slipped in and out of sleep as she looked at the stars and at Tom’s beautiful face. Why couldn’t it always be this simple? If only she could forget the objections to their relationship and the evil at the heart of the Cavaliers.
Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers: Book One) Page 42