Infinite Regress by Christopher G. Nuttall

what she and Caleb did in public. They were courting, after all; they weren’t entering a short-lived relationship... in hindsight, she admitted privately, the formal courtship might have been a mistake. But it did prove that Caleb was serious...
    “I understand,” she said. “I wish you’d been there when we went traveling.”
    She shook her head. “How’s your family?”
    Caleb’s face darkened. “Father is currently working with some of his old comrades to put together a regiment of musketmen,” he said. “After what happened in Zangaria... well, any doubt there might have been has vanished. There are enough rumbles near the Desert of Death to suggest we might need to get a larger military force in place soon. Mother... is well enough, now there’s only one of us left at home. Poor Marian.”
    “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Emily said. “Your mother is a decent person.”
    “She’s also a strict homeschooler,” Caleb said. He smiled, rather dryly. “She’s had plenty of practice on the rest of us.”
    Emily nodded. Homeschooling preteens was common amongst magical families, even though the largest cities often had quite a few schools of varying quality. She expected that there would be an explosion in education soon, as the New Learning spread further, but she doubted the homeschooling aspect would change anytime soon. There was too much to be gained by teaching the children the basics of their heritage and magical theory, in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic. Maybe it was a very basic education, she had to admit, but it was better than anything she’d personally experienced on Earth.
    They floated the trunk into the castle, then stopped as they saw a grim-faced tutor standing just inside the gate. “These are your updated papers,” he said, passing Caleb a stuffed envelope. “Report to the Great Hall at ten bells, tomorrow morning.”
    He glanced at Emily. “The same for you too, young lady.”
    “Understood,” Emily said, curtly. She didn’t recognize him. Was he Mistress Irene’s replacement? She’d hoped that Professor Lombardi would get pushed into the Deputy Grandmaster position, but there had been no word on it as far as she knew. “Are there any updated papers for me?”
    “They’ll have been sent to your room,” the tutor said. “Move along, please.”
    Caleb shrugged and levitated the trunk up the stairs and on to the fifth floor, pushing it down the corridor towards the dorms. Emily followed, lifting her eyebrows in surprise as she realized that both male and female students were sharing the dorms. There wouldn’t be any co-ed roommates, she was sure, yet it was still unusual. But there were only twenty-five fifth years, if she recalled correctly. Whitehall was vast, but her masters probably thought it made more sense to keep the fifth year students in one place.
    Madame Rosalinda greeted them at the door, then showed Caleb the way to his room and frowned disapprovingly when Emily followed him into the chamber. There was no window, but apart from that there was no real difference between his room and hers. Caleb placed his trunk neatly on the floor, then pulled Emily into a long kiss, his hands gently stroking her back as the kiss grew deeper. Emily found herself torn, once again, between the urge to go further with him and the urge to pull back and run. She just didn’t trust the feelings coursing through her body...
    The door opened. She jumped back, alarmed, as a dark-skinned young man stepped into the room, his trunk floating behind him like a clingy puppy. Caleb turned, one hand raised in a casting pose, then sighed in relief as he recognized the newcomer. Emily, who didn’t, remained tense.
    “Cirroc,” he said. “They held you back?”
    “Messed up one of the exams and got told to repeat the year,” Cirroc said. He had a nice smile, Emily noted; indeed, come to think of it, she had heard of Cirroc as one of Imaiqah’s many boyfriends. She just