The Golden Lily (Bloodlines, #2)

by Richelle Mead

Adrian did a double take. “That’s it, isn’t it?” He leaned toward me, and I nearly moved back… but something held me where I was, something about the intensity in his eyes. “What?” I asked. He pointed at me. “You stopped yourself just now. You just dumbed it down for me.” I hesitated only a moment. “Yeah, I kind of did.” “Why?” “Because you really don’t want to hear about ancient Athens, any more than you wanted to hear Brayden talk about Chaos Theory.” “That’s different,” said Adrian. He hadn’t moved away and was still standing so, so close to me. It seemed like that should’ve bothered me, but it didn’t. “He’s boring. You make learning fun. Like a children’s book or after school special. Tell me about your… um, Athenian women.” I tried not to smile. I admired his intentions here but knew he really wasn’t up for a history lesson. Again, I wondered what game was going on. Why was he pretending to be interested? I tried to compose an answer that would take less than sixty seconds. “Most Athenian women weren’t educated. They mostly stayed inside and were just expected to have kids and take care of the house. The most progressive women were the hetaerae. They were like entertainers and high-class prostitutes. They were educated and a little flashier. Powerful men kept their wives at home to raise children and then hung out with hetaerae for fun.” I paused, unsure if he’d followed any of that. “Like I said, it’s not really important.” “I don’t know,” said Adrian thoughtfully. “...