Page 43 of The Prince of Broken Crowns

His confession throws me off so much that it takes me a flicker of starlight to speak again.

“You know, you don’t match my first impression of you,” I finally say. “Unless this isn’t the real you.”

He stares down at his cup. “It is, and it isn’t.”

My head angles to the side. “What does that mean?”

He quietly exhales then lifts his gaze to mine. “It means I live a life where I have to have different versions of myself.”

The breeze picks up, blowing strands of hair into my face. “That sounds kind of depressing.”

“Why do you think I cry when I get drunk?” he quips. Then he drags his fingers through his hair and abruptly changes the subject. “So, about training you … I was thinking that we could meet in the mornings and run. I usually run with a group of guys, but we also run in the evenings, too, so I can just do that with them then.”

“You want to run with me?” I double-check, surprised.

“If that’s okay?” he answers. “I mean, it’s the best way to train you.”

“Yeah, if I can keep up with you.” Not that I think I’m slow. I’m just being a realistic.

“We can go at your pace. And then I’ll have my evenings for my training.” He briefly hesitates. “Unless you don’t want to.”

“No, I do. I just … Are you sure you want to? Because I thought you were just going to give me some pointers?”

He dithers. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you want to make the team, you’re going to have to improve your times a bit. Not that they’re bad. They just need to get slightly better.”

I study him. “How do you know what my times are?”

He squirms, avoiding eye contact with me. “I looked you up online.”

Okay, as weird as this might seem, I kind of like that he did—I did the same to him.

Not that I like like him or anything like that.

“You looked my times up, huh?” I can’t stop a smile from touching my lips at how squirmy he’s gotten.

“I wanted to see what kind of training you needed,” he stresses. “I kind of had to.”

“Or you could’ve just asked me. Or were you too shy?” I tease, nudging his foot with mine.

He shakes his head but struggles not to smile. “Well, maybe I would have if you’d texted me.”

“All right, fair enough.” I’m smiling now, which is odd, considering only minutes ago, some guy tried to drag me down the hallway.

That reminder sends my mood plummeting and also reminds me that I need to check and see if Lily messaged me back.

“Your times are good,” he tells me while I’m digging out my phone from my pocket. “And I’m guessing you ran them without a personal coach.”

I snort a laugh. “No, no personal coaches ever. And my high school coach was the gym teacher who couldn’t even run himself, so I basically trained myself.”

Lily has sent me a message.

Lily: If you’re ready to leave, that’s totally fine with me. But can you wait like twenty minutes or so? This guy that I like so much is finally talking to me!

“What’s up?” River asks.

I pocket my phone. “I’m kind of ready to leave this little shindig, but I don’t think your sister is. And I don’t have Wren’s number.” I briefly pause. “Is there like a way back to campus where I don’t have to walk through the woods?”

“Are you thinking about walking back by yourself?” He doesn’t seem to like this idea.

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