Page 75 of The Prince of Broken Crowns

His brows furrow. “What do you mean?”

I gesture between the two of us. “You and I are training together, and our kinda, sorta friendship.”

To be honest, I’m not positive what River and I are. We’ve hung out a lot over the last handful of days and clicked from the beginning, even though we pretended we annoyed each other. And then there was that kiss that happened outside of the café during that rainstorm that neither of us have mentioned.

River is betrothed. And truthfully, I’m not naïve enough to believe we could ever date. Like I’ve mentioned before, royals and north-siders don’t mix like that. Usually, north-siders are side-pieces or mistresses, and I refuse to ever be that.

“Sort of friendship,” he repeats my words with his head angled to the side. “So, you don’t consider us friends?”

“I don’t know.” I massage the back of my neck. “Do you consider me your friend?”

He rubs his lips together, studying me. “Kind of. I mean, sure. Yeah.” He sighs heavily. “Look, I think you’ve probably caught on that I don’t have a lot of friends, and I don’t mind it being that way, but you and I—this training thing, us hanging out—it seems like we could be friends… right?”

I bite down on my lip to suppress a smile. He’s so cute it’s ridiculous.

His eyes narrow. “You’re laughing at me.”

“No, I’m not.” My smile breaks through. As annoyance flashes across his expression, I quickly add, “I’m not laughing at you. I promise. And yes, I’d love to be your friend.” I stick out my fist. “Fist-bump for your bestie.”

He stares at me without moving his hand. “I thought you were Finn’s bestie.”

Ah, yes, Finn. Another complication in my life. Because, like River, he’s shown an interest in getting to know me. But, unlike River, Finn’s a little bit suspicious. First of all, he practically vanished in the library then got all twitchy when I asked him about it. I think it was because he might be in some sort of secret society. And then, when I found that necklace on Lily’s vanity, the one with the crown pendant that resembles mine, he acted all weird and took off into his bedroom. Then he came out and acted like nothing had happened.

Yeah, something’s up with him, but I have yet to get any answers. I will, though, eventually.

“I can have two besties.” I leave my arm out in front of me.

He eyes my fist and finally bumps his knuckles against mine.

“You’re so weird,” he tells me as he lowers his hand. “But in a refreshing way.”

“Thanks.” I flash him a cheeky grin.

A ghost of a smile touches his lips. “Are you ready to do hill climbs?”

My smile plummets. “Blah, way to ruin the moment, bestie.”

“It won’t be bad,” he assures me as his fingers hover over the watch’s button. “I promise.”

River is a big, fat liar because the hill climbs were terrible. So much so that I can barely walk like a human as I head toward my dorm room. With how stiff my legs are, I probably look like a waddling zombie.

“Make sure to take a cold shower,” River tells me as he walks beside me.

Like always, people are staring at us, although it has simmered down a smidgeon. Plus, it’s becoming easier to disregard.

“Or an ice bath. I can get you ice if you need it.”

I shake my head. “I’m good. I’m not really a bath person, anyway. Well, baths don’t sound very appealing. I’ve never had the option of getting in a bathtub before.”

His lips part in shock, and he shifts his weight. “What?”

He reacts this way frequently whenever I mention something about my poor life that utterly throws him off.

I shrug. “The apartments and motel rooms I’ve lived in have only ever had showers.” As his shock magnifies, I add, “Maybe I shouldn’t be talking to you about this stuff.”

His head angles to the side as we stop at my dorm room door. “Why?”

I shrug as I dig my phone out of my bag. “Because it makes you uncomfortable.”

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