Page 141 of Rags to Royals

“Oh! Um, hi, Hen…” She clearly forgets his pseudonym in her surprise at seeing him.

“Miss Gale,” he says. Then he looks at me. “I need to speak with you. Immediately.”

He looks serious. That combined with the fact that he’s here at school is cause for alarm. Henry hasn’t come up to the building once this entire week while I’ve been here. There are no security threats and the two times that he’s needed to ask me something, he simply texted, and I’ve gotten back to him during my break. I’ve been having dinner with Scarlett and Mariah each night, but I get back to the B&B in time for him and I to chat. Last night was the only night Scarlet and I have had sex since coming back from New Orleans.

We haven’t wanted to sneak around anymore. Now that we’ve been able to experience being together fully again, the laundry room and patio aren’t enough. But as soon as I finish this teaching gig, we’re coming out. And we’ll deal with the consequences. Somehow.

“Everyone take your seats,” I tell the class. “I’ll just be a moment.” I step into the hallway and Henry pulls the door to the classroom shut. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Diarmuid.”

I freeze. My entire body gets cold. “What?” I ask. “What happened?”

“The king had a heart attack early this morning.”

I stare at him.

I try to make the words make sense.

A heart attack? The king? My grandfather?

Aheart attack?

Fuck.Fuck. No.

I run a hand over my face. “How bad?”

“Bad. He’s in serious condition. We need to go.”

My head is swimming a little, but I feel myself nod. Henry puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes.

“Cian. We need to gonow.”

It’s a very long trip to Cara. Hours. If it’s serious we might not make it…

I look up at my best friend. “Yes. Okay.”

“The Autre group is chartering a plane out of New Orleans. We’re going to do the same in Columbus. We don’t have time to wait for the plane from Cara to come.”

That would double the flight time. That makes sense. “Okay,” I say again. I glance at the door to my classroom. “I need to?—”

“I already told Mrs. Brown,” Henry said.

The sound of shoes on the linoleum reaches me and I look around Henry to see Amanda coming for us. “I’ll cover your classes today,” she says. “We’ll get a sub for the rest. Go.”

I don’t know what to do.

My grandfather had a heart attack. His fourth. It’s serious. It will take us nearly eight hours to get there. He could die before then. I might never see him again.

I suddenly feel sick.

Henry squeezes my shoulder again. “Come on. Let’s go.”

I suck in a breath. “I need my bag.” My phone is in there. It’s probably blowing up with messages from my siblings. Fuck.

Amanda opens the door and the sound of twenty high school sophomores all talking at once hits me.

They quiet when they see the principal.

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