Page 11 of Falling Princess

“We’re still in Auralia.”Go away.“I am hardly in need of your protection within the walls of my own castle.”

He tilted his head and followed me anyway, all the way past the waterfall that powers the hydroelectric system and supplies our drinking water, past the throne room, past our receiving room, through the private living quarters and all the way into my bedroom. Our friends peeled off at various points along the way until he and I were alone. I was so taken aback by Lorcan’s effrontery that I could not summon a proper response.

Go. Away.

I’m half afraid he’ll start searching my packed bags. I’m not afraid of him seeing my pair of inexpensive sneakers, or the books belonging to the castle library. But were he to find the contraband seed packets that no princess worth her diplomatic salt would attempt to sneak into a foreign country, I have no doubt he’d inform my father.

“If you absolutely must, I suppose you have my permission to investigate my personal space. Gods forbid that I should be attacked in my own rooms.”

My tone is the verbal equivalent of rolling my eyes. I suspected he was used to such ungracious behavior from me, by now.

Lorcan’s expression was unreadable as he surveyed the large canopied bed, the mirrored vanity, and the privacy screen, beside which, the door of my wardrobe hung open untidily. When his gaze fell upon my collection of formal white gowns, I saw a shift, its meaning no more legible to me than the one before, which only compounded my frustration. He went perfectly still except for a slight widening of his eyes, tension in his back and shoulders. Unnerving.

“See something you like?” I asked tartly, and shut the door, hard.

His jaw tightened, and an emotion I couldn’t identify flashed over his face. I caught him at something; I’m just not sure what.

“Where does that door lead?” He gestured across the room.

“To my study,” I replied, repressively. “It’s a bit messy.”

An understatement. Ordinarily it’s more organized, but the past few days of packing and trying to squeeze in a few more experiments before shutting them down entirely have left the place a wretched mess even by my standards. Not that I care what he thinks, not in the slightest.

Lorcan took one last cursory glance around the room, then ducked his chin in deference to me. “Your Highness.”

“Dismissed.”

I turned my back on him, and waited for him to depart before exhaling.

CHAPTERFOUR

Ididn’t leave my living quarters for the next two days. Not for lack of trying—every few hours, I cracked the door to see if he was still there. Each time, Lorcan was waiting for me. He tilted his head to look at me from the corner of his eye. I glared at him through the crack and slammed the door.

Message clear: After my little stunt in Beijing, I am not going anywhere without my new guard.

Fine.

One of the few upsides of being a princess is that I can have meals delivered, and I do. I have everything I need to pass the time until our departure, including a large balcony overlooking the waterfalls and out toward the Sun Temple Plateau southwest of the castle.

My maids came and went, harassing me to wash my hair and attempting to stick me in formal robes. I resisted, favoring my cheap pink shoes, a pair of jeans and an old tunic that isn’t meant to be worn as an outer garment. It’s comfortable, though, and perfect for how I spend my time: recording the final measurements of my ongoing experiments before reluctantly closing them down. Saskaya will come and retrieve the partially reconstructed Sentinel legs I’ve been working on.

I gave the potted medicinal plants to my head maid.

The mossy frogs—my favorites—were adopted by the head of the night guard, who promised his children would take excellent care of my pets while I was away. I gave him lengthy instructions: “They can’t survive too much heat or too much cold, keep them temperate and well-hydrated”; “Feed them six crickets a week. No more. Otherwise, they get too fat.”

Fat mossy frogs are, admittedly, even cuter than regular mossy frogs. I sighed and ran the tip of my finger down the rough back of my plumpest specimen.

“I’ll miss you,” I whispered.

Belatedly, I felt the weight of someone watching me.

Lorcan, observing me from the corner of his eye. A tiny smile quirked his mouth upward.

You find me amusing, do you? Well, I don’t give a mossy frog’s bumpy behind what you think of me.

I glared at him, deposited the amphibian gently into its terrarium, and handed it off to Granger.

“Take good care of him.”

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