Page 23 of Falling Princess

One of the girls glanced over curiously. “Hi. You’re one of the Auralians, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m Zosia.”

“I’m Hallie. I think you’re in my religion class?”

“Yes! I’ll see you there in a bit?”

“Great!” The interaction, however brief, sent my heart soaring. This is what it feels like to be normal. To walk out into the world without a care. To justbe.

A glance at my phone tells me that there’s another half-hour before class starts.

And then, the stupid thing started to ring. The one name I do not want to see flashed over the screen. Lorcan has never called or texted me before.

“Augh!” I fumbled to silence it. Caught, already! Fuck! This is so unreasonable. Anger scorched through me. Fuck him. Fuck this constant surveillance. It’s unnecessary. I’m eighteen, I can walk around campus by myself, for fuck’s sake.

Running away is undignified. Stupid, really. It’s not as though he won’t catch up with me; we live in ashared dormitory. Yet I can’t seem to stop myself from darting through clusters of students, desperately clinging to this tiny taste of freedom.

If I can prove that I’m capable of walking across campus on my own, maybe everyone will finally loosen up. Where to go? Where can I hide?

The library. Perfect! I take the steps two at a time, tap my ID badge on the waist-high gate, and beeline it into the reference section. No one can be angry with me for coming here, even if I am alone. Nothing bad ever happens to anyone in a library.

My phone went off again. Glares from nearby students. “Sorry,” I mumbled.Oh, shut up, shut up you stupid machine...

Raina.

Fuck a duck. I reluctantly unlocked it. “Hello?”

“Where are you?” she demanded, not the least bit friendly.

“At the library. I needed to look something up before class.”

“Alone. You went by yourself. Howcouldyou?”

I sucked in a harsh breath. Anger flared within me. I’m not achild.I’m anadultwho wants a smidge of freedom to be herself. “First, I put my books in my backpack. Then I used this thing called the elevator to descend to ground level, so as to avoid taking the stairs—”

Raina made a rude sound. “You didn’t take Lorcan with you. He’s been frantic.”

“Spare me.” I rolled my eyes and walked quickly toward the end of the stacks, ignoring the reference librarian’s stern glare and speaking as quietly as I could, so as not to be yelled at. “I’ve been gone for all of fifteen minutes. I’m safe. I’m at the library. I’ll see him in class shortly. I needed to look something up, that’s all.”

There was a beat of silence that somehow sounded furious.

“This isn’t reasonable, you know,” I tried again. “We can’t go on like this all year. We’re not even halfway through the semester, and this arrangement is driving me insane.”

“It’s not me you need to discuss terms with,” Raina said tersely. “I just don’t like you making things difficult for Lorcan. He’s struggling enough.”

I have no idea what that could mean. As if anyone as clearly talented and uniformly adored by everyone—myself excepted—could possibly be described asstruggling.

Whereas I can hardly get enough space to breathe, much less think properly. Must be nice to struggle like that.

And then I nearly dropped the phone, because Lorcan’s unmistakable mop of hair popped through the crowd just at that moment. How did he get here so fast?

“Gotta go.” I hung up. I quickly made my way into the stacks and grabbed a random book, thumbing through the pages blindly. My heart hammered. Maybe he won’t find me...

Ha. As if. Lorcan came around the end of the shelving unit and stopped dead.

I glanced up and gave him my frostiest glare. “Oh. You.” I snapped the book closed and replaced it on the shelf. My hand trembled just enough to make the task more difficult than it should be. And then, because I can’t think of anything else to say, and I’m so damn frustrated at being constantly watched, and if I think about it too much I’ll want to cry and I don’t—can’t—do that, I said, too brightly, “Shall we get to class?”

I turned on my heel and walked out. No need to glance behind me to know that Lorcan is right there. My ever-present shadow. I can’t decide which of us I hate more.

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