Page 25 of Falling Princess

“Really?

“Bash and I are going with Lacey and Becca. You’re welcome to come along.”

I make a face. “Too date-like. I wouldn’t want to give people the wrong impression about me and my appointed shadow.”

“So? Bring Raina, too. It’s a room with a telescope, not a dance club.” He smirked. Despite myself, I grinned wryly. “Come on, Princess. You don’t want to spend your whole year cooped up in this shabby little room, do you? The girls will introduce you around. You can let your protector moon after you and ignore him all you want.”

It was suddenly easier to breathe. “Okay. I’ll come. Thank you, Kenton.”

I didn’t ask Lorcan if he wanted to go. When I saw him in the kitchen, I simply informed him that I was going out. I sounded haughty to my own ears. He looked at me, nodded once, and didn’t reply.

Raina, to my relief, agreed to go with us. She can hang back with him and let me socialize. After my attempted jailbreak, Lorcan is sure to be on high alert.

Kenton and I are both still tipsy—I’m tipsy, he’s downright plastered—when we arrived at the observatory tower. He draped one arm around my shoulders and smushed a kiss on my cheek. It’s performative, and it’s the first thing that’s made me laugh in weeks.

“Nice to see you, too.” I made a show of rubbing my cheek. Lacey gave me a sidelong look that said she didn’t appreciate Kenton’s display of affection.

Waiting in line to use the telescope, I chatted with the third girl who’s come out to look at the stars with Becca and Lacey. Scarlett is her name. “Hello,” she said.

It’s all the prompting I needed.

“Hi,” I replied, a little too eagerly. I’m so desperate for friendship, and too inebriated to hold myself aloof, that I suspect I’m not coming off very well. “I’m Zosia. You’re in my English Comp class, I think?”

“That’s right.” Everyone takes English Comp at Royals U, since so many students here aren’t native speakers. It took me a few seconds to wrap my mind around the fact that Scarlett’s accent was a lilting burr that fuzzes consonants and skips vowels. A local. Interesting.

She’s pretty, this other girl, with short brown curls and wide brown eyes. I liked her immediately.

“With him. The quiet kid.” Scarlett gestured to where Lorcan leaned against the railing. Raina stood next to him, talking, but he wasn’t looking at her. I tried to ignore the way his gaze bored into me, without great success.

“Lorcan,” I reluctantly supplied.

“Is that his name?” The girl eyed them speculatively. “You’re the Auralian contingent, right? The Olympians that made the news this summer?”

“That’s right,” Kenton interjected, proudly, slinging one arm around each of our shoulders. Scarlett raised one eyebrow.

“We medaled in archery, swimming and equestrian events. Won the most medals for a team our size in history,” he bragged.

“Not me,” I hiccupped. “I am the one who brought down the score on our collective group project.”

I, alone, failed to medal in my sport, jumping; I am ever a disappointment. An embarrassment to the country I’m destined to lead.

Scarlett laughed. “It was quite a feat. Now the world has Auralia fever.”

“Really?” I was genuinely surprised to hear this, even having seen Cata’s press clippings.

“You really don’t know?”

“I’m not allowed to do very much. Everything I do online is locked down and heavily monitored. I receive a digest of important news articles every day, though I admit I don’t look at them half the time—”

I bit off the end of the sentence. It sounds like I’m complaining; I am.

“Is that because you’re the princess?” Scarlett asked, while at the same time Kenton, talking over her, said, “That’s such bullshit.”

“Yes.” Both statements are correct.

Scarlett nodded. “We have a few of those around this year. Princesses, I mean.”

What a lovely potential community, I thought wistfully, if only I could meet them.

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