Page 66 of Falling Princess

“I’ll have Lorcan to keep me warm,” Raina grinned, looping her arm through his.

I kept my expression carefully neutral. So did he. Typical. I walked next to Scarlett and Kenton while Bashir trailed behind Lorcan and Raina.

This odd, uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach will go away. In a few days, we fly to Rome, then to Dubai, and then into the middle of the ocean on a small private aircraft to Auralia. Lorcan will be off-duty, free to spend his summer as he wishes. (Or spying at Cata’s behest; I’m sure neither of them will tell me.) I will be occupied with ceremonial duties at the castle, and Raina will be back at River Bend. This... indigestion will pass.

In the meantime, we have tonight to be young and free.

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

Music assailed my ears before we made it through the door.

I deposited my jacket on a pile in the windowsill. Raina flashed me a grin and pulled Lorcan into the seething crowd.

Kenton and Scarlett were already gone.

“Come on.” I grabbed Bashir by his huge hand. I always considered him a gentle giant. Tonight, I realized he could break me over his knee like a twig if he wanted to. The man is built like the mountain he hails from.

He dances about as well as one, too.

I stayed with him for a few minutes, then shimmied away through the crowd. I don’t recognize most of the people here. They’re my classmates and I’ve probably crossed paths with them many times during the past two terms, but since I’ve had so little opportunity to meet anyone, I’m alone. Anonymous. Free. Alive.

I danced for what felt like hours, until my hair stuck sweatily to my back and my neck, until the thick velvet of my dress began to feel like too much clothing.

I danced with women, some who were as scantily clad as me, some not. Beautiful women; we are all beautiful tonight.

I danced with men, some respectful, others drunk and handsy. The more forward ones grabbed my waist or tried to cop a feel. I let them, some of them. I’m not glass. When it became too much, I slipped away through the crowd looking for a better spot with fewer groping hands, and the process repeats.

All in all, it’s wonderful. Until it isn’t.

I waved to Bashir. I waved to Kenton and Scarlett, who were dancing in such an obscene manner that I would blush if it were possible. I’m too overheated.

Then a guy came up behind me and ground his erection against my rear. I tried to moved away, but he grabbed my waist and put one hand high on my inner thigh, clearly aiming to stick his hand where I haven’t invited him. I slapped his wrist. He pinched me so hard I cried out.

I smacked his hand, harder, followed by a stomp on his foot. Once he let go, with a smack on my behind, I angled away from him and snaked through the crowd. Tears of humiliation blurred my vision. I never even saw his face.

Why did he have to ruin what had been an otherwise nice evening?

Someone gently snagged my wrist. I pulled violently away.

“Are you okay?”

Lorcan. Relieved, I moved into his personal space as a sort of apology for brushing him off. He brought his hand up around my waist, palm against my mid-back with only my hair as a shield between our skin. It’s so loud that I had to get right up next to his ear and shout to be heard. I wanted to crawl into his arms, where it’s safe. “I’ll live.”

His arm tightened. We’re so close to an embrace.

“I saw what happened. Most of it.”

Figures that he was keeping tabs on me all this time. I know it’s his job; I’m embarrassed anyway. He’s only a bit older than me. He should be able to have a night of carefree fun, too. Instead, he’s stuck babysitting me because I clearly can’t take care of myself.

“He pinched me. It really hurt.” I feel like a whiny little kid.

“Where?”

Now I regretted saying anything, because the place where my assailant grabbed me as retaliation for not letting him grope me was about two inches below my crotch. I’m not showing Lorcan.

“Nowhere, it’s fine.”

It’s not fine.I’mnot fine.

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