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“I…” I started, then stopped. He should not be asking me if I was fine. I was the one who fell on him. I fell on thePrince. “I am truly sorry for falling on you. I wasn’t looking where I was going. I will be more careful,” I said as I tried to walk away for a second time.
I managed to take all but three steps past him when he said, “What? You can’t have a conversation with the guy you so adamantly don’t want to marry, or as you said,parade yourself around for?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. My breathing rose, coming out in heavy, uneven pants.
“I’m sorry,” I half mumbled, completely mortified, still facing away from him. “I didn’t know. I mean… I didn’t know who you were. I never would have said that to your face.”
“But you did, and now you can’t even look at me?” he laughed, amusement lingering in his voice.
Taking one long breath, I slowly turned around to face him. “I’m really sorry, your majesty. I didn’t mean to insult you… or fall on you.”
“Your majesty?” he huffed. “Just moments ago, I was arrogant. Now you want to give me a title?”
I didn’t know what to say. I cursed myself for using the wordarrogant. I didn’t know him. The only time I’d even heard him speak was during his interview at the King’s Tournament. Then it dawned on me. He was injured just days before, stabbed in his back through to his abdomen. My entire weight had been crushing his body when I refused to get off him as I laid frozen.
“Did I hurt your wound?” I asked as I instinctively reached out to touch him. My fingers lingered on his stomach. The comment one of the girls on the van said about his abs came back to me, and I immediately drew my hand back. I wrapped them around my elbows so I couldn’t do anything else that I’d regret later.
Did I really just reach out to touch him, and I called himyour majesty?
“So you were watching me?” he remarked with a cocky grin.
“What? No… I… I mean…” I let out a breath. “The whole school was watching the tournament. Not watching you. Just in general, watching. We had to.”
“Last I checked, it wasn’t mandatory to watch the tournament. Encouraged maybe, but not mandated.”
My cheeks burned as I felt the temperature in the room rising. I shifted my weight from side to side, unsure of what to say back to him. I didn’t even know what I was saying and I was making this so much worse for myself. I had to go back to patrolling the rim. If Professor Hale, or worse Kole, saw me talking to him, I would be in so much trouble.
“Tell me,” he purred, “why do you want to be a guard?”
Such a simple question, but I couldn’t give him my real answer. I couldn’t tell him that I was only doing this so that I never had to take a husband. I could never let someone get to know me. I could never be intimate with someone and risk exposing my back, exposing what I truly was.
I couldn’t say that I wanted to be a guard for myself. I wanted to be strong and be able to defend myself. I never wanted to repeat that night eleven years ago when I was kidnapped, abducted against my will. I didn’t want to admit that my past still haunted me, clinging to me like a shadow.
So instead of answering his question, I deflected, “Why do you want to know?”
“I find you curious.”
“My father was a guard,” I lied. I didn’t even know who my father was. I also realized my mistake as he’d probably seen my folder during the Trials yesterday, not that he would even remember me.
“I see.” He seemed to know I wasn’t telling the truth. “What was your father’s name?”
Again, he asked a straightforward, innocent question.
“I would rather not talk about it,” I said as I straightened, standing a little taller. “And I really have to get going.”
Liar. I was such a liar, and he knew it. He gave me a knowing smile, but let me go.
I was still flusteredwhen I ran into Professor Hale. “Scottie, what are you doing in the rim? The ceremony is about to start. They are going to announce the future Queen. Come, you should be in the ballroom already.”
“It’s starting now? But Kole told me…” I started and stopped, realizing that Professor Hale had never assigned me to watch the halls. Why would he give me an assignment when I was only here as a guest?
I reluctantly followed Professor Hale back into the ballroom. He directed me to the only empty chair. A small white card that read,S. Rumor, laid across it. I withered into the seat, glancing up at the stage just in time to see Prince Noren doing the same.
The same announcer from the tournament, Effin, pranced to the podium to start the ceremony. I tried and failed to calm myself down as Effin introduced the Prince to the crowd. I blocked out the rest of Effin’s welcome speech as I replayed my own conversation with the Prince.
I sank lower into my chair as the humiliation set in. I reflected on every single word I’d spoken to him.
Suddenly, the room fell silent—so eerily quiet that you could hear a pin drop as everyone turned in their chair to stare in my direction. I turned my head too, to see if someone was entering the room, but no one was behind me.
