Couldn’t a lady just be at peace?
After breakfast, Dahlia rushed me like a hurricane as we made our way to the first class. “Good morning, friend!”
“Good morning to you too.” I latched my arm in hers, Mia and my knights walking behind us. “How come I never saw you the entire weekend?”
“Oh, I promised my family I’ll go home on the weekends,” she shared. “I live far away, but they employed a teleport mage, so I have no excuse.”
I gasped. “They hired one so they could make you go home every week?”
She laughed at my reaction. “Don’t get the wrong idea; my family just loves me that much. It’s not like I’m being forced to do it.”
I envied her a little. I could imagine how expensive that might be, all so her parents could see their daughter weekly. Definitely not relatable. I had a curiosity that needed to be asked though.
“If the mage is over at your estate, how can they teleport you? There needs to be a Sigil, right?” I had never read about a teleportation spell initiated in reverse.
“Ah, that’s the beauty of a competent mage,” she grinned, pulling out a necklace from underneath her collar. It had a simple but quite a huge charm, and I could see runes etched on it. “My one-way teleport charm back to our estate. When I’m there, the spell gets recharged, and I get teleported back here through the usual means.”
Wow, I never would have thought that was possible. “Must be one amazing mage to pull that off.”
“Amazingandcute,” she snickered.
I said my goodbyes to Mia — who happily sauntered off — and to my knights, who were much more hesitant to leave.
“I’ll be here like always?” I smiled, glancing between the two of them.
They looked over my shoulder for a few moments before nodding and heading off themselves. When I glanced back, I saw Elias leaning against his desk, watching me.
“Is it just me, or are your bodyguards more obsessed than usual?” Dahlia observed as we walked to our seats.
“I won’t use the word obsessed, but you’re not completely wrong,” I admitted without telling the whole truth. “A little apprehensive, maybe. Remember how the Prince proclaimed me as the Caregiver or whatever?”
Dahlia took her seat. “I heard the ‘maid’ insults, yes.”
I sat down next to her. “Really thought he was joking. Apparently, he was serious about it. Yesterday he forced me to attend the very first Champions meeting, and things didn’t exactly end on a high note. My knights are only worried.”
“That’s why you wore that dress yesterday?” Elias interrupted from behind me.
“Yes, I came from the Champions meeting,” I confirmed. I didn’t get to tell him about it yesterday, did I? “It was … interesting. Sam — Lord Grimwald is the third member; in case you didn’t know.” Mia certainly did, even before any official announcements. I knew the Royal Crown would announce it today as she told me.
“Baby girl,” Claude’s sudden crooning nearly launched me out of my seat. “I missed you.”
“We just saw each other yesterday,” I deadpanned, completely forgetting the nerves I claimed to have. I could sense Elias’s unease; maybe he was getting the wrong idea. Had to clear that up soon.
“But you ran away!” he whined.
“If the Prince weren’t being a little bi —”
I caught myself in time. Brain, control my mouth.
“Bea, what ‘prince’?” Claude scolded me with a pout. “We had an arrangement.”
“I can’t refer to him by his first name if he’s not even around!” I whisper-shrieked, but I was pretty sure both Dahlia and Eli heard me anyway.
“ButI’maround, and I’m going to snitch on you if you don’t follow Win’s order,” Claude retorted.
I pouted back at him. “I thought for sure you like me better than the Prince.”
“I do, but … he’s still the Crown Prince, Bea.”
