The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



And despite the fact that that's supposed to be comforting, I pale because...

Well, I think because I forgot, a bit, that this is all practice for real life.

And that, one day, we could be doing this for real. And the consequences...

Suddenly, I want nothing more than to pay a great deal of attention to this exercise and learn everything I can from it. And the first thing I can learn is...just a little bit of obedience to my commanders.

I mean...just a little bit.

"Okay,” I say, setting my jaw and nodding as I look down at the paper. "What do we do next?"

"You go to study hall," Rafe says, turning a little towards Jackson now, "while Jackson and I have a conversation about how to strategize our team. Without those two," he smirks a bit, looking between Ben and Luca who are now, apparently, enemies.

"It will be an honor to shoot you in the face with a paintball,” Ben says, giving Rafe and Jacks a mock little bow and making the rest of us grin.

Luca, at my side, I can feel is not quite so happy about it. Conversation at the table continues a bit more normally as Ben and Jesse lean towards Rafe and Jackson, all four of them further reading the list and seeing where their other friends have ended up, which gives me the perfect opportunity to steal a little moment with Luca.

“Hey,” I say, turning to him, pitching my voice low and reaching for my coffee, wanting some before I go to study hall with Ben. "You okay?"

"I just wish I was on the team," Luca says quietly, glancing up at Rafe and Jackson and Jesse. Guilt swells within me and I close down the bond a bit, not wanting him to feel it because...well, because Jackson has been becoming more important in our group - planning with Rafe, helping Jesse figure out his magic.

And Luca...

"No, it's not because of that," Luca says with a little smile, glancing over at me as he pushes his eggs and bacon around on his plate, apparently not as hungry as he was before.

I sigh a bit, because apparently I didn't shut down our bond fast enough.

“Then what is it?" I ask, leaning closer and giving him a little nudge with my elbow.

"I'm just...going to have a really hard time following anyone else's orders," Luca says with a shrug. "Rafe and I have been close since we were all candidates but Jackson... has been really good to me lately, hasn't he with the study stuff? Despite it all, he is my friend and all of my friends except Ben are on another team. If someone orders me to shoot one of them, even in play?" he says, raising an eyebrow at me, asking me to see the impossibility in it. "Asks me to shoot you?"

Luca shakes his head and I reach for his hand under the table, taking it.

"What happens if you don't?" I whisper, curious, feeling his spot stuck in the middle.

"Look, Rafe or Jacks could probably

noveldrama

defy command and get away with it - the Captain and the other higher-ups in the Academy - your dad and uncle included - are obsessed with them. But me, with how poorly I'm already doing? Luca shakes his head, letting me feel how impossible it is. "I have to do what I'm told tomorrow, Ariel, or I seriously risk my status here at the Academy."

"But they said they weren't doing any further cuts," I reply, frowning at him.

"It's not about cuts anymore, it's

et

about....whether they'd let me fight with you all in the war, once we're all sent to battle," he says quietly, squeezing my hand. "If I'm willfully defiant as well as unimpressive?" he shakes his head. "And I couldn't stand that, Ariel. Couldn't...couldn't stand knowing you were on a

battlefield and not being at your

side."

I stare at him, feeling it then - just how serious it is. "Then do whatever it is you have to do tomorrow," I say, squeezing his hand.

"Even if it means taking you out?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me, working hard for a levity I know isn't in his heart.

"Oh, Luca," I say, tilting my head to the side a bit and giving him a wink. "There's no way you'd see and shoot me first. I'll see you coming a mile away."

My mate bursts into a smile and then a laugh, squeezing my hand again below the table, and as I look at his handsome face as he laughs - his perfect white teeth, those gorgeous dimples – I feel my breath stolen a little, my stomach turning over. Because heavens, he's gorgeous, isn't he? And working so hard.

God, have I forgotten that a bit in the past few weeks?

I squeeze his hand back, taking a deep breath and beaming at my mate, letting him feel my rush of warm affection down our bond. And Luca's face flushes with it, even as he pretends to play it cool because we're at breakfast.

But inwardly, despite my renewed attention to Luca...I wonder when everyone started talking so seriously about the reality of going to battle. And just how much they're not telling me about precisely how close we are to that.