Chapter 40

Chapter 40

“What, you’re not going to show me!?” Luca presses, laughing and reaching again for my schedule.

my

“No way!” I shout, turning so that my back is to the arm of the couchand I’ve got feet between us, ready

to kick him away if I need to. I grew up with brothers and cousins, after all I know how to do a couch

war. “I didn’t even get a look at it yet!”

“Well, then just tell me what your track is –”

“I cannot,” I say, holding my paper close so that it mysteriously covers half my face. “It is…a state

secret.”

Luca laughs again, leaning forward. “You spy,” he hisses, and then quick as a snake he snatches the

paper from my face, immediately leaning away and holding the paper far out of my reach.

“Give it back!” I demand, laughing, and throw myself after him, landing half in his lap as I reach for it.

Luca laughs hard, but holds his long arm even across Rafe’s body. Rafe, grinning and obliging,

snatches the paper out of Luca’s hand and gives it to Jesse.

“Not fair!” I shout, glaring at my brother and my cousin, even though I’m still laughing. “I didn’t even get

to look at it yet –”

“Well you’re a shit spy, Ari,” Jesse says, grinning at me and lining my schedule up with his and Rafe’s

on his lap, “if you don’t get the information and keep it to yourself for more than ten seconds.”

“Well, I haven’t learned anything about being a spy yet, Jesse,” I say, rolling my eyes at him even as I

grin. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Congrats, Ari,” Rafe says, grinning at me. “I know you wanted Espionage Track.”

“Seriously, Shrimp, congratulations,” Luca says, smiling down at me, and as I turn my face to him I

realize that I’m…well, I’m kind of still sprawled over his lap, aren’t

I?

I blush beet red, mumbling something about how I’m happy too, and do my best to gracefully crawl off

of my mate and back to the corner of the couch.

Chapter 40

68%

Luca grins at me, his smile widening as he notices my awkwardness and my blush. “You’ll be great at it

at least you’ll definitely be able to squeeze into all sorts of

tiny spaces.”

I prove him right by pressing myself deep into the corner of the couch, and when I glance to my side to

I see Ben grinning at me in absolute wicked delight. I give him a dirty scowl, which just makes him

laugh harder.

“Looks like we’re all teamed up tomorrow afternoon,” Jesse says, looking up at me and Rafe with

raised eyebrows, leaning over to pass our schedules back.

“What, all of us?” I ask, taking my paper from Luca when he passes it to me, glad to have a minute to

look at it. “Are you guys Espionage too?”

“No, we’re both Warrior,” Jesse says, leaning back in his chair and studying his schedule. “Ben, do you

have a weird unnamed class in the afternoon with the three of us? What track are you, anyway?”

“I’m Ambassador,” Ben says, studying his schedule, “and no, I’ve got diplomacy every afternoon this

week. Weird, though, that you guys have a cross–track class. I didn’t think those existed.”

I study my schedule, surprised and interested to see that Jesse is right. Almost every morning this

week I’ve got Chemistry and Marksmanship, but twice this week – tomorrow included – I’ve got an

unnamed seminar in Room 1260.

“You’re not in it either, Luca?” I ask, lifting my chin to peer over at his sheet. Seeing my interest, he

hands his schedule to me and scooches closer so that we can study the papers together. He presses

his shoulder to mine to do so, and I pretend not to notice the tingles that immediately flood my left side.

I guess he does too.

“Nope,” Luca says quietly, his eyes moving back and forth between our schedules. “Looks like we don’t

have a single thing together, Shrimp.” He sighs and sits back, studying me with a sad twist to his

mouth. “Well, it was nice knowing you.”

“I’ll remember you fondly,” I reply with mock seriousness, making him burst into a grin.

“Nah, you guys will see me all the time. With a sweet place like this?” Luca leans forward, grabbing his

unfinished dinner off the coffee table and starting to dig in again. “I’ll be here all the time.”

12:48 Sun, 10 ar

Chapter 10

I smile a little bit at the prospect, leaning down to pick up my own unfinished plate.

“Someone light a fire.” Jesse says, leaning back in his chair and still studying his schedule with interest.

“Let’s get cozy. After all, I heard someone say there was coffee cake.”

68%

“Best coffee cake in the world,” Luca says, nodding towards the pastry box as I take my last bite and

move eagerly to the fire, starting to re–stack the logs so that they suit my liking a bit more. “You’ve all

got to try some. Nan would die, if she knew a Prince and a Duke were eating something she baked…”

And a Princess, I think to myself, opening the flue to the chimney with a little smirk on my mouth. But,

at least some secrets have to be kept tonight, right?

Ben and Luca stay late, but not too late – walking a fine line between knowing that they’re not going to

be able to sleep tonight for the sake of excitement, and wanting very much to get a lot of sleep tonight

so that they’re fresh for tomorrow.

Plus, our little room is very cozy at night, it turns out. We spend a couple of hours laughing and chatting

around the fire, the oil lamps that Rafe lights around the room giving everything a particularly

comfortable glowing ambiance. The coffee cake really is very good, and I think we all over–do it a little

bit on the sugar and snacks after two weeks of eating the bland suppers that the barrack cafeteria

provided.

As the hours pass I relax, wrapped up in the fuzzy green blanket Rafe gave me, warm and calm, a little

unable to keep my eyes from drifting back to Luca’s laughing face. I let myself fall quiet, allowing the

boys take over the conversation, and instead I just…listen. As their words fade to a steady hum I drift

away into my own thoughts, thinking about how much I like my life right now, how lucky I am to be here.

How much I want to tell my mom everything, all about it.

My hand drifts to the hair ribbon in my pocket, and I doze off a little while I stroke the soft velvet with my

thumb.

“Hey,” a soft voice says I don’t know how long later, and my eyes slowly drift open. It takes a second for

me to focus on Luca, leaning towards me a little, but then I gasp with guilt as I realize that in my sleep I

stretched out and my feet have drifted

12:48 Sun, 10 Mar

Chapter 40

into his lap. “Oh, I’m sorry.” I gasp, starting to pull them back, “I’m hogging the

couch –”

68%

“No,” he says, laughing, putting a warm hand on my calf, letting me know I don’t have to jump away.

Slowly, liking the feel of his hand on my leg a little too much, I relax. “I’m just leaving now.” He

murmurs. “But I wanted to say goodnight.” Slowly – almost like he doesn’t realize it, Luca’s thumb drifts

across my calf, slowly pressing the soft muscle there.

It’s almost the sort of thing he wouldn’t notice that he was doing. But when I move my eyes back up to

his, and find his intense stare already on me?

Yeah. He knows what he’s doing.

“Oh…” I say. kind of at a loss for words, but when I glance up at the clock I startle. “Luca!” I gasp,

leaning forward to smack him on the shoulder, “You have to get up in seven hours!”

“Eh, I’ll be all right,” he says, shrugging and ignoring my weak blow. “Besides, it was

almost meditative –” very relaxing listening to you snore just now

I gasp, sitting up straight. “I did not –”

–

“You did,” Jesse calls over his shoulder, heading to the bathroom.

I look around, seeing that Ben is already gone, and Rafe is carrying the tray full of empty plates over to

the dumbwaiter.

“Good night, Shrimp,” Luca says, laughing softly feet from his lap

at as I move my and let him stand up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I say, yawning and watching him pull his boots back on. “Sleep well.” “Oh, I will,” he says,

glancing over at me. “I just hope I have some…good dreams.”

I go still, pink creeping over my cheeks as I look sharply up at him, trying to figure

out…

But he just smirks at me, shaking his head a little as if I just confirmed something. He stands up

straight, putting his hands on his waist, studying me.

“Oh, go away,” I sigh, standing up too, “I’m too tired for this.” I wave a dismissive hand at him, tossing

my pretty throw blanket on the couch.

48 Sun, 10 Mar

Chapter 40

Luca laughs, but I just give him a shove towards the door and head for my little nook.

my

My mate calls his goodbyes to us and closes the door behind him as I jump into.

little fluffy bed, snuggling down into the pillows and pulling the warm blankets over me. I’m very pleased

to find that the bed is already toasty warm- probably due to the way the nook is nestled in next to the

fire place.

“Night, little sister!” Rafe calls to me from across the room.

“Night, Rafe!” I mumble back. “Jesse!”

But honestly? I’m basically already asleep again as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Because tomorrow is a big – big day, and I can hardly wait for it to get here.

Presuming, of course, there are no nighttime interruptions that get in the way…