I had just sat down when there was a slight knocking, and I looked up from the table and from my contemplation of every interaction I had had with Katrina. A guard—the new one—was stood at the opening to the space at the back of the bus. There wasn’t a door, just a curtain pulled to the side.
“Hey,” he said softly and looked nervous. “I don’t know if it’s okay to speak with you, like this,” he said. “I kind of overheard you just now, with that servant, and wanted to make sure you’re okay.” He looked away awkwardly.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I groaned loudly and hid my face on my arms on top of the table. “How many people saw me make a fool of myself?” I asked into the table.
I heard his laughter. “I think some of the servants, but I’m the only guard stationed here just now. The rest are with Rylan, packing and getting a before-mission brief,” he explained.
“Why aren’t you with the others?” I asked, lifting my head. He looked more embarrassed than I felt.
“I’m new,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. But still, shouldn’t you be there for the, uh, before-mission brief?” I asked.
“I want to be,” he confessed. “But there’s always meant to be a minimum of one guard near you—closer now since the Academy and what you did,” he shrugged awkwardly again, and I grimaced at the reminder of my new ability. “Anyway, guess I’m the least important cog in the machine. I’ll get given the gist of things later.”
“What’s your name?” I asked and felt sorry that he had to stand around in the cold because of me.
“Theo,” he replied.
“It’s nice to meet you, Theo. You can stay in here, if you like. It’s cold outside and if you’re meant to be guarding me anyway, might as well stay someplace that’s not freezing.”
“That would be inappropriate,” he said, adding, “Sorry,” with a small smile. “So, what happened, with that servant girl? She do something to upset you?” he asked.
“She doesn’t like me,” I told him and hid my face in my arms again and groaned. “I must sound so childish. Everything I say sounds so immature,” I complained.
He laughed, a kind of gruff laugh that I didn’t expect from him. He was young, with a soft face and his voice wasn’t rough, but his laughter was oddly… manly.
“And now you’re laughing.” I huffed.
“Sorry, sorry, Ma’am,” he apologised. “It’s not immature. Do you want to talk about it? Why does she not like you?” he asked.
“She thinks she knows me, and keeps being all cryptic and weird and really nasty actually, and she won’t tell me what she means by anything she says. And… and I miss my friends and the Academy. It’s only been a few days, but I feel so out of place here,” I lifted my head and explained, and wondered why I was spilling all these feelings to Theo—a guard I had only really just met. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this,” I apologised for dumping all my feelings onto him.
“Sometimes it easier to talk to someone you don’t know that well. It can help to get someone else’s opinion. If you want my opinion, I’d share it,” he offered. I nodded in the affirmative. “If I was you, I would avoid this girl. She sounds like trouble. Some people—they want to work for nobility or royalty for all the wrong reasons.”
“I’m neither of those things,” I said. “Nobility or royalty,” I added when his head tilted in confusion.
“No, but you are in a way. I’ve never been asked to guard someone that wasn’t. And we’ve all taken,” he paused and looked up as he thought of his words, “various oaths, for reasons I’m sure you’re aware of, to protect you,” he smiled, looking pleased with himself.
At the mention of oaths, I knew he must know about the soul match and had taken a blood oath to keep it secret. My stomach twisted uncomfortably. I hated the idea that anyone would ever take such an oath, for any reason, and certainly not for my benefit.
“So yeah, you’re different. You’re not quite a servant or common man—woman—but not quite nobility. And I think thatmakes you vulnerable in a way… to the type of people that I think that girl is,” he explained.
“What type of person do you think she is?” I asked.
“She’s the type of person that wants to live through you, in some kind of way. Guarantee if you were to get close to her and she thought she knew anything personal about you, she’d be gossiping with all her friends and family. People like her are the reason rumours get started in the first place. They make stuff up, live in their imaginations half the time, thinking just because they work for you, they know you. You can’t have known her more than a few days and she’s already causing drama and treating you disrespectfully in front of others.”
“You’re right. I should stay away from her. That’ll be easy enough—we’ll be leaving Ardens in a few days anyway,” I replied. He looked almost sheepish.
“What?” I asked.
“I think that servant girl is part of the staff that’ll be traveling with the Princess for her tour of Ardens. I saw her throw a bag into the bus storage compartment before she came on board,” he told me.
I groaned and threw my head back.
“Great. How am I meant to stay away from her when we’re living on a bus?” I complained, hanging my head. I felt so defeated.
Theo coughed and I looked to him.
