Except, apparently, by the Imperial Prince.
Banks cleared his throat, obviously unsure about whatever order he’d just received—from someone who was technically meant to be his subordinate while on school grounds—and then tapped the holo-screen in his hands.
“Tine, you’ll be assigned to Royal Madden Odell,” Banks said, continuing down the list even when the entire class frowned. “Tria, you’ll be assigned to Silva Ro.”
Wait…
Rin’s spine straightened, a bad feeling settling over him.
“Rin,” Banks glanced up from the tablet and looked at him, “you’ll be assigned to Imperial Prince Kelevra Diar.”
His eyes widened slightly before he could help it, and when the man standing next to Banks chuckled at that, his head whipped in his direction.
Kelevra was smirking at him.
Had he…had he ordered Banks to switch their placements? Why?
Whatever the reason, it couldn’t be good.
The rest of the pairings happened in a blur, with him unable to hear a single one of them. The entire time, that weighted gaze remained on him, like a magnet he couldn’t shake no matter how hard he tried to ignore it.
And Rin tried. For the rest of Bank’s speech, he chose to look anywhere but at Kelevra, and yet he could feel the prince staring at him all the while, almost as though the guy didn’t even have to blink.
Maybe he’d commanded his eyes not to as well.
Rin almost snorted at his idiotic joke, catching himself and forcing himself to focus back on their Active.
Bank’s had just finished pairing everyone and now the seniors were walking up to their assigned cadet for introductions. Brennon and Calder had already moved away to meet with theirs, leaving Rin the only one standing there like a statue.
Whatever the reason, Rin couldn’t allow this to mess him up. He needed to remain cool on his feet, as usual. Unshakable.
Kelevra came to a stop a few feet away, hands slipped into his front pockets. He tipped his head slightly to the left, as though tilting the eye with the scar at a better angle on him, and then grinned, waiting.
Rules dictated Rin was meant to address him first as the youngest, and sweeping that bad feeling aside, he forced himself to smile broadly and bow before the prince. “Hello, Imperial Prince.”
“Rin,” Kelevra said his name like he was testing the sound of it, rolling the single syllable off his tongue. “Cute.”
Rin’s brow furrowed, but he’d smoothed it out again by the time he straightened, that easy smile still in place. “That’s the first time I’ve heard that, but I’ll take it as a compliment.”
“Will you?” Kelevra seemed to find that vastly entertaining, and for the life of him, Rin couldn’t understand why.
Seemed like he was simply doomed to be out of sorts in front of the prince. Which was bad, because the best way to fool someone was by getting a read on them, and Kelevra Diar was almost impossible to read.
But no matter.
It changed nothing.
“It’ll be a pleasure learning from you,” Rin said.
“Following,” Kelevra corrected, watching him closely while he did.
He swallowed. “Sure.”
The prince took a single, almost lazy step closer, that one eye still tilted his way. “You’re not a fan of that wording, are you, cadet.”
It wasn’t a question, but Rin found himself responding anyway.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he reassured. “You’re the senior in command here. Technically following is exactly what I’ll be doing.”
