"I'm not most ballot winners, Alex." I said it gently and deliberately used his given name. We were all on equal footing—supposedly—while enrolled at the academy, and the use of honorific titles wasn't required.
His gaze captured mine again, and for a long, awkward moment he just stared at me.
When he finally blinked, breaking our eye contact, it was with a heavy, defeated sigh. "I suppose you're not."
I felt like a total asshole. Here was this gorgeous guy who'd actually been nice to me, and I was shutting him down before even getting to know him. Was I any better than all the other douchebags at this party? Judging him based on his circumstances and not bothering to get to know him as a person?
"So, no hard feelings?" I asked, hopeful that my rejection wasn't creating another powerful enemy before classes had even begun.
That beautiful smile of his spread back across his face, wiping away those traces of disappointment I'd just seen. "Of course not, Violet. I'm not a total dick like some of the other royals here." His eyes shot quickly to the side, and I couldn't help looking to see who he meant.
Surprise, surprise, there was Rafe standing across the room glaring at us like he could cause spontaneous combustion simply by the force of his dark thoughts.
"Well, I'm glad," I murmured, shifting my weight so that my back was to Rafe. I had no idea what his issue was with me, and I refused to give him the time of day about it. "So, I guess I'll see you around?"
"Oh, you misunderstand me, Violet." Alex's eyes sparkled as he grinned at me. "Just because Iunderstandyour concerns doesn't mean I'll be walking away and giving up. It just means I need to prove I'm worth the trouble."
I groaned inwardly, even as a small—okay, big—part of me screamed with excitement. Apparently, Prince Alex didn't see this conversation as a rejection at all. He saw it as achallenge.
Shit.
"Alex—" I started, but he shook his head to cut me off.
"Don't worry, Violet. I'll protect you from the haters." His smile was all confidence. Or was that arrogance? It was such a fine line with handsome, powerful men.
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Why do you care, Alex? I'm sure there are plenty of other girls clamoring for your favor and affections."
He barked a laugh, but didn't disagree. "Didn't you know, Violet? You're my future wife. I just have to convince you it’s a good idea." His glittering gaze was all mischief and stubborn determination, but Mattie returned with fresh drinks before our banter could continue. Though I did have time to weird out on the fact that he’d just mentioned for a second time marrying me. Sure, it was in jest, but still … was that something he said to every chick he flirted with?
It had to be because I had no title, money, or family.
I was nobody.
"Australasia, I thought I told you to leave my friend alone," Mattie snapped at Alex, her lips pursed with annoyance. She handed me one of the flaming drinks, and I carefully blew the fire out.
Alex shot her an annoyed look, then dismissed her, focusing all of his attention on me. "Have fun tonight. I’ll see you around, Violet.”
With that remark, he swaggered off into the crowd and left me with Mattie.
My new friend didn’t say anything, her mouth pursed for a few minutes before she finally relaxed. Deciding to focus on getting to know her, and distracting us both from Alex, I asked about her family and home.
“We rule a little country in South America,” she said, pushing back some of her red hair. “Have you heard of the Guays? You know, what used to be Paraguay, Uruguay, and some of Argentina.”
Geography wasn’t my strongest subject, but everyone had to learn about the ruling kingdoms. “Your country is the one that developed that early warning system for future nuclear and cyber attacks, right?”
Small they might be, but from the little I knew, they were a wealthy country and a big deal in the underground military worlds.
Mattie’s face brightened. “Yes! You heard about that?”
It was obvious she was proud, despite not wanting to be known as a royal.
“Everyone heard about it,” I said with a laugh. “I like to keep up with current events. I even managed to find an organization that prints news in the old way. On paper.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I’d kept it to myself. Paper was a rare resource in some parts of the world—no longer did they waste it on anything that could be done verbally or digitally. Having access to it illegally was a harshly punishable offense.
The world these days was all about keeping order and “punishing” those who didn’t fall into line.
Mattie didn’t even blink. “Yeah, they deliver us the news on paper every morning. The students like to have something to read while they eat their breakfast.”
