Princess Ballot: Royals of Arbon Academy

by James Tate

  “Uh, what for?” I questioned, all too aware of my nudity under the robe.

  The nurse didn’t even spare me a glance as she pulled out a large, duck-billed instrument and started coating it in… something distinctly like lube. “I understand pap smears are not a common procedure within the working class anymore, but here at Arbon we take all aspects of our students’ health seriously. Lie back.”

  Her voice was clipped and matter-of-fact, and I clenched my teeth against further protests. I should be grateful that they were providing such good health care. I knew all about cervical cancer and how they used to routinely test for it in all women. But after the war, when all technology had crashed, only “essential” screening procedures had been brought back.

  Nurse Reller did her thing, and I stared at the ceiling, wishing I was anywhere but here. I could almost block out what she was doing until she spoke.

  “Are you sexually active?” she asked, her hands still between my legs and her head obscured by my blue robe.

  I gave a nervous laugh. “Probably should have asked that before sticking that thing inside me, huh?” Long pause. No response. Wow, tough crowd. “Uh, not right now, no. But I’m not a virgin.”

  Nurse Reller muttered something under her breath that I didn’t catch, but my face flamed with embarrassment nonetheless. Was she judging me? I hardly thought the royals of Arbon Academy were exactly saving themselves for marriage. Or maybe they were. Maybe that’s why they all got married so young.

  “I’m inserting an IUD for you,” she said louder, reaching for something on the instrument tray beside her. “It’ll prevent any unwanted pregnancies.”

  Panic rose up in me, and I shook my head. “Whoa, wait, what? What if I don’t want an IUD?” Really I should be thankful of the contraception, seeing as it was damn near impossible to get ahold of where I was from. If you were conscientious enough, and had enough spare money, you bought condoms. If not… well… pulling out was the best most could aim for.

  Nurse Reller made an annoyed sound but continued with what she was doing in my downstairs area. “You don’t get to pick and choose, Ms. Spencer,” she advised me just a second before I felt a sharp sting deep inside me. It only lasted a moment, but it was enough to make me suck in a sharp breath. “When you signed your admissions paper, you handed over total control of your healthcare to myself and Dean Morgan.”

  She finished up what she was doing, then stood up and stripped off her rubber gloves.

  “All done,” she said with a cold smile.

  I frowned, tucking my legs back down and sitting up with an uncomfortable wince. “Shouldn’t the school be advising against sexual relationships? Not providing contraception?”

  Nurse Reller gave a shrug and a wry smile. “Why on Earth would we advise against that sort of thing? We actively encourage all our students to mix, regardless of where they come from.” The way her lip curled and her gaze ran over me, I suspected she didn’t totally agree that where I came from counted in that statement, but whatever.

  “I’ll see you again in three months, Ms. Spencer, unless you have any pressing medical issues in the meantime.”

  She was gone before I could ask anything else. Not that I had any other questions, aside from what the fuck just happened here?

  A heavy, icky feeling of violation settled over me as I cleaned myself up and pulled my uniform back on. I needed to hurry if I wanted to get any of my assignments done before dinner. I didn’t want to fall behind before the semester had even really begun.

  Groaning and uncomfortably sore between my legs, I slung my heavy backpack back on and left Nurse Reller’s clinic.

  I’d only made it a few steps down the hall when I heard my name.

  “Wait up!” Alex called out, hurrying to catch up with me when I paused. “I’ve been looking for you all week. Where’ve you been?” His brow was furrowed with something bordering on annoyance.

  “Classes?” I offered, confused. “And Nurse Reller made me do this whole… thing.” I shuddered, and Alex nodded knowingly.

  “Quarterly physicals? Yeah, those suck. Sorry, I thought you knew about them, otherwise I would have warned you.” He tucked his hands into the pockets of his suit pants and gave me a sheepish smile. “But I was trying to find you so I could apologize for the other day.”

  “Okay…?” I pursed my lips, waiting.

  He stared back at me a moment, then must have understood what I was waiting for.

  “So, sorry. It won’t happen again.” His apology was so vague that I narrowed my eyes with suspicion.

  “Alex, do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”

  “Uh…” he hedged, running a hand through his sun-bleached blond hair. Who even had hair like that when it was snowing and dreary outside? “For… being an ass?”

  Wow. He had no clue.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I counted to five in my head so that I didn’t end up junk-punching him or something. “Alex,” I said on a heavy exhale. “You were totally rude, entitled, and arrogant, and you scared that poor kid half to death in the library. What happened to the whole idea that everyone was on equal footing here? Or is that just a bullshit line the dean feeds to new students?”

  Alex’s eyes had widened at my tirade, and he shook his head. “What? No! That’s not…” He trailed off, frowning. “I guess I was pretty rude. I didn’t mean to be; I’m just…” He waved a hand, grimacing. He’d clearly come to the realization that he had no good defense for his actions.

  I had to cut him some slack, though. “You’re used to acting a certain way and having people treat you a certain way.”

  Helplessly, he nodded.

  “I really am sorry, Violet. No one has ever pointed that out to me before. Can I, uh, I mean, would you let me try again?” He looked so hopeful with those big blue eyes pleading. “I really can help you study, and I promise I’m not as entitled as you think.”

  I bit my cheek to keep from scoffing. He was a fucking prince and one of the richest to boot. Yeah, I was pretty sure he was more entitled than I thought, but I was also kind of willing to find out for myself.

  Was it terrible that Nurse Reller’s invasive questions about my sex life, and her unasked for contraception, had me thinking about what sex with Alex would be like?

  My gaze dropped from his face to his lips, then skated lower to where he’d loosened his school tie. Tanned skin disappeared beneath his collar and—

  “Violet?” Alex prompted, and my attention darted back to his face.

  Bad Violet. Quit ogling the prince while he’s talking to you!

  “Um, yes?” I totally hadn’t heard his question but was too embarrassed to admit I’d been fantasizing about him naked.

  His face lit up with a broad smile. “Really? That’s great! I sort of thought Matisse had claimed you for all mealtimes. She can be a bit pushy like that when she likes a girl.”

  “Huh?” I was so lost. Mealtimes? Mattie? Wait, had I just agreed to sit with Alex at dinner? Damn it all to hell. This is why we listen when people are asking questions. Now I’d need to deal with Mattie and Nolan being pissed at me, and Rafe… ugh. What was their deal with Alex? Couldn’t we all just… get along?

  “You do know Mattie is into chicks, right?” Alex was saying, clearly thinking my confusion was about that part of his sentence. “She’s totally crushing on you. Not that I can blame her, seeing as I am, too.”

  That had me stopping dead in the hallway.

  “What?”

  Alex’s cheeks tinted pink, like he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “What? I kinda thought that part was obvious.”

  I shook my head. This conversation was getting way out of hand. “No, I mean, yeah I knew Mattie was not totally straight.” I used her words exactly. “But we’re just friends, nothing more.”

  Alex shrugged like he didn’t totally believe me. “Okay.”

  A smile pulled at my lips, and I watched him shift awkwardly from foot to foot.


  “And yeah, I sort of figured you were interested in being more than just study buddies.”

  He smiled, his eyes dropping for a beat. “You figured right.”

  Alex was again staring at me in this intense way that I would have enjoyed had my vagina not been protesting loudly at me. The fuck? That nurse was on my shit list, and I was going to hide the next time I saw her bitch face coming.

  “Want me to walk you to your room?” Alex said, not noticing my discomfort. “You can drop off the books you don’t need, and we’ll start your schoolwork. I don’t have soccer today—Coach has some meetings, so it’s a rare day off.”

  “I’ll meet you at the library in thirty minutes,” I said, really wanting some time to myself. I needed to shower off the invasiveness of that medical procedure and hopefully track down some painkillers.

  Alex frowned, but knowing he was still on rocky ground with me, didn’t push. “Okay, sure. I’ll find us a table. An available table.” He tacked onto the end.

  I couldn’t help a smile; he was adorable sometimes. A complete dick others. Vast improvement to Rafe, who was a dick all the time.

  “See you soon,” I said, waving as I hurried off, trying not to wince as I walked.

  Alex didn’t notice though, already walking as well with students calling out to him as he passed. Yeah, it wasn’t hard to see where his arrogance came from. The crown royals grew up knowing they owned the world.

  When I made it to my hallway, I slowed down. The pain had dulled, less stabbing, but I could feel dampness on my underwear, and I had a sneaking suspicion I might be bleeding a little.

  What the heck had she done? Hacked me up?

  I only had thirty minutes to get back to Alex, so I couldn’t linger in the hall. Hauling my bag higher, I wiggled my shoulders to relieve the tension and started to walk again.

  “Violet!”

  That one word, it was a snap of command, and I gritted my teeth. Someone fucking hated me today because I could not catch a break.

  Rafe and Jordan were striding toward me; somehow I’d missed them in the hall. I was all kinds of distracted today.

  Rafe stopped right in front of me, intimidatingly close, while Jordan hung back just a little. “Who hurt you?” Rafe demanded.

  I swallowed hard, confusion no doubt marring my brow because I had no fucking idea what he was talking about.

  “Sorry, what?”

  His hand twitched at his side, like he was going to reach out for me, and for a single, desperate moment, I wondered what would happen if he touched me.

  “You’re moving like you’re in pain,” he said slowly, eyes locked on mine, intensity radiating from him.

  What in the...

  Jordan crowded into me then as well, his gaze racing down my body, and not in a sexual way. They were concerned.

  Meanwhile, I was about to hyperventilate because these two beautiful crown princes had me cornered in the hallway, and for the life of me, in that moment, I couldn’t recall why I had ever hated Rafe.

  “Violet!” he snapped again. I had been around enough dangerous men to recognize the lethality of this prince.

  “I’m fine,” I said shortly. “Just an overly handsy nurse. A few painkillers and I’ll be all good.”

  A muscle twitched in Rafe’s jaw, but his eyes softened minutely. Alex had blue eyes that were light and pretty, like a summer sky, but Rafe’s … they were dark and tumultuous. A blue like the deepest ocean touched by violent storms.

  Eyes that a girl could drown in, if she let herself get too close.

  Rafe stepped back, and it was like I could finally breathe. How did a person do that? Without another word, and looking like he regretted stopping in the first place, he turned and stalked away, leaving me with Jordan.

  “We keep running into each other, new girl,” he said, his smile slower and less intense than usual. “Don’t forget what I said.”

  His eyes dropped to my palm reader, and I nodded.

  When he was gone, I ran as fast as I could to my room, sinking back against the door when it closed. Wasting no time, I ripped off the uniform and jumped into the shower, the water as hot as I could handle. A few degrees below scalding.

  Scrubbing my skin didn’t really help; most of the dirt was in my mind, and it was much harder to clean there. But when I emerged ten minutes later, some of the icky feeling had faded.

  It was just a physical exam. And it was practical to have birth control. I didn’t want to get pregnant, and even though I knew the rich would have condoms, doubling up never hurt anyone.

  I just wasn’t used to that sort of examination. No one went to doctors in my world unless they were dying, and even then … it was rare.

  Dressing in a clean uniform, I redid my hair and applied light makeup. A quick search of the room told me there were no painkillers. I’d probably have to see the nurse to procure some, so there was fuck all chance of that happening.

  When I opened my door, though, a small package in front of it stopped me short. Reaching down, I lifted the box and found two different painkillers inside.

  I looked around the long hall, but there was not a student in sight. Hands trembling, I stepped back into my room and grabbed some water, all the while fighting against the hot swell of tears that wanted to burst from my eyes.

  I wasn’t sure which of the princes had left me this gift; it could have been any of the three, although Alex hadn’t even seemed to notice I was in pain. The way the sender had kept it anonymous made me think it might be the prickly Swiss royal.

  Rafe hated me though. Would he really want to ease my pain?

  Jordan, then, was the most likely suspect.

  Whoever it was, I owed them big time. This many painkillers would be worth thousands back home. And they’d just dropped them off like it was no big deal. Guess to them it wasn’t, but to me it meant everything.

  My palm reader buzzed, and I jumped, not used to it yet.

  Mattie: Girl, are you hitting the library this afternoon? I have a table there.

  I sighed, amazed by how easy it was to contact my friends now. My course work was definitely easier with the palm reader, and when I figured out its last few functions, I’d be cruising on easy street.

  Yep, on my way now, I typed, my clumsy fingers taking far longer to get the right words out than Mattie usually did. But Alex wants me to study with him. He’s going to help me.

  There was a long pause, and since my thirty minutes was already up, I left the room. I was halfway to the library before she replied.

  Watch your back, Vi. Alex is one determined bastard.

  Her message was littered with both a warning and something deeper that I didn’t quite understand yet. I needed to know more about their world. I needed to know the history that had torn these royals apart. This week had opened my eyes to a lot of things, but so much was still hidden.

  When I entered the library, it was packed just like yesterday. Apparently you got here right after class, or you didn’t get a table. Considering that almost no one bothered to use books any longer, it was more like a museum showcasing the paper relics and a study hall with tables for those who used palm readers.

  Alex was easy to spot, his blond hair shiny under the lighting. He was in the middle of working, head down as he tapped on his extended version of a palm reader. It had a lot of attachments, with a board for typing, extra screens, and some holograms popping up so he could research and write at the same time.

  “Wow,” I said quickly. “Does mine do all that?” There was even more than I’d thought to still learn.

  Alex’s head shot up and his smile was bright and genuine.

  “You got a palm reader?” he said, like he hadn’t noticed it at all before now. I’d only been wearing it all week, but I supposed I had been avoiding him, so it was understandable.

  He was certainly not up to Rafe’s standards of observation. So far nothing had gotten past the Swiss prince…

  And why the fuck was I always comp
aring Alex and Rafe? It was starting to get annoying, even in my own head.

  Alex reached out and wrapped his hand around mine, touching me in the familiar way he’d had since almost the first moment we met. “Yours does everything,” he said, after examining it for a moment.

  He still had my hand, and he pulled gently, nudging me into the seat beside him. “Let me show you.”

  Alex showed me how to activate all of those final extra features, improving my ability to do schoolwork tenfold. “Thanks,” I said sincerely because he didn’t have to take so much time and be so thorough.

  A crooked twist of his lips made my heart stutter. “Pretty sure I’d do anything you asked, Violet. Showing you how to use a palm reader while secretly adding my details and getting yours is nothing.”

  A snort of laughter left me. “Okay, I guess you weren’t completely altruistic.”

  Alex shrugged. “I rarely am, but I’m seeing there might be some benefits to a bit of an emotional upgrade. You know, if I want to be in your league.”

  An insane urge to roll my eyes came over me. He sounded sincere, but he was laying it on so thick that one could suffocate in that much perfection.

  “Just keep being yourself,” I suggested. “While also not, if that makes sense.”

  Alex laughed, and thankfully we were able to get back to school then. The next hour flew by with all my fancy new gadgets; I was surprised when I noticed everyone packing up for dinner. I did the same, putting back the few books I’d grabbed to help with a research paper on life directly after the Monarch War.

  “Ready for dinner?” Alex asked, and I was surprised that he seemed slightly nervous.

  “Yep,” I said without hesitation. I’d agreed and I would stick by that, even if it got me into shit with Mattie. Speaking of…

  Alex roped me into dinner with him tonight. Sorry to ditch you, but I really need the help with school.

  I sent it quickly, all the while hoping my friend wouldn’t be pissed with me. I didn’t like the feeling of having to choose between two warring groups at school. That wasn’t my style.