But my height means I can row. When I’m rowing, my breasts can be strapped down and kept out of the way. My rowing scholarship allows me to attend Farcliff University, where I’ll hopefully make something of myself—and I wouldn’t trade that opportunity for anything. With just over a year left until I graduate, I can honestly say that rowing has been my ticket out of a shitty, dead-end Grimdale life.
Would I like a gaggle of boyfriends to follow me around like a parade of little ducklings? Sure—why not? But am I going to stop rowing to get them?
Hell no.
Someone opens the locker room door and a blast of cold air whips through the room. I shiver, but I know as soon as I get out onto the water and start rowing, I’ll be warm.
Then, a nasally, pretentious voice pierces my ears. My lips turn downward.
“Did you get your invitation yet?” Olivia Brundle’s falsetto voice makes my stomach turn. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with her this early in the morning—at least not until after I’d been on the water.
“Got it last night,” Olivia’s clone, Marielle Davenport, replies. “What are you going to wear?”
“Well, Charlie likes it when I wear something that shows off my legs,” Olivia says. She comes into view around the corner, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “So I’ll probably wear something short, or at least something with a thigh-high slit.” She titters, checking her nails.
Charlie.
Even at four o’clock in the goddamn morning, Olivia is name-dropping the Crown Prince of Farcliff. She talks about him as if they’re engaged already, even though Dahlia told me Olivia has only met him once before at a state event four years ago. Olivia’s father is the Prime Minister of Brundle, our neighbors to the south, so not only is she supremely annoying, but she’s also been told that she’s important since the day she was born.
Wonderful.
I tie my shoelaces loosely, knowing I’ll take them off as soon as my boat is in the water. I stand up, and Olivia steps into my path.
“Did you get your invitation to the Prince’s Ball, Elle?” She arches her perfectly groomed eyebrow and taps the side of her face with a manicured finger.
I don’t answer.
“Is that a no?” Olivia glances at Marielle, grinning, before turning back to me. “Oh, right, you’re just here as a charity case.” She laughs, and Marielle follows suit.
I try to step around Olivia, but she moves with me. Her expensive perfume wafts toward me as she blocks my path. She’s infuriating—right down to her long hair, curled into perfect, beachy waves that fall all the way down to her waist.
Seriously, who has time to curl their hair this early in the morning? I can just about manage to run a comb through my hair, and it’s so short it barely gets tangled to begin with.
As I take another step to the side, Olivia mirrors my movements again to stop me.
“What, cat got your tongue?”
“I just want to practice, Olivia. You already know I haven’t gotten an invite to that stupid party.”
Marielle snorts. Her beachy blonde waves are already tied back in a high ponytail. The look she gives me is just as withering as Olivia’s. “Stupid party? Elle, this isn’t a ‘stupid party’. This is where Prince Charlie chooses a wife.”
I bite back my laughter, looking between the two of them. Everyone talks about the Prince’s twenty-fifth birthday ball as if it’s some magical, mystical, marriage-inducing event.
It’s a freaking party—and a pretentious one at that.
Marielle and Olivia blink, staring at me.
“Wait, what? Are you being serious?” I scoff. “He chooses a wife at this ball? Is this the Middle Ages? It’s his birthday party.”
They roll their eyes in unison, like two creepy plastic dolls.
“Fucking peasants,” Olivia says, finally brushing past me. She takes care not to let any part of her body touch any part of mine, as if I’m some diseased leper.
“Pathetic. Of course she wouldn’t understand, Ollie, she’s from Grimdale.” Marielle turns her big blue eyes to me. “Things are done differently in Farcliff, Elle. We actually have this thing called class. You should look it up.”
She saunters past me without another look.
Rage.
My blood boils. My face turns beet red. Every stupid day of every stupid week, I’m made to feel like less. Less womanly. Less intelligent. Less worthy. Just… less.
Grimdale is only half an hour’s drive away, but I might as well be from another planet for the way I’m treated here. It’s not just Olivia and Marielle, either. All my teammates never waste an opportunity to make me feel like I don’t belong here—like working my ass off for this stupid scholarship was a waste of time, because I’ll never be accepted into this world no matter how hard I try.
I stomp out of the locker room and down to the warm-up area, even though my body is already burning hot. Olivia and Marielle will take their time to change their clothes and re-apply their makeup.
Yes, they need to re-apply their makeup before dawn. I’ll never understand it.
I’m not complaining, though. It’ll give me time to warm up and make my way to the shells on my own.
I heave a single scull onto my shoulder and grab my oars. The weight of the boat is already starting to calm me down. Thank goodness I row singles, because I might not be able to resist capsizing us if I had to share a boat with either of those two egotistical, uppity little turds.
Coach Bernard is already waiting at the pier. He watches me put the shell in the water and set the oars in place. I keep my head down, not wanting to look up at the massive, stone building across the lake. Farcliff Castle looms above me, visible from almost everywhere on the university grounds. It’s just one more stark reminder of how much I don’t belong here. I’ll always be the orphan girl from Grimdale, even if I do get this expensive, overrated university degree.
Coach clears his throat. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fucking peachy, Coach.” I kick my shoes off and set them on the shore before walking back toward my shell. My boat shoes are waiting for me at the end of the timber pier.
Coach looks at me under his dark, wiry eyebrows. He’s assessing me—mentally, physically, emotionally—just like he does with all his athletes. I take a deep breath and square my shoulders, meeting his steely gaze. He drills his eyes into mine for a moment, then nods and looks down at his clipboard, satisfied.
“We’re going for a steady, long interval practice today, Elle.” Coach checks his notes.
I sweep my hand through my short brown hair, pushing it off my forehead. Between last night’s sex party in Dahlia’s room and this morning’s encounter with the evil blonde twins, I’m having trouble focusing.
“Nice and easy,” he continues. “I want you doing nine-minute 2k intervals. We’re doing ten of them, so I hope you’re nice and rested. It’s going to be a long practice today. Here.” He hands me the small headset I wear to hear his commands.
I slip my boat shoes on and get into the shell. The boat rocks from side to side and I take a deep breath to calm myself down. The last thing I need is a dip in the lake at this hour.
When I’m set up near the marker buoys, I look up at Coach Bernard. His voice comes through the headset. “All ready…”
I grip the oars and close my eyes for the briefest moment. Inhaling deeply, I take in the scent of the water and the smell of the trees that line the shore. I savor the fresh, crisp taste of the air as it fills my lungs. My shell feels steady beneath me. My muscles coil in anticipation as I wait for my coach’s command.
“Row.”
My oars bite the water.
This is where I’m meant to be. I may be from Grimdale, and I may never get fancy little invitations to fancy little parties. I know I’ll never become ‘Charlie’s’ wife—or even see the Prince face-to-face—but I can row.
As my shell shears through the water, my whole body moves in sync—from my br
eath, through every muscle, and right down to the boat that supports me.
My height doesn’t bother me here. On the water, it’s an advantage. With every breath, I pull the oars through the water and sweep them back again, the blades almost skimming the glassy surface of Farcliff Lake. My body folds and extends with each stroke, and I’m free.
If I could fly, I imagine it would feel like this. It’s effortless, smooth.
It’s magic.
The air rushes around my body as my blood starts to pump. After two minutes, I’m nice and warm and I find my rhythm.
And I soar.
“Wave left,” Coach says in my ear as a power boat passes by, leaving a wake for me to deal with. It doesn’t bother me—I’m in my element. This is what I was made to do.
I was born to row.
By the eight-minute mark, my breath is ragged and my legs and arms are screaming with that sweet, sharp burn that I’ve grown addicted to. I must be close to the 2000-meter mark by now.
“Three hundred.”
I pull, and I forget about the lack of sleep and the harpies in the locker room. I forget about Dahlia and the fact that her healthy sex life is the exact opposite of my own nun-like existence. I even forget that I wish it wasn’t.
I just do what I do best. I row.
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Also by Lilian Monroe
For all books, visit:
www.lilianmonroe.com
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