by Kat Zaccard
“Remember, Princess, you owe me an explanation.”
I replied with a salute and closed the window. I watched him smudge out our tracks some more. He’d promised to tell Olaf he’d slipped on the sidewalk into the snowbank if any questions were raised. A little while later, the girls were fast asleep. I heard the soft scraping of a shovel. Peeking out the window again, I saw Diego fixing our mess. A light snow had fallen, which had actually accentuated our prints in the snow as it settled in the grooves. Diego was shoveling the walk smooth again and sprinkling sand on the path. I noticed that he walked the long way to dump each shovel of snow under Shea’s window to hide our escape. He’d be up awhile yet, and I knew I owed him a fair amount of gratitude along with an explanation.
◆◆◆
We woke up early Saturday morning and headed to the dining hall on the mezzanine for breakfast. We were happy to note that our evening exploits seemed to have gone unnoticed as only the usual whispers and glares followed us around the room. I liked to say “us” because I was with my pack, but it was really me that drew the attention. I squared my shoulders and put on my best I-don’t-care face.
After breakfast, Ms. Grizzle approached our table. We all froze, certain we were caught. I was surprised when she merely handed me a note. I broke the Osakura seal and read Nadia’s note.
Alice,
I have arranged for you to visit me this afternoon. We are due for tea, and I hear someone is interested in conversing with you. I’ve arranged an escort to bring you to my townhouse in Dryden. Please meet me at 2 o’clock this afternoon.
Warmly,
Nadia Osakura
I handed the note over to Shea. “I think Nadia knows.”
That afternoon, I walked down the steps of the Artemis dorm. Diego was waiting for me. He was wearing jeans and a blue jacket that, for a normal human, would be too light for the weather. I smiled cautiously at him and was relieved to see his anger from the night before had dissipated.
“Fancy seeing you here.” I smiled.
“I figured this would be the least suspicious way for us to have a private conversation.”
“Did you arrange my meeting with Nadia?” I was surprised. He must really want to talk to me. I couldn’t tell if I was nervous or excited, but the thought ran a little thrill up my spine.
“I did. We have to discuss last night. You guys can’t go sneaking around at night unprotected. That was…” He took a breath to steady himself. “That was terrifying.”
I stared at him. I hadn’t expected that. We started to walk towards the path to Dryden in silence other than the crunching snow under our feet. When we made it out of sight of the manor, I hazarded a look at him. “I’m sorry, Diego. I didn’t think about my promise to Jack or the risk to you.”
“I know, but, Alice, it’s you who can’t put yourself at risk like that. I—” He stopped himself. I wished he hadn’t. He… what? His eyes bored into mine, then he looked away. We started walking again.
“I know it was stupid, but we had a good reason—” I started to explain, but he cut me off.
“I figured you’d go after Ms. Cope, but did you have to break in in the middle of the night? I mean, you could’ve snuck in while they were at lunch or something.”
“I…” I hadn’t thought of that. My protest died on my lips.
“Anyway, did you find anything?”
I couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want an explanation; he wanted in on the scheme! I should’ve known better. “We didn’t find anything in her office,” I said, “but I did find out from the headmaster that her mother died some time ago. Apparently, after leaving midwifery, she eventually came here and was the head nurse for many years.”
“Hmm,” pondered Diego. “I wonder if there’s anything useful in Ms. Cope’s home?”
“That’s what we were wondering too!” I was smiled mischievously. Would Diego really help us?
“Well, there’s no way I’m helping you break into her house.” There goes that.
“I wasn’t even suggesting it!” I replied indignantly.
“Sure you weren’t, but your eyes said it all. You cannot break into her house.”
“What if we get invited in?”
“That’s not likely.”
“Oh, no? Why not?”
“I can think of a million reasons, but here are three off the top of my head: you’re a minor, you’re a student, and you’re a princess.”
He rattled those off pretty quickly, and I wondered if he was thinking of other unanswered questions.
We made it to Nadia’s door unscathed. Diego had planned to wait outside, but Nadia ushered him in.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s freezing out there and I already know you’re on Team Alice.”
“Team Alice?” He laughed.
“Of course.” Nadia swept her long black hair across her shoulder. “Come, let’s have a proper war council.”
Nadia led us into the parlor, explaining that she’d sent her staff out on errands so we’d have privacy. “I’m afraid that also means iced tea instead of hot. I know it’s silly at this time of year, but at least I brought out biscuits.”
Nadia was usually the epitome of posh, so I was surprised by her casual attitude. She wanted to be filled in on all the latest gossip, including the reason for Diego’s unusual request. To explain last night, I had to fill her in on Pierre’s information that my father and, conceivably, my mother, both had been murdered.
Nadia was appalled at the information but didn’t look especially surprised. “I’ve wondered about their deaths for some time. It was all a little too convenient. At least we know that your disappearance was engineered by your father and not someone else. I guess I can stop having your adoptive parents followed now.” The last part, she muttered under her breath.
“Excuse me? You’ve been watching my parents?”
“Of course! I was keeping an eye on them. Sadly, they’re terribly ordinary.”
Diego chuckled, and I glared at each of them in turn.
“Alice, when are you going to realize that you’re not just a princess, but the princess? You’re next in line for the throne, and you’re extremely dangerous.”
“I’m not dangerous.” Even as I said it, my inner feminist screamed in protest. But I didn’t feel dangerous except that everyone was always protecting me, which put them in mortal peril. I guess I was dangerous after all.
“You certainly are dangerous to Christina Reynolds.”
“True. And that puts anyone around me in danger too.” I looked down at my lap, iced tea forgotten.
“Alice,” Diego said softly, “we choose to support you and protect you. You have to let us, for the good of the pack.”
“He’s right,” put in Nadia briskly, “and that means no more stupid midnight missions. Maybe I can get into Tryna Cope’s house?”
“How?”
“How else? I’ll befriend her.”
I felt a little guilty using her like that, but Nadia waved me off. “I won’t say anything untrue or do anything misleading. I am quite charming when I want to be. There’s nothing wrong with getting to know a neighbor,” she said, and I decided to leave it in Nadia’s capable hands.
On the way back home, I asked Diego something that had been bothering me since the Winter Palace. “Do you really think I used my influence on Sir Henry and Becky?”
“You know you did.” Diego stopped and looked at me quizzically. “Don’t you?”
“I didn’t! I mean, I was trying to persuade them and using every ounce of charm I could muster, but my alpha influence doesn’t work when I’m human ... at least, I didn’t think it did…” I trailed off, the truth plain before my eyes. “I really didn’t mean to,” I finished with a whisper.
“I believe you, but I think you did use it as a human. I’ve felt you use your influence before when you tried helping me, uh, super shift.” We still hadn’t landed on a term for his extraordinary power to shift into a half-man, half-wol
f that begged the M-word.
“Yeah, but I was a wolf then.”
“I know, but it felt the same.”
“But I usually can’t like change people’s minds once they’ve made them up,” I protested. “I can stop someone from doing something they want to do for like ten seconds.”
“I don’t know, Alice. Maybe your powers are getting stronger?”
“How’s that possible?”
“It’s like a muscle; the more you use it, the bigger it gets.” There was a dirty joke in there somewhere, but I was too agitated to reach for it. Had Hayley been present, she’d have been disappointed in me.
“Arrgh! I hate this! I don’t even want this stupid power, but now it’s getting worse?” I kicked at the snow, hit a rock, and started hopping on one foot to shake out the pain.
Diego was trying really hard to not laugh at me, and failing.
“Stop laughing!” I demanded.
He didn’t stop. If anything, he laughed harder.
“I mean it! Stop it!” And I actually tried to use my wolf influence.
Diego kept laughing. I stomped my foot in frustration, then winced, remembering too late my stubbed toe. Diego broke out into new peals of laughter. Apparently, I had to wait for his histrionics to end. I crossed my arms and glared. He peeked at me and giggled more. Finally, I balled up a few snowballs and pelted him into submission. After he stopped wiping away tears, I scowled at him. His mouth quirked. I dared him with my eyes to laugh again. Go on.
“Forgive me, Princess, but at least we proved one thing, eh?”
“What’s that?”
“I felt you try to use your influence again. You know, to get me to stop laughing. And well, it didn’t work.” He looked like he was ready to dodge a few more snowballs, but I lay my weapons down.
“That’s true!” I smiled.
“Yep, so maybe you can’t really make anyone do something they don’t want to do.”
“But you had said there was no way Sir Henry would’ve left my security detail without alpha influence.”
“Well”—he scratched his head thoughtfully—“I meant it at the time, and still do, sort of. Maybe it’s more like he wanted two things at once. He wanted to load the plane so we could get you out of there, but he also wanted to protect you. Your influence helped him choose. Also, he knew he wasn’t leaving you in danger because you were with me.”
“Do you really mean that or are you just trying to make me feel better?”
“Hmm, maybe it’s a little from column A and a little from column B.” He grinned and lobbed a snowball of his own at me. I squealed. Damn my traitorous throat!
We threw snow at each other for a bit before collapsing on the ground, laughing. It felt good to really laugh. I realized I hadn’t done that in a while.
“Come on, Princess, let’s get you home.” Diego stood and offered his hand to pull me to my feet. He held it just a moment longer than necessary. I smiled at him. The moment passed, and we started walking.
“I needed a good laugh.”
“I noticed.”
Chapter 22
February brought the sun back, and it gleamed off the snow with a blinding light. We squinted as we trudged to school. In pottery class, I was getting better at the wheel. I was pretty pleased with the bowl I had made my mom for Mother’s Day. Today, I was glazing and asked Adam for help picking colors. As soon as I mentioned it was for my mom, his face darkened.
“Something I said?” I asked gently, not wanting to pry. Adam knew Shea and I discussed everything, but I tried to respect his privacy and pretend I didn’t know all about their holiday blowup.
“It’s nothing, just, my mom will be lucky if I ever speak to her again.”
“It’s still that bad?” I asked, dropping all pretenses that I didn’t know what was going on.
“Yeah,” he grumbled as he shifted jars of glaze around.
“I’m sorry, Adam, I…” I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to denounce his family’s actions, and on principle, I did. But I also worried that Adam and Shea were becoming kinda co-dependent.
Adam looked at me. “You know I love her, right?”
His sincerity melted my heart and almost my doubts. “I know, Adam, and I know how she feels about you too.”
“But? Your face is saying ‘but,’” Adam pressed.
“Did you just call me a Buttface?” I teased with mock indignation.
Adam cracked a grin but wouldn’t be dissuaded. “Out with it, Alice. We’re better friends than that.”
I sighed. He was right. I wasn’t being fair to either of them by only talking to Shea. “I love how you treat Shea, and I know she adores you”—Adam gestured impatiently for me to get on with it—“but I do worry that you guys are so serious already. You still have college and the rest of your lives to make sure you’re, you know, a good match.”
Adam’s face fell. It broke my heart to see him look so wounded by me. “I thought you understood, Alice.” He looked at me earnestly. “Shea is the only one for me, forever. She’s my true mate. I feel it.”
“But you’re so young, and they’re always cautioning us about our hyperactive hormones.”
Adam barked out a bitter laugh. “You sound like my mom.”
“I’m sorry! I don’t mean to. I just hate to see you both so miserable.”
“But we’re not miserable! We’re stupidly happy! It’s just this nonsense with my parents and their hang-up on status that has us upset. We want them at our wedding, but we’ll elope without them if we have to.”
“What?” I smacked his arm and he dropped a jar of glaze. The jar shattered and the green goo seeped onto the floor. Adam rolled his eyes at me and went to grab some paper towels while I threw away the remnants of the jar. After assuring the art teacher all was well, we went back to our conversation.
“Why are you guys in such a rush to get married?” As I said it, I realized the most obvious reason. Given the look Adam gave me, I wasn’t far off the mark. I blushed deeply.
“Sometimes you’re such a prude, Alice,” Adam said with a straight face. At least he didn’t seem mad at me. His words stung, and I pondered why I was so upset. They clearly loved each other. Maybe it wasn’t what I would’ve chosen, but, ah … that was it.
I looked at Adam. “I’m sorry, Adam. You make a good point. Maybe I’m just so focused on trying to get out of a marriage that I can’t understand why you guys are so determined to rush into one.”
“We’re not rushing. I haven’t even asked her yet.” Well, thank the Great Queen for small blessings.
“I’ll be more supportive, I promise.” I looked into his somber face sincerely. “For what it’s worth, I think your mom is being a royal bitch.”
“Hey, that’s my mom!” He grinned at me.
The mood lightened, and he helped me pick the perfect combo of colors to glaze my bowl. On the way out of the classroom, Adam said, “Hey, Alice, can you keep this conversation between us? I hate to ask you to keep anything from Shea, but this situation with my mom really upsets her. And, well, I still want to surprise her when I do propose.”
“When will that be?”
“I don’t know yet. I want to plan the perfect thing.”
“Will you let me in on it when you do?”
“Most likely. I might need your help.” He grinned. I smiled back, determined to ignore my doubts. These were two of my best friends and they were in love. I might not have been convinced that true mates are real, but I was convinced there was no dissuading them. I just had to be supportive.
◆◆◆
Two weeks later brought another stressful moment in any teenager’s life, Valentine’s Day. Of course Adam and Shea had plans. Sara had plans with Lola, which I took as a good sign things were on the mend between them. The rest of us decided to see a movie in Dryden. It’d been awhile since I’d been to the glamorous old movie theatre, and I was looking forward to it. I loved that they had dairy-free popcorn for all us lactos
e-intolerant werewolves.
Hayley maneuvered to sit next to Anatoly, who ended up sandwiched between her and Fanya. I was a few chairs over and glad of it. Jaro and Cas sat together, and halfway through the film, I noticed they were holding hands. I’d had no idea when they’d become a couple, but I was happy to see them look so carefree and relaxed. I was starting to feel like the odd one out but tamped down any stirring self-pity. Glancing around the dark theatre, I noticed Jillian and Logan snuggled together in the back. I ground my teeth and forced myself to pay attention to the movie.
After the flick, we all headed to Luciana’s for coffee and cake. I opened the door with a twinkling chime and glanced around expectantly. No Diego. My hope fell.
Luciana was pleasant as ever and bought us our treats in record time. We enjoyed ourselves and were reluctant to leave. I noticed Haley and Anatoly in deep conversation while Fanya looked left out. Soon, our Sliver escort arrived to walk us home. It was Sir Henry and Becky. I linked arms with Fanya as we watched Cas and Jaro then Anatoly and Hayley pair off. Fanya and I walked behind them quietly.
“Do you miss the Ukraine?” I asked, grasping for discourse.
“I do, but winter makes me feel more at home.” She gestured to the snow-covered trees twinkling in the moonlight. The moon was just starting to rise, waxing gibbous and orangey-red.
“The moon is beautiful tonight.” I breathed in the crisp air deeply.
“Perhaps too beautiful,” Fanya countered. I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “And too romantic.” She gestured toward the couples in front of us, holding hands.
“Do you think he’s serious about her?” I hated to ask but had to know.
“Who knows? I’ve known Anatoly since we were pups. He’s never had a care in the world.”
“I’m sorry.” I hoped the two words could encompass all I was sorry for.
“Don’t be.” She waved me off. “He’s always seen me as a little sister. I guess I should finally accept that. The funny thing is we were almost betrothed by our families at birth.”