“But if I’m not here, won’t you just find another replacement? I mean, there’s going to be a Queen here even if I’m not,” I pointed out.
“There is more to it than that. We are not all created equal,” Elora went on, and cast an odd look at Finn. “We are far more gifted than the others.
You have already tapped into persuasion, and you have the potential for much more. Vittra are lucky to have any abilities. Adding you to their ranks would greatly change their power to influence.”
“You’re saying I’m powerful?” I raised a sardonic eyebrow. There was nothing powerful about me.
“You will be,” Elora amended. “That is why you need to live here, to learn our ways so you can take your rightful place.”
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“Okay.” I took a deep breath and ran my hand along my pajama pants.
None of this seemed real or made sense. The idea of myself as a Queen was completely absurd. I barely managed to pass for an awkward teenager.
“Finn will be staying to watch over you,” Elora nodded again to Finn.
“Since they’re looking for you, added protection would be prudent.” Her eyes were locked on Finn for a moment, then she turned back to me. “You look a mess. Why don’t you get yourself cleaned up?”
“Um, yeah, okay,” I nodded unsurely and stood up. “Thanks. I guess.”
“Thank you,” Finn did a small bow to her, and then we left the room.
After walking away from her, there was always this sudden sense of being able to breathe again. I didn’t really feel it when I was with her, but it was as if she took all the oxygen from the room. As soon as I left, I could suddenly feel the shift. Breathing deeply, I ran my hand up and down my arm to stifle the chill that ran over me. Everything she had said would’ve freaked me out if I had believed it, so I pushed it from my thoughts.
“Are you holding up alright?” Finn looked at me carefully.
“Yeah, I’m great.” I tucked some of my curls behind my ears, but mostly, I was just happy that I was still walking. “So… what’s going on with you and Elora?”
“What do you mean?” Finn looked at me from the corner of his eye.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, afraid that I had been imagining things. “It just seems like she looks at you intently a lot, and like you understand exactly what she means.” As soon as it came out of my mouth, it dawned on me.
“That’s one of her abilities, isn’t it? Kind of like what I can do, but less manipulative. Cause she’s not controlling you, is she? She’s just telling you what to do.”
“Not even telling me what to do. She’s just talking,” Finn corrected me.
“Why doesn’t she talk to me like that?” I asked.
“She wasn’t sure if you’d be receptive. If you’re not accustomed to it, hearing another person’s voice in your head can be unsettling,” Finn explained.
“And she didn’t really need to.”
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“But she needed to with you?” I slowed down, and he slowed to match my pace. “She was talking to you private about me, wasn’t she?” Finn paused, and I could see that he was considering lying to me.
“Some of it, yes,” Finn admitted.
“Can she read minds?” I felt slightly horrified at that thought.
“No. Very few can.” When he looked over at me, he smiled crookedly.
“Your secrets are safe, Wendy.”
Finn walked me the rest of the way to my room, although I fell silent after that. My mind spun from everything that happened, and I looked forward to getting cleaned up and pulling the twigs from my hair. He paused at my door, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to invite him in or something. Then he just smiled, nodded, and told me he’d be down the hall if I needed anything.
When I came out of my shower, wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, I was surprised to find Rhys sitting on my bed. He had my iPod, the one that had come with the room, and he was scrolling through it. I ran a finger through my wet tangles of hair and cleared my throat loudly, since he apparently hadn’t heard me exit the bathroom.
“Oh, hey!” Rhys set aside the iPod and got to his feet, grinning at me in a way that made his eyes sparkle. Then he remembered something, and he attempted a scowl. “You stole my bike.”
“Oh, yeah I’m really sorry about that,” I admitted sheepishly. “Did Finn get it back for you? My aunt took it to the impound lot.”
“No, he told me about it, but I guess you guys didn’t have time cause you left in a hurry.” His expression got more serious as he leaned in towards me, and it took me a minute to realize he was admiring the bruise I had growing on the side of my face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I brushed off his concern and walked around to the other side of the bed. It suddenly seemed like a good idea to put some distance between us. When he looked at me like that, it made me acutely aware of the fact that I wasn’t wearing anything underneath my fluffy robe.
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“Good,” Rhys smiled. “But you know, I would’ve let you take it anyway. My motorcycle, I mean. If you had just asked, I wouldn’t have stopped you.” His eyes got uncharacteristically somber when he glanced around my room. “I know what its like to want to escape.”
“You aren’t happy here?” I blurted out before I could think about how rude that sounded. His eyes met mine, just for a second, revealing something more than that, but then he quickly dropped them.
“Why wouldn’t I be happy?” Rhys asked wryly. He was standing directly on the other side of the bed as me and he ran his fingers along my silk sheets, staring at the bedspread intently. “I have everything a kid could want.
Video games, cars, toys, money, clothes, servants…” He trailed off, but then a slow smile returned to his face and he looked up at me. “And now I have a Princess living across the hall from me. I’m ecstatic.”
“I’m not really a Princess,” I shook my head and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Not in the real sense of the word. I mean… I just got here.”
“You look like a Princess to me.” The way he smiled at me made me want to blush, so I stared down at my bedspread, unsure of what else to do.
“So what about you?” I kept my head down, but I raised my eyes up to meet his. The smile playing on my lips felt oddly flirtatious, but I didn’t mind it.
“Are you some kind of Prince?”
“Hardly,” Rhys laughed. He ran a hand through his sandy hair, looking rather sheepish. “I should probably let you finish getting dressed. The chef is on tonight, and supper is served promptly at six. So be there or… eat cold leftovers.”
Once he left, I took a deep breath and flopped back on my bed.
Everything felt way too big in this house. There was all this vast space between everything, and it felt like I was trapped on an island. I had thought that’s what I had wanted. To be my very own island, but here I was, and I felt nothing but isolated and confused.
I was pretty sure that people weren’t telling me things. Every time I asked something, there were only half-answers and vague responses before they 162
quickly changed the subject. For being set to inherit a kingdom of sorts, I was pretty low on the information rung.
I had expected supper to be some kind of grand ordeal, but it wasn’t at all. The dining room was empty, so I followed the voices into the kitchen. A man in all white was working the stove, his long graying hair pulled back in a ponytail. Rhys had a stool pulled up to the island, munching on a bread roll and laughing loudly at something. A girl looking a little bit older than me stood on the other side of the island, a Mountain Dew bottle in her hand. Her hair was a shiny red, her eyes sparkled green, and she had a nervous smile. Finn had his back to me when I came in the kitchen, but he glanced over his shoulder at the sound of my footsteps.
“I was just coming to see if you’d like to join us,” Finn turned around and greeted me.
“Yeah, we were having dinner
and
a show,” Rhys smirked, looking at the girl. “Rhiannon was just about to burp the alphabet!”
“Oh my gosh, Rhys, I was not!” The girl protested, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “I just drank the Mountain Dew too fast and I said excuse me!” Rhys laughed again and tossed a piece of bread in his mouth. She looked apologetically at me. “I’m sorry. Rhys can be such an idiot sometimes. I wanted to make a better first impression than this.”
“You’re doing okay so far.” I wasn’t used to the idea of anybody trying to impress me ever, and she definitely had a certain likable quality to her.
“Keep it down! I’m trying to work!” The chef grumbled at the stove.
Rhys just smirked, so Rhiannon cast a warning glare at him.
“Anyway, Wendy, this is Rhiannon, the girl next door,” Rhys gestured between the two of us. “Rhiannon, this is Wendy, future ruler of everything around you.”
“Wendy would be just fine,” I corrected him.
“Hi, nice to meet you.” She set down her pop and came over to me so she could shake my hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
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“Oh yeah? Like what?” I was curious to see what people were saying about me. So far, I couldn’t imagine that much of it had been good. Rhiannon floundered helplessly for a minute, looking to Rhys for help, but he just laughed. “It’s okay. I was just kidding.”
“Oh. Sorry.” She flashed an embarrassed smile, and Rhys pushed out a stool next to him, patting the seat.
“Why don’t you come have a seat, Rhiannon, and chillax for a bit?”
Rhys offered, trying to settle her discomfort. She felt awkward and embarrassed because of me, and I could not wrap my head around that concept.
“Are you hungry?” Finn asked. He had gone over to a cupboard to start getting out plates, and he looked back at me.
“Uh, yeah,” I nodded. “Famished, actually.”
Finn got plates for everyone, then got water for the two of us and pop for Rhys and Rhiannon. Rhys continued to tease Rhiannon about everything, and she kept blushing and making apologies for him. I suspected that their relationship modeled something that resembled a normal healthy sibling relationship, and I had to push that thought away before I had a chance to think of Matt. The chef complained the entire time of all the noise we were making, but that only encouraged Rhys to get louder.
Finn pulled up a stool next to mine, and he spoke very little while we ate. Rhys tended to dominate the conversation, with Rhiannon interjecting when he said things that were categorically untrue or apologizing when she thought he was being rude. He never really was, though. For the most part, he was funny and lively and kept things from ever feeling awkward.
Occasionally, Finn would look over at me and make quiet comments when Rhys and Rhiannon were otherwise engaged in some kind of debate.
Hidden underneath the lip of the island, I felt his knee brush against mine. At first, I assumed it was a simple accident because of our close proximity, but as I finished my meal, I noticed that he had actually tilted himself towards me, leaning in closer. It was a subtle move, one that Rhys and Rhiannon probably wouldn’t catch, but I definitely had.
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“You are such a pest!” Rhiannon grumbled playfully after Rhys had flicked an unwanted tomato on to her plate. She tried to put it back on his plate, but he lightly slapped at her hand and pushed her away. “Rhys! You’re like a five-year-old sometimes!”
“Dinner’s not always this exciting,” Finn assured me, his voice low. I leaned towards him so I could hear him better, and his dark eyes met mine.
“Sometimes Rhys is gone.” A small smile played on his lips. “Although, with you around, things are bound to get more exciting.”
“You think so?” I asked, trying to make my voice sound sexier somehow, but I completely failed. Finn smiled wider, and my heart nearly hammered out of my chest.
“Sorry for interrupting your play time,” Elora spoke from behind us.
Her voice wasn’t that loud, but somehow it seemed to echo through everything.
Rhys and Rhiannon immediately stopped their fighting, both of them sitting rigidly and staring down at their plates. Finn moved away from me, but he turned around to face Elora, making that look like it had been his intention all along. I glanced back over my shoulder at her, and the way she looked at me made me feel guilty, even though I was pretty sure I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“You weren’t interrupting anything,” Finn assured her, but I sensed a nervousness below his calm words. “Were you planning to join us?”
“No, that’ll be quite all right.” Elora surveyed the kitchen and the small mess we had created on the island with heavy distaste. “I needed to speak with you.”
“Would you like us to be excused?” Rhys offered, and Rhiannon already started sliding off her seat.
“That won’t be necessary.” Elora held up her hand, and Rhiannon blushed as she climbed back on the stool. “The Strom’s will be coming for dinner tomorrow.” Her eyes went back to Rhys and Rhiannon, and she seemed to cower under Elora’s gaze. “I trust that you two will find a way to make yourselves useful.”
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“When they come over here, I’ll go over there,” Rhys suggested cheerily. She nodded at him, showing that his response was sufficient enough.
“As for you, you will be joining us.” Elora smiled at me, but there was something uneasy masked behind it. “The Strom’s are very good friends of our family, and I expect you to make a good impression with them.” She gave Finn that intense look, meaning she was saying things I wasn’t meant to hear, and he nodded understanding. “Finn will be in charge of preparing you for the dinner, making sure you are on your best behavior and know everything you need for tomorrow evening.”
“Okay,” I nodded, figuring that I had better say something.
“That is all. Carry on.” Elora turned and walked out of the room, her skirt flowing behind her, but nobody said anything until she was long gone.
Finn stood up and started clearing away his dishes, and Rhiannon almost shivered with relief. She was more terrified of Elora than even I was, and I wondered what Elora had done to make her so deserving of that fear.
Only Rhys seemed to shake it off as soon as she had gone.
“I don’t know how you can stand that creepy mind speak thing she does with you, Finn.” Rhys shook his head and took another bite of his food. “I would freak out if she were in my head.”