Rather than trying to negotiate a spot based on skill, I sat down in the only available open seating, the far end of the reject table. I was pleased to notice Alex and Ella followed. It would have been difficult if my brother and friend had decided they were too proud to sit beside me. It had been a rough first day.
I spent the entire course of dinner listening to a lively exchange between the two while I pushed gravy-soaked peas across my plate. Alex and Ella seemed to be the only ones that found our entire situation humorous. While everyone else was strategizing or complaining, my brother and friend were more concerned with making me laugh. I felt grateful for their company. I needed more positivity, and while many of their jokes were at the expense of our own mishaps, it was nice to laugh them off.
“Did you see me during our drills with Sir Piers?” Alex was asking.
Ella snorted. “I was too busy breathing to notice anyone besides myself.”
“Well, while you girls were busy attempting to keep up with us men—”
“Hey!” Ella and I both interrupted. We had both done better than Alex in conditioning. My brother might have brawn, but he had spent the majority of his life indoors.
“—I was trying to romance a lady that was actually performing well during the drill,” Alex continued on, grinning.
“And how did that go?” I interjected.
“Well—”
“And which damsel in distress would she be?” Ella taunted. “I saw you entertain several before class had even started.” It looked like my dark-skinned friend was not enamored after all.
“Hardly,” Alex chuckled. “What you may allude to as flirtation, I call harmless conversation.”
Ella and I exchanged amused looks.
“So I tried to strike up a conversation with that lovely lady,” he finished, pointing his orange to Priscilla from Darren’s entourage. It was at just that moment the girl raised her eyes to catch the three of us staring. I saw her frown and turn to the rest of her table to whisper something, shooting a disgusted glance in our direction.
“Seems like a fan,” I remarked casually.
“Sure it went well, lover boy? That looks more like disdain than admiration,” Ella added.
Alex tore off a bit of rind from his orange and threw it at us.
“Well, it started off well enough. I’d caught her eyeing me a couple of times during practice—”
“Probably in an attempt to avoid you,” Ella laughed.
“—So I figured I’d try my chance at some conversation. I’d just managed to catch up to her when my foot caught on one of those lovely stairs Piers had us climbing.
“So, of course, I did what anyone does when they are falling. I grabbed on to the nearest support which just happened to be the lady in question. She left in a hurry after that little incident. Shot me the look of death, that one did. Now all I can think is that not only did the girl outrun me, she also thinks I’m a complete chump.”
“You poor thing, most of the class can outrun you,” Ella sympathized, patting his shoulder and laughing at the same time. “Can’t believe you thought you had a chance with Priscilla.”
Alex guffawed but then continued stubbornly, “But why not? I thought status wasn’t supposed to matter here.”
I choked on my roast, and Ella just rolled her eyes. “It will always matter to some,” I finally managed to say through a mouthful of spinach. Darren’s angry eyes flashed in my mind.
“Especially,” Ella added, “to those who plan on joining the royal family.” She jerked her head in Priscilla’s direction.
“Are you sure?” Alex asked reluctantly.
“I grew up with her,” she replied. “Believe me, that girl has eyes for one thing and one thing only.”
“So, she’s here for Prince Darren,” Alex surmised.
“Most definitely.” Ella twisted the water glass in her palm. “Her parents are very well-known courtiers. Social climbers like Priscilla’s family dedicate their lives to building close relations with the Crown. Priscilla is a very pretty girl, and her family has enough standing to make her a very eligible wife. Everyone knows that, as future king, Prince Blayne’s hands are tied with a political marriage, but Darren’s are not. Every power hungry family in court who has a daughter around his age has been after that title since the day he was born.”
As I listened to Ella, I found myself watching Priscilla interact with those closest to her. Ella could say she was power hungry, but the girl had still performed very strongly in all of our lessons today.
“I don’t think she’s just here for the prince,” I remarked, causing both Alex and Ella to start. I continued, “Priscilla’s much too prepared. She might want to secure an engagement, but I think she came here for a robe.”
Ella just shook her head. “If she wasn’t good, she wouldn’t have a chance at the throne to begin with.”
“Why?”