Pearl nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. “Oh, that’s precious.” Her whole body was shaking with her hilarity.
“It’s not funny,” Ezra grumbled, cracking his neck and digging his arm out from behind me. “It was horrible. We had to sit there and take it.”
“I think I’m that much more stupid for having listened to it,” I groaned while Ezra rubbed his temples. “Both Kings think Ezra and I are getting our freak on.”
Jack slapped his knee, bending over, choking on silent laughter. It had progressed to the point he was having trouble breathing.
“Maybe I’ll bring someone home tonight after the party,” Ezra mumbled to himself, “Make sure King Venclaire sees her.”
I nodded, thinking that was a good plan, and wondered who I could bring home myself, but Jack and Pearl found that even funnier.
Pearl sputtered, “That’s never,” she snorted, laughter bubbling over, “gonna work.” More tears wiped away. “If they think you’re together, they’ll see that tactic for what it is.”
“You’re lucky it was them that found you like that,” Jack sucked in a large breath, trying to get control of himself. “If it had been my King, or Pearl’s, you two would already be on planes flying in opposite directions.”
I crossed my arms in agitation. “If that won’t work, what do you two propose we do?”
Ezra leaned over the back of the seat, and then flopped back down, throwing on my lap a spare sweatshirt I had stored in here. “Cover those up. They’re what got us in trouble in the first place.”
Pearl and Jack hooted.
I glanced down to where Ezra was glaring. Crossing my arms had opened my shirt again and pushed my boobs up to full view. Bra, cleavage, and all. I sighed and ripped my shirt the rest of the way off since it was a goner anyway, and Ezra tossed it into the back with vigor. Once my sweatshirt was on, I asked again, “What should we do?”
Pearl and Jack were calming themselves, and Jack shrugged, panting a little, saying, “Just give it time. You don’t want them coming back to the truth, so let them think what they want, and once they figure out on their own it’s not true, hopefully they’ll have forgotten your reasons for being in the Hummer in the first place.”
Pearl nodded.
Sluggishly, Ezra and I agreed.
Jack added hesitantly, “This situation reminds me that I need to speak with you guys about something.” He rubbed his chin. “I think we need to discuss how much we touch each other in public.” We stared, and he simplified, “Nikki’s still new at school. They talk around her more, not realizing who they’re next to. She hears things.”
Forehead wrinkling, Pearl asked, “What things?”
Jack sucked in a breath. “Most of the students think it’s odd how much we touch each other. A few words Nikki overhears regularly are weird, twisted, and unnatural.”
We sat in silence, letting that sink in.
“It’s not any of those things,” Pearl whispered, clearing her throat. “We aren’t like everyone else. We’re,” her hand flittered as she thought, “on a different level. We need each other because we understand what the other’s going through.”
Ezra nodded slowly. “Yes, but our subjects believe they own us. Which they do. They wouldn’t understand our reasoning since they’ve never lived a day in our lives.”
“Mysticals stay separated,” I murmured. “That’s how it’s always been. And, possibly, for good reason.” I chewed on my lip. “This isn’t good.”
Jack nodded. “Some are already saying we’re going to be terrible Rulers since we’re ignoring Mys ways.”
“Jesus,” Ezra grumbled, sliding down on the seat, his arms crossing.
Pearl tapped a fingernail on the headrest, staring out the back window. “I don’t think we should stop being seen together. That would give our subjects too much power over us.” She paused, a frown lining her perfect face. “But, maybe, we should stop touching each other. It may actually be our easiness with one another that’s truly bothering them. We don’t want them attacking our friendship. Give them this, and hope it’s enough to calm the masses.”
Slowly, we nodded in agreement, all of us wearing scowls or frowns because it was awful that we were owned this severely by our people. But we were. We were going to be their protectors, leaders, and punishers in a few years’ time. Sadly, as King Venclaire had said, we couldn’t have them undermining us. If we began our ruling with subjects who had no faith in us, that wasn’t acceptable. The weight was always heavy on our shoulders but, sitting here now, seeing one more freedom slip away, it made that barrier between us and our subjects that much wider. And they wondered why we were so close.
Jack murmured, “The Kings won’t be fighting with each other so much, anymore.”