Chapter 13
1127 Words
Thirteen
My university life, aside from my connection to Everly, and the Prince, things had been mostly quiet. I hadn’t had a chance to interact with the other students. In my Art History Introduction class, the professor had decided that we were doing a group project.
“Alright,” said Professor Malcolm, “we’re going to be breaking up into pairs. There’s no switching, and I’ve already picked all of your partners. Please do not grumble. The purpose of this project is to do what art does best. To challenge your boundaries. To make people uncomfortable.”
“To torture us,” a boy muttered, causing the whole class to laugh.
Professor Malcolm glowered at the boy. “And for that, Mr. MacDougal, you will be paired with Miss James.”
A rippling of murmurs went through the class. Everyone turned to look at me. Everly grabbed my hand, as if to tell me that it was going to be alright. Mr. MacDougal looked at me, a flicker of something nasty, something dark in his eyes.
“Perfect,” said Mr. MacDougal.
Everly stood up then, letting my hand go, and causing everyone to turn to look at her. “Professor Malcolm, I demand that you put me with Rose. Or if not me, with someone else. The palace will never approve of this.”
Professor Malcolm sighed. “Your Highness, I understand your concern. Your family might dictate many things, but they do not dictate my classroom. Is that understood?”
“I understand,” Everly mumbled, then sat back down.
I didn’t understand her reaction, or anyone else’s. Until Mr. MacDougal had spoken, I hadn’t known who he was. If he wasn’t a trouble maker, he couldn’t be that bad, could he? But there was evident fear in Everly’s eyes, and Everly was the most fearless person that I knew.
The Professor went down the list, pairing everyone together. Everly got paired together with Scarlett, who was also in our class. Towards the end, as people were grabbing their things and filing out, I found a backpack slammed down on my desk.
I looked up to find Quincy MacDougal looking down at me. He had longish, red hair that fell into his eyes, freckles, and brown, chocolate eyes that stared at me as if he were trying to probe me for answers.
“Rose,” he said with a grin, “it’s a pleasure to meet you officially. You should give me your number, so we can set up a time to do this.”
Everly shot him a dirty look. “You will do no such thing, MacDougal, and you will stay away from her. Trust me, the minute that I tell my brother about this, you will not go anywhere near her.”
He laughed. “Why, Princess? Are you afraid that I might tell her the truth about your family? Scare her away before she binds herself to monsters?”
“They’re not monsters,” I said, “they’ve been nothing but kind to me.”
He looked at me, with complete, and utter disgust in his eyes. “A monster isn’t a monster until their fangs are revealed. If there’s no one around to show it, no one is going to bother looking for it.”
He took out a piece of paper that he scribbled his number on. “Since I know I won’t ever be able to get yours, I’ll give you mine. Call me whenever you’re ready to work on the project. We’ve got until the end of the semester.”
He winked at Everly. “A pleasure to see you, as always, your highness.”
He walked out of the room whistling, Everly’s face was flushed, and annoyed.
I raised an eyebrow. “Can you please tell me what’s going on? Who the hell was that?”
“That was Colin MacDougal,” Everly answered, “his father was the one who started The Guillotine, and his brother is the one who actually runs it now. He’s also…he was…. well I guess that part isn’t important.”
“What isn’t important?” I asked. “You’ve got to tell me, because whatever is going on is clearly distressing you. I can see it on your face. Come on Everly, you’re going to be my sister-in law soon. We’ll be family. I’ve never seen you this upset by anything before, and that includes the time someone mistook your Louis Vuitton for a Prada.”
She gave a small smile. “You make me sound like a selfish idiot.”
“You are not a selfish i***t,” I said, “you are kind, and sweet. Maybe a little sheltered, but that’s hardly your fault. Come on. You’ve helped me adjust to royal life, the least I can do is help you.”
She glanced around the classroom, which still had students that were filing out. “Alright, I’ll tell you. But we’re not discussing it here. Come on.” We gathered our things and left the class.
As we did, I noticed Professor Malcolm had paused collecting his things. He was looking up at me with a kind of curiosity. For a second, he turned, and using his chalk, he wrote something on the black board.
Ut Resurgat.
Then he smiled at me, and went back to collecting his things, as if nothing had passed between us.
“Rose!” Everly called.
“Right, coming,” I said. I picked up the remainder of my things, shouldered my back pack, and we walked back to our dorm.
Once we walked into it, Everly locked the door, as though she were afraid someone might follow us. She had gotten us a mini-fridge not too long ago, and we kept snacks inside of it. She pulled out two sodas for us, and we sat on the bed. I opened mine, taking a sip, while she fiddled with hers anxiously.
“Do you remember The Awakening celebration I told you about?”
“Yes,” I said, blushing slightly.
“Colin MacDougal was mine,” she admitted.
I spat out the drink of soda I’d had, stunned by the revelation. Out of all of the things that could have come out of Everly’s mouth, that wasn’t it.
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