Their Hidden Princess novel · Chapter 14 of 32

Chapter 14: The Mess Hall

"Then don't," I said. "Don't marry her."

Lysander laughed, and it came out wrong.

"You don't say no to my father. You say yes and leave the country."

"Then write him the no," Roan said. "I'll hold the ink."

Lysander folded the letter into a small hard square.

"The day after the Crown Moon," he said. "That's thirty days. Plenty of time for a miracle."

He didn't sleep. I know, because I didn't either, and I could see his lamp from my window.

Clarice had her letter by breakfast.

She stood up on the bench at the end of the mess hall with it held over her head.

"Quiet, please!"

Two hundred cadets with porridge looked up.

"My uncle has made a match for me," she said. "With the Ingleby heir. I'll be Lady Ingleby before the snow."

There was some clapping from the third-years.

Lysander sat very still at our table with his spoon halfway to his mouth.

"Don't," Roan muttered to him. "Eat."

Clarice stepped down and walked the length of the hall.

She stopped behind Lysander and put both hands on his shoulders.

"Smile, darling," she said. "It's a happy day."

"I'm smiling on the inside," Lysander said.

Maudie snorted.

Clarice's eyes went to her.

"Something funny, charity case?"

"No," Maudie said. "Congratulations. I'll forge him a nice collar. With a little bell."

The table laughed before anyone could stop it.

Clarice slapped her.

It cracked off the stone walls.

Maudie's head snapped sideways. A red handprint came up on her freckles.

Nobody moved.

"You'll be gone by spring," Clarice said. "Back to your father's horses. Where nobody has to smell you."

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