“Why, you little!” the girl screeched, apparently irate enough to once again throw aside her fear. Jade pinned her with another cold glare and she seemed to come to, letting out a soft whimper.
“You should stop interrupting me before I get angry.” As a very thinly veiled threat, the menace in Jade’s voice was obvious. It disappeared a second later when she smiled warmly at the people who had neither interrupted or insulted her nor tried to steal her food. It was like the difference between summer and winter. They looked thrown by the abrupt changes as she continued, “As I was saying, my customs may be a little different, as I’m a traveler and new to this world, so you’ll have to forgive me for not knowing who you were already.”
She went back to eating daintily, not feeling the need to shove it in her face as fast as she could since she’d already done that a few hours ago. They were staring at her blankly; it seemed to be a state she inspired in almost everyone. Maybe she was the problem? She must have picked up some strange magic where she induced a state of slack-jawed disbelief just by opening her mouth. Oh well, they all seemed to get over it eventually.
Finally, she paused between bites and asked simply, “Are the rest of you going to introduce yourselves anytime soon? Even Prince Will introduced himself. Do you think you’re better than him?” She smiled wryly, then started cleaning her plate again.
Startled by her biting words, the lanky redhead finally proved his worth. “Right. I’m Lord Jackson Vancott. This is Lord Evan Rikely, Lord Adam Rawlings, and Lady Britney Larkin.” He pointed to meathead one and two, then the stubborn girl in succession. She studied his freckled face, and he flushed cutely. His hair was a riot of red curls, and he was sporting morning fuzz as if to prove he could grow facial hair. It was a fairly direct contrast to the clean-shaven faces at the rest of the table. Although not anywhere near the body mass of the two he’d just identified as Evan and Adam, he was still decently built. His nervous smile was endearing as he tried to introduce them all.
Smiling, she paused long enough to say simply, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” She was a little happy to note that besides the prince, they all had the same title as her. She figured some of the people she’d met held higher titles, but at least her peers were on the same level as her.
She delicately finished off the last of her food, smiling at them. Belatedly, Prince Will spoke again, with a bit of confusion, “You’re really a traveler? When did you get here?”
Her smile turned a little enigmatic. “Two days ago.”
Brat Britney interjected here, “You’re lying. There’s been no news of a traveler going to meet the king in the last decade, let alone the last week.”
She was about to respond when she saw Raphael walking over towards them. She merely gave Britney a cold glance, then turned to Raphael, who had stopped next to her. “Ah Jade, there you are. Hello, Prince Will.” He belatedly realized who she was sitting with and greeted the prince respectfully, completely ignoring the rest of them. Obviously, he was of higher rank, she had now figured out. He continued, oblivious that she’d spaced out a little, “Eric sent a message that he’d like to meet with you this afternoon at two o’clock. His office is at the back of the library, but whoever’s at the desk should be able to help you.” He paused as if remembering something, then pulled out a dainty little pocket watch. “Ah right, apparently Lucas told him you didn’t have a timepiece, so he sent this over.”
She smiled sweetly, accepting the pretty pocket watch. “Thank you, Raphael. I’ll be sure to be on time now. Quick question. Was I supposed to meet the king?” She glanced coldly at Britney. She was annoying, but if this was something that she was supposed to do, perhaps she would thank the girl, at least inwardly, for her interjection.
He grimaced. “I forgot about that... It’s been so long since we’ve had a traveler. I’m sure Eric put it in your record, but the king probably hasn’t had a chance to look through the entries yet. I’ll send a messenger to the palace and see if they can fit you in this evening…”
“Don’t bother. I’ll take her to see father. I was supposed to visit him this morning anyway,” Prince Will interjected. He was inspecting her curiously now that Raphael had unintentionally confirmed that she was indeed a traveler. Britney had a sour look on her face, but remained silent now that she’d been proven wrong in calling Jade a liar.
Jade smiled at Prince Will, saying simply, “Thank you. It’s very kind of you to offer, but I wouldn’t want to surprise the king. I’m sure there’s some official procedure for all this.” Plus, she really wanted to bathe, and she wasn’t sure the prince would be willing to wait for her.
He frowned a little at her smooth rejection, then argued, “I think he normally meets with them before the official ceremony anyways, and you won’t be a surprise; I’ll just send a note ahead telling him you’re coming with me.”
With no graceful exit in sight without offending the princeling, she held in a sigh of exasperation. “Very well, I’ll happily accept your invitation in that case. I do need to freshen up, so perhaps you’ll excuse me while you send the message on ahead?”
He finally seemed to notice that she had on the bare minimum to be ‘modest’ and that her hair was in a barely contained disarray. He nodded. “Is half an hour enough time?”
Grateful, she nodded back. “That’ll be plenty, thank you. I’ll just excuse myself then.” She glanced at Raphael. “Thanks again.” He nodded, bid Prince Will a good day, then walked off. She managed to casually bump against both of the meatheads, Evan and Adam, she reminded herself, and Jackson, who she’d conveniently and purposefully sat next to.
As she was about to walk past Britney, she saw the girl slide her foot out just far enough to trip her. Thankfully she saw it in time and was just about to avoid it when an evil plan formed in her mind. Instead of avoiding the foot, she stepped down on it as hard as she could, using the momentum to fall directly at Britney. She caught herself on Britney’s arms, discretely pinching her skin as hard as she could.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t see your foot there in the middle of the walkway.” Britney had squealed a little when she’d pinched her, but the others would assume it was just from almost being run into. However, with what she said, the others began to peer at her suspiciously as Jade continued, “That’s a bit dangerous. In the future, you should probably keep your feet to yourself.” Her face was filled with innocence, all except her eyes, which had turned decidedly frosty again. “It would be a pity if someone were carrying something and smashed your pretty face.” The boys at the table openly guffawed as she straightened up, waltzing off triumphantly. She didn’t have to glance back to know Britney was white as a sheet.
She went upstairs, singing softly under her breath, “What goes around, goes around, goes around, kills your karma ‘til you turn around…”
Walking into her room, she searched through her clothes until she found the nicest things she had. Taking them with her to the bathroom, she stared at herself in the mirror. Now that she could see herself, she noted that she had filled out a little more. None of her bones were jutting out anymore, and her eyes had stopped looking sunken in.
She glanced longingly at the bath, but knew she didn’t have time to soak. She would kill for a shower right now. That spurred another thought, and she grinned, stripping down. As she started the water, she focused, stepping into the tub for safe measure. Directing the water to flow over her to collect any sweat or dirt she’d accumulated over the day yesterday, she smiled and let it drop into the drain. She felt refreshed, and it had taken less than two minutes to get herself entirely clean.