Read Online Autumn Rose: A Dark Heroine Novel by Abigail Gibbs - Free Book Online Page B

NINE
    Autumn
    A utumn, why didn’t you tell us?”
    “You never asked.”
    “That’s not the point. You’re the duchess of England, and we never knew. I mean, that makes you the highest-ranking nobility in the country. Right below royalty. Er, hello?” Gwen snapped.
    “I thought that title died with that woman, a couple of years back. There was something about a state funeral on the news, remember?”
    I shot Tammy a look, and comprehension slowly dawned on her face.
    “Oh my God, that was your grandmother, wasn’t it? And what, the title skipped your dad? How come?”
    “Human.”
    I was wrong about the buzz dying down. If anything, my absence had escalated the hype. The questions didn’t stop all day, and when they did it was only because I made an escape to the bathroom, or the prince was around. Then, the questions would be aimed at him. They could extract more from him, considering I was letting little out.
    Thankfully, the day passed quickly. I even managed to avoid speaking to the prince for the entire length of our English literature lesson. He didn’t try to start anything resembling conversation.
    Five o’clock had long passed before I got out of textiles, and I suspected it was going to be a long evening. In contrast to the GCSE essay that had earned me the detention, the A-level English work was long and laborious. It didn’t help that the prince hadn’t read the play or any of the set poems, so I had to explain everything he was copying out. From his desk, Mr. Sylaeia would occasionally look up until eventually, as the hands of the clock shot past seven and toward half past, he announced that we could leave.
    The contents of my folder had become so sprawled across the desk that by the time I had reorganized and packed them away, the light had faded outside and what had been a murky gray sky became purple through pouring rain. I watched it through the window, unable to see the art building roof just opposite. A knot formed in my throat.
    Outside in the corridor, the rain didn’t seem as heavy, the doors at each end sealing out the roar of the wind, but on the stairs, it was clear just how bad it was. The sky slapped the rain down so forcefully that water sprang a meter back up from the ground, ricocheting off the benches and joining huge pools where the tarmac dipped and was beginning to crumble. The autumn-flowering blossoms on the tree were putting up a fierce fight, but the wind was winning, sweeping the petals high into the air and away over the buildings.
    “You’re not going to fly in that, are you?”
    I paused, and the prince drew up beside me, both of us staring through the glass doors at the chaos outside.
    “I’ll take the bus.”
    He looked me up and down skeptically, and I knew that in my blouse, skirt, and thin tights, I wasn’t exactly dressed for the weather.
    “You’ll get soaked. It’s dark, too. You shouldn’t wait on your own.”
    “I’ll be fine—”
    “Seriously, I can give you a lift.”
    I took a few steps toward the door, hoisting my bag higher on my shoulder and preparing to make a dash through the rain. “My parents say I shouldn’t accept lifts from strangers.”
    He flinched and the puzzled expression from two days before returned. “I’m not a stranger.” His tone made it sound almost like a question, as though he wasn’t even sure of that statement himself.
    You’re as good as a stranger, I thought.
    I hovered for a few more seconds, unsure if he was going to say anything else. When he didn’t, I braced myself against the door and pushed, hoping my body weight would be enough to hold it open just long enough for me to slip through. It wasn’t. In the second that the wind caught the door and flung it wide-open, I became drenched, standing directly below the overflowing gutter; blinded by the water seeping down from my hair and the rain battering my face like needles, I only just saw the door swinging wildly on its hinges and dived back, helped by a