I just looked back, meeting her icy eyes.I will not allow them to torment my friends any longer. If they want to focus on someone, then let it be me!
And her fingers released.
Taking that as permission, I marched straight to the table filled with the Children of the Exodus. It was one of the larger kind, rectangular, and filled with at least fifteen high schoolers. No, a few of those were freshmen in college or maybe sophomores, likely new to the school this year, but a wider age range than I expected. It also wasn't packed, but lunchtimes were more varied on the weekends. There were still enough here to make my point.
"Is this what you wanted?" I demanded.
A girl close to me slipped out of her chair and dropped to the floor before me. She wasn't kneeling or lying, but almost doing both. It was the sort of position I'd seen people take when praying to some gods. When her brow pressed against the cafeteria floor, I sneered in disgust.
"Get up," I told her.
"You're him," she breathed, refusing to lift her head. "My liege - "
"I amnotyour liege!" I snapped.
So a guy across the table asked, "But aren't you the prince?"
"Yes." Ignoring the fool on the ground, I moved closer, raising my voice so it would carry. "I am Torian Hunt, the Prince of the Summer Court, son of Titania, Queen of the season, and heir to the Summer throne. Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Your Highness," the girl on the ground gasped, crawling closer. "I swear my loyalty to you!" And she reached for my boot.
I kicked her hand away, mostly trying to avoid her touch. "Do you think this amuses me?!" I yelled. "Is this what you think you're supposed to do in the presence of royalty? You don't even know how to swear your fealty!" And I looked at the guy who'd asked if I was the prince. "You say you're loyal, but you've forgotten everything about the Summer Court." And I raked my eyes over him. "And so did your fae parent, because half of you is human. You're mongrels, all of you."
"But we're loyal," someone else insisted. "We've been waiting for you!"
"No," I told them. "You haven't. If you had, you'd know the first step is proving yourself. The groveling? That comes last. It comesafteryou've been acknowledged - and not just by me! You should be doing everything in your power to appease my advisor, the Duke of Elysian Fields!"
"What?" another of them asked breathlessly. "There's a duke here too?"
I had to shift my foot again to keep avoiding the idiot on the floor. "More proof you're not worthy. It'smyinterests you should be trying to appease. It's my friends, my hobbies, and my royalty that matter, not some myths fed to you by your parents!"
That made them all look between themselves in confusion. Yeah, I'd just hit on something. I also knew everyone in the cafeteria was listening in. The entire dining hall had fallen unnaturally silent. I didn't dare look around without potentiallylosing their attention and making myself weak, but I could almost feel everyone's eyes hanging on my next move.
It felt too much like my childhood.
"I am the heir to the throne. Me! Not your parents, your communities, or whoever tried to attack my friends last night. If you want to impress me, then find whose foolish idea it was to come after Hawke Woods, my duke and advisor! Stop spreading rumors about him. Stop laughing about him behind your hands. Most of all..." Finally, I turned, sweeping the entire room with my most regal gaze. "Stop putting fucking words in my mouth. If I want something, I am brave enough to give the orders myself, unlike whoever attacked myfriends."
Then I turned, intending to head back to my own table - but the girl on the ground finally managed to get her hand on my ankle. "My prince!" she panted before shoving her face down and kissing the black leather of my combat boots. "I offer my life for the insult!"
Bending, I grabbed her hair and lifted her head. "You are not worthy of my attention, andnevertouch royalty without an invitation. Children of the Exodus, huh? The entire lot of you are pathetic. Your parents ran from Faerie. Your myths are nothing but delusions, assuming my line was gone, butI'mstill here. I will always be here, and if you want to make up for your mistakes, then fix this shit!"
Nudging the girl away, I finally made my retreat. When I got back to my table, I wrenched my chair out and dropped into it hard. Grabbing my fork, I had every intention of eating something when Jack began to tsk at me.
"What?" I snapped at him.
"You just outed Hawke," Rain said calmly. Too calmly.
"Yeah?" I asked. "And maybe it'll offer him some protection." I turned my eyes to him, worried I'd pissed him off.
Instead, Hawke was pale, but there was a curl to his lips. "Advisor?" he asked.
"Aren't you?"
And his smile grew a little more. "Yeah, but..."
"You," I told him, lowering my voice a little so this didn't come out like an announcement, "are my best friend, Hawke. Fuck the rest. Youaremy advisor. That'swhyI gave you the title."
"Can you even do that yet?" Keir asked. "I thought your mother would have to."
