Abigail Gibbs - Autumn Rose

I didn’t answer, feeling my teeth close around the tip of my tongue.

Nathan noticed. ‘You Sage and your privacy. Seriously, who am I going to tell? I’m a computer geek who dropped out of uni. I have no friends. And you won’t tell, will you, Soph?’

Sophie blushed and shook her head, but when I caught her eye, she returned to the crockery.

I sighed. ‘He is of a higher status than me.’

His mouth fell open, comprehension dawning, and then he promptly swore. I didn’t need to give further explanation. Nathan was the only human outside of my family who had known about my title – he had ‘accidentally’ found my supposedly deleted Wikipedia page – and more importantly, he knew where it put me in the ranks. He waited until Sophie had left the kitchen before he spoke again. ‘What the hell? Here? Which one?’

‘No. I’ve said too much already.’

He fell back against the counter, gripping its edge very tightly. ‘Aren’t you pleased? They’re supposed to be heartthrobs, aren’t they?’

I laughed dryly, gathering up the baskets of salt and vinegar to put on the tables. ‘I think every other girl at school is pleased. I’m not.’ He smiled in confusion. I continued, lowering my voice. ‘If the press find out about this, and they will eventually, then I will be dragged in too. Can you imagine what a field day Arn Etas would have if they found out that I work in a café?’ It was only part of the truth, but I certainly wasn’t telling him what I knew the Athenea were hiding about my grandmother.

His smile faded. ‘What’s so wrong with that?’

He followed me out as I organized the tables and flipped the sign over to Open. He continued to trail after me as I scooted past Sophie back into the kitchen, waiting for an answer.

‘I’m a duchess, Nathan, not a maid,’ I muttered, then stopped. ‘I don’t particularly like this life; it’s near impossible for a Sage to live around here, but I am content with it as long as I am out of the spotlight.’

He shook his head, making his muddy blond fringe bounce as he screwed up his nose. ‘I swear you should’ve been born human. But anyway, what are you so down about? Just don’t have anything to do with him. And if he gives you any trouble, just tell him you’ve got a friend who is a purple belt in karate who will beat him up.’

I looked his wiry build up and down and raised an eyebrow. ‘Or I could just hex him.’

‘Or you could do that. And anyway, cheer up, Valerie just came in,’ he said, peering out of the kitchen.

I groaned. What a way to round off the week.

I succeeded in following Nathan’s advice, partly by skipping school, until Thursday. I couldn’t completely avoid the prince, of course, and still greeted him each morning in tutorial and in history and worked – silently – next to him in English literature. But he didn’t press for my company and I began to think that I had made my stance on him clearer than I had thought when he had driven me home.

I woke up Thursday morning with the prospect of after-school textiles period, and therefore a whole room of gossiping girls. The hype around the prince had still not died down and even I had to admit he had incredible patience considering how he was effectively stalked by half the student population. The paparazzi seemed like a better bet compared to that.

We were let out late from the lesson before lunch and coming out, I found that most people had already eaten. Thankfully, the canteen had finally got their act together now that there were two Sagean vegans in the school and there were plenty of sandwiches left. I grabbed one, paid, stuffed it into my bag and made the walk of shame through the seating area to the exit. From one of the circular tables inhabited by the football and rugby teams, the prince caught my eye and raised his hand, as though to motion me over. I quickly looked away and sped up.

Tammy and the others were on the field, making the most of the reappearance of the sun, and that was where I was headed. I easily made my way through the mingling students – they had always parted for me before, but now they stumbled and moved with a kind of disbelief, as though I couldn’t be who the prince said I was.

‘Freak! Oi, freak!’

The call came from the other side of the quad. I told myself to keep walking.

‘Fur-reak!’

I closed my eyes briefly. Valerie Danvers. I was surprised she hadn’t approached me earlier, considering the new material the revelation concerning my title must have brought her.

‘Hey, useless! You let that man die on purpose, didn’t you? You basically killed a man! Just like the last guardian killed Kurt!’

Keep going. Ignore her.

‘Oi, duchess! You too much of a snob to talk to me now? Duchess, where’s your granny? Go on, tell us where your granny is.’

Keep walking. She will get tired of it eventually if you ignore her.

‘C’mon, don’t be a spoilsport, I only asked a question.’

I bounded up the steps to the field, walking as fast as I could.

‘Is your granny dead, freak? Did they murder her?’

My breathing shortened. I was almost running.

‘Did they kill her ’cause she’s a freak like you?’

My tongue ran across dry lips, blood hot.

‘Fucking witch, she deserved to die.’

Sticks and stones, she always said. Sticks and stones.

‘Mortana!’ The curse left my lips before I could stop it, accompanied by a writhing ball of molten energy which had been stewing in the sweat of my hot palm, fighting against my clawed fingers to find its way to her skin. As I closed my hand around empty air, I felt hot blood run like a drink down my throat.

But the spell never reached her chest. A shield sprung from midair, reaching over Valerie and her friends as a globe that rippled as my magic met with it. The curse, blue in the air but black as it fanned out across the shield, searched for a hole in the defense; finding none, it surrendered itself with the sound of a shattering glass, and gradually, the barrier faded into nothingness.

There were gasps and even a few screams, and I knew that all over the field, people had sprung to their feet in shock. To the left of us the headmaster stood frozen to the spot, extremely pale and sweating. The teaching assistants on the other side stared at Valerie and her friends. Nobody moved but the prince, who lowered his outstretched scarred hand and glowered at me. I tried to look at him. I tried to form something resembling shock or remorse on my face, but it would not come as I watched Valerie, feeling sparks jump between my fingers.

‘Go,’ he snapped as though I was a servant to be bid about. My eyes flicked towards him and straight back to Valerie. I did not move.

‘That’s an order, duchess.’

Courtesy in respect to rank; loyalty to Athenea; strict adherence to the Terra Treaties.

My feet began to move. I tore my gaze away from Valerie and watched the ground in front of me instead. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her square up, her fists clenching.

‘Don’t so much as move an inch towards her, Valerie.’

My eyes snapped up to the prince and his expression softened. I focused on him and not the other students as I walked, faster and faster, wanting to break out into a run and get myself out of there because I was afraid of what my anger would do next. I tripped down the steps and heard the thud of the prince’s feet behind me.

She deserves to die.

My breathing hitched and the anger exploded against my ribs and sank into the pit of my stomach. If he hadn’t been there, a personification of Athenea’s authority, I would have turned straight around and finished her off.