Chapter 256

“Yes, pay no attention!” I call to all the boys, chin high, as I head back into the main room of our train car after Daphne. “However, the bathroom will be off limits for the next hour, so you can all just…deal with it!” I’m about to close the door behind me when I hear Luca’s next words.

“Do I even want to know?” Luca murmurs to the boys, a little shocked and fascinated as he watches us go.

I grin, pressing my eye to the crack in the door and watching this unfold.

“Nope, it’s girl stuff.” Rafe says, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “So, you definitely do not.”

“You poor thing,” Ben says, resting his hand supportively on Luca’s other shoulder. “I always forget you don’t have sisters, so you’re completely unaware of the rules and codes of girl time.”

“Welcome to this land of mysteries,” Jesse says gravely, raising a glass of whiskey towards Luca. Luca responds with a smirk, raising his own glass and clinking it against my cousin’s. “There’s a lot of glitter here.”

I laugh, rolling my eyes at all four of them, and press the door firmly shut. And with that Daphne and I lock ourselves away and get to work.

My brows arch when I see the incredible amount of clothes that Daphne has packed into such a small case.

“I know,” she says as we lean over cache together and she quickly sorts through it. “I’m a great packer. Plus, I really like these thin fabrics that really save space –“

Daphne quickly explains the logic behind her packing choices while pulling out a few options that she thinks will suit me. Daphne is taller and a little fuller-figured than me, and certainly more gifted in the chest, so she picks a few options that are not quite as fitted. I admire each of them in turn, but

a soft “oohh” slips from my lips when she pulls out a mod-style navy dress with white trim and gold details.

“Yeah!?” Daphne says, grinning at me. “You like this one?”

“Can I?” I squeak, taking it gently in my hands. Daphne laughs and pushes it towards me and I quickly change as Daphne pulls a pair of white booties out of the bottom of the case. As I pull the dress over my head, I bless our luck that our feet are miraculously the same size. noveldrama

When I turn to look at myself in the large mirror above the sink, I give a little gasp. Because, I mean, it’s just a chic little day dress – it’s certainly not the most dramatic thing I’ve ever worn. But in the mirror I see a girl looking back at me –

And god, god I’ve missed being a girl.

“Yup, this is the one,” Daphne says, coming to stand beside me and tugging at the dress in her seamstress way. “Let’s just fix the hem a little –“

I laugh and wave a hand at her. “It doesn’t need to be fixed, it’s perfect –“

“It’s an inch too long!” Daphne protests, horrified, even though the hem is already a little past mid- thigh. “And if this is my first time dressing a Princess, then it’s going to be perfect!”

“You’ve been dressing a Princess for months,” I remind her, dry. But Daphne just laughs and ignores me, getting her needle and thread and rapidly making the changes she wants to ensure that the fit is, as she said, perfect. That done, we move on to my hair and my makeup – just light touches, but things that make me feel more and more like my former self as the time passes.

But as my image in the mirror transforms, I have to admit – I’m not sure how I feel about it.

“What?” Daphne asks, leaning back a little as she takes in my frown, the little stick of eyeliner suddenly still in her hand. “You don’t like this color?”

“No,” I murmur, shifting my eyes to her from my reflection in the mirror. “It’s just…I don’t know if I want to be Princess Ariel again. She was kind of a pushover. Cadet Ari Clark is…tougher than she is.”

“I hate to break it to you,” Daphne says, leaning in with a false grimace. “But Ariel…they’re the same person.”

I burst into laughter, cheered, and she does too. “No, but seriously, Daphne! I’m afraid I’ll fall into all my old ways – I used to be so pleasant and obliging. I was willing to do anything – get married, even! Just to make peace and help the country. I guess I’m afraid that now that if I’m stepping back into that role, I’ll step back into those old habits.”

“Yeah, but now you’re also a kickass marksman who knows a lot about poisons,” she says, shrugging and turning my face so she can finish the make up on my other eye. “So, if anyone tries to make you do anything you don’t want to, you can just smile pleasantly and slip something terrible into their dinner.”

“Good point,” I murmur, but my mind still turns on it, wondering what it’s going to be like to go back the life of a Princess. Being a cadet – being a boy – there were so many freedoms there, even if there were a great deal of secrets.

“Well, I’ve got your back,” Daphne says quietly before she blows on my closed eyelid to dry the liquid eyeliner. “And so does your cute little pack of Alphas out there –“