𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 // Leo [the irregulars]

𝐗𝐗𝐈|the prince

I have been dreading this chapter

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Clementine felt anxiety gripping her heart as she moved closer to her friend. "What about him?"

"He's not. . . he's not who you think he is," she said, her voice faltering.

"What do you mean?"

Bea opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped. She hadn't seen Clementine so happy in a long time, and she knew that when she told her, she'd be taking that from her.

Clementine put her hands on Bea's arms, trying to get her full attention. "Bea, I need you to speak to me. What's going on?"

"That man who was down here," Bea began, taking a deep breath. "He works at the palace. He came here looking for Leo."

"What? Why?" Clementine asked, shocked as she began to worry. "Is he in trouble?"

Bea scoffed, "That's one way of putting it."

"What did he want with Leo, Bea?"

"He wasn't here for Leo. He was here for Prince Leopold."

Clementine dropped her hands from Bea's arms. "Prince Leopold? Bea, what. . . what are you talking about?"

The girl shook her head, "Don't you get it? He's been lying to you. To all of us. He's a Prince pretending to be a pauper."

Bea had barely said that much, but Clementine still felt overwhelmed. This couldn't be happening, it had to be a trick of some sort.
"No, why would he do that?"

Bea was about to answer when her face distorted into an angry scowl. "Maybe you could ask him yourself," she said, nodding towards the door.

Clementine turned around to see Leo coming down the steps into the cellar. As he moved closer to the girls, he seemed to slow down, noticing the tension in the room.

The boy walked over, making sure to be cautious as he saw both girls seemingly glaring at him.
"Clementine, is everything okay?"

"'Is everything okay?'" the girl repeated softly, biting her lip gently. She then looked back to her friend, "Bea, can you give us a moment?"

Bea shook her head, "Clem, I'm not leaving you, I-"

"I can handle this, Bea," she said firmly.

Clementine and her friends had been through so much recently, all of them nearly having been killed on multiple occasions. She wasn't about to let him off with lying to her face.

Bea hesitated a moment, before clenching her jaw and nodding. She threw one more dirty look Leo's way as she walked past him on the way out of the cellar.

The boy began to grow more nervous as he walked closer to the girl. He reached a hand out to her, but she just stepped back. Leo felt hurt and confused.
"Clementine, did I do something? I don't-"