All the Queen's Angels

Chapter 15: ...Sober Thoughts

By morning my fingers are stained a hundred shades of violet.

The watercolor ink bled onto my fingers as I leafed through endless pages of colored sketches. Though it was dark, there was no mistaking the eyes staring back at me from whorls of lavender and indigo. Further into the sketches appear more ink splotches, with my eyes drawn more harshly. In one, my pupils are in near slits, my lashes gleaming like curved daggers.

Leander could benefit from a therapist. I think I would benefit from Leander getting a therapist. That was the last thought I had before I passed out.

I check the time and nearly fall off the window seat. It's already noon. Everyone will know I wasn't in my room. Including Leander, whose books are all missing. Crap, crap, crap!

Footsteps approach from the main hall and my sleep-addled brain does the only thing it can think of. By the time the library door opens, I'm curled up in an armchair with a book of fairytales in my lap, feigning sleep. All 12 of Leander's books are safely hidden among the hundreds of other library books.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," a lady's voice snaps. I yawn and rub my eyes, making a show of having just woken up. When I open my eyes, I find an older woman staring down at me. The royals crowd behind her, tittering quietly. I try my best to look guilt-free.

"Can I help you?", I ask innocently, like I didn't just commit treason by stealing classified royal documents.

"You can start by joining your peers in the classroom on time," she responds coldly. "We begin in 5 minutes. Don't be late." Then she turns and swishes away. I have no choice but to rise from the chair and scramble awkwardly after her into the schoolroom.

The dark paneled room features elevated seats like in a theater. A massive chalkboard stretches across the main wall, with round stained-glass windows filtering multicolored rays of early morning sun onto the elegant tile floor. I take a deep breath and try to focus on the lesson, ignoring the guilt eating away at me. It'll be nice to finally learn something in a real-life classroom with an actual teacher.

...

I take it back.

In under 90 minutes, I have suddenly found myself with 40 math equations, 2 novels, an entire physics experiment, and a group project on the history of the revolutions of our continent's kingdoms to complete sometime in the next two weeks. By the time Leander slams open the door and interrupts class, I'm ready to throw myself into the harbor.

The boy is utterly disheveled, with shadows ringing his eyes. His hair is mussed and his shirt is unbuttoned. Ignoring the professor's shouts, he scans the room and prowls up to where I'm sitting.

"What the hell did you do with my books, Vlahos," he snarls.

"You can read?", I reply incredulously.

"Cut the crap. I know you were in my room last night," he hisses.

"No, you were in my room last night," I slowly raise my voice. "And if I recall correctly, you were also in my bed. That hangover really did a number on you, didn't it?".

He opens his mouth to protest but the teacher interrupts him, screeching at him to stop disrupting class. Leander turns so she can't see him roll his eyes, and then faces her.