This Enchanting New World

Chapter 21

Ryder.

He looked at me with a perfect smolder and gleaming eyes like cut emeralds.

"Prince Ryder Fitzherbert of Corona, to be exact. I'm the son of Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert, and, yes, I don't exactly have the greatest adopted grandmother in the kingdom," he introduced, gazing directly at me the entire time.

Life muted and everything around me seemed to stop. I thought my dark brown eyes were going to bulge out of their sockets.

This boy was Goth's nephew.

Now I could see it: the golden locks, the smolder, the charm, the naivete needed to fall for my act, the snarky comments.

The naivete needed to fall for my act.

Now, as the world moved in slow motion, I believed my jaw would hit the classroom floor.

"I know a guy," Goth had said.

This was it.

Ryder liked me- or rather, he liked my sweet-and-spicy facade.

He was the "guy" Goth knew.

The boy standing before me was how I was going to become a queen.

"My mother found love with someone she didn't expect to enter her story, and had to decipher it when it came to someone who had already been in it for her entire life. Therefore, I'm open to finding new experiences and bonds anywhere. I like to paint and ride horseback, and I spent my life trying everything my parents couldn't at my age- which is why I transferred here after being homeschooled for all 16 years of my life."

There was resounding applause and a ripple of intrigue that spread through the room in waves.

Edward raised his hand slightly, as if about to swear an oath, and the room fell silent. With a simple gesture, he could silence a room. I grinded my teeth secretly, cursing under my breath, though I switched to a plastered-on beam as soon as anyone looked my way.

I wanted to do that! I wanted to be that kind of person, to have that kind of power! I wanted it so badly that it was physically painful.

Edward had everything that was stripped from me, and I despised him for it.

"Blood ties are unrelated to love where we come from," Calahan had told me.

Yes, Calahan, I wanted to say in this moment. They are.

But love is unrelated to me and Ryder. Love is unrelated to me and any man. Love is unrelated to my getting what should be mine.

"Everyone sitting here today is very different, but we all have one thing in common. Can someone please tell me what that is?," Edward asked in conclusion.

Chad raised his hand for what was no doubt the wrong answer, waving it like he was having a spazz attack.

Edward ignored him: the first and only good thing my brother had done all day.

"You're all royalty," he said when no one else volunteered to answer. "Some of you may have no real status here. Some of you may already be king!," he elaborated, chuckling and slapping his breech-covered knee.

Everyone looked at Ben, who blushed profusely.

"Some of you are in line for a throne, and a rare couple of you get the privileged life of a royal who will never rule," he continued.

That was it. I incanted a few words under my breath, secretly snapped my fingers, and sticky pink gum appeared on the soles of Edward's shoes, with a corresponding pack instantly materializing in a puff of smoke on Chad's desk.

Screams echoed around the room, and panic arose, with everyone but me scrambling to find a wet towel, or butter knife, or something to get the gum off, and Chad giving a gasp of shock, eyes darting in suspicion and confusion.

"I'll help you!," Evie cried, running up to Edward. She waved her hand, and with a starburst of black light, the gum vanished from Edward's shoes.

Everyone burst into relieved smiles...including me, because I knew exactly what was about to happen.

Edward's shoes promptly burst into flame.

Everyone yelped and ducked for cover, calling for Fairy Godmother or another teacher to help. The room was chaos, and all the while, I was smiling and giggling once more, but this time it was genuine. My shadowed onyx eyes had a fiery gleam.

"Chad, detention. I'm surprised that you would even possess the intelligence to pull off such a prank as this. Everyone else, you can have a free period!," Edward blurted out between shrieks of terror.

As I left, a wicked grin spread across my face.

Sweet revenge; And the best part was that no one would ever suspect that this innocent, more flirtatious version of Princess Clarissa had anything to do with it.

Ryder pulled me against the wall as soon as we were both out of the classroom, with a look of complete curiosity and interest written all over his enamored face.

"You're absolutely beautiful," he told me. "Elegant. Powerful."

I gave him a rueful smile.

"Thanks, but I'm not powerful. I'm...," my voice cracked and wavered. "Nothing," I finished softly, almost to myself more than him.

"I highly doubt that. Hey, do you want to grab dinner tomorrow at the dining hall, just the two of us?," he offered, flooded with excitement and flashing me a charming smile that I knew came from his father.

Maleficent knows I have a weakness for Auradonian food, and I did have to get closer to him if I was to be queen.

"Sure," I said, smizing. "That sounds divine."

But just as I was agreeing to Ryder's date, Calahan Frollo grabbed me by the poncho and dragged me into a janitor's closet. (The same closet we were in when he told me I wouldn't be queen. Bittersweet memories washed over me. Did we have a meeting place?)

The action perfectly mirrored my romantic situation.