Dignity to be doomed, I'm damn hungry
Charlotte
The professor for fourth period hadn't shown up, and the students started hollering, knowing the lesson wasn't happening. I took the opportunity to slip out quietly before anyone could find a reason to make the free period difficult for me.
I found the library — or rather, before leaving history class earlier, the kind Fae professor had pointed it out to me in that soft voice of his, telling me I'd like it.
And I definitely liked it. The library was bigger than I expected, which, given the size of everything else in this building, probably shouldn't have surprised me. It stretched back further than I could see from the entrance, rows upon rows of shelves that reached almost to the ceiling, packed tightly together with narrow aisles between them.
The light was low and amber, coming from small lamps fixed at intervals along the shelves, and the air smelled like old paper and wood and, faintly, ink underneath it all. It was quieter here than anywhere else I had been in the academy, and my shoulders dropped slightly the moment I stepped fully inside.
I walked through slowly, trailing my fingers along the spines of books. Some I couldn't read the words of, and eventually I pulled one out that I could: The Beginning of the Supernatural Race.
It seemed like the most practical thing I could be doing with the time. Research about them.
I found a corner at the back where two shelves met and sat down on the floor with my back against the wood and opened the book.
As I was about to start reading, someone sat down across from me. I tensed immediately, looked up, and found a boy about my age watching me with a warm smile.
I raised my brow, confused, and stared at him, waiting for the jab and insult I had grown accustomed to in the past twenty-four hours.
He seemed to notice my scepticism and smiled boyishly again. "I'm Alaric," he said. "House of Ashburn. Wizard." he introduced and I nodded.
What next?
I looked back at my book because I genuinely didn't have the energy for a conversation, and the hunger had reached a point where it was taking up too much of my concentration to function normally.
And in that moment, my stomach made a decision to embarrass me and growled loudly. God of mercy. I wished the ground would open and swallow me whole.
Why did my stomach have to make a sound now?
Alaric smiled softly, and I wanted to scream at him to stop that smile, but he reached into the pouch at his sleeve and produced two small buns, setting them on the floor between us.
I stared at them warily. I could feel my mouth salivating and my stomach twisting as he picked up a book from the shelf beside him and opened it, like he had just incidentally happened to put two buns on the floor.
The traitor — my stomach grumbled furiously now, and I clutched it with both hands to stop embarrassing myself further.
He pushed the two buns toward me. "Go on and take them," he said. I swallowed, my throat already bobbing from hunger.
I looked at the buns and then at him. I ran a brief internal argument about stranger danger and dignity, but to hell with that right now. I was too hungry to care about either of those things.
I quickly grabbed one before I changed my mind and took a large bite. The taste — goodness, it hit my mouth the moment I bit into it and melted on my tongue, and I made a small involuntary sound.
I ate it fast and took the second one as well. He didn't say anything or shame me. He just let me eat in an undignified manner. To hell with dignity when food was there.
I choked partway through because I was eating too quickly, and without a word, he produced a small water bottle from somewhere in that sleeve and held it out.
I took it, gulped it down, and sighed in appreciation as the food settled in my stomach. The hunger was satiated, and I grinned.
"Thank you," I said properly this time, finding my manners. "Genuinely, thank you."
He waved his hand dismissively, like it was nothing worth acknowledging. "I just wanted to see the person who made Xade destroy the training ground yesterday."
I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Xade?"
"Yes. Big guy that charged in like a raging boar." My brain immediately had a flashback and I flinched at the memory of that hallway and those dark promises.
I swallowed, and my voice wavered a little. "Who is he?" I asked slowly.
Alaric settled back and looked at me with something I could only describe as sympathetic amusement. "Let me introduce you to the hierarchy before someone else does it less kindly," he said, raising three fingers. "Three at the top of the food chain. Xade, who you've already met, is the werewolf prince and heir." He lowered one finger. "And there's Zephyr, the vampire prince — black hair, grey eyes; you'll know him when you see him." Another finger dropped. "And Azriel, the fae prince." A pregnant pause. "The professor of history."
My heart thudded at the realization. I had managed to cross paths with all three of them on my first day before I had even properly settled into the academy.
The one at the top of the supernatural hierarchy had claimed me in a hallway and threatened my life when I said no. The vampire prince had dropped me on the floor, looked at me like a bug, and walked away. And the fae prince — the one who had wrapped his coat around my shoulders in a dark corridor and pointed me in the right direction — was apparently royalty who also happened to be my history professor.
Goodness gracious. I didn't know whether to laugh or put my head between my knees as I felt my stomach, which had only just recovered, drop all the way back down.
Was I doomed already?
"Don't get in their way," Alaric said quietly, glancing around. "Especially Xade because he's the most brutal." He hesitated a little before adding, "He doesn't understand emotions."
I shook my head slowly because I had already failed spectacularly at that particular piece of advice. Alaric looked at me and smiled, but there was something quiet and a little sad in it this time, like he already understood exactly how badly I had complicated my own life.
I was about to ask what I could do to stay off their radar when the lunch bell rang. Alaric patted my shoulder softly. "I really wish you luck."
I smiled drily. I really needed it — if I hadn't already exhausted every bit I'd brought in with me.