Majesty (American Royals, #2)(31)

“Yep, that was better,” Teddy agreed, and smiled at her—not the picture-perfect smile she’d seen a thousand times, but a new, disarming smile, unguarded and infectious.

It was his true smile, Beatrice realized.

And for the first time since she’d lost her dad, she was smiling her own true smile, too.





Nina clattered down the staircase of an off-campus house, her flapper dress swaying with the movement. She reached into her purse to check her phone one last time, in case any of her friends were ready to leave the party, too.

And, Nina admitted to herself, in case she’d heard from Ethan.

They’d been texting all week. At first they were just coordinating logistics for their journalism project, but the conversation had quickly spun out from there. Now they checked in daily, even if it was nothing but a distracting emoji sent during class.

Texting was the easy part. When they were texting, Nina felt certain that she and Ethan weren’t doing anything wrong; they were just old friends who’d happened to reconnect at college. When they were texting, she could control her responses down to the last comma.

It was when she saw Ethan in person—the day they’d grabbed lunch after class, or the afternoon they’d studied together at the library, passing a bag of Swedish Fish back and forth as Ethan hummed along to some song on his headphones—that everything felt muddled.

Nina still hadn’t told Sam that she’d started hanging out with Ethan. She’d meant to…but when she’d gone to the palace yesterday, Sam had announced that she and Marshall Davis were in a fake relationship, which was such startling and confusing news that Nina couldn’t think about anything else.

“I don’t like this,” she’d warned, when Sam explained her plan. “Making Teddy jealous is a terrible reason to go out with someone. And has Marshall considered what the tabloids will say about him, once you announce your so-called relationship?”

Nina’s skin prickled at the thought of all the vile things people had written about her. Sure, Marshall was wealthy and noble, so he wouldn’t get the “tacky commoner” or “she’s a nobody from nowhere” comments that had chased Nina. But he would still be a person of color publicly dating a member of the royal family.

Sam’s expression had softened at Nina’s words. “We talked about that, actually. Marshall told me he’s okay with it.”

“Then he doesn’t realize how ugly it’s going to get,” Nina had snapped.

It wasn’t just about Marshall, although Nina did think he’d signed on for more than he’d bargained for. Nina was also worried about her friend.

Sam was incapable of doing anything halfway. She threw her whole heart into every decision she made, and it usually ended up hurting her. Pretending to date Marshall could only cause her pain.

Nina’s thoughts were interrupted as a group of rowdy, jostling boys spilled out the doors of Rutledge House. Ignoring their laughter, she slid her phone back into her purse, only to pause at the sound of her name.

“Nina—hey!” Ethan detached himself from the group and crossed the street to meet her. He took in her outfit and smiled. “I should have known you’d be at Gatsby Night. You can’t resist the chance to live out a novel.”

Nina shook her head, causing her feathered headpiece to slip lower on her brow. “Actually, I don’t like The Great Gatsby all that much.”

“Really?”

“Jay plans his entire life around Daisy, and she’s not even that great!” Nina exclaimed. “What kind of relationship is that? In real life, no one would make the person they loved social climb to prove their worth.”

A shadow darkened Ethan’s eyes, but he just glanced down the road. The streetlamps cast pools of lemony light on the pavement. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“Actually, I was just heading home—”

“Let me walk you.”

Before she could say anything, Ethan was jogging back over to the group of guys. “I need to walk my friend home,” she heard him say, and for some reason the term startled her. But why should it? She and Ethan were friends. What else could they be?

They started back toward the freshman dorms in a companionable silence. The familiar spires and faux-Gothic towers of campus always looked slightly different at night. Nina would catch herself noticing details she’d never seen before—a weeping stone angel, a wisp-thin row of trees—and wondering if they’d always been there, or had only sprung to life now that the sun had set. She hugged her arms around her chest, surprisingly glad that Ethan had come with her.

He glanced over, catching the motion, and picked up his pace. “Are you cold?”

“Yeah,” Nina said, though she felt something else, too: a subdued, half-eager feeling that she didn’t dare examine closely.

Ethan’s phone buzzed, breaking the silence. When he glanced at the screen, a funny expression—excited and uncertain and wary all at the same time—flickered over his features. He declined the call, then typed out a quick text, holding the phone so Nina couldn’t see it.

“You can take that if you want,” she felt the need to say, but Ethan shook his head.

“It’s fine.”

Something about his tone made Nina wonder if the call had been from a girl—if Ethan had planned to see someone else tonight, and instead was here with her. It was a strange, but not unpleasant, thought.