Their Hidden Princess Novel

---- Chapter 95 The next morning, a formal, Alpha Academy headed letter arrival at my door. | opened it up and my stomach sunk as | recognized the elegant script. Valentin had requested my prescience in his office that morning. Unlike his notes he used to send me about training, he signed this one. "Headmaster Lunerly" swirled in black ink on the bottom. | closed my door and held the letter in my hand as Loren yawned and stretched. She smacked her lips a few times before sitting up and looking at me. "Whut is it?" She grumbled. | raised the paper towards her.

"Valentin is asking to see me," | put the paper down on my bed. "Well, the headmaster is." "Sounds important," Loren mumbled as she curled herself back in bed. "Time is it?" "Like seven," | laughed. "I'll meet you at Basics. Go back to bed, sleepy." Loren grumbled something unintelligible before diving back under the covers. | laughed as | shrugged on my hoodie and a jacket. | left my sleeping pants on and shoved my feet into some slip-on boots before | took off towards the admissions ---- building. As the cold autumnal air hit me, | wrapped my jacket tighter around myself.

The hazy early morning air clung to the ground of the campus. It looked like a ghost was resting itself across campus. | tugged my jacket closer together and hurried my steps. The admissions building was once again, eerily quiet. A few other workers were starting to walk in. They gave me curt nods that changed into scowls once they say my attire. | scuttled along until | reached the door to Valentin's office. The last time I'd been in his office, it'd been full of tension and exhaustion and unspoken promises. | hoped that this encounter would be more positive than the last time.

| brought my hand up and gently rapped on the door. A beat passed before the door swung open. There, in all his glory, was Valentin Lunerly. His dirty brown hair was back to its shiny state. It was pulled back into a loose ponytail with a few pieces hanging in front of his ears. They curled slightly under his chin. His face was completely clean of hair as if he'd shaven that moming. His gold eyes were boring into mine with a violent intensity. "Miss Smith," he addressed. His voice held no emotion in it. It felt cold to my ears. "Come in." ---- | stepped by him and into the office.

It was less of a disheveled mess than it was before. There was no warmth in it. Just a desk and two chairs. It was as if Valentin Lunerly had ceased to exist as a person. The door slammed shut behind us. | turned over my shoulder and watched Valentin motion towards the seat across from his desk. | slunk into it and he did the same in his own seat. Without saying anything else to me, he pushed his rotary phone across the desk and motioned to it. | tentatively picked up the phone. "Hello?" "Hello, darling," "Hello, mother," | replied.

Nothing about it felt natural, a forced greeting | knew | should use. "I have been... told about the Jackell boy," she said. | froze. In the chaos of sleeping with Max, I'd almost forgotten the fact that I'd damn near been assaulted only a few weeks ago "You have," | said, slowly. "He's in custody," Victoria went on. | shot a look at Valentin. He seemed to be unfazed. Victoria sighed deeply in the receiver, and | adjusted my focus back to her. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd told people your true ---- identity," she whispered Instantly, a rage ignited in me. How dare she?

She was making it 'out to seem as though this whole thing was my fault. That if | had actually accepted my role as Princess, | wouldn't have been almost assaulted? "How do you know?" | snapped. "It could've fed his anger. It could've made it worse." "| wouldn't have," Victoria said, sternly, "You don't know. The wolves respect royalty. They wouldn't have. They couldn't have-