CHAPTER NINETEEN #3
“You’re doing great,” I whispered.
“I know a kid doesn’t scare a grown-up.” Antonia looked at her feet. “But after I reach my age of majority, I’ll have all my power as queen. Then I’ll have people I can send to beat you up.”
I sat up straighter and nodded. “Yes, good point.”
“After I figure out how to control my gift, I could body-swap you with a slug. Then I could squash the slug.” Antonia pulled out a notebook from behind her back.
“I have drawn pictures to demonstrate.” She flipped to a crude stick figure of a girl wearing a crown and stepping on a very large slug.
An arrow helpfully indicated that the slug was named “Bora.”
I applauded vigorously. “Wonderful drawing. You have quite a talent, I love how you drew the slime dripping off my repugnant slug body. I feel very threatened. I’ll never do anything to hurt Araceli, I promise.”
Antonia beamed. “Thank you! I spent ages on the slug. I redrew it twice.” She closed her notebook. “I don’t want you to get too scared. I like you—a lot. You’re good for my Ari.”
“Thank you,” I said, sincerely touched.
“Araceli used to be very lonely before you swapped places with the mean duchess. She smiles a lot when you’re around. You’re funny.”
I flushed, thinking of the many ridiculous situations I’d gotten myself into lately. “I’m basically a clown,” I mumbled.
“I mean it.” Antonia stomped her foot. “You make Araceli smile. That’s important.
Araceli used to be very angry all the time, but ever since you came, there have been smiles.
Araceli would never talk about what would happen after she killed the duchess.
I begged her to stay with me and become my new parent, but she said that she couldn’t promise she’d be able to.
She never admitted it, but … I was afraid she planned to die. ”
I swallowed. “That’s tough. I’m sorry.”
“Ever since you came, Araceli talks about how to protect you after you swap bodies and her plans to stay and help our kingdom. She talks as if she has a future.” Antonia’s eyes welled up with tears. She tugged on my sleeve. “Please don’t go. Please stay with my Ari.”
I wanted to promise right away, but I feared that would be irresponsible.
I couldn’t make promises to this kid that I might not be able to keep.
I didn’t even know what Araceli wanted from me.
I’d already started thinking long-term, but maybe to her, we were a mere fling.
I probably should have asked before last night.
Now, it would break my heart if she turned out not to be serious.
I tried for a balance between honesty and diplomacy. “I like Araceli a lot. I don’t plan on going anywhere, as long as she still wants me.”
Antonia frowned. “You sound like you think Araceli might leave you. But Araceli is the one who thinks that you don’t like her.”
“Huh?”
“I asked her if you’d stay with us forever, and she said that you liked someone else.”
“I do?” I looked around as if expecting this mysterious person to materialize.
“Yeah, she thinks that you like the countess.” Antonia studied my face. “If you like Araceli, then you should tell her. Then she’ll feel better. And I won’t have to turn you into a slug and step on you.” Antonia skipped out of the office.
I was dumbstruck. Did I like Donya? I used to have a crush on her.
But I’d never seriously seen her as a real possibility.
Before I’d met her, she’d been my celebrity crush, someone I admired for all the activism work she did, and after I’d met her, she’d been even more awesome in person, but also even more unattainable.
I’d adored her more as an ideal than as a person.
I’d found her attractive, but I’d never seriously imagined a life together with her.
Not the way I’d been fantasizing about living and growing old together with Araceli.
These were two very different feelings. I’d had a crush on Donya, but I was in love with Araceli.
Love. I tested the weight of the word, trying to see if it fit. Perhaps it was a little early to say love, but I was definitely falling hard in that direction.
Queen Antonia was right. I had to talk to Araceli. I couldn’t possibly let her think that I had used her for a brief moment of comfort while liking someone else. If there was a chance that my feelings might be mutual, then I wanted to seize it.
I leapt to my feet—then immediately developed doubts. Was I dressed well enough for this talk? I’d put on a rather formal gown from the duchess’s closet. Maybe I should have gone with something a bit sexier. Had I checked my teeth since breakfast? Did my breath smell?
I needed to primp myself first. Just then, a guard threw my door open. “Your Grace! You’re needed at once.”
I should have locked the door. Bad things always seemed to happen when I left my door unlocked. It had started to feel like a jinx. “Unless it’s a city-wide crisis, it can wait.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
I started to close my bedroom door. (This time, I would lock it.) The guard stuck his hand in the way, shouting, “What are you doing, Your Grace?”
I stopped before I hurt him. “Didn’t you say it could wait?”
“I meant yes, it’s a city-wide crisis, Your Grace.”
I groaned. “Have you told my—Holy Maiden Ysabel?”
“That’s the problem, Your Grace.” The guard hopped from foot to foot. “A mob of concerned citizens is storming the palace, demanding that you release the Holy Maiden from your evil claws. Their words, not mine.”