Chapter 7
Sophia
I'm exhausted by the time we return from the village, partly because it turns out that Lottie is very particular about her clothing.
Which is saying something, because I also know what I like when it comes to dresses and can find myself giving a lot of instructions.
But she seems to be happy with the dress she's getting the seamstress to alter for her, which is great.
Her bedroom door closes behind her as she goes to rest, and I turn to my own, almost tripping over a box sitting on the floor in front of my bedroom door.
I frown. What's it doing here? Post gets delivered to the office and we get sent a mirror message about it.
Which means that someone has gotten inside my flat in order to drop this off.
A part of me wonders whether I should message Franz and get him to check it first, but I don't want to involve the security team unless I have to.
My curiosity gets the better of me and I pick up the box to take back into my room.
It's not going to have gotten into the academy with anything nefarious inside it, not when there are all kinds of enchantments and checks on the building to make sure that kind of thing doesn't happen.
It's not as if Archie and I are the only royals in attendance, and that's not to mention the countless other people of importance from the other realms.
I set the box down on my desk and look at it as if it's magically going to reveal its contents without me doing anything. But it doesn't.
I let out a sigh and use my tail to score through the tape, wincing when it causes a papercut. I should know better, and yet I manage to do that every time.
A weird smell, almost like water, comes up from the box, making me worry about what I might have accidentally opened.
"Pull it together, Sophia," I mutter to myself. If it was anything bad, I'd probably be knocked out already.
I peer inside the box and let a laugh escape me. I reach inside and pull out the familiar object, shaking my head in bemusement.
My shoe.
It's ruined beyond repair, something I can never tell my parents or Aunt without revealing what we've gotten up to with the partying, but it's definitely the shoe I dropped into the pool at Drake's party.
The main question is who knew that it was mine, because as far as I know, Lucas is the only one who knows that I dropped it in the pool.
I set it on my desk, trying not to wince at the sight of the ruined suede. I need to find out where Aunt Amara got them from so I can get a replacement pair. Not because I'm worried about what they'll think, but because I love them, they go with everything, even if they pinch my feet a bit.
A small tag attached to the heel catches my eye. I frown and tug on it so I can read the scribbled words.
I cover my mouth with my hand, not believing what I'm reading.
Sophia,
I'm sorry for how I acted the other night. If you want to talk about it, here's how to connect to my mirror. It's up to you.
Lucas.
The instructions are scrawled beneath his name, beckoning me to use them to connect our mirrors.
I'm not really sure what he's apologising for when I'm the one who was insensitive, but I suppose he was a bit short with me, and he was the one who spooked me and made it so that I dropped my shoe in the first place.
Without thinking about it too hard, I take the note back to my bed and grab my mirror. I go through the steps to connect it to Lucas', and then pause while I think about whether this is a good idea.
Then again, he is my mate. As much as I know these things can go wrong, there's a certain amount of trust that should come from the designation until it's proved that it shouldn't exist.
Hi Lucas, it's Sophia.
What else do I say? Thank you for the shoe? That's probably a bit weird. But then, he is the one who dropped it off at my door in the first place.
For all I know, he doesn't even come to Rosewood and got into the party anyway.
Instead of obsessing over it, I hit the send button.
It's not a long message, but if he wants to open a conversation, then I've done that.
He must have had a game plan when he sent the shoe to me in the first place.
By connecting our mirrors, I've made it clear that I'm interested in what he has to say.
Now all I have to do is wait for him to reply.