The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 34

I gape a little as we walk down the long, dark tunnel towards…

I mean, I don’t even know what we’re walking towards.

“Where are we going?” I ask Rafe, a little breathless with intrigue and excitement.

“Into the Academy,” he hisses back, like it’s a secret, but I know he’s kidding even before I glare up at him.

“Uniforms,” Jesse says smoothly, running a hand through his hair like he’s very suave. “We’ve got to get fitted, because Academy cadets always look good.”

“What?” I say, a little confused. “Honestly, that can’t be first –”

“His dad,” Rafe says, “the vainest man in the world –”

“Um, justifiably,” Jesse counters, grinning.

“Yeah, whatever,” Rafe says, grinning, “anyway, Uncle Roger really did decide that all of the cadets enrolled here need to look their best at all times. So, yeah,” he shrugs, “first thing is fittings for uniforms.”

“Whoa,” I say, and my awe is not simply for Uncle Roger’s semi–predictable flare for looking good, but also for the cavernous room we walk into next. Because, I mean, the tunnel was literally just that a tunnel, with rough walls and low lighting.

But this?

“Damn,” Luca says, a smirk on his face as he comes up next to Jesse. “Looks like this city boy has finally made it, haven’t I?‘

I nod as I stare around the room, with its three–story arching stone ceilings and polished floors. And I mean, this is the bottom of the castle, where I assumed the dungeons were. If this is here, what the hell is upstairs?

“This way,” Rafe says, tugging me along towards a line of professors waiting at a set of tables ahead of us, a set of boxes in front of them.

“Ah, Cadet Sinclair,” one of the professors says, smiling at Rafe as he steps forward. “Naturally we thought you’d be one of the first to appear, but now I see that you

Chapter 34

Rafe and blinks a little at Ben and 1, clearly having no idea who we

and putting on his best Prince and Heir persona. “Is there

your dorm information and key, the Cadet

listening interestedly, and I jump a little when I hear my own

name.

turn I realize with surprise that it’s the dark–haired professor again – the one who made us hold that strange orb this afternoon. I move eagerly towards him, seeing he has what I assume is

mean, he’s just

welcome,” he says softly. “I’ll look forward to

lips twist up into a practiced smile, a knee–jerk reaction after years of Princess training that taught me to be sweet to anyone who says they look forward to seeing me again, but my reaction just makes

shakier ground here, and under a great deal more scrutiny, as a cadet in the Academy than as a

doing my best to be, I don’t know, masculine. “Thank you, sir,” I say seriously. “I’ll look forward to you seeing

a little, clearly pleased and entertained, and nods to me.

Chapter 34

accept their own boxes, my

which is smaller and has walls covered in mirrors. I look around passively, my mind still reeling from my interaction to the professor, who was the second person to tell me today that they’re going to see more of

They’re so different – I can’t imagine, at all,

on a figure across the room and I go very still in shock before I suddenly

coming to

grinning at myself as I turn a little, observing my plain face with no makeup,

his face bursting into a grin as he sees my reflection there too. He laughs. “Yup! You look good, Shrimpy!”

takes me seriously,” I murmur. Because honestly, I do look like a boy, but I’m sure that I’m the smallest, wimpiest, most pink–cheeked little

a girl’s voice says, and I go still when I hear it, turning towards it in shock as she laughs a little too and waves me forward. I mean, it’s not like I recognize the voice or

on a little ottoman. “Come forward,” she says. “I’ll take your measurements, and we’ll have you

suddenly that this young woman

to touch my

the precise dimensions of my form. And while

SUN, LU Mar

Chapter 21

some details

if you’re shy, I can take someone