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

little at Ben and 1,

smiling at the professor and putting on his best Prince and Heir persona. “Is there something

Rafe’s arms, “sized according to your candidate apparel. Also within the box is your dorm information and key, the Cadet

and I jump a little

name.

this afternoon. I move eagerly towards him, seeing he has what I assume is my box in his hands. “Congratulations, Cadet.” he says, his voice dry and amused in a way that makes me look up into his eyes as I take

mean, he’s just staring at me in this

says softly. “I’ll look forward to seeing much, much

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 his own smile deepen. And

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

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

little, clearly pleased and

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Luca, Ben, and Jesse accept their own boxes, my mind racing

my mind

Captain and this brown–haired professor teach? They’re so different – I can’t imagine, at all, that they’d teach something

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

asks, coming to

grinning at myself as I turn a little, observing my plain face with no makeup, my hair tucked expertly up below my cap, my baggy fatigues. “That’s what I

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

I murmur. Because honestly, I do look like a boy, but I’m

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 anything – it’s just….a girl. “A lot of guys have that reaction when they see themselves for the first time in candidate grey after two

a little ottoman. “Come forward,” she says. “I’ll take your

that

wants to

the precise dimensions of my form. And while my baggy candidate uniform conceals everything

SUN, LU Mar

Chapter 21

have access to some details

you’re shy,