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

peers beyond Rafe and blinks a little at Ben

on his best Prince and Heir persona. “Is there something here we need to

to your candidate apparel. Also within the box is your dorm information and key, the Cadet Handbook, and a map of the parts of the castle which you’ll need to find your classes. Class information will be along this evening

peer around Rafe, listening interestedly, and I jump a little

name.

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 my box in his hands. “Congratulations, Cadet.” he says, his voice dry and amused in a way that makes me look up into his

because…I mean, he’s just staring at me in this knowing way.

look forward to seeing much, much more

anyone who says they look forward to seeing me again, but my reaction just makes his own smile deepen. And suddenly, as he holds my gaze, I get the

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

doing my best to be, I don’t know, masculine. “Thank you, sir,”

chuckles a little, clearly pleased and entertained,

Chapter 34

accept their own boxes, my mind racing as I follow Rafe to the next step in our process.

mirrors. I look around passively, my mind still reeling from my interaction to the professor, who was the

hell do the Captain and this brown–haired professor teach? They’re so different – I can’t imagine, at

in shock before I

asks, coming to my

observing my plain face with no makeup, my hair tucked expertly up below my cap, my baggy fatigues. “That’s

looks across the room like I’m doing, his face bursting into a grin

look like a boy, but I’m sure that I’m the smallest, wimpiest, most pink–cheeked little guy that’s ever walked through

and waves me forward. I mean, it’s not like I recognize the voice or anything

on a little ottoman. “Come forward,” she says. “I’ll take your measurements, and we’ll have you looking dashing in a custom uniform before

realizing suddenly that this young woman

to touch

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

SUN, LU Mar

Chapter 21

to have access to some details I

“No worries, if you’re shy, I can take someone