Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
“Just tonight, baby,” I whispered to my cat. “But this is the last time. I can feel sorry for myself tonight. Tomorrow will be the day after I met the True Heir to the realm. Sure, it had been annoying, and weird, but he’s even better looking in person than in digital, and it’s a story I can tell for the rest of my life. And tomorrow will be the day after I pulled myself together and got back out into the world, which meant I had the opportunity to meet the True Heir, even if it was in an annoying and weird way.”
I cuddled Nova closer, and my voice dipped lower.
“They took her, they didn’t take me,” I mumbled. “She made it so I’m still here. I owe it to her to be here, not back there, when she sacrificed herself for me.”
Nova head butted my chin.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “We miss her. But we’re here.” I drew in a breath to steady my emotions and repeated, “We’re here.”
Nova continued to knead and purr.
I continued to feel sorry for myself and listen to her.
Eventually I fell asleep.
It wouldn’t be long before someone woke me up.
Chapter 5
No Contact
My space might have been Pre-Uni, but it had still been modernized.
There was a welcome kiosk in the vestibule. And someone was in it, ringing up to my flat.
I turned to the bed display on my nightstand and saw it was before seven in the morning.
Okay.
I could see one of my friends hearing about my chat with Prince Aleksei and showing up to get all the hot deets, but I wished they’d waited another five hours…or just sent an excited text comm.
Not wanting to give whoever it was a visual of me lying in bed, I didn’t answer the ring on my nightstand display.
I shoved the covers aside, feeling foggy and vaguely nauseous from lack of sleep.
I shambled to the door, calling, “Okay, okay, I’m coming!” even though another part of the warehouse’s modernization had been sound and scent proofing, and whoever was visiting was two floors down. I waved a hand in front of the display beside the door, and ordered, “Activate camera.”
The blank window shifted to a digital of Allain, the prince’s whatever he was.
I stared at the display.
“Meow!” Comet demanded his breakfast.
Allain moved and the ringer went again.
Through stiff lips, I ordered, “Engage welcome.” I then said, “Can I help you?”
Allain tipped his head back so I received his full face in the camera.
“I come at behest of the prince.”
Behest?
Who talked like that?
Yeesh. This dude was a trip.
“It’s early. I’m in my pajamas,” I told him.
“It’s seven in the morning, most of the Realm is either at school, at work or on their way to work.”
“Lucky me, I work from home and make my own hours.”
Sometimes.
“We can carry on this conversation with me in the vestibule, or you can allow me up,” he parried. “Your apparel is of no consequence to me. However, the prince does wish for me to leave you with something.” A pause before, “I won’t be long.”
Could I get out of this?
If I refused him entry, would royal guards come storming in to force me to talk to this guy and accept whatever the prince wanted to leave me?
I didn’t suspect they’d go that far.
No, what I said next was all about my infernal curiosity.
“Allow entry.” I watched Allain move into the stairway after my command gave him access. “Open door,” I finished.
The locks could be heard disengaging and my door slid into its side panel.
Not long later, Allain marched in, his gaze moving swiftly, taking in his surroundings, before he turned to me.
“Mistress Laura,” he greeted.
Not that crap again.
“Really, you can call me—”
While I spoke, even if I hadn’t had the opportunity to say many words, he opened the leather satchel that rested against his hip and pulled out a tablet.
And he interrupted me when he shoved it toward me.
Automatically, my hands moved to take it, but I nearly bobbled it, for the instant my hands were close, he let go, so I had to catch it.
I stared, knowing it was DY5000XX, the most expensive tablet on the market and one I’d been wanting to buy, even if I knew I could never afford it.
The resolution of the display was second to none. The computing was warp speed. The memory capacity was astronomical. Every design I drew could be stored on one of those tablets, even in 3-D and with motion simulation, regardless of how memory-heavy they were, without slowing its processing.
It also had send, receive, pic, vid, magnifying, telescopic, holo, tracing and tracking capabilities.
Yes, I said holo capabilities!
“The password for that tablet is ‘pink,’” Allain informed me. “You can change it to what you wish after you gain entry. Your schedule is in the calendar. It took some doing, but you’ll be with Madam Garwah for training. She’s by far the best, knows centuries of royal etiquette, and she trained Queen Calisa herself.”