Page 30 of Vengeful Princess

There was no story, but I doubted she’d believe me. She was the kind of girl who swooned over celebrity showmances and read OTT mountain man novels for fun. OK, I did too - the romance novels, not the celeb gossip pages - but there was nothing remotely interesting going on between me and Landon.

Nothing whatsoever.

15

Thea

Since arriving at this college, I’d spent a lot of time exploring. The library was officially my new favorite place. Located in the oldest part of the main building, it had a vaulted ceiling and floor-to-ceiling bookcases along every wall, with a galleried landing around the upper level and adjacent rooms for collections of historical tomes. The college stored the rarest - and most valuable - books under lock and key in a temperature and light-controlled vault, but those didn’t interest me.

I wasn’t here to study. Most of the books I needed for my course were available as e-books, which meant I could access them on my laptop. As well as reference books for all the many courses the college offered, the library also had an extensive collection of fiction books that included the classics, such as Wuthering Heights, Emma, and To Kill a Mockingbird, but also more modern books from celebrated authors.

The fiction section on the first floor was rarely busy. Most people had an e-reader if they enjoyed reading, but not me. My father had never understood my love of books. He thoughtreading was a waste of time unless it was a book he could relate to, such as Sun Tzu’s Art of War or Machiavelli’s The Prince.

Not that I’d read either of those books.

My taste ran more toward fantasy romance.

It was the only area of my life where I forgot about my hateful father and pretended I was a normal girl with normal hopes and dreams. Romance books were immersive. I could sink into a romance and lose myself for hours at a time.

My library card let me check out up to seven books, but I preferred sitting here and reading. There was a comfortable window seat tucked away in an alcove in the local history section, which nobody ever bothered with.

I could sit here without being pestered by anyone. Not that I had a ton of friends. Eden was the only person I spoke to most days.

“You’re a terrible friend,” she’d told me when I turned down her invitation to go to the student bar this evening. “But that’s OK, I like you anyway.”

She’d made other friends, so she didn’t need me to tag along and be awkward. The thought of sitting in a crowded bar making small talk with a bunch of people I cared nothing about made me want to pluck my eyes out with a spoon.

Eden was way more sociable than me. She flitted around campus like a pretty butterfly, always smiling.

I was a carpet moth who liked dark rooms.

We weren’t compatible at all, but to my surprise - and hers - I hadn’t given her the brush off. Even if I couldn’t stay here indefinitely, it felt nice to have someone on my team for once.

There was no one around when I pushed open the heavy wooden doors and stepped into the library. Lights twinkled and the scent of ink, leather, and dust assailed my nose.

Most of the students were probably in the student bar getting drunk. That seemed to be the norm for a mid-week night. Education was not a priority for a lot of people here.

I wandered along the shelves, lost in thought.

Dad had called me earlier, asking if I’d found a way in with Cassian yet. I told him we’d met, but that was as far as it went. He wasn’t happy, but what could he do?

All he’d said so far was ‘infiltrate his social circle’. How was I supposed to achieve that? Cassian and I were from different worlds. I was not someone he’d look at twice. I didn’t wear the right clothes, come from the same background, or even have similar interests.

Not that I knew what he did for fun, other than fucking a lot of girls. That was probably my best strategy for getting to know him, but Dad had forbidden me from fucking anyone.

The only thing I'd achieved so far was get on Landon's radar. Since he was Cassian's friend, I supposed it was a step in the right direction.

I climbed the metal stairs, heading for the fiction section to choose a new book. Cassian and his friends were probably in the student bar right now, drinking and having fun. It would have been sensible to go there too, as Eden suggested, but my energy levels were in the red zone.

Being here, surrounded by a bunch of strangers, and also navigating lessons I had no interest in, was exhausting. I needed a duvet day.

My fingers brushed over the book titles laid out like a buffet before pausing when I saw an old Jackie Collins novel. My lips quirked up. Perfect. Just what I needed this evening. Smut.

The book was well-thumbed, especially around the racy scenes, but there appeared to be no pages missing, so I pulled it from the shelf. Just as I reached the top of the staircase, thelibrary door swung open and a tall guy wearing a black hoodie walked in with a laptop bag slung over his shoulder.

I stepped back into an alcove so he didn’t notice me, but he didn’t bother looking up. Instead, he headed toward the tables at the back of the room, near the tall mullioned windows that overlooked the brooding mountains behind the college.

Since I didn’t want to stay up here for hours, I sighed and walked down the metal staircase. He looked up as I reached the ground floor but dipped his head again almost immediately.

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