Page 26 of The Princess's Pet

“A misunderstanding” The Princess seemed to muse, turning a steely glare to me. “I suppose I have no use for my servant at this moment,” she said and she waved her hand at me dismissively.

I stood quickly at the wave of her hand, looking at Ana with eyes probably as wide as her own. The interaction was beyond tense.

“Pet, get something to eat while you sit with the other servants,” she instructed without looking at me, before I could walk away.

“Yes, Ma’am,” I answered quietly, my voice faltering at the feeling that somehow Ana’s interruption had resulted in the Princess being unhappy with me. How did that happen? I wasn’t the one who interrupted.

“Ana, what did you do that for?” I questioned in a whisper as we walked hastily away from the table.

“You weren’t in etiquette class this morning and I couldn’t wait to speak with you any longer. Percy, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know what Dylan did. I never would have allowed him to do such a thing had I known. He’s a complete buffoon, who rarely thinks about the consequences of his actions, and as stupid as what he did was, I know he never considered for one moment, never had the intention, even remotely, of getting you in trouble. I understand if you don’t want to speak to him ever again but please don’t shut me out too. If you do, I’ll be left all alone with complete fools. I was so excited when someone normal showed up and I really don’t want to ruin our chance at friendship,” Ana rambled.

I was swayed rather quickly. Anyone willing to brave that table of noble and Royal purebloods and risk their ire just to apologise when technically they had done nothing wrong, was probably a friend worth making.

“Okay, I guess I missed you yesterday,” I replied, and she squealed loudly and happily, wrapping her arms around me.

“Will you sit with me? I’ll tell Dylan to go eat alone by the bins if you like,” she asked, releasing me from her tight hug.

“Let’s wait and see what he has to say for himself before we banish him,” I laughed. Ana’s silly happiness was contagious.

Before we even reached the table where the boys sat, Dylan spotted us approaching and jumped onto the table, creating quite a scene in the process. He knocked a milk carton that Harris was drinking from out of his hands and made a spectacular mess that had other students standing to avoid.

“Sorry buddy, I didn’t mean that, swear,” he apologised to Harris, who shouted an indignant “HEY!”

Dylan stood up, looked directly at me, pointed, and began his loud and public apology.

“Percy Flores, I, Dylan, a lowly servant of Viridis apologise wholeheartedly for being an idiot and putting my stink where it was not wanted.” There was laughter from nearby tables and I could see someone who worked at the café making their way over quickly.

“Please, I beg your forgiveness, and while I cannot promise not to do anything idiotic again, I can promise that I will fully inform you of all dastardly schemes from here on out,” he continued, seemingly gaining more confidence from the attention.

“Young man, you need to get down from the table immediately,” the café worker who had reached Dylan spoke in a raised voice with authority.

“Oh, yeah, sure thing,” he said, smiling easily at the upset worker, who stormed away when Dylan jumped down.

“What is wrong with him?” Ana asked me, covering her face and looking away as Dylan walked toward us.

“I don’t know,” I deadpanned. What was the boy thinking? Why did he think creating such a scene was the best way to say sorry?

“So, what do you say, Percy, can we be friends?” he asked when he reached us. And, annoyingly he seemed so genuine, in his own way, looking at me like a puppy, and I couldn’t kick a puppy.

“We can be friends,” I began and he whooped loudly, smiling wide, all his teeth on show like a little kid on picture day. “But Dylan, please, next time you need to apologise, not so loud and public,” I finished, looking around at all the eyes on us.

“I thought a big apology in front of everyone would let you see how much I mean it,” he said crestfallen.

“Let’s just sit down, please!” Ana hissed from beside me, looking like she wanted to disappear.

“Percy, glad you’re back,” Harris said as I sat down beside him.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for ignoring you yesterday, I was upset,” I said. He shrugged and smiled at me. A waiter came over to take our lunch order and we fell into happy chatter.

“Your mistress is on the move,” Dylan said a short while after we had finished eating, and I turned to see the Princess making her way out of the café. I wondered why she didn’t come to get me.

“Thanks, and bye guys,” I said as I stood and ran to catch up with the Princess.

I caught up with her and was forced to walk behind her as she walked side by side with Lord Halvorsen, talking and laughing about some event he had been to, and people they mutually knew.

The Princess didn’t acknowledge me at all, and I wondered if she didn’t come and get me at the table because she didn’t want me to follow her. And while I wanted to be annoyed at the attention she was giving the noble shifter, I wasn’t, because I was too busy feeling sad at her lack of acknowledgement of me. Was she very unhappy with me because of Ana’s interruption at the table? Was it really that bad for a servant to approach her and her friends? Would she ever talk to me again? Did she want me to go away?

I followed her into a large auditorium, trailing dutifully behind her and Lord Halvorsen. When they sat down, I took the seat next to the Princess, but she still didn’t so much as look at me.

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