Page 4 of Falling Princess

Unfortunately, I don’t have very many, and if I argue with her now, I’ll probably lose her friendship altogether. I need Raina on my side to manage the fallout from getting caught sneaking out, so I swallow my anger and frustration.

Just once in my life, I wish someone would put me first. Instead of always me having to give in.

Lorcan’s body tensed subtly. He glanced away, then gestured. Raina meekly obeyed. Apparently, he didn’t trust me, for he hung back until I followed. When I hesitated, he frowned. “Princess. Go.”

“Don’t touch me.”

You’re not my guard,I added, mentally, stalking after our friend with my fists clenched at my sides. Once assured I’d keep following orders like a good little princess, Lorcan moved past me, ahead of Raina, and led us up a flight of stairs. I was of half a mind to turn back and let the door slam behind them, locking them out and me inside the club.

I swear that guy can read minds.

Lorcan turned back, took my elbow and yanked me out into the night, half a block down from where we entered the club. Though the night’s warm, the air out here is cooler and I’m sweaty from dancing. I shivered and shook him off.

“What about our hoodies—”

An explosion blasted glass into the street. A car skidded and collided with a stoplight. Horns. Screams. A body fell backward through the window, bleeding, to lay on the sidewalk. I stared, stunned.

“Go. Now.”

We run.

CHAPTERTWO

“Ihope it was worth it, Zosia.”

Nomy flower.No sign of affection, nothing but cool disappointment in Cata’s steely blue eyes. I’m in serious trouble. I didn’t respond.

“If it weren’t for Lorcan, you might have died in that club.”

Infuriating that not only did he ruin our night out, he’s being praised for it.

“That’s a stretch,” I grumbled, though not much of one. Others did die. The news is calling it a bombing, by a terrorist targeting Beijing because of the Olympics. We were lucky not to be implicated.

“It’s a miracle you and Raina weren’t caught on security cameras; it would have been—”

“At least I had the sense to choose a sketchy club with minimal security measures,” I interrupted.

Cata crossed her arms. “Not funny, Zosia.”

“I wasn’t trying to make a joke.”

My pragmatism was lost on my personal guard. I am in so much shit. I’mfuriouswith Raina. If not for the explosion, I’d have sworn she engineered this whole situation to make her one true love look perfect.

As though Lorcan needs any assistance with that. Maybe he did it. Awfully convenient timing, the way he showed up right before the bomb went off.

A horse stomped in the rear of the plane.

Within hours of our arrival back at the hotel, Cata had all of us loaded up and headed back to Auralia—or as close as you can get. There’s a reason our country’s been forgotten for so long—we’re virtually impossible to find.

From the sea, our island appears to be a sheer rock face leading to a steep mountain range. Our verdant center isn’t visible except from above; the only hint that there’s more to our interior is the white sand beach at Oceanside, not that you can land a boat there, due to the shoals.

For centuries, outsiders thought we were nothing more than a spit of volcanic rock, uselessly located well away from any trade routes. Occasionally, desperate or intrepid souls would wash up on our black sand beach to the north, or get blown into Oceanside, bringing with them new ideas, technology, and languages.

Outsiders called our island the Devil’s Talon. When you disappeared into the island, you were lost forever.

Once upon a time, this formidable barrier was protective. Then speed boats were invented, and now we have a brand-new threat: pirates.

It sounds like something out of history books—another legend steeped in half-truths. But the threat is real, and growing. The downside of being forgotten by the modern world is that now, when we need assistance, no one cares. According to maritime laws created by outsiders, the pirates aren’t anyone’s responsibility. My father’s been trying to get help from the United Nations, the IMF, the G-7 and the European Union for years, with limited success.

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