Page 19 of Hunted

Luckily, Evie had enough planned for us both today that there was plenty to keep me at least mildly distracted. We were going to find clothes for the two of us to wear. That much was clear. But we weren’t going back to the house right away; Evie had been working on an entireitineraryfor us for today.

First, we shop.

Then lunch.

Then—oh—I have to take you to Big Ben! Maybe the London Eye? Trafalgar Square!

You have to see all of that.

I had to admit, part of me felt like we probably shouldn’t have been planning on spending the day out and about. What if Grandmother Helen came back with a plan to get us back to Arcadia? Didn’t we want to get back as soon as possible? Sightseeing around London didn’t exactly seem high on our list of priorities.

The more we walked, though, and the further afield we went, the more I found myself enjoying the experience. The people, the birds, the black cabs, the double decker busses—these were all things my mother had told me about. I had, at one point in my life, been here before, but I hadn’t experienced London the way I was experiencing it today.

To think I had earlier on resisted the idea of going out and seeing this world, considering how much I hated being cooped up. It was a reminder to myself that, despite all that had happened to bring me here, I was allowed to enjoy myself a little bit.

Which is exactly what I found myself doing as soon as Valerian stepped out of the changing room. In my defense, Evie had started to giggle first. I had simply followed her lead. Valerian seemed entirely unimpressed that we were both laughing at him. To be fair, he was wearing tight, black leather pants and some kind of lime green buttoned-down shirt.

“I really don’t see what’s so funny,” Valerian said.

“I’m sorry,” Evie said, stifling her giggle fit. “I’m really sorry.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry. Alright, I probably should have been with you, helping you to find more… fashionable clothes.”

“Is this not fashionable?” Valerian spun around to check himself out in a mirror, giving me a full flash of the curve of his ass in those leather pants. A rush of warmth flushed into my cheeks, but that lime green top made me giggle again.

“Not on Earth, it isn’t,” Evie said. She looked over at me. “And I don’t know what you’re chuckling about. Look at your basket.”

I asked, looking down at the clothes I had picked out to try on. I had a colorful selection as well, but my colors matched a little better than his did. “What’s wrong with it?”

“First of all, you’ve picked out a cream overcoat. Fine, it’s cold and the coat is warm. But instead of getting some pants to go with it, you’ve chosen a blue mini skirt from the girl’s section, and an orange top that… I don’t know where in the world you found that.”

“Blue and orange match…” I protested.

“Yeah, but amini skirt? It’s November, and we’re in London. I don’t even know why this is still on the shelf.”

Valerian turned around again, his pants squeaking as he moved. “So, now what do I do?” he asked.

“You had better take those off,” Evie said, standing up and wiping her lower eye lids. “I’ll go and find you both something decent to wear. Wait here.”

Evie walked off, still chuckling, leaving me sitting across from Valerian. He turned around again and examined himself in the mirror. If not for the lime green shirt, the pants were working for him… with that long, white hair, and those strong shoulders.

Dammit.

Pull it together, Amara.

“I had better take these off, then,” Valerian said, and he disappeared behind the curtain to the changing room he had chosen.

There wasn’t much for me to do out here. I wasn’t exactly going to try on the clothes I had picked out, not after Evie had made it clear they weren’t appropriate for me to wear. To think I considered myself, at the very least,savvywhen it came to Earth culture before I got here.

“Amara…” came Valerian’s voice from behind the curtain.

“Yes?” I called out.

“I think… I may need help.”

I frowned. “Help?”

“Would you please come a little closer? It’s… embarrassing.”

I scanned the area immediately around me. There wasn’t anybody here but us. Carefully I stood and approached the curtain. “What is it?” I asked.

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