The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



"You're late!" Faiza says, sing-song, as I push open the door to her office and skitter inside.

"I know, I'm sorry," I say, panting a little as I shut the door behind me, leaning against it as I try to catch my breath. "I had to learn how to put my rifle away, lock it up."

“Rifle?” she asks, raising an eyebrow, instantly interested. I grin, nodding eagerly, and Faiza likewise smiles at me from where she's sitting behind her desk with her feet up on it, lounging back in her chair. "Cool," she says, her eyes flashing, genuinely intrigued.

"It is cool," I sigh happily, pushing away from the door and taking my seat across from her.

"You know, I never got into guns," she says, pulling her feet down and leaning across the desk towards me, leaning her weight on her elbows. "Knives just seem so much more...personal."

I just stare at my tutor, shaking my head at her. "Sometimes, Faiza," I whisper, wrinkling my nose, "you say the weirdest stuff.”

She bursts out laughing and leans back again in her chair, grinning at me. "So," she says on a happy sigh when her laughter fades. "Have you been practicing?"

"Yeah, but I'm crap at it," I mutter, with a sigh and reaching into my bag, pulling out the sack of marbles she gave me and tossing them onto the desk. "Everyone found me out. Absolutely everyone."

The last time we met Faiza began to teach me the basics of pickpocketing and sleight of hand, which apparently are going to be incredibly useful to me in my future life as a spy for this nation - though how, especially if I'm stuck up in a sniper blind, I haven't yet quite figured out. But apparently, the easiest way to learn how to pickpocket is to start not by sneaking things out of people's pockets - but sneaking things into them.

Unfortunately, Rafe, Jesse, Jackson, Luca, and Ben all caught me as I attempted to slip marbles into their pockets at varying points over the past two days. So did Blaze. Daphne I almost got - until I realized that her dress didn't have pockets and the marble went clattering to the floor. "Booo, Ariel," Faiza says, frowning at me in disappointment. "You know that you have to be punished for this now, right?"

"What?" I gasp, sitting up straight and staring at her. "Why!? How!? It's not my fault I'm bad at this!"

"You're being punished because, one," Faiza says, pressing her fingers delicately to her chest, "punishments are the great delight of my life. And two, because you're privileging your other lessons over mine! This is just as serious as sniper rifles and poisonous substances, Ariel! Those disciplines are trying to teach you how to use weapons, but I'm trying to teach you how to become one. This is essential stuff, even if it feels basic!"

I sit back in my chair, nodding. Because when I think about it, I suppose she's right - I did let that practice fall to the back of my homework plate. "Ariel," she says, snapping her fingers in my face and making me look at her. "Listen to me when I say this."

I sit up straight, intrigued by her serious expression, her lack of glib remarks.noveldrama

"These assignments - they might feel stupid right now - marbles in pockets, I know it seems silly. But being able to steal a quarter from someone's waistcoat eventually turns into being able to slip poison into a cup unseen. To being able to hand a note to someone without anyone else noticing – or distracting a man while you steal the key to his room. Okay? So just...give it the attention it deserves."

"Okay," I sigh, newly determined, a little disappointed in myself. "What is my punishment?"

A wicked grin takes Faiza's face.

"Your punishment,” Faiza says, leaning forward with a wicked grin as she pulls something out of her pocket and smacks it down on the desk between us. "Is learning close-up magic."

"What!?"

"Yes, I'm making you an amateur magician," she sighs, shaking her head sadly as she lifts her hand, revealing a deck of cards. "The worst fate that can befall someone. Your sexual appeal to literally anyone is about to take a serious hit, Ariel. Please apologize to the hot one for me."