Chapter 310

Luca grabs my arm and hauls me back to his side the moment I gasp, my eyes going wide and shiny, and attempt to dash into Newtown’s main – and only – square.

“Ari,” he growls, shaking his head.

“But it’s so cool,” I whisper, fascinated, looking around at the little store and the three bars and the restaurant and all of the rooms above. Who lives here? What sort of stuff goes on in those rooms? And where do the -

“What are you talking about?” Luca says, laughing a little and drawing my attention suddenly back to him. “This place is a dump.”

“It is not a dump – why are you being so mean!?”

“Ari,” Luca says, a broad smile breaking out over his face as he gestures at the little town, “every single building here is made of plywood. It’s a dump – it would all fall over in ten seconds, if it wasn’t held up by Cadet lust and debauchery and the need to let of some Alpha steam.”

“That’s so cool,” I whisper, turning my head back to the square, fascinated. “I’ve never been anywhere like this.”

“Most people would count themselves lucky to be able to say that,” Luca says, dry.

But I just flap a hand and give him a scowl. Because Newtown might be…a little ramshackle, but it’s fascinating – there are whole lives happening here that I know nothing about! And which I’m desperate to explore.

“Okay,” Luca says, taking my other arm and turning me fully to him now so that I can’t get distracted by the town. “Come on, Ari, you’ve got to be cooler than this. You’re not the naïve princess fascinated by the seedy underbelly of Academy life anymore, right? Who are you?”

I sigh, realizing that he’s right. “I’m Daphne.”

“And what is the number-one rule?”

I sigh again. “To not be obvious or recognized.”

“And the number-two rule?”

“That if you say we go, we go, no questions.”

“Good,” Luca says, nodding once. But then he raises an eyebrow at me. “And? What are we not going to have?”

I stomp a foot, pouting at him. “But it’s no fair!”

“Ari,” he says, narrowing his eyes, voice low with warning. “This is homework – an assignment.”

“But homework is fun!” I protest, my whole heart in every word.

Luca works very, very hard against his smile and beats it. “What. Are we not. Going. To. Have?”

“Any fun,” I answer, sighing, looking down at my feet, deeply depressed. Lying, too, because I’m having a great deal of fun even now. Still, I know that Luca is right – that I do have a tendency to get carried away and that I really do need to be careful.

“That’s right,” Luca says, straightening up and letting go of my arms. “And what are the two personalities we’re trying out tonight?”

I hold up a finger as I list each that Faiza assigned for my first trip. “Daphne and then dumb as a rock.”

“Good,” Luca says, giving me a firm nod.

“And then, if we have time, wanton floozie.”

“Ari!”

“Come onnnn,” I moan, grinning, leaning my body close to him even as Luca puts a hand in the center of my chest, holding me physically back as he scowls at me. “It would be the perfect place to try it! Ben says,” I look around, eager, dropping my voice, “Ben says there are Ladies of the Evening here.”

“Are you talking about prostitutes?” Luca says, leaning close to me, baffled. I nod eagerly and he bursts out laughing. “Why are you calling them Ladies of the Evening? Are you some kind of like, scandalized pre-industrial waif?”

“Yes,” I say, nodding firmly. “That’s the fourth identity we’ll try tonight – I’ll be good at that one. See!? Fun!”

Luca can’t help but laugh as he shakes his head at me. “Look, I already have the feeling that your brother and your cousin are going to kick my ass for going along with this. So if we could please just take it easy on night one?” My mate looks at me with pleading eyes and I sigh, straightening my shoulders and nodding.

“Okay, okay,” I say, looking again over at the bars. “Which one are we going to?”

“That one,” Luca says, nodding towards a building called the Black Hawk.

“Why?”

“Because,” Luca says, his voice dry. “There are the fewest Ladies of the Evening there. I’m not taking any chances of anyone…mistaking you.”

“Me?” I gasp, pressing a hand to my heart. “People would mistake me?”

“You’re a pretty girl, Ari,” Luca says, leaning down and raising an eyebrow at me. “In a place like this? You could make some bank.”

I gasp, delighted. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He bursts out laughing and shakes his head at me, raising his chin at the Black Hawk. “Come on, Daphne,” he says, putting deliberate emphasis on my assignment. “Let’s get this done. And please,” the seriousness in his voice makes me turn to him again, paying attention, “please remember that this is dangerous, okay? Take it seriously?”

“You got it, kid,” I say, giving him a wink. Then I exhale and straighten my shoulders, throwing my curling red hair over my shoulder the way I’ve seen Daphne do a thousand times. “So, do you want to get a drink? Or what?”

Luca’s face bursts into a grin as he sees me take on her personality – or at least, as close as I can get. “Sure, seamstress,” he says, shaking his head at me a little. “You lead the way.”

I turn with confidence, heading to the door, trying to take on Daphne’s poised stride as best I can. As I walk, I try to think of all the things that make my friend who she is – confident, cheerful, optimistic, fun, hard-working – and do my best to embody them, to forget all the things that make me me and become, instead, her.

I have no idea whether or not it works, but still – I set myself to the task as we walk into the bar. The place is as shabby as I was promised it would be – with wooden walls and a sawdust floor, each of the tables slapped together out of what looks like spare wooden parts. The chairs, too, are simply stools.

But despite all of that, the place is packed – and at least a quarter of the patrons are wearing black Cadet uniforms. My eyes go wide as I recognize a few faces. God, it’s not even a weekend - how often do they come here?

Luca clears his throat, frowning down at me and I school my face into less shocked lines.

“You get us a table,” I say, falling back into my Daphne persona as I wave a casual hand towards my mate and for the bar. “I’ll get us some drinks.”

Behind me I hear Luca sigh, but he doesn’t counter me. “You got it. I’ll be…just over here.”

I raise my chin a bit, walking smoothly over to the bar, slipping the little bit of money that Daphne had laying around out of my pocket so that the bartender can see it. A little thrill runs through me – honestly, this is one of the first times I’ve been at a bar ordering a drink by myself. In my Princess life, if I do go out at all, I’m usually tucked away in a VIP area with waiters, or if not then a bodyguard will go order for me.

Even the thrill of doing this by myself runs through me with a delicious shudder.

The bartender – tall, a little grizzled, sees me and comes over when he finishes with his patron.

“What will it be?” he asks, bored.

I panic inwardly because I suddenly realize that I did not get this far in my thoughts. What – what would Daphne say?

“Two…beers. Please.” I say, looking confidently up into his face even though inwardly I quail.

He just smirks at me. “Sure. What kind?”

“Um!” My voice hums high in a way that is much more Ariel than Daphne and I take a deep breath, looking down the bar. “Whatever’s on tap?”

His smirk deepens as his eyes sweep over me. “We’ve got two on tap tonight.”

My inner Daphne takes over as I lean forward with a sigh and grin at him. “Whatever is your favorite, then,” I say, giving him a cheerful nod. “You pick for me.”

The bartender nods once and steps away to get the drinks and I straighten up, letting out a long breath, wondering how the hell this is going.

To my surprise, I get an answer to my silent question immediately.

“Daphne,” a curious voice says to my left as a hand softly brushes my arm. “Hey, it’s good to see you – what are you doing here…”

But Tony’s voice fades as I turn to him in surprise.

As his face drops in shock, mine bursts into a smile.