Page 35 of Is It Wrong to Escape My Fate? (Dealing With Fate #1)

Half-an-hour later, my nerves calmed down, my knights healed up, my vomit cleaned. It was probably past midnight, but they were all still here, sitting on various chairs, as I relaxed on a couch with a glass of water nearby.

“Why are you all here?” I asked after minutes of silence, letting my curiosity prevail.

“Now that’s a stupid question,” Theodore spoke from a chair he had perched in a corner of the parlor. “What do you think, Bea?”

I squinted my eyes. “For me?”

A weary sigh was his only response.

“I realize we haven’t talked about the entire event in detail. Don’t think you can get away with the paltry, vague information you gave us, princess,” Winston said. I tried to hide my flinch because, honestly, I was hoping they wouldn’t ask, so I could only share the important bits.

Could I get away with distracting them, though? “I thought you promised you wouldn’t call me ‘princess’ outside of the group. Why did you say it during the Royal Announcement?”

“I didn’t specifically refer to you as our princess.

That was fair game,” he retorted. “And for the people here who are not Champions … I guess you could say they’re trusted confidants.

” His angelic smile never faltered from taking my breath away.

“Clearly, these are people who had at least one common goal that brought us together.”

“Me?” I asked again, stupefied.

“Yes, you!” Claude happily confirmed as warmth enveloped me. He grinned. “Stars, you look so adorable blushing. I’ll never ever get tired of that!”

“You’ve only known me for a week!”

“And people can fall in love in a day. I think that hardly matters,” Amos chuckled.

My incredulity was obvious. “You’re actually defending that?”

Amos lost the laughs and had a sudden look of solemnity on his face. “Bea … I will never deny people who are in love. You don’t have to reciprocate, but do not invalidate their feelings as well.”

The warmth in my body spread, now mixed with shame. I was properly chastised. “You’re right. I’m sorry, everyone. Sorry, Claude. I shouldn’t say your feelings are wrong.” Even if I didn’t prefer it at the moment.

But Claude was still grinning, leaning over with his elbows on his knees. “I get it, baby girl. It’s not the right time to talk about that. Because we have the kidnapping to discuss.”

Goddammit.

“Let’s start with lunchtime,” Samuel started the discussion, wine tray within his arm’s reach. “What happened then, Bea?”

They really wouldn’t let me get away with it, huh? “We were about to head for the dining hall when I excused myself to Dahlia for the restroom. I asked her meet with my personal maid and bodyguards. Where is Mia anyway?”

“In your dorm. Continue,” Samuel urged.

Locked down. “I went to the restroom, and that’s it. Next thing I knew, I was waking up on the floor, all tied up.”

When I’d first told them I’d been tied up, they had reacted with visible shock. Now, expecting it and hearing it again, their shock turned into rage. I couldn’t understand the logic of that.

“Before we continue with your point of view, let’s go back.” Samuel seemed to have taken the reins in leading the investigation. “You were also supposed to meet with your classmates in the library, correct?”

“Yes, but that was for after lunch. Again, with Dahlia and Elias.”

“Dahlia?” It was Winston who asked.

“Dahlia Phortho, a baron’s daughter from the northeast,” Uriel informed the Prince.

“And I, Elias Drakon,” Eli bowed respectfully. “I don’t usually have my lunch with Bea, so I didn’t think there was anything wrong then. I was at the library starting from halfway through lunch.”

“I can corroborate that, as one of the librarians,” Theodore muttered.

Samuel gave a curt nod to their answers before turning his attention to my knights standing guard behind me. “You were supposed to wait for her in the dining hall. What happened?”

“When Lady Dahlia informed us that Bea’s in the restroom, we waited for a while.

” Reuben responded as I noticed some of the men raise an eyebrow at his lack of title for me.

“Halfway through the hour, Mia offered to check out the restrooms. This took about another half an hour until she confirmed she couldn’t find our lady. ”

“That’s when we sought help from Lord Vincent, since he’d know the process better than us,” Robin shared. I remembered they had a brief acquaintance about the bullshit last week involving perverted classmates.

Vincent cleared his throat, taking his turn. “Yes. I was in my usual lab at Greenhouse Number Four. Preparing for my time with Bea in the afternoon, of course. I was laying out my materials, my research, all the books and references needed for my experimental potions —”

“What ‘time with Bea’?” Amos asked, narrowing his eyes.

“As you want to know, Lord Amos, I have a weekly schedule with Bea,” Vincent informed him, and I didn’t miss how he said it as vaguely as he could when he’d normally share a lot of details.

Amos scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, for your information, Lord Vincent, I also have a weekly schedule with Bea.”

Were they for real? They were peacocking at each other.

Usually I would find that funny, but considering the context, I was mortified instead.

At that exact second, my eyes met Uriel’s, a silent plea to ask them to get back on track.

He couldn’t read my mind, but I hoped he could read my expression.

He nodded, and I was relieved.

“I have a weekly schedule with Bea, too,” Uriel exclaimed, and my mortification returned. He sucked at reading facial expressions! It made sense if he was so used to skimming people’s minds without their knowledge. Jesus christ, I wanted to hide under the couch and stay there for eternity.

“That’s not the point now, is it?” Vince mumbled.

Amos replied, “You’re the one who brought it up!”

“Children, can we move on?” Samuel cut in, gesturing to Vincent. “Continue.”

Vincent cleared his throat again while shooting a glare at Amos.

“Bea’s bodyguards and maid approached me with the information that she’s missing.

We didn’t want to panic. The academy proper encompassed a quarter of the city, so she could still be inside the grounds.

” He watched me watching him. “We went first to the library, where she was supposed to go next; that’s where we met with Lord Elias and Lord Theodore.

We checked the dorm after, where we found Lord Amos milling about outside. ”

“Why were you there?” Samuel asked Amos, who looked a little awkward.

“Wanted to talk with Bea,” he grumbled, finality in his tone. “I knew she didn’t have class in the afternoon today, so I thought she’d be in.”

“You knew that?” Elias wondered.

“Yes, brother. She’s …” Amos trailed off, golden eyes finding me, and for a second, I believed he was about to admit that we had a sexual relationship. “Also my friend.”

“While there, Professor Altha arrived at the dorm, too,” Vincent continued, deferring to Derrick, who sat near me in case I needed more medical attention.

“I informed some of you about this, but for everybody’s knowledge.

” He held up his wrist, where the special bracelet was.

“I was a physician for the Havenglow family before taking on the role as a Recovery magic professor. Bea’s parents requested I keep watch over their daughter and let me keep this enchanted bracelet to track her vitals.

“Earlier today, there was a point where Bea experienced an elevated heart rate, which normally wasn’t a cause for concern, but I wanted to verify, nonetheless.”

Well, if Derrick checked every time my heart rate went up, he wouldn’t be able to do anything else. As if he read my mind, he smiled at me, his cheeks tinting pink.

“And I suppose this was when you came to me,” Samuel continued recounting the events. “While I didn’t have the authority over the academy’s security, I knew someone who did.”

“Enter the Prince,” Claude happily supplied. “Ah, Win and Professor Strom were having a meeting that time.”

“Yes, because something he requested from the school administration piqued my interest,” Winston explained as he studied me. “A special class for one of his students who’s having an issue with their magic. Wouldn’t you know it, it was Bea all along.”

“And we formed the Bea Search Squad!” Claude grinned. “Except Mia, since she was assigned to wait at your dorm in case you return.”

“First major mistake is assuming she went off on her own,” Winston admitted. This was the first time I found out the explicit reason it took them awhile to find me. I mean, I’d already guessed the theory they had about me earlier.

That I ran away, hid away, escaped.

“My lady, we are sorry for presuming the behavior,” Reuben said. “We informed them about your tendency to … find solace by yourself. Where you’d often hide for hours at a time.”

Technically, even if they were talking about the Bea from before, it was still true to me too. The difference? I was always at the library hidden away, so it was easy to find me.

“I understand. I did have that pattern, so I don’t blame anyone. You didn’t want to assume I was missing just yet; that’s why there’s no announcement or search parties.” I looked up at all the men who were now watching me. “Were you planning to?”

“If you hadn’t been found late in the night, an official search would have been started,” Winston answered. That was a good plan, and it made sense.

“Let’s circle back to you, Bea,” Samuel picked up from where he stopped me earlier. “You said you escaped because your kidnappers were knocked out, with no details.” His red eyes hardened. “Now’s a good time to tell us what really happened.”

“Do I really have to?” I whined. Acting like a brat was always a great idea.

Winston’s sweet smile broke when he smirked, maybe finding me funny, before he schooled it back to a smile. “Yes, you have to, princess. Out with it. Leave no detail behind.”

My eyes widened. “Everything?”