Chương 7

They came out through the side door into the corridor just as the lecture hall began to empty. Behind them, voices overlapped around Maria's name. Angelique did not slow. Louis matched her pace.

"You vanish quickly," he said.

"If you stay after a lecture like that, you spend twenty minutes watching strangers thank my mother for saying things they would have punished someone else for."

"Do you ever want to be the one on stage?"

"No," she said at once.

"I know the price." They reached the outer doors before Malcolm caught up with them.

"Angelique." She stopped. Louis turned too, more slowly. Malcolm stood a few paces behind them, composed again, though his breathing had not quite settled.

"They're still holding the reservation." he said.

"Should I cancel it?"

"Please." His gaze moved to Louis, then back to her.

"After last night, people are watching closely. You should think about the signals you send." Angelique looked at him.

"What signals would those be?" He looked at her sharply.

"You are not a private person."

"I don't need to be reminded." He inclined his head.

"Enjoy your day." She nodded. Malcolm turned and walked back the way he had come. They stepped outside. The sun was high. A few students lingered, some pretending to wait for friends, others obviously waiting for them. Louis glanced at their faces, then at Angelique.

"So," he said, "is this where you send me back to my car?"

"If I wanted to send you away, I wouldn't have bothered walking out with you." She glanced toward the lawn beyond the path.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes." His eyebrows lifted, and he broke into a grin.

"Though I don't know where we're supposed to go without someone taking a picture of it." She smiled.

"People are always taking pictures." She pointed to the tree line on their left.

"There's a Greek restaurant two blocks away. We can walk there." She started across the lawn without checking whether he followed, and he fell into step beside her. Behind them, phones lifted and a few students called his name. He ignored them, matching Angelique's unhurried pace as they left the main path. Louis caught up with her at the edge of the next path.

"You do this often?" he asked.

"What?"

"Lead a man across public lawns while half a campus watches." Her mouth moved.

"Only when I'm bored." The restaurant two blocks away was small and busy, with a faded blue awning and the smell of grilled pita and lemon at the door. The cashier recognized Louis first, then Angelique, and forgot her greeting. The line began whispering before they reached the counter. Angelique glanced at the board.

"One lamb gyro, extra sauce. One Greek salad. One fountain drink." She looked at Louis.

"Anything?" He nodded.

"Same." The girl rang them up with unsteady fingers.

"That's twenty-two fifty." Louis reached into his pocket. Angelique already had her phone against the reader. He frowned.

"You don't have to—""My invitation," she said simply. The register beeped. The girl handed them their ticket number, her eyes wide. Angelique took it and moved toward the pickup counter. Louis followed. People watched them cross the room. A few minutes later, a server called their number. After getting their drinks, they found a small table by the window. Their trays nearly touched. His knee brushed hers under the table. She did not move away. Angelique unwrapped her gyro and took a bite before she looked at him.

He was still watching her.

"What?"

"Nothing." He unwrapped his own gyro.

"It's just that you eat like this is normal." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Should I not?" She reached for her drink.

"You just look like someone who should have dinner in places where they bring out little bowls of things you can't pronounce." She raised one eyebrow.

"So should you." He laughed.

"And yet." He lifted his gyro.

"Here we are." He took a bite. The lamb was hot, the sauce sharp and salty. He chewed and swallowed before continuing.

"So," he said.

"Why did you really invite me to lunch?" She picked up a wooden fork and took a bite of her salad.

"Because you showed up at my mother's lecture and sat next to me."

"That's not a reason. That's a fact." She looked up at him.

"I was curious."

"About what?"

"About what you wanted." Louis looked at her. She did not look away.

"I wanted to see you." He held her gaze. Angelique said nothing for a second. Then the line of her mouth eased.

"Smooth," she said.

"That's more honest than I expected."

"I'm full of surprises."

"Of that," she said, "I have no doubt."

"Are you surprised I came today?" Her gaze held his.

"A little." She speared a tomato slice and chewed it.

"I wasn't sure you were the showing-up type."

"I'm not," he said.

"Usually."

"What changed?"

"You." She gave him a dry look.

"That's even smoother."

"It's true." He leaned his elbow on the table.

"And you're not going to look at me like that again until you admit you were curious too." She speared a piece of cucumber.

"I've spent the morning watching people compete to say the smartest thing in the room. It gets tiresome." She looked at him.

"You at least make better faces." He grinned.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Take it however you want." She took another bite of salad and swallowed before continuing.

"Besides, you came all this way. It seemed rude not to acknowledge it." She tilted her head.

"Was it worth the trip?" He looked outside the window for a few seconds before answering.

"Yes." Then he added, "Though I think I'd have enjoyed it more if the Dominion Guards weren't so determined to remind me they exist." He nodded toward the glass. Across the street, two plainclothes men lingered by a coffee cart, both with untouched cups and their attention fixed anywhere but the restaurant. Angelique glanced across the street.

"They've been there since we sat down."

"They're good at what they do." Louis took another bite of his gyro.

"Annoying, but good." He looked back at her.

"Do you have the same problem?" She gave a dry smile.

"I have a different version of it." She lowered her voice.

"My family tends to attract the kind of attention that requires more than plainclothes men and coffee carts." She paused.

"Though since last night, I suspect our security details are going to be even more excited." She looked back toward the men by the coffee cart.

"We're becoming diplomatic symbols now."

"That's what I hear." Louis chewed slowly.

"You don't sound excited about it."

"I'm not." She leaned back and crossed her arms.

"I know how this goes. Once they start writing about you as a symbol, they stop seeing you as a person."

"I know." Louis's took a sip of his drink.

"They already don't see me." She studied him.

"You sound almost hurt by that."

"Not hurt." He took another sip.

"More like resigned. When you grow up like this, people don't actually meet you. They meet the idea of you. And then they tell each other stories about what that idea means." She looked outside for a moment.

"Is that why you're always running?" she asked. He laughed.

"Is that what it looks like?" She tilted her head.

"You show up where you're not expected, you say what you're not supposed to say, you avoid anything that feels like a duty." Her eyes stayed on him.

"That's running, Louis." He met her gaze.

"It's only running if you're trying to get away from something." He leaned forward slightly.

"I'm not running. I'm just not interested in playing the part they wrote for me." She watched him for a moment.

"And what part is that?" she asked.

"The son who follows the father." He said it flatly.

"The heir who never questions. The one who smiles at the right people and dances at the right galas and never does anything that might look like it matters." She kept her eyes on his.

"And you think that's what they want you to be?"

"I know it is," he said.

"Because that's the only version of me they ever photograph." She stared at her salad.

"You're more interesting than that," she said after a moment.

"Whether they see it or not." Louis stopped with the gyro halfway to his mouth. He set it back on the wrapper and looked at her.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't thank me," she said.

"I'm just telling the truth." He smiled, and she smiled back. They ate without saying much after that. When the plates were empty, Angelique gathered the trash and stood.

"I should get back," she said.

"I'm technically still on my mother's schedule." He stood with her.

"Of course." He hesitated.

"Before you go, can I have your number? Or do you prefer we let the press arrange our next move?" Angelique closed one eye at him, the corner of her mouth pulling sideways before she smoothed it away.

"You have my father's office number. I assume you can use it."

"I'd rather have yours." He held up his phone, already on the contact screen. She studied him for a second, then took the phone and typed her number quickly. When she handed it back, her fingers brushed his. Louis looked down at their hands.

"I'll see you later, Louis." He watched her leave. Heads turned as she crossed the restaurant and pushed through the door into the sunlight. Across the street, the guards shifted. He sat down again, picked up his drink, and looked at the new contact on his screen. He typed a message. I had a good time today. He hit send. The reply came less than a minute later. So did I. He smiled at the screen, then slipped the phone back into his pocket. He took one last sip from his drink and stood.

By the time he pushed through the door, one of the men across the street had already set his coffee down. Louis stepped toward them. The nearer man straightened.

"Sir." Louis stopped in front of them.

"You were going to wait there all day?" The man's expression did not change.

"We were waiting until you were ready to leave." Louis looked at him for a second, then gave the smallest nod, half irritated, half resigned.

"I need to get to the airport."

"Yes, sir." The man touched two fingers lightly to the wire at his ear.

"We have a car ready." They fell into step together, the three of them moving toward the corner where a black sedan waited with its engine idling. The rear door opened from inside. The older man stepped back.

"Airport." Louis got in. The door closed behind him, and the car pulled into traffic. He leaned back in the seat and checked Angelique's message once more before locking the screen. Then his phone lit up again with a Tengri notification. He opened it and saw himself and Angelique through the Greek restaurant window: Angelique with her salad, Louis across from her, both bent over the small table. The caption was already there. The Navarrese princess and the Dominion prince on an impromptu lunch date.

Louis closed the app and put the phone in his pocket. The car turned toward the airport. Outside the tinted window, Sacramento kept moving. He watched the traffic and said nothing.