Sleeping Beauty (6 page)

The next Friday night, Lucette glared at her father as she sat opposite him in his office waiting for the scolding she knew was coming. How could he have expected her to be nice to those boys?

She shifted her glare down to her dress—the lace, the frills, and the way-too-low neckline—and crossed her arms over her chest, disgusted by the hideous pink nightmare with its itchy crinoline. Girls with small breasts and no hips shouldn't wear dresses cut like this. She felt humiliated. Tonight had been worse than her classes at the academy. And those had gotten harder to bear since she'd learned her mother wouldn't interfere with the school's curriculum, claiming it would threaten Lucette's secret identity.

“Lucette,” her father said, “stop fidgeting. When you sit still, you look lovely in that dress.”

“I do not.” She slumped back. “I look freaky enough in my normal clothes, but this dress is frilly—and pink! I hate pink!” She grabbed a handful of the offending fabric and tugged.

“Well, I think it quite becomes you,” he said. “And from what I saw and heard, all the boys you met tonight agreed with me.” He set his face into what looked like a forced smile. “Every last one of them has asked me for permission to court you.”

She clenched her fists and fought the urge to shout, still barely believing her father had paraded her in front of all those boys as if she were some prize to be won. “Dad, I'm only thirteen.”

Her father leaned forward from his chair. “Don't you like boys?”

“No. No, I don't. They're smelly and pimply and boring.” And the ones at her school could train to be real slayers, while she couldn't. It wasn't fair and she planned to take out her frustration on every single member of the male gender.

“Lucette, you're becoming a young lady.” Her father's strong dark eyebrows pushed together and his forehead wrinkled. “Most girls your age would be happy to have their father's permission to date boys.”

“Well, I'm not most girls, am I?” No, most girls her age didn't have huge curses hanging over their heads. Most girls her age actually looked like girls. Most girls her age weren't enrolled at the Slayer Academy.

“What's the problem, Lucette?” Her father's concern had turned to irritation. “Why are you so upset that I introduced you to a few nice boys?”

“You can't force me to date against my will.” Especially since these so-called dates would involve chaperones and guards, and the boys would probably be frisked for sharp objects and scrutinized for splinters before they'd be allowed near her. Her father would probably insist the boys wear gloves, too, in case one broke a nail or had a callus. It was beyond humiliating.

Her father's expression turned serious. “Lucette, it's vital you find true love.”

“Why? So I can give you an heir to your throne?” Really, she was only thirteen!

He rose from his chair as if he planned to discipline her, but then his face softened. “Didn't your mother tell you that true love is the only way the vampire queen's curse can be lifted?”

That was why her father wanted her to date boys? To fall in love? Like that would happen. She let out a disdainful laugh.

“Take this seriously, Lucette.” Her father cleared his throat.“The fairies made three alterations to the original curse. One to keep you safe until you turn sixteen, one to prevent the vampire queen from entering Xandra, and another to lift the curse when you prove you've found true love.”

“But I'm thirteen!” Lucette's mind felt muddy. She wasn't exactly a little girl anymore, and wanted her father to treat her like a grown-up most of the time, but not about this. She wasn't ready for love.

Her father tapped his fingers on his huge marble-topped desk. “Maybe you're not old enough to attend charm school then, either.”

“What?” Lucette's heart rate tripled.“That's not fair.” Even if training to be a female slayer wasn't what she hoped for, at least there she had a chance to get close to the weapons.

He frowned. “The fairies paid a high price for altering your curse. You can't take them for granted.”

She nodded, and a little bit of the muddiness cleared. “What price?”

He sat down and gripped the carved arms of his chair, as if he might crush them. “The vampire queen was very angry that the fairies helped you.” He paused, looked at her, then continued. “So she punished them—brutally.”

Lucette felt a lump form in her throat, and a sense of guilt overcame her as she thought of the price others had paid to help her. “Punished them how?”

He shook his head.“Don't worry about that. It's better if you focus on preventing the curse. Finger safety and finding true love are the keys.”

Lucette sat silent for a moment. She didn't think her father was wrong; it was smart to prevent the curse. But she also thought her mother was right, that she should be prepared in case the curse did fall. Her father was in denial if he thought he could protect her from every danger, or if he thought she'd ever find love. She wished she were interested in boys, but she wasn't. Not like that.

“Did you say the fairies' magic says I have to
prove
I've found love?” she asked, and he nodded.

“How do you prove that?”

He ran his fingers over his chin, and Lucette wondered if he knew the answer, but then he cleared his throat. “If your love is true, proving it will be easy.”

“Did you and Mom have”—she took a deep breath to calm her nerves—“true love?”

Her father looked as if he'd been struck by lightning, then his eyes turned glassy. “Lucette, your mother is the most beautiful and quick-witted woman I've ever met. And the way she used to look at me . . .” He closed his eyes for a moment. “I love your mother. I do. Very much. But perhaps she was too young when we wed. Perhaps she wishes she'd had more time on her own first.” He looked away, and Lucette could feel waves of sadness drifting from him.

She rounded his desk and sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his velvet jacket. “Don't be sad, Daddy.”

It was clear he loved her mother, or at least he had before the curse ruined everything, before
she'd
ruined everything. Lucette had to make up for that. From now on, she'd try harder to please her parents and make them happy.

The next week, Lucette leaned over the balcony railing above the school gymnasium to see the action below. Her hands itched to hold one of those big sticks the boys were thrusting and swinging as they leaped around the gym. Even though this was an advanced class, some of them were complete klutzes.

Others weren't.

A tall blond boy, about sixteen from the looks of him, was completing an obstacle course and Lucette couldn't keep her eyes off him. He climbed nearly twenty-five feet up a rope, the muscles in his bare back and shoulders flexing and straining as he moved impossibly fast. Reaching the top, he swung the rope to gain momentum and height, and then released it as he propelled himself toward an even higher platform. As he landed, Lucette sucked in a quick breath, watching how the strong muscles in his legs flexed. He sprang again, this time executing a flip in the air, and landed on another platform. A straw-filled dummy shot skyward. He picked up a stake and leaped to stab it midair.

The stake went straight through the dummy's chest and the boy landed on the gymnasium floor.

Lucette lifted her hands to clap, but noticed that no one else did. The other girls had all turned their heads or covered their eyes, as if real blood had been spilled instead of just a little straw. Wimps.

Miss Eleanor stepped up beside her. “You see now, don't you?” Lucette studied a group of boys about to start a sparring exercise and lifted her arm to mimic their stance. “See what?”

“That slaying is no job for girls,” Miss Eleanor said, a smug look on her face.

Lucette dropped her arms. “No, I don't see that at all. Look at him.” She pointed at a skinny boy struggling to push a huge block of stone across the room. “I'll bet I'm stronger than he is.”

“They all have their specialties, Lucy. That boy is the fastest in this group at rope climbing. He can scale a three-story building in thirty-two seconds.”

“So could I, I'll bet. If someone would just give me the chance.”

Miss Eleanor pushed back from the railing. “Bringing you girls up here was a mistake.” She shook her head. “I hoped that by showing you the brutality of the boys in action, you'd come to your senses.”

She
had
come to her senses. Nearly every night vampires roamed Xandra looking for necks to bite, and Lucette now felt sure that the vampire boy she met in the woods had been the exception, not the rule. Vampires were vicious, and in only three years she might find herself facing them alone. She wished her father would declare war like her mother wanted, but while he'd reinstated the slayer army for defensive purposes, he still refused to declare war on Sanguinia. He was determined to find a diplomatic solution.

She shuddered. The possibility that her father might find a solution someday didn't make it any less horrible for the nightly vampire victims. And if the curse came true, she'd be left to defend the entire kingdom on her own.

Her hand rose to cover her neck. She was doomed unless she learned how to slay. Arguing with Miss Eleanor would be nothing compared to fighting a vampire. She would make the teachers at the school see. She'd make them believe she could do it. If only she could tell everyone she was the princess, then they'd have to do what she wanted.

She stepped back from the balcony and turned to the stairs. “I'm going down to join the boys.”

“Lucy! Stop right now!” Miss Eleanor called after her as she ran to the flight of stairs leading to the gym.

Dizziness seized Lucette at the top of the stairs. She hadn't walked down a flight of stairs alone in her entire life, but after drawing a deep breath to steady herself, she took hold of the banister and raced down.

“Lucy!” Slowed by her high heels, Miss Eleanor reached the top of the stairs just as Lucette reached the bottom. “Girls aren't allowed on the gymnasium floor! There are weapons! You'll get hurt!”

Hearing the thuds and smashes of the weapons and bodies slamming into each other, fear and excitement coursed through her. Training with these boys, she might get an injury way worse than a finger prick.

Nonetheless, she stepped onto the floor. Two tall boys were sparring right in front of her, so close she could smell their sweat. She stepped to the side and saw a rack of stakes about twenty feet down the wall she was standing against. What she wouldn't give to hold one in her hand, to feel its weight, to leap and strike one of the dummies. She headed toward the stakes.

“Watch out!” Someone yelled, and she was tackled from the side.

An arrow swooshed over her head and thunked into the wall. Lucette looked up. Just above her head was a bull's-eye, the arrow still vibrating at its center.

“What were you thinking, walking in front of a target?” An angry voice startled her, and she realized it was the tall blond boy she'd been watching earlier. He had her pinned down, and she could see his eyes were bright blue, flashing with life, and very, very angry.

“I didn't know,” she said. “I'm sorry.”

Miss Eleanor's voice rang out, “Mr. Harris, one of my young ladies is on the floor and one of your young men has attacked her! Stop your boys right now!”

A horn sounded, and the mock battles stopped.

“Tristan, help her up!” someone yelled from the other side of the room.

The boy named Tristan shook his head in disbelief and his eyes narrowed as he rose to his feet. Lucette still sat, feeling hot and scared and excited. Her heart was beating so quickly she wondered if it might pound its way out of her chest.