nice.
"All right," said Lissa. "I'll see you later. Nice meeting you, Jill."
"You too," said Jill. She dared a smile at Christian. "Thanks again."
"You better show up for our next practice," he warned.
Adrian and Jill started to step out the door, just as Avery stepped through it.
"Hey, Adrian." Avery gave Jill a once-over. "Who's your jailbait?"
"Will you guys stop calling me that?" exclaimed Jill.
Adrian pointed at Avery chastisingly. "Hush. I'll deal with you later, Lazar."
"I certainly hope so," she said in a singsong voice. "I'll leave the door unlocked."
Jill and Adrian left, and Avery sat down next to Lissa. She seemed animated enough to be drunk, but Lissa smelled no liquor on her. Lissa was rapidly learning that some part of Avery was always just vivacious and carefree, regardless of intoxication.
"Did you really just invite Adrian to your room later?" asked Lissa. She spoke teasingly but had been secretly wondering if something was going on between them. And yeah, that made two of us who wondered.
Avery shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. Sometimes we hang out once you guys are all tucked into bed. You aren't going to get jealous, are you?"
"No," laughed Lissa. "Just curious. Adrian's a good guy."
"Oh?" asked Christian. "Define 'good.'"
Avery held up her hand and began ticking items off with each finger. "He's devastatingly handsome, funny, rich, related to the queen..."
"You got your wedding colors picked out?" asked Lissa, still laughing.
"Not yet," said Avery. "I'm still testing the waters. I figured he'd be an easy notch on the Avery Lazar belt, but he's kind of hard to read."
"I really don't want to be hearing this," Christian said.
"Sometimes he acts like a love 'em and leave 'em type. Other times, he mopes like some heartbroken romantic." Lissa exchanged a knowing glance with Christian that Avery didn't catch while talking. "Anyway, I'm not here to talk about him. I'm here to talk about you and me busting out of here." Avery threw her arm around Lissa, who nearly fell over.
"Out of where? The dorm?"
"No. This school. We're going off on a wild weekend to the
Royal Court
."
"What, this weekend?" Lissa felt like she was three steps behind, and I didn't blame her. "Why?"
"Because it's Easter. And her royal majesty thought it would be 'lovely' if you could join her for the holiday." Avery's tone was grand and high-pitched. "And, since I've been hanging out with you, Dad's decided I'm on good behavior now."
"Poor oblivious bastard," murmured Christian.
"So he said I can go with you." Avery glanced at Christian. "You can too, I guess. The queen said Lissa could bring a guest-in addition to me, of course."
Lissa looked into Avery's radiant face and didn't share her enthusiasm. "I hate going to Court. Tatiana just goes on and on, giving what she thinks is useful advice for me. It's always boring and miserable now." Lissa didn't add that she'd once found Court fun-when I'd gone with her.
"That's because you haven't gone with me yet. It'll be a blast! I know where all the good stuff is. And I bet Adrian'll come too. He can push his way into anything. It'll be like a double date."
Slowly, Lissa began to acknowledge that this might be fun. She and I had managed to find a little of the "good stuff" that hid underneath the polished surface of Court life. Every other visit since had been just as she described-stuffy and businesslike. But now, going with Christian and wild, spontaneous Avery? That had potential.
Until Christian ruined it. "Well, don't count me in," he said. "If you can only bring one person, bring Jill."
"Who?" asked Avery.
"Jailbait," explained Lissa. She looked at Christian in astonishment. "Why on earth would I bring Jill? I just met her."
"Because she's actually serious about learning to defend herself. You should introduce her to Mia. They're both water users."
"Right," said Lissa knowingly. "And the fact that you hate it at Court has nothing to do with it?"
"Well..."
"Christian!" Lissa was suddenly getting upset. "Why can't you do this for me?"
"Because I hate the way Queen Bitch looks at me," he said.
Lissa didn't find this convincing. "Yeah, but when we graduate, I'll be living there. You'll have to go then."
"Yeah, well, then give me this small vacation first."
Lissa's irritation grew. "Oh, I see how it is. I have to put up with your crap all the time, but you can't go out of your way for me."
Avery glanced between them and then stood up. "I'll leave you kids to work this out on your own. I