Chapter 075
HANNAH
"So I heard you registered for the pageant," Jace said as we trained.
I took my eyes away from the silver-tipped spear I was supposed to learn how to handle. It immediately fell to the ground. Though Jace was not looking at his, with the ease born of practice, in his hands, it rotated so fast it was a blur.
I looked up at his face to find him giving me a quizzing look.
"Willa told me about it," he explained. "I was a little surprised, though. I didn't think you were a pageant kind of girl."
What was that supposed to mean? I grew up listening to many people say that I wasn’t attractive; could my mate think the same way? Did he see me just like everyone else?
“What does that mean?” I forced myself to ask him, hoping his answer wasn’t the thoughts in my head. “Why am I not a pageant kind of girl?”
Jace smiled. “I mean, I’m used to seeing you read and play the piano. You don’t like attention, and I think that’s what makes you unique. So a pageant is surprising.”
"Well, I guess I am now a pageant person," I replied. "One of the prizes for winning the pageant is a full scholarship to study at Worchmount University."
"Oh. Oh," he repeated, eyes widening. "Worchmount? The Worchmount University?"
"Yes."
"I can see the appeal," he said slowly. "But if you really want to get into Worchmount, we can foot all the bills. My father wouldn't hesitate to. You don't have to go out of your way to do this pageant thing if you don't want to. Besides, I have this feeling that you want to compete just to spite Julia."
His brown eyes searched my face.
I laughed a little. "How did you know she was also competing?"
Jace rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. I know Julia will never pass up an opportunity to throw herself all over the place. Even if no prizes were attached, she would definitely grab the opportunity to show off. Sometimes, it's painful watching her try too hard to be noticed.”
"Well, you caught me. Part of the reason I'm entering is that I just can't stand her acting like an overconfident brat. She was boasting in class about how she would win without any stress. I just couldn't stand it. But then..." I raised my shoulders in a shrug. "I'm just walking through this pageant thing blindly. I'm not even sure I'm going to win."
As I picked up the spear and aimed it at the target in the far distance, I couldn't help thinking that Julia might win and that I could more than likely get disqualified during the first stage.
"I'll help you."
Digging my spear into the ground, I turned to look at Jace again. "What?"
"We'll help you win," he said, more firmly this time. "I'll talk to Cade and Chase, but I'm pretty sure they'll be more than happy to help." He smiled my favourite lopsided smile. "When you have the Wallace brothers backing you, anything is possible. We'll even play dirty if that's what it takes as long as you get that crown... or is it a tiara now?"
Again, I laughed and mocked him and punched him on the shoulder.
I was surprised and moved to find that they would support me in something like this. The triplets made me feel loved and cared for. I felt a lot of emotions, gratitude being one of them.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"Anything for you. You are pretty and smart enough to win that thing anyway." Jace started to put an arm around my shoulders, but his arm dropped back to his side almost immediately. "Er- I think we should get back to training. Logan looks like he's two seconds away from marching down here."
I looked over Jace's shoulder at the other end of the training ground.
Logan was scowling in our direction with his arms crossed around his massive chest.
"He thinks I'm distracting his favourite student," Jace leaned close to whisper into my ear. "He'll probably complain to my father about it."
"And he's right," I said, clapping a hand over my mouth to keep in a giggle. "Uh- oh. I think we had better get back to work."
Logan had started walking purposefully towards us, arms swinging by his sides, cutting through the training guards and warriors.
Jace nodded. "Right. Here. Hold this."
Jace handed me a couple of daggers. When Logan saw I was back to training, he turned away and went to supervise some guards who were sparring.
For the next half hour, Jace and I practiced throwing daggers at the wooden dummies. It was hard but satisfying work. I got better with every throw and even hit the dummies head a couple of times.
Jace was teaching me a tricky wrist movement when we heard a shout behind us.
“Help!!!” The voice screamed. It was so full of pain and agony that the dagger I was holding dropped to the floor.
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