Claimed By The King(s) Of Kings

Aina

The rising sun cast a warm, golden hue over the polished stone towers and sprawling grounds of Moonside Academy. Outside, the campus was already bursting with activity.

Eager students jogged along the manicured cobblestone paths, while others gathered in hushed, excited groups, fully prepped for the first official day of classes. Everyone, it seemed, had their life entirely together.

Except for Aina.

Inside her dorm room, the disguised girl was still hopelessly lost in slumber, sprawled out across the softest sheets she had ever felt. Her blanket barely hovered above her waist, her mouth was wide open, and she was sleeping shaped entirely like a starfish.

She slept, and slept, and slept, until her body suddenly violently jolted awake as if she were having a heart attack. Her torso shot straight up into the air, her skin covered in a cold sweat.

”Oh my God, I’m late!” she shrieked.

She rolled wildly off the side of the mattress, crashing onto the carpet, and literally began crawling herself across the floor toward the bathroom. She didn’t even need to look at her phone or check the wall clock to know she had royally overslept. The brilliant, harsh sunlight piercing through the cracks of her heavy curtains was more than enough proof.

Aina rushed into the bathroom, throwing herself into a record-fast, freezing-cold shower. The burst of cold water washed away her sleepiness, and the second she stepped out, she frantically grabbed her scent-blocking cream. She slathered the de-scenting lotion across her skin so fast it left her arms and neck looking pale and distinctly ashy.

Rushing out to the closet, she spotted her official academy uniform. It was the male design, a sharp combination of dark red, navy blue, and gold trimming. She hauled on the trousers, but it was painfully obvious the uniform had been tailored for Travis’s six-foot-one frame. On her, the pants were ridiculously baggy and bunched around her ankles.

”Great. I look like a child wearing my dad’s clothes,” she muttered under her breath, tying her belt as tight as humanly possible.

There was zero time to worry about fashion. She yanked on the crisp white shirt, haphazardly throwing the tie around her neck. Even though the knot looked entirely lopsided and crappy, she slapped the heavy blazer over her shoulders, pulled up her socks, and jammed her feet into her shoes. The entire chaotic ordeal took her a grand total of fifteen minutes.

Snatching up her dorm key and her daily class schedule, she sprinted out of her room.

The dorm rooms hallway was dead quiet. The heavy curtains remained drawn, and not a single soul was moving. It seemed her roommates had overslept too. If Aina were a cold, ruthless person, she would have left them to suffer the consequences and ran off on her own. But in a split second decision she decided to help. She already had an army of royal enemies on this campus; she really didn’t need to add her own roommates to the hit list.

Taking a deep breath, she ran down the hallway, pounding her fist against every single closed door she passed.

”Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, not waiting a single second for a response before bolting out the main entrance.

Glancing down at her paper schedule while sprinting through the grand hallway, her heart sank.

First Period: Registration with Professor Ironk. Followed by Second Period: Shifting with Professor Ironk

”Great... my homeroom teacher also teaches shifting.,” she gasped out, panic rising in her throat. ”Just fantastic.”

To make matters infinitely worse, she realized she had left the school map sitting neatly on her nightstand. Going back for it meant she’d be late. She had less than five minutes before the opening bell.

Aina pelted toward the central elevator, slamming her thumb against the call button and diving in the second the metallic doors slid open. She jammed the ’Ground Floor’ button repeatedly. The moment the doors cracked open at the lobby, she burst out, not even having the time to greet the few students walking around.

She skidded to a sudden halt in front of a giant, illuminated campus directory mounted on the stone wall. Her eyes scanned the blueprint frantically.

”Shifting Hall... Shifting Hall... West Wing, Fourth Floor,” she recited aloud, memorizing the route. ”Okay! West Wing, Fourth Floor. Got it. Do not forget it!”

With her stomach letting out a loud, hollow growl, courtesy of sleeping straight through breakfast, she took off again. She wove through intricate hallways, bounded up massive flights of marble stairs, and took sharp lefts and rights in a dizzying maze of grand architecture.

Breathing heavily, her chest heaving, she finally spotted the heavy wooden double doors marked 402 - West Wing Shifting. She shoved the doors open and stumbled inside just as the high-pitched morning bell echoed loudly throughout the corridors.

The entire classroom quieted, turning to look at the disheveled, out-of-breath student standing in the doorway.

At the front of the room stood Professor Ironk, a massive, broad-shouldered man with scarred forearms and stern eyes. He looked down at his pocket watch, then up at Aina.

”Well, looks like you made it just in time, boy,” Professor Ironk said, his voice deep and echoing. He gestured casually to the terraced rows of desks. ”Find an open seat so we can begin.”

”Thank you, sir,” Aina panted, holding her aching side as she limped up the wooden stairs toward the seating rows.

She spotted a few open chairs and moved toward the first one. Instantly, the student sitting next to it threw their arms over the desk, glaring at her violently.

”Taken,” the guy snapped.

She flinched, shifting toward another empty row. As soon as she took two steps in that direction, a group of girls threw their bags onto the vacant seats, covering them completely.

”Don’t you even dare,” one of them sneered. Muttered whispers rippled through the room. It was painfully obvious, the entire classroom was united against her. The story of the first-year who threw mashed potatoes at the princes had clearly traveled like wildfire.

Desperate, Aina shot a pleading look toward Professor Ironk, but the tall man simply turned his back to the class, busying himself by writing on the main chalkboard.

Oh, come on! Are you serious right now? Aina screamed internally, standing awkwardly in the middle aisle as dozens of hostile eyes bored into her.

”Hey! Over here!”

A soft, clear voice broke through the oppressive silence. Way in the back row, a girl with bright waved her hand enthusiastically in the air. ”You can come sit here with me! I have an empty seat!” Relief washed over Aina so intensely she could faint. ”Thank you,” she breathed out frantically, rushing up the remaining stairs and sliding into the vacant chair right beside the girl.

I know this girl. She’s the girl from the hallway. She’s too pretty for me to ever forget her face.

As Aina collapsed into her seat, trying to catch her breath, the girl turned to her with a warm, sympathetic smile. ”It was the right thing to do,” she said softly, leaning in closer. ”It’s totally my brothers’ fault that no one wants to sit next to you anyway.”

Aina’s heart stopped. She blinked, her brain suddenly connecting the dots at warp speed.

Brothers?

The girl had the same refined, breathtaking facial features, the same effortless royal aura, and looked similar to the males who had terrorized the dining hall yesterday. Aina let out a high-pitched, horribly awkward laugh, her voice squeaking. ”Uh... what is your name? I didn’t get to ask yesterday”

”My name is Molly,” the girl replied point-blank, tilting her head with a friendly grin.

Aina swallowed hard, her pulse racing. ”Are... are you a princess?”

Molly let out a bright, musical laugh, shaking her head. ”You are so very direct! Yes, I am a princess.”

Aina froze, her eyes staring blankly at the polished desk in front of her as her soul practically left her body. A princess. I am sitting right next to the royal princes’ sister.

At that exact moment, Aina wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.