"The princess does not know how to walk in high heels," Leah told Ariana. "I keep trying to tell her that a woman in her position needs to know how to walk in heels, but does she listen to me, a woman who has been dressing royals for over twenty years? No."
"What's the big deal?" Brigit asked. "God made me this height. Why can I not attend parties at the height God made me?"
"Hasn't attended church since she's been in the States, but now she wants to invoke the Lord." Leah rolled her eyes as she stood.
"How do you know that?" Brigit asked, color rising in her cheeks.
"You may think you're far from the prying eyes of your people, your majesty, but the papers back home still print every little thing they can find out about you," Leah said wryly. "Will you talk some sense into the girl?" she asked Ariana, glancing at the heeled boots Ariana was wearing. "Maybe you can give her some pointers. Excuse me for a moment, Princess."
"Of course," Brigit said.
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Leah slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Brigit rolled her eyes.
"She is right, though," Ariana said, looking at Brigit's hem. "Heels say you're a sophisticated woman. If you keep going to parties in flats, it's kind of. ... childish."
"I know, I know," Brigit said, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "But if I start going to parties in heels, I'll be falling all over the place, spilling drinks and dumping cocktail sauce on people. I kind of think that's worse."
"Fair enough," Ariana said, sitting next to her. "So . . . wanna hear the plan?"
"Definitely!" Brigit said, clasping her hands. "I've gotta say, though, I'm kind of surprised at you, Ana Covington," she added, giving Ariana's leg a quick nudge.
"Why? What do you mean?" Ariana asked.
"I don't know ... I just never would have thought you were the prank type," Brigit said. "Kind of like what Lexa was saying in the bathroom the other day. You're kind of. . ."
She paused and made an apologetic face, as if she didn't want to say what she was actually thinking. All the tiny hairs on Ariana's arms stood on end.
"Kind of what?" she asked, trying not to sound annoyed.
"Um . . . rigid?" Brigit said.
A sour taste filled Ariana's mouth. She felt her fingers start to curl into fists and forced them open again. Rigid? Rigid? No
. She was not rigid. Just... controlled. She had to be controlled. Had to keep herself
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in check at all times. Had to be careful and calculated. These people had no idea what might happen if she didn't maintain that control. Ariana herself had no idea what might happen--a thought that scared her to the very core every time she let it enter. Which was why she had to keep it at bay. Keep every strong emotion--fear, anger, love, lust--under control.
Otherwise, she knew from experience, things could go very, very wrong.
"But not in a bad way," Brigit added quickly. "But I was thinking that maybe that's why Stone and Grave gave you that task." She whispered the words Stone and Grave. "You know, so you can prove you can loosen up. That you don't have to take yourself so seriously."
Ariana took a deep, soothing breath. Maybe Brigit was right. And maybe Lexa was the one who had set her task, having already noticed that Briana Leigh wasn't as Briana Leigh as she used to be.
"I know how to have fun," Ariana protested. She wished, suddenly, that Brigit and the others could have seen her in her Billings days. Ariana had always been the one to secure the champagne, forge the passes off campus, figure out how to get pastry deliveries in the middle of the night for Fat Phoebe parties. She'd been a total party animal. As long as it was nothing too wild. "I threw that party in my room last week, remember?"
"Yes! That was so cool," Brigit said, coloring. "Forget I said anything. Obviously I'm wrong. Rigid people do not pull pranks just for fun."
"Exactly," Ariana said, still bristling. She uncurled her fingers and tried to relax. Tried to appear less rigid.
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"So. Tell me the plan," Brigit said, getting comfy on her pillows and hopelessly wrinkling her dress. Although, Ariana supposed, Leah would probably just steam the creases out later. "Oh! But before I forget, are you free tonight?"
Ariana blinked. "Aside from studying, sure."