Nobody in Particular(54)

I answer William’s call feeling far lighter than I did twenty minutes ago. William, however, wastes no time at all in crashing me back down, his voice clipped and urgent. “Rose. We’ve received a tip from within Bramppath College that you’re in a relationship with a student named Danni Blythe.”

I bolt upright on the bed and blanch. “You what? From who?” I ask, not at all as measured as I meant to sound.

“It was anonymous, unfortunately. And before you ask, no evidence was provided. But naturally, the first step for me is to contact you to find out if there’s any truth to the accusation.”

I frantically run through the events of the past few weeks. How could someone know about Danni and me? Did she tell somebody? Did we somehow slip up? Could someone have seen us? Did Danni leave her curtains ajar one night? Not as far as I can remember. We were being careful, weren’t we?

Were we?

Has William spoken to Theodore? He naturally must suspect the truth after that night in the forest, but we usually have an understanding that as long as I’m not engaging in any life-threatening behaviors, he doesn’t report back to the palace on my daily life. And he’s seen me high more than once, so it’s not as though the theory is untested.

“Rose?” William presses. “I know your parents prefer a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach, but this is one time I have to disagree with them. The more I know, the better I can work to protect you and prevent rumors from spreading.”

What he says makes sense; however, it’s not that simple. For a start, Danni is only out to one person, a friend of hers from America named Rachel. She told me as much a week ago. Even if I were to decide William should know about us, I would need her permission first. And truthfully, I’m far from eager to loop William in on this particular fact. He’s a great help in many areas, but as soon as anyone within the palace knows about Danni and me, it’s out of my hands. The palace is skilled at making problems go away, but they haven’t historically been much concerned about the price, there. I don’t want their eyes on Danni. Not when they would choose me over her in a heartbeat at even the whiff of a scandal.

“Danni’s a friend of mine,” I say evenly, “but that’s all.”

“I see,” William says, equally measured. It’s impossible to tell if he believes me. “Well, just so you are aware, there has been some online discussion regarding you and your friend. I’m sending through a number of screenshots we collected today.”

Well, there’s my answer to whether he believes me. I frown to myself as he falls quiet, composing an email to me. What does he mean, online discussion? How on earth do people online have any opinion on Danni and me? And if true, how was I not aware of it? I pull out my laptop and hurry to check my emails, where I find an encrypted message from William.

The first few screenshots attached appear to be from the comment section beneath Molly’s piano post. A few are simply people noting that they recognize my voice, and expressing it’s sweet to see Danni and I are still friends. One person takes it further than that, and writes:

What’s up with the lover’s tone at the end there?

And someone else—a friend of theirs, perhaps—replies:

First the rugby game, now this.

The final screenshot is of a post within a forum devoted to European royal families, uncreatively titled Princess Rosemary and Danni Blythe???

Hear me out, it says. I have a conspiracy theory. This year, Rosemary and Molly suddenly start being seen with their new friend, Danni Blythe, who appears in some of Molly’s stories. Then, we see the three of them together in Molly’s livestream back in September, where she accidentally films Danni falling down on camera, and Rosemary catching her.

A small clip of the incident follows for illustration. As though it’s irrefutable evidence of romance if one catches somebody when they slip? I barely even knew Danni then, for goodness’ sake.

Then, later in the game, notice the way Rosemary watches Danni? Look at her expression. I know I don’t watch my friends like that.

What follows is a slowed-down clip of me turning sideways and looking at Danni, who’s watching the game. We’re at the bottom of the frame, incidentally caught on camera as Molly filmed the game. For the life of me, I can’t remember looking at Danni, or why. And, sure, at this speed, it looks intense, and pensive, and perhaps even aching if you want to go that far. But I was not aching. And at full speed, how long did I even look at her for? Three seconds? I was probably thinking about how bored I was.

Then later in the livestream, we see Rosemary and Danni returning from somewhere, wearing each other’s CLOTHES!? Then, Molly and Rosemary mysteriously have a falling out, though neither of them ever comment on what, exactly, went down between them. But don’t you think it’s interesting timing? That it happened right after Rosemary saved Danni’s life?

Perhaps it would have been interesting timing, had that been the timeline at all, but go on.

Next, we get these photos from the queen’s birthday of Rosemary, Eleanor, and Danni—and look where Rosemary’s hand is! Why is she touching Danni, but not Eleanor? She’s known Eleanor for much longer. And again, Molly is notably absent.

It’s—oh, come on, it’s on the small of Danni’s back. And yes, fine, I did actually have a crush on Danni by that point, but what does this prove?