Page 18 of The Princess of Portals

“Oh, no. Not this.”

I ignored his protest. “The same goes for you and Kato. You really need to stop torturing him so much.”

“It’s cute that you worry about us, Red, really it is, but let me put your troubled mind at ease. Kato and I are getting along just fine.”

“He didn’t look ‘just fine’ this morning when he told me that you’d broken into his room. Again. And rearranged all the books on his bookshelf. Again.”

“Oh, he was upset about the books, was he?”

“You could say that.”

“Then just wait until he sees what I did to his armory.”

“His armory? Conner, what did you do to his armory?”

“Nothing.”

I buried my face in my hands and counted back from ten. I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

“It’s not easy to find ways to interact with your best friend when the Watchers are everywhere and you’re not supposed to be seen together.”

That’s when it hit me: Conner felt left out. He missed just casually hanging out with his best friend, eating and drinking and just plain goofing off together. Teaming up to save the world was no substitute for all those low-key moments. Conner was lonely.

I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight.

“Hey,” he chuckled, hugging me back. “What’s that for?”

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you. You aren’t alone.”

“This is nice.” He eased into the hug. I could feel his pulse thrumming, slow and content. Then, suddenly, it kicked up a beat, racing with mischief. “You know, maybe I’ll ditch Kato to make room for a new best friend.”

I pulled away, laughing. “Actually, I already have a best friend, and she’s way less trouble than you are, Major Rogue.”

He bowed to me, and I laughed again.

“Speaking of trouble, I hear you’ve been snooping around, Red.”

“Me? Snooping? Never.”

His face suddenly grew serious. “You’re looking for the Order of Kings.”

“They kidnapped Kylie and a whole lot of other Apprentices. Because of them, Asher is who-knows-where in the Many Realms. Of course I’m looking for the Order of Kings. I’m going to find them, stop them, free the Apprentices, and put an end to their odious order.”

“Ok, that’s a noble plan,” Conner said. “But could you do it a little more discreetly?”

I snorted. “You’re lecturing me about being discreet? You? Really?”

“I’ll have you know that I am very discreet. I have secret hideouts and invisibility spells and stuff.”

“You also tie up criminals in big ribbons and leave them on the General’s doorstep. Sorry to break it to you, Conner, but that’s not very discreet.”

“As opposed to tromping around the Magic Emporium, asking all kinds of people all kinds of questions about super-secret organizations.”

“If only any of those people actually knew anything,” I grumbled.

“They might know something, but they’d be wise to keep quiet about it. For an organization that supposedly doesn’t exist, the name ‘Order of Kings’ certainly elicits a lot of fear from anyone who hears it.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, half-laughing, half-sighing. “I guess neither of us knows how to stay out of trouble.”