Chapter Text
“I’m Essa,” she says, smiling.
She sticks out a delicate hand like a typical prince-not-princess and Edgar snorts. He thought princesses were supposed to bend into a curtsy, all proper and shit. She’s still looking up at him, and still smiling. Infuriatingly.
Now that he’s standing toe to toe with her, he comes to the realization that Essa is tiny.
She’s a petite little thing with flouncing blonde hair and golden skin. Her blue eyes glitter from beneath wavy bangs and Edgar can tell she knows exactly how to flutter her eyelashes to get every Everboy to do what she wants.
Well, not him. No, sir.
And she would remind Edgar a little bit of Filip and his mother, but whereas Vanessa’s beauty had been cold and severe, Essa looked like the personification of all the sweets and chocolates that Edgar would stuff his face with when Vanessa wasn’t looking. His mother never cared about him anyway, so he’d been able to eat all the sweets he’d wanted to.
And he’d had no negative feelings towards this particular, if obscenely popular, princess, that last adjective tacked on because of the sheer volume of squealing from the Evergirls when she had stepped inside the auditorium, and the dark red blush on every single Everboy’s face.
No negative feelings, other than slight annoyance.
Right until Filip moans about having a huge, devastating crush on her. And that he wouldn’t help Edgar figure out how to get them home because Filip belonged here. Filip was destined to marry Essa and live happily ever fucking after in Camelot.
Edgar scowls. Stupid back-stabbing best friends and their stupid, insipid ideas of destiny and romance.
He’s wrenched back to the present when the little thing clears her throat. Edgar has to very nearly look straight down to meet her eyes. A vicious feeling of satisfaction courses through him when he realizes Essa has to crane her neck to match his gaze.
“So?” she prompts, “What’s your name?”
“Edgar,” he grunts. Irritated already with the girl who had warped Filip’s mind.
She hums in response, looking him up and down.
He feels sort of weird being under her scrutiny. Well, no shit. He wasn’t used to people even giving him a second glance.
“Could you get out of my way?”
Her pretty eyes widen.
Edgar doesn’t wait and shoves his way past, so far beyond irritated. Really edging into anger, if he’s being honest.
“It was nice meeting you!” She calls after him.
He ignores her and stomps down the stairs.
Let her think he hates her. Edgar does.
He sees only a flash of the hurt expression on Essa’s face as he leaves, although with the fact that he absolutely does not care if he hurt her feelings or not, it’s quite easy to brush off.
After he turns the corner, Essa frowns, pouting harder. He’d been so mean to her. And she can’t figure out why. So, right then and there, she decides that she doesn’t like him.
He was a jerk. A lumps forms in her throat and she curses her sensitivity. Father had always said she cried too easily.
Stupid princesses, Edgar thinks to himself as he stomps up the stairs to his dorm room. All the Good students at this even stupider school could go to hell. Edgar wouldn’t fall for their games, and he scowls harder. Even if Filip already had.
———
What does Edgar find out in the coming days?
That classes are a disaster.
The only one he likes is swordplay, because that didn’t involve any talking and he could stay as silent as he wanted. He also has a certain gift for it, which the other boys resented, but Edgar couldn’t care less. He’d survive long enough in this stupid school till he figured out a way to get him and Filip home. Back to Gavaldon.
And not Camelot.
Filip had already tried to switch uniforms with Edgar, twice. But each time blue rots to black on his svelte body, and black melts back into royal blue on Edgar’s own. But even if that particular path to happiness had vanished for Filip, the idiotic blond had decided he would try winning Essa’s heart anyway.
And loathe as Edgar is to admit it, Filip did possess a certain amount of charm that has clearly worked on Essa, if the way she blinks doe-like at Filip every now and then, is saying anything. But the next obstacle appears in Filip’s path to victory, because when they’re made to distinguish between Good and Evil in their forest groups…
Essa picks Edgar every time.