"Hello? Are you even listening?" Lenore grouched. They were in the middle of their now regular library study session, and Lenore was starting to get the distinct impression that Addy was wasting time.

Addy blinked between her workbook and Lenore. She hadn't been listening at all. She'd been staring off into the space of the margins, lost in a haze of daydreams spurred on by the hint of boy smell that still lingered on the cardigan she was wearing.

She'd offered to return it to Martin in class earlier that afternoon, but he'd found a way to convince her to keep wearing it. The truth was, he liked seeing her in it.

Addy bit back a smile and dropped her eyes to the page she was supposed to have read in the silence during which she'd instead been imagining her next date-like-thing with Martin. Maybe even her first kiss-like-thing…

"Sorry…"

"Tell me what you have for 'entente'." Lenore scowled, apparently unwilling to waste further time inquiring about Addy's daydreams.

"Right. 'Entente'. It's an informal agreement, or even sometimes an informal alliance, between countries. The formal version is called an 'accord'."

Lenore nodded, scribbling notes very quickly. They'd each read a different chapter of the textbook and were now summarizing their chapters for each other. As long as they both did an adequate job summarizing, this study trick saved them a lot of time. Addy supposed she should be pleased that she'd built up enough trust with Lenore that they were even able to try this tactic.

"What's a good historical reference for 'entente'?" Lenore asked, not glancing up from her notes. "Something Illéan?"

Addy paused, eyebrows raised. Lenore had this way of seamlessly integrating lessons with history, her brain was always churning to turn pure theory into concrete examples. Addy sometimes struggled to keep up. "Um… Oh! Right before the end of the New Asian war, my dad—"

Lenore made a noise of upset.

Addy rolled her eyes, "I can't change the fact that he's my dad, Lenore. You're just going to have to get used to it." Lenore still wasn't thrilled about Addy's 'princess' status. "Anyway, my dad knew he wanted to negotiate peace with the New Asian government, but it was going to take a little while to settle the details. He didn't want anyone else to die in a war that was basically over, so he and all of his advisers went through official channels of communication to immediately request a cease-fire entente. A cease-fire accord would have taken valuable time to draw up."

"I get it." Lenore nodded, "Bureaucracy and paperwork would have cost lives."

"Exactly."

Lenore stretched her back and sighed, "I'm burnt out for the day. What about you?"

Addy pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded, looking over their mountain of study materials.

On the one hand, they'd made themselves a study guide to get ready for the midterm next week, and they were ahead of schedule on reviewing the material.

On the other hand, Professor Dearwood had announced that she would be using the midterm results to help her decide which pairs of students would be assigned which country for the final project. Addy couldn't tell exactly how Dearwood would use the results, but Lenore took the news to be, as she took everything in their Seminar, a challenge on which her entire future hung in the balance.

Not to mention, earlier that very day, Dearwood had made her first student cut of the semester. A boy called Adam had left the class in actual tears when Professor Dearwood had refused to start the lesson with him still in the room. Suffice to say, that horrible experience had given Addy and everyone left in the class a fearful motivation to perform well on the midterm.

"You know what?" Addy made the decision with a nod, "I've got my English lit midterm this week. I need to prioritize my studying."

"Oh." Lenore's face showed an unusual amount of understanding, "That's why you were so distracted today."

Addy practically felt herself blanch, "Um… yep. That's why." Addy would rather eat a sock than confess that she'd been daydreaming about a boy.

"Then I'll see you Sunday? Our usual study time?" Lenore stood and began gathering all of her materials.

"Sounds good. I'll bring the coffee."

This was borderline friendly behavior, and Lenore seemed to sense it because, without another word, she turned on her heel, her multitude of long braids whirling behind her, and stormed away.

"So, you read it, right?" Meri held up Addy's thoroughly annotated copy of Sense and Sensibility. "This isn't just for show?"

"I read it." Addy promised.

Meri, as a literature major, was helping Addy prepare for her literature midterm the following day.

"What kinds of stuff did you highlight and underline?" Meri flipped through the book, dazzled by the sparkly ink and bright, cheerful highlights.

"Um…" Addy reached back in her memory, "Interesting quotes, obvious rhetorical devices like metaphors and similes… I did really glaring instances of dichotomy, too."

"Oh, okay, good." she smiled cheerfully, "So you got that the main idea is to set up a contrast." Meri nodded her approval. "I mean, it's right there in the title. 'Sense' is common sense, and 'sensibility' is more like taste, like what the heart wants. It's basically brains versus hearts, and every major character in the book represents a study in either sense or sensibility in contrast."

"Kinda blatantly." Addy dared to complain.

Meri snorted, "Well, yeah, this was Jane Austin's first novel, Bird." she giggled, "Most scholars think that at least the first section was originally published when she was only twenty years old. Maybe give her a break for not having a more complicated plot structure? It's still a classic."

"Fine." Addy laughed.

"Okay, so you'll be in good shape for the multiple choice questions on the exam, right? Basic plot points, characters' relationships with each other… I don't need to summarize anything for you, do I?"

"Nah." Addy stuffed her hands into the pockets of Martin's cardigan and smiled. She was wearing it again. She was addicted.

"Good. Let's talk about what you'll write your timed essay on, then."

"Our professor said it would probably be about a major theme… I guess the most obvious would be contrast."

"So probably 'the smart choice' versus 'the right choice', then?"

Addy blinked, stumbling over that summary, "You mean 'the right choice' versus 'the heart's choice', don't you?"

"Nooo…" Meri drew out the sound, brows knitting together, trying to understand Addy's interpretation.

"Meri," Addy rolled her eyes, "The little sister, the emotional one, almost married a total jerk because of love."

"Addy," Meri giggled, mimicking Addy's tone, "The older sister, the sensible one, only found happiness in the end when she allowed herself to confess her true love for Edward."

"Well, the younger sister only found happiness in the end when she finally used her brain to realize she'd been in love with a monster." Addy countered.

Meri nibbled at her lip, "I guess the point of the novel is that compromise is important. Balance. You need both. You need sense and sensibility, not sense or sensibility."

"I guess." Addy grumbled, unwilling to fully concede.

"Adrienne Schreave, if you take the position that Elinor could have powered her way through the entire book using pure Sense if only her dumb baby sister hadn't been such an emotional wreck, you're going to fail this examination." Meri warned her sternly.

Addy winced at the thought, "Okay." She put her hands up in surrender. "Okay. I'll say they're both good."

Meri narrowed her eyes and made a 'tsk' sound, skepticism on her face, "You'd better practice making the argument for romantic little Marianne, then. Otherwise, you won't know how to cast her in a good light."

"I will so." Addy complained. "I'll say… I'll say that, once she started thinking rationally—"

Meri groaned and slammed the book closed, "Say that Marianne's influence on Elinor was good, that without Marianne's dreamy, hopeless romanticism, logical old Elinor would have died a spinster while her true love married another."

"We don't know that."

"You'd better know it for your midterm, or your grade is going to be like old Mr. Dashwood at the beginning of the book. Basically already dead."

Addy laughed at Meri's lame literature joke, and she conceded the point, allowing Meri to help her craft a literary argument in favor of feelings.

Addy had just enough time to change into an extra cute outfit and freshen up her makeup, so long as she hurried.

Martin had found her on her way back from Meri's and told her, stammering and blushing, that the student center was hosting a french film night. He asked her if she wanted to go with him.

Addy had gulped, "Who else is going?"

"Oh… uh, I don't know." he'd confessed. "I mean, you can invite whoever you want—"

"I don't…" Addy hadn't known how to finish that thought. Did she want to invite other people?

"Well, I was thinking we could just go together… if you want…" Martin had suggested, "Not on a date or anything!" he'd hurried to clarify. "Just… together."

"Just together." Addy had smiled. It was perfect. She wasn't ready for dates yet, but she definitely liked the idea of 'together'.

She waved to Weaver, perched on the downstairs sofa and reading a newspaper, and then she dashed up the stairs. She wondered if she had time to curl her hair… she'd be pressing her luck, but it might be worth it.

"Adrienne." Lucas grinned as she sped by.

"Hey Luke." She didn't spare him a glance until—

"Oh my God! Princess Adrienne!"

Addy froze at the female voice and then rounded on the stranger standing in the middle of the common area next to Luke.

"Who—"

"Addy, this is Vanessa." Lucas grinned. "I'm glad you're meeting."

"You… are?" Addy asked, astonished.

"Vanessa, Addy and I grew up together."

"I know." Vanessa tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. "I mean, I remember… there were a lot of pictures in the press."

"So there were." Luke chuckled.

Addy's heart was pounding, "I'm sorry… how do the two of you know each other?"

"I'm in Lucas' history lecture." Vanessa explained with a kind, pretty smile.

Lucas nodded, "That's how we met. We've been on a few dates now, though—"

"Dates?" Addy's throat felt like sandpaper. "I… I didn't know you were dating someone…"

"It's still new." Lucas shrugged, "I didn't know where it would lead." Then he turned to Vanessa with an affectionate smile; those lips quirking in that way, but not for Addy. "I've a better idea where things stand now, though." He blinked, returning to himself and checking his wristwatch, "We'll be late if we don't hurry off."

"It was nice to meet you, Princess." Vanessa dipped a little curtsey, causing Luke to beam with pride.

"You'll be seeing one another again soon, I'm sure." Lucas grinned, delicately lacing his fingers with Vanessa's as they waved once more and turned, disappearing down the stairs and out into the cold night air.

Addy stood there, stock still, as if frozen in time.

Lucas was dating that girl. And they'd been out enough times that he was ready to tell people about it. Addy was no expert in these matters, she'd have to consult Meri to be certain, but she was fairly sure that was a serious step in a… relationship.

Luke was in a relationship. With a beautiful, tall girl who seemed perfectly charming and was obviously intelligent because they'd met at a prestigious university and…

Addy had thought that Luke was going to have a hard time watching her Selection, watching her fall in love with and marry someone else. She'd had no idea… she'd been such a fool… she'd never really realized… that she'd have to watch him fall in love and marry someone else, too. That he'd live out the rest of his life with some woman, probably in a completely charming little estate in England, traveling the world and volunteering for charity organizations. All the while, Addy would be stuck in her dad's office, slugging through paperwork.

She was still standing there, frozen, when Martin arrived to pick her up for their not-date 'together outing'.

There was just enough time before the french film started for the two of them to eat at the dining hall in the student center together. Martin treated it like it was a fine dining establishment, magnanimously paying for Addy's meal with his own dining plan, carrying her tray for her through the buffet, then hurrying over to set their trays down at a table by a window, peeping out over the night-darkened autumnal central university park. With his hands free, he swept Addy's chair out for her and bowed jauntily, "M'lady." he pretended.

Addy laughed, feeling as if a sheet of ice that had been frozen over her whole body since Luke's little announcement was now cracking and melting away. "You're very kind." Addy took her seat. "I don't think you want to know how bad the decorum breach is, for demoting me from 'Royal Highness' to 'Lady', though."

"Am I headed to the stockades?" Martin took the seat opposite her, grinning.

"It depends on who's sentencing you. If it's Lady Silvia, you're probably facing a death sentence."

Martin laughed, "Aren't you the Princess? Can't you pardon me?"

"Okay." she pretended to give the thought careful consideration, "But only if you fetch all of my refills tonight." She motioned to her cup of water.

"That's more than fair." Martin conceded with a wink that sent Addy's stomach into knots.

Addy realized, as they fell into an easy silence, that she hadn't been paying as much attention to Martin that evening as she should have. She wanted to try to make that right. "So, Martin. I don't actually know very much about you. …Outside of class and soccer, that is." She added with a smile.

"Isn't that funny?" Martin marveled. "Because I know a lot about you. Your family history, your birthday, the names of your siblings—"

"You have an unfair advantage." Addy nodded.

Martin laughed, "Says the girl who grew up in a palace." he teased. "I'm from Fennley, for a start."

"Really? What part?" Addy asked, digging into her food.

"Sort of near the Angeles border."

"That's not so far away from campus."

"No. I've already been home to visit once."

Addy smirked. "Now's when you pretend not to know if I've been home recently."

Martin laughed, "Those newspaper pictures were pretty cute. She looked happy, Princess Rosalynn."

"She is happy." Addy smiled, thinking of her beloved Rosie.

"So, that begs the question… Do you have a favorite sibling?"

"Of course not!"

"You can tell me. I won't leak it to the press." he laughed into his dinner.

"They're all great, and my relationship with each of them is different. Jamesy is closest to my age, and we've had each other longest. From the day she was born, I felt a special obligation to help Maisy navigate being a girl in the public eye. I think Jamesy felt the same way about helping Lief when he came along."

"He wanted to help him navigate being a girl—"

"Shut up." Addy rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry." but he grinned, leading Addy to doubt his sincerity.

"Rosie is a little different… I just… I remember everything. I remember finding out that my mom was pregnant with her, and how scared I was for the extra responsibility of another sibling. I got to go to the ultrasound appointments with my mom and dad because I think they were hoping it would excite me about the prospect a little more. I remember the first time I ever felt her kick in my mom's stomach. When Mom went into labor early, I held her hand until Dad could fly back from Labrador. It was hours. I left the room when he finally made it to the Palace so that I could help out with Lief and Maisy. It was hard, though. I wanted to be in there, helping Mom somehow. Even after Dad got home, it took all night before Rosie was born. Dad didn't even wait for them to finish weighing and cleaning her, he ran to the hall to let us in. Lief and Mais were asleep, but Jamesy and I were still awake and eager to get in there. It looked like chaos, between the nurses cleaning up my mom and the doctor fussing over the baby, trying to decide if she was too early, too small. She was so small, Martin. But she was strong, she passed every test, so she got to stay. They do this thing after a baby is born, they let the mother and baby have a long time together, skin to skin. It's supposed to be good for them. But Mom intervened and let me hold that tiny, pink baby for a minute before their skin to skin. I was a goner. Rosebud's had my whole heart, ever since."

Addy blinked up, remembering where she was. When she was. Martin was staring at her like she was a priceless painting, a breathtaking relic in a museum somewhere. "I was trying to find out about you." she remembered, blushing.

"No… that's okay." Martin smiled. "It's so funny… how you can think you know somebody because you know a few facts and figures about them. Addy, there's so much more to you than what gets printed in the newspapers."

He reached across the table, very tentatively, and took her hand.

She let him. So he grew bolder and stroked her knuckles with his thumb.

Trying to ignore the way this gesture made her feel like she was going to vomit in the best possible way, Addy continued, "So what about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"Two older brothers, twins." He studied their hands for a moment longer before returning his gaze to her face. "They're the worst, but I love them."

"What do you mean?" Addy laughed.

"They teased me mercilessly, growing up. I was never athletic enough for them. I was the shy, bookish one."

"Oh." That wasn't hard for Addy to imagine.

"But they'll protect me from anyone or anything, they're fierce about that."

"They've beaten up bullies for you?" Addy joked.

"Twice." Martin nodded sincerely. "Once when I was five, and again when I was twelve."

"What are their names?" Addy was charmed by the thought of these burly, athletic protectors.

"Markus and Matt."

"You and your brothers all have 'M' names." Addy smiled.

"My mother is Marlyna and my father is Maurice, so there was never any hope for us kids." he confessed.

"What are your parents like?"

"I think you'd like my Mom. She's the brains of the operation, she's kind of a math whiz. I've never brought her a math problem from my homework that she didn't know how to solve, and that includes the economics courses I've taken here at University. Before the caste system was dissolved, she was stuck inputting data into spreadsheets all day. Now, she's on the board of directors for a huge department store chain."

"Wow! So soon?" It felt like forever to Addy, but some of the caste changes hadn't rolled out until twelve years ago. To have risen so high, so fast, was impressive indeed.

"Her bosses knew her caste dissolution was coming a year and a half before it hit. They had a long time to think about what they wanted out of her brilliant brain." he bragged, chomping at his broccoli with particular pride.

"So is your dad the athletic one, then? Is he where your brothers get their brawn?"

"Nah. Dad makes scented candles."

Addy blinked. "Um… what?"

Martin laughed, "That's what we said! He kept his middle-management job for a few years after our castes were gone, he just didn't know what to do with the freedom. At least, that's what Mom says. He figured it out, though. When I was about six years old, he quit his job and stayed home to help take care of the house and make—"

"Candles?" Addy giggled.

"He sells them for good money at our local markets on Sundays."

"That's really nice, Martin." Addy beamed, just imagining a kindly, older version of Martin with a few grey hairs and a few soft wrinkles around the eyes, crafting scented candles and selling them with pride at a tiny booth in a Sunday market.

"Your family sounds amazing. I'd love to meet them sometime." Addy confessed.

Martin raised his eyebrows, surprised, "Really?"

Addy glanced at their hands, uncertain, "Should I not?"

"I just… you're the Princess, you know."

"Ah, but haven't you heard? I've recently been assigned a shameful demotion. I'm nothing but a common Lady now. I think it would be okay if I met them someday."

Martin marveled at her as he acknowledged her joke with a laugh, then nodded, "Well, m'lady, I hope someday you will."