"Jealous? Of you?" Emmalaine scoffed, "Why would anyone be jealous of you? It's not like—""Like what exactly?" Madeline's voice cut in, snapping our attention to her."Madeline!" Emmalaine called sweetly, "We were just joking with Charlotte here."Madeline gave her a nasty look, coming to stand bes
CHARLOTTEWhen I got the school the next day, the first thing I noticed was that all the pictures of me had been taken down.My eyes skimmed the halls, but I couldn't see anything.It was spotless like the incident didn't occur at all. It was curious. And I stood there, puzzled, wondering if the sch
CHARLOTTEHis fangs sank into my neck before I could blink, and a burning sensation swept through my veins.My mouth parted, but not a single sound came though, as I felt my head go blank in shock. A forceful wave of uncontrollable pleasure coursed through me, making me gasp out.My nipples tightene
Taide marked me.He fucking marked me.I bit my nails, pacing, my breathing sounding raspy.This wasn't happening, I told myself, placing my hand on my neck, but the shiver that zapped through my brain woke me up.Panic flooded in at once.He has unlimited access to my very being, and the worst part
CHARLOTTEMy hand rushed to the mark, in a pitiful attempt to cover it up.Shit!I should have locked the door!"Mads, why didn't you knock?" I asked, hoping I could divert her attention, but Madeline watched my actions, with worry written all over her face."Madeline," I berated, pulling my wet hai
"I asked if it was Reigh who marked you.""Oh," I blinked, "No.""Then was it Caeson?"This time my response came slower. "No."None of those two.I watched Madeline hesitate to ask for the last triplet. She didn't want to ask if it was Taide, because she knew what the answer would be.Over the year
CHARLOTTENot a sound could be heard, and only tense silence filled the kitchen air."Madeline," I called hurriedly to explain, but she only looked at me with hurt. She turned to glance at Taide, then at me, before slowly backing away."Madeline, I can explain." My voice sounded pained, "Please just
CHARLOTTE We were back at the dorms, sitting on the bed, and facing each other. We needed the privacy. "Alright, Char," Mads said, folding her hands across her chest. "Talk." It wouldn't be easy to say. None of this would, but I needed to do this. I closed my eyes, sighing, and opening them. "W
72 HOURS BEFORE JUNIOR YEAR GRADUATION CAESON The hallway was empty as we strolled toward our father’s study. Neither of us spoke. I eyed the bowl of sweets idly placed on one of the bannisters as I walked forward. My hand sank into the bowl as I passed it, snagging up a peppermint. The wrap
I hated him. “We’ll cut to the chase,” he said, glancing at his watch like he had other, more important places to be. “I know what you’ve been doing, Caeson.” Panic seized my chest. He could be talking about a number of things. My reaction could set things off in a way they weren’t already heade
SEVEN YEARS BEFORE JUNIOR YEAR GRADUATION CAESON I was nervous. To say the absolute least. And I meant that—it wasn’t just common English. Nervous was the least of the emotions I was feeling at the moment. Pooled in with so many other grotesque emotions. Like… my fear. My feet were spread apa
PRESENT DAY CHARLOTTE Whoever said a person’s world couldn’t go up in flames in the blink of an eye deserved an award. It was the best lie ever told. I stood alone, even though I was surrounded—by the same people who had set out to destroy me ever since I showed up at this school two years ago.
I just wanted to be alone. Because… I already was. And it was high time I got used to it. An ache built in my chest, growing by the second, no matter how hard I tried to build walls around the pain. Isolate it. It just grew and grew. The journey to getting myself back was most likely going to b
24 HOURS AFTER JUNIOR YEAR GRADUATION CHARLOTTE Numbness spread through my entire being with a frosty, icy bite. But I didn’t feel it. That’s what pain did to you. It broke you to the point that there was no connection for the sensation to travel through anymore. Laughter. It kept reoccurring
His hair… was trimmed once again to a low buzz cut.But the expression on his face was so bitter that I froze in my tracks.Something was wrong.I looked back up to the podium, searching the stage for a particular face, and not finding it.King Auric wasn’t here.Reigh grated out in my ear, “I hated
CHARLOTTEMy feet were already retreating before my mind had even fully registered what I was seeing.My heart couldn’t take it. Not today. Not after everything. I felt it splinter open as I spun on my heel and bolted as fast as the crowd would let me, shoving my way past people back the way he came
CHARLOTTE My entire body trembled as I slammed the front door shut, pressing my hands against it like I was trying to push myself back in time. To before I opened the door. Before I saw the gruesome sight. I choked on oxygen, hunching over. Bile rises up my throat as I remember what I just saw.