|ASHER’S POV|“It is almost time for dinner, Your Highness,” Malcolm informs me as soon as he walks into my office.“I will skip dinner today because I have so many appeals and petitions to attend to and I am not even halfway gone with it, I state the obvious, eyeing Malcom snobbishly for being one of the chief contributors as to why I have much work to do.“Can you please not give me that look?” he whines as he takes his seat in front of me but I keep on giving him the look.“In my defense, you know how much I hate to be cut up in the palace mix, but you sent me to deal with not only the queen consort but also those power-hungry ministers when you know so well that getting involved in the palace mix is not my style at all,” he tries to defend himself.“Why are you trying to make it sound like I intentionally sent you to the lion’s den?” I hiss through my teeth as I open the next batch of appeals to see what the prime ministers of Orion have to say about the situation on the ground.“
|ASHER’S POV|I dial Malcolm’s number as soon as I step out of the queen’s residence, and in no time he shows up at the queen’s residence, as if he was waiting around the corner for me.“Nice doing business with you…. boss,” he says, flashing me a smile as soon as I get into the car.“Keep Quiet,” I order him.“I know that you are angry at me, but we are even now so don’t be mad okay,” he admonishes.“Is there any update about the Eagle?” I ask him because I have been so busy dealing with the mess caused by the prime minister’s death that I completely forgot to inquire about her whereabouts.“The eagle has landed, and we await further instructions” he answers.“Keep an eye on the eagle, send someone to protect the eagle in secret, never compromise the eagle’s safety and location at any point in time, and make sure that the eagle's safety comes first before anything,” I instruct him.“I am enjoying the code words and everything, but you know that we don’t have to do this anymore right?
|ELENA’s POV|“You are the closest thing that I have to a friend right now, and I really need someone to talk to because at this point, I am losing my damn mind, and I know that you have your life to figure out, but can you please call me as soon as you see this?” I send to Jayda with shaky hands.My heart hammers against my rib cage, a thunderous beat that revibrated through my body matching the rhyme of my escalating panic.I clutch my chest with my fingers trembling as if I am trying to keep my racing heart from leaping out of my body“Jayda please call me,” I plead with growing desperation.After waiting for so long for Jayda to call, my phone suddenly starts to ring, and my eyes light up as soon as I check the caller ID to see that it's Jayda calling.“Valeri?” Jayda calls out in an inquiry tone.“Hi,” I speak up with my voice cracking and tight.“I got your message, are you okay?” she poses the question in a worried tone.“No Jayda…I am not,” I answer her truthfully.“What happe
|ASHER’S POV|“Is there anything that you want to say to me?” I ask Malcolm who has been mumbling different things to himself since I got into the car with Amelia after the big announcement.“No,” he answers sharply.“Fine….. whatever sails your boat,” I reply to him as I take out my phone to check out the important messages that I must have missed.Your Highness,” Amelia says, holding on to the hem of my suit while I look at her, and wait for her to say something.“Do you think that I will be safe here?” she inquires with her brows taking a worried curve.“Are you thinking of going back to Silver City?” I answer her question with another question.“You already announced my engagement to you, and now that a lot of people know about my identity, they may keep on forcing me to pay for my dad’s sins like they did earlier,” she expresses.“You should have thought about that before coming over here to spring shit on me,” I reprimand her.“I’m sorry your highness…. I didn’t mean to,” she ap
|ASHER’S POV|Four days later“Is everything set for the engagement ceremony?” I ask both Malcolm and Allen as we are about to leave my private residence where I have been hiding from my mom for the past four days.“Yes boss,” they both chorus, and Allen ignites the engine since he is taking Malcolm's place to drive today after Malcolm created a scene because he didn’t want to drive.“Do you think Elena will come to the palace to create a scene?” I ask them because I barely know her to be able to predict her 100%.“I don’t know if she will come to the palace, but one thing I know is that she is going to find you soon,” Allen answers confidently.“How can you be so sure that she is going to find me?” I throw the question at Allen who seems to know something that I don't know.“Most importantly, even if she wants to find him, how is she supposed to do that?” Malcolm asks.“How is she supposed to navigate the city when she has refused to step out of the gate for the past four days,” I ex
|ELENA’S POV|I spent the last four days watching YouTube videos on how to bleach my hair by continuously testing it out on the wigs that I brought with me when I traveled down to Orion but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get it right so I ended up braiding my hair into a messy corn row, putting on a bald cap and trying to alter my hair color by installing one of my favorite blonde asymmetrical bob frontal wigs that I was going to use for Halloween.The installation of the frontal turned out messy even though the tutorials I watched made installing a wig look easy, so I covered the front of the wig with a black leather beret so that I wouldn’t get caught.I altered my eye color from the soft brown ones that I inherited from my mom to an amber-colored one with the help of the contacts that Jayda helped me order from Amazonite.I made sure to add a few freckles to my face, then I added a bold red lipstick to the whole look to level up my perfect disguise game so that someone woul
|ELENA’S POV|I navigate the crowd with the Usher and we both approach Amelia who is dressed in a radiant red dinner gown that is a perfect blend of elegance and allure, hugging her figure gracefully. The bodice of the dress is adorned with intricate beadwork that shimmers under the soft light, adding a touch of glamour and the gown's skirt flows down to the floor, creating a striking silhouette“Good evening ma’am… you have a special guest here to see you,” the usher informs Amelia.“Thank you,” Amelia smiles politely at the usher, with her radiant smile and sparkling eyes completing the enchanting image of that of a beautiful bride.“If I didn’t know any better that she is being manipulated and blackmailed into this arranged marriage, I would have confused her for a happy and contented bride, but I know that she is just doing this to protect herself and I really can’t blame her,” I mumble as I look around to see if I can find a secluded spot around for both Amelia and I to have a c
/ASHER’S POV/ “Something must have gone terribly wrong between the two sisters,” Allen informs.“They have met each other?” I ask him confused because the last time he got in touch with me was when he was going out of the gate to act like Elena’s knight in shining armor. “While you were busy attending to the guests, I went ahead to pick her up because I was tired of waiting for her to get into the party, and luckily for me, she came up with a very easy lie that played off the relationship between her and Amelia as friends that is there to support each other, so I had someone lead miss resourceful to little miss impostor while I kept an eye on them.“Hope they didn't pull each other's hair off?” I ask him worried.“You think if they did that, the whole hall won't be rowdy by now?” he asks and I pause to think about it.“Anyways, at the start, their conversation was quite civil, but I guess one thing led to the other that made little Miss Impostor drag Miss Resourceful to one end of t
|ELENA’S POV|“Jayda,” I say as soon as the call connects on the other end.“I have a bad feeling about this,” she says almost immediately.“Bad feeling about what?” I ask her confused “Every time you call my name like that, it means we have a problem,” she states confidently.“My life had been revolving around a whole lot of drama these days and at this point, I am so over it, but I am way too entangled in this drama and I don’t see a way out of it,” I Inform her as I start to seriously panic.“What is it this time?” she inquired sounding uninterested in the conversation.“The prince of hell wants me to plan a welcome party for 500 guests in less than 7 hours,” I inform.“Who is he welcoming?” she asks almost immediately.“I didn’t care enough to ask, but I think it is Celine,” I answer her.“Celine the Princess of Amazonite?” She asks alarmed “How am I supposed to know that?” I ask her “It can only be the Princess of Amazonite,” she says with conviction.“How are you so sure of t
|ELEMA’S POV|I have been stranded outside this building for a very long time, with the early morning cold seeping into my bones as a result of the light clothing that I have on.I have tried everything humanly possible from waving down cars that are going into the palace, to pleading with the security out of desperation, but nothing worked.My frustration is mounting, and I can feel the tears of exasperation trying to spill, but just when I was about to give up, a car pulled up in front of me.I observed the car, looking kind of confused because I didn’t wave the car down, and lo and behold, my eyes landed on the second prince of Orion as he rolled down his glass.“Need a hand?” he inquired and I quickly got up from the ground with relief washing over me.I couldn’t help but smile back at him, my frustration melting away in the face of the unexpected client, as I quickly made my way to the other side of the door that his driver already opened for me to get in.“What are you doing out
|ELENA’S POV|The shrill ring of the phone jolts me awake with my heart pounding in my chest as I fumble in the dim light, knocking a half-empty water bottle off the nightstand before my hand finally finds the offending device. Squinting at the bright screen, I swipe to answer, bringing the phone to my ear."Hello?" l let out with a voice thick with sleep, the word barely more than a mumbled grunt. “Were you sleeping?” the person at the other end of the call inquires and at the question, I run my eyes with my free hand, trying to shake off the remnants of a dream already fading from memory.“Girl!!!” Jayda lets out an exclamation that makes me curious as to why she is the one on the other end of the phone.“Where were you last night?” she inquires and I try to recall the events of the previous night even though my brain is still in the process of booting. “The more detailed you are about your movement the better,” she adds.“After texting you to rant about how stressful my day was,
|ASHER’S POV|“We have a situation,” Malcolm informs as he bursts through the grand double doors of my mahogany-lined office startling me with the interruption.My attention is divided from being on call with Allen as I see Malcom panting slightly, clutching his phone in his trembling hands, with his face holding a mask of urgency.“What is the situation,” I ask him waiting to hear what the urgency is all about.“Her Highness is back from her tour, and as we speak both she and Amelia are fighting in the lounge,” he informs, and my face drains of color as I take in the news.The room is filled with intense silence, broken only by the ticking of the antique clock on the wall as I try to picture the situation and how to tackle it.“Are you not going to intervene in the fight?” Malcolm asks with a sense of urgency in his voice as I quickly get up from my seat to follow him.On getting to the lounge, I see Celine, the princess of Amazonite in a sleek black dress, and Amelia in a fiery red
/ELENA’S POV/“Can I sit here?” Allen inquires but I move away from where I was to make him understand that he is not welcome around me.“I am sorry for what happened earlier,” he apologizes as he takes his seat next to me but I scoff in disdain.“I feel like I must have made you feel stupid by my actions, considering the fact that you blindly trusted me, a stranger but the truth is that I really didn’t want to take advantage of you, I just had to do what I had to do,” he explains.“You don’t owe me an explanation, so just pocket it,” I answer him in a harsh tone, my words laced with disdain.“Come on Elena…” he urges but I look up and down at him condescendingly.“Ever since I started talking to you, I have not lied to you, I only took advantage of your desperation to help you into the palace as per Asher's orders,” he says in an attempt to justify his actions.“It's fine,” I answer him coldly.“You also lied to me to make me help you, so aren’t we even now?” he presents.“You are r
|ELENA’S POV|After staying by the waterfall for a while and trying to figure out what my next move will be in vain, my phone starts to ring, and on checking the caller ID, I realize that Jayda is the one calling.“I know that you have every reason to be angry with me, but can you please forgive me?” Jayda pleads as soon as the call connects before I even get the chance to say anything.“Where have you been?” I ask her, trying really hard to hold myself together.“My cousin was on tour, but she found out that her finance went behind her back to get together with someone else, so she returned home and has been turning everywhere upside down since then,” she starts.“Unfortunately, I was the scapegoat that was sent to her house in a hurry to calm her down, but in the process of rushing I forgot to take my phone along with me and I couldn’t leave my cousin's house because she kept on threatening to crash the party but her identity is quite peculiar, so her crashing the party would have
|ASHER’S POV|“Now that Mrs. Feisty is gone, can you tell me what that was all about?” Allen inquires as soon as Elena walks away and I sigh.“Why are you suddenly sending me away to let her take my place when we both know that she can’t do my job,” he laments.“I need you to do something else,” I inform him.“What can be so important?” he groans.“Keeping an eye on a lot of people,” I inform him.“But I have always been doing that while dispensing my duties well,” he complains.“Fair point,” I admit.“You just need an excuse to keep her close right?” he tries to reason with me.“More like keeping her safe,” I answer him but had sends me a dissatisfied look.“To you or anyone, I may not be transparent because I grew up in the palace where trusting people is not an option but I am still asking you to trust me even if that means asking for too much…keep trusting me till I can tell you,” I admonish.“How does it make sense that you can’t trust me with your deepest secret but I am suppose
|ELENA’S POV|My face etches with disbelief and hurt at the realization of the Prince of Hell controlling my every move behind the scenes without my knowledge.I swallow the lump in my throat and with a final glance at the stranger that I met at the Palace gate, I turn my back and step away feeling heavier than the last. “What was I expecting from a stranger?” Idoff in disappointment.“All the strangers that I have encountered and felt safe around have ended up stabbing me in the gut, so why did I think this was going to be any different?” I question myself as my shoulders slump, and my head is bowed low as if carrying the weight of the betrayal is weighing me down. “The first stranger turned out to be the primary cause of my misery in this country, the second stranger took advantage of my situation and slept with me, while the third one plunged me deeper into this mess,” my eyes brim with tears as I walk away, leaving behind not just the prince of hell and Allen, but a piece of mys
|ELENA’S POV|I crouch to my knee amidst the sea of laughter and chatter, praying so hard that someone will wake me up from the horrible nightmare that I have been plunged into for the last 6 days because I am surrounded by people, yet there's a palpable sense of isolation.After a while of staring into space, I give a smile that doesn’t quite reach my face as I advance with the guests that seem to be forming a cluster at other middle of the hall. I am physically present in the crowd, yet my mind seems to be somewhere else entirely. It’s as if I am in my world, a world where I am the only inhabitant. “What next?” I ask myself on the verge of tears feeling purposeless and useless because the past four days of my life have been spent trying to come up with ways to save Amelia, but it turns out that the person who needs saving is me who gives off finding excuses to justify peoples gutter behavior.“What more do I have to lose apart from what I have lost?” I ask myself as I watch the en