“What’s wrong?” Aiden asks, his expression creased with concern. He pulls off his helmet and runs a hand through his hair. His tousled locks look messy in a shockingly attractive way. I try to shove down the immediate wave of attraction I feel at the sight. Not now, I remind myself. This is importan
“I thought you were worried the locker room would be too dirty,” I teased him. He shrugs. “I know just how to clean off.” He nods toward the showers with a smirk. “Care to join me?” I watch with rapt attention as he pulls off his shirt. His muscles glisten with sweat under the dim lights of the
Aiden noticed my hesitation and turns to me. He quickly rushes to my side. "Are you okay, Carol?" he asks, his voice soft with worry. I’m having a hard time vocalizing what exactly I’m feeling. Deep in my bones, I know that something’s wrong. I can’t possibly justify why I’m feeling this so strong
Aiden and I return to the villa exhausted and even more uneasy than before. We fall into bed. Aiden rubs my back with a concerned expression. “Are you okay?” he asks softly. I let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know,” I admit. “I can’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.” Aiden no
My parents don’t normally call me without scheduling out time to talk first. We have a good relationship, but we don’t speak that often considering how busy my schedule is. Could it be an emergency? I wonder. I quickly answer the call and press the phone to my ear. "Hey, Mom," I say cheerfully, tr
The anticipation hangs heavy in the air as the stadium waits for the game to begin. Bright lights flash and loud music plays as the Jumbotron combs over the crowd, recording fans of both teams standing and cheering. The team Aiden is going up against is called the Ridgewall Stampede. From what I’v
With some cajoling, Aiden convinces me to accompany him back down to the rink. Fans on all sides call out to get our attention as Aiden leads me back to the crowd of his teammates. I feel a bit embarrassed by the attention, but I’m bursting with too much pride to focus on that right now. As soon a
“Do you mind if I speak with you for a second, Carol?” He says. Shocked, all I can do is nod. Robert me aside, a knowing glint in his eyes.“Carol, I wanted to thank you for all of your help.,” He says. He grasps my hands and smiles sincerely. “Thanks to you and your bargaining skills, the sponsor
I chuckled as I held back tears.“Sorry,” I murmured, trying to pull back, but she held me tighter.“I’ve missed you like crazy,” she breathed. “How’s life in the empire? I’ve been keeping tabs on you in the media. Seems you are kicking ass as the queen.”Since the inauguration ceremony last year, I
She flinched away for a moment, afraid that the darkness might hurt him, but I had faith that it wouldn’t because it was under her control now and the light in her wouldn’t be dim for the darkness.“It’s okay,” I assured her, bringing Caleb even closer into her view. She stared at him with admiratio
EpilogueAiden’s POV“She still won’t come out of her room?” Fiona asked, staring at the closed suite door with a frown. “It’s been a week since she killed her sister…”“She’s scared,” I told her, cradling Caleb in my arms. “Raelyn’s darkness is inside of her and she’s worried that she’s going to do
She was quiet for a moment while the Queen continued to bark orders in the background. The dark tendrils only seemed to grow more agitated with each passing moment.“Please, call the tendrils off and—”“I can’t,” she said quickly. “They don’t listen to me anymore… they listen to her more than they l
I wanted to believe that there was still good in Raelyn. That the darkness hadn’t taken over completely. I grabbed her arm, and I brought my gaze to meet hers; I wasn’t sure if my powers would work on her, but I had to try. I channeled her mind and when I found a connection, I realized it was weak,
Carol’s POVI used my powers to fight off the guards, using my mind manipulation to make them fight one another and using some of the spells I was taught to ward them off. I’ve practiced with mind manipulation a lot so I was able to do it quickly. I soon had some of them at least turning against the
“It’s not personal darling,” she said, waving off his concern. “It’s strictly business.”“Was any of it real?” He asked, shaking his head with disgust written all over his face. “Did you ever love me?”She let out a bitter laugh.“Love?” She scoffed. “Please… There’s no room for love when I have a n
My entire body went cold when I saw what they were running from. Clouds of darkness snaked through the ground, slithering like snakes. I could feel the cold darkness and the chilling aura that penetrated it.In the distance, I squinted at the figures standing in the center of the town.The Queen.St
Carol’s POV“You promised you’d help me buy a ring for Fiona,” Oliver said as he leaned against the doorframe of my suite. I had just finished changing Caleb’s dirty typer for the 5(th) time this hour when Oliver decided to bless me with his visit.Collectively, we’ve been in the Empire for 2 months