The deaconess looked lost for words as she walked over to me. Her mouth was opening and closing, like she didn’t know what to say or how to start. “I guess you heard that I’m moving out,” I said. “They had us sign contracts.” She frowned. “Promising not to tell anyone outside of the palace, about what is going on with you and the prince…” “That makes sense,” I said. “I’m sorry to have to tell you goodbye, but I guess this is it.” Rafaela stood there for a moment, still looking like she couldn’t bring herself to speak. “Thanks for everything,” I told her. “Miss Yena,” she finally said, “You must know, there will never be another princess like you again.” Her big, round eyes were filling up with tears. “Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what else I could say to that. She shook her head and said, “You don’t understand.” “Understand what?” Then she reached out and to
EVAN He was lost in thought, breathing in the fresh, cold air outside, when Evan heard the car approaching and rose to stand. The driver opened the back door for Yena and she stepped out of the car. Evan sighed. Somehow she’d gotten even more beautiful. It was incredible, how that was happening… Yes, Evan had been loving Yena for a long time. But her transformation recently was nothing less than amazing. When they were in high school, his feelings for Yena made him act like a jerk to her sometimes. He just hadn’t really known what to do with himself around her. For a long time, he felt like it was wrong, because she was his sister. But Yena was adopted, and so it wasn’t quite the same. And when she left home to run away with Nolan, that was a real wakeup call. Evan had waited too long and he’d missed his chance. It all happened so fast. Yena was still only eighteen, and the prin
Yena dove into her bed, landing in the middle of all the new, big fluffy pillows and laughing. “It’s weird,” she said. “Everything’s so different now. It feels really good to be back here though, that’s for sure.” She grabbed a pink velvet pillow and held it to her chest. Then looked at Evan and smiled. “You’re different, too,” she said. “Like you finally grew up or something.” Evan shrugged. “Guess it had to happen at some point, right?” She giggled. He had a vision of diving onto the bed on top of her, pinning her down, and kissing her. Yena raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “What?” “Nothing.” Evan shook his head. “I guess I was thinking that you… you really grew up, yourself.” Yena looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Suddenly she started looking very sad. Evan’s mind was still running through the vision where he was lying on top of her i
It sent Evan right back to memories from childhood, when they did that a lot, any time their parents were being too annoying. It was a little bit of a secret language between him and Yena. “Well, I dunno about all that,” he said. “Last week the neighbor’s cat got stuck way up at the top of one of the big overgrown trees in the front yard. That was pretty exciting.” Yena laughed, and Tina joined in. Peter grunted defensively and mumbled, “I’ll do the trees this week.” Evan and Tina both looked down and tried to suppress doubtful laughter at that. Under the table, Yena gave Evan’s ankle a light little touch with her foot. It gave him an unexpected shiver. He looked up at her and she mouthed, Thank you. All he could do was smile back in response.#YENA Tina had made all my favorite foods. It was like a big “welcome home Yena” themed feast. I hadn’t been expecting to feel so happy tonight… but
ADAN It was Lucy who first told Adan that Yena was moving back to her parent’s home, where she’d grown up, in the town right next to the college. But then Adan got the parent’s house under surveillance. He had someone posted down the street, parked in a car with dark tinted windows, who watched and made sure that Yena arrived at the house and went inside.The spy kept his eyes on the door all through the night, and in the morning, he called Adan with an update. “A young male, the brother, left the house first on his own early this morning,” the man reported. “Dressed in athletic gear, went off running toward the mountain. Then your subject came out.” “And?” “And I’m following her now. She took a little stroll down the street to a bakery, where she just went in. You want me to go inside, or keep eyes from the street?” “Don’t go in,” Adan said sharply. “Text me the address.” He threw on a jacket and shoe
YENA Seeing Adan was strange, like déjà vu or a dream that feels too familiar. And it was suspicious, how he was always running into me, supposedly on accident. After he left the bakery, I got a creepy feeling, like I was being watched. But there was literally no one around. Just the one, tired employee sitting in the back room, resting her head on one hand, and using the other to highlight in a big textbook she was reading. No one out in the parking lot. Hardly even any cars parked along the main street, and they were all far away. I shook off the feeling as paranoia. It was just that I was feeling so calm and peaceful, and Adan really startled me, showing up out of nowhere.As if the universe couldn’t let me have one moment of escape, without reminding me of what drama my life has become. Seeing him reminded me of Lucy, for some reason. So I called her when I got back to Tina’s house. “Yo
ADANHey, Yena. It’s Adan. Sorry to text you out of nowhere, but I was hoping we could talk?He looked at the text and read it back to himself aloud. Saying it in a few different tones. Making sure it sounded casual enough.She replied almost right away.How did you get my number?Adan smiled. He loved when he could predict exactly the way a conversation was about to go.You don’t remember? You gave it to me a while back. Sorry I n
Tina insisted I spend the next day with her.“Today is a day for baking pies,” she said, pointing to the window. It was lightly storming outside, with steady rain and dark clouds.I let her get it started, enjoying several cups of coffee in the morning while she made the dough. I was never any good at that part, anyway.“Are you afraid to get your hands dirty now, my daughter?”“Very funny,” I replied. “To be honest, I never really liked getting my hands dirty, even before.”