Holding Elva, I walked further into my assigned room, bringing the man into focus. It wasn’t Nicholas, but his brother. “Julian.” I knew Julian from my days at the Royal Academy, though we hadn’t been friends. Since Julian and Nicholas were arch-enemies, and I was Nicholas’s girlfriend, I avoi
But Julian would know, because he was there. In another life, being near Nicholas would have given me enough reason to want to stay. But he’d made his feelings about me clear. And I had other priorities. My gaze slid to Elva, playing with her dolls at the foot of the bed. “I don’t want to pl
You and Nicholas have a special bond, and I can’t wait to see how far I can bend it. I didn’t understand Julian at first. Nicholas and I hadn’t been a couple in three years. Whatever bond we had was assuredly broken by now. The plans Julian had for us would make no difference anymore. But then I
I took another step. “I don’t want anyone to get in trouble.” Mark’s eyes went wide again. He looked to Nicholas. Nicholas’s jaw was clenched, a hard line. He stared at me like he wanted me to take back my words. When I didn’t, he said, “No one will get in trouble.” “Thank you,” I said. He s
When Nicholas said my name, I stopped where I stood and internally cursed. I was so close to my door. As far as I could tell, I had two options: apologize for having overheard or deny, deny, deny. I swiveled on my heel, facing him. “Your Royal Highness! I was looking for you.” His brow lowered
“That’s Linda,” Susie said. “I knew her at the Academy. She’s always trying to form cliques. Anything to get ahead. Watch out for her… Oh, shoot, here she comes.” Susie immediately wrapped her arms around her waist, as Linda made her way over to us. Linda didn’t look at me once, keeping her gaze
“Nicholas.” I was dreaming. I must have been close to waking up to be so lucid. I stood in my old room at the Academy. Nicholas had his back to me, his hand on the door handle. A familiar curl of dread was growing in my stomach. A dull, physical ache rested behind my ribs. This was the moment
“Linda!” “Olivia!” A few other names were called as well, but none as loud as those two. They had to come from prominent packs indeed, to have been allowed so many onlookers into the small crowd. Elva, nervous by the noise, hid behind my skirt. I picked her up into my arms. “Are you frighten