At the banquet that night, I sat beside Julian same as always, but other than the most basic of greetings, we had not spoken to each other. “Hello, Piper.” “Hello, Prince Julian.” Fortunately, Veronica and Tiffany seemed fine with talking with Julian in my stead, and Julian himself made no att

“I can see you worrying,” Julian whispered to me. “You shouldn’t. You’d be stunning in anything.” A light blush filled my cheeks. I glanced away, embarrassed. Farther down the table, Nicholas watched us, his mouth pressed into a hard line. After the banquet, Julian led me to Nicholas’s rooms,

We made it five steps out into the hallway before Nicholas started asking questions. “Did something happen?” he asked. I didn’t want to lie to him, so I shrugged. “Nothing big.” “Nothing big is still something.” With my hand on his arm, Nicholas dictated how fast and slow we walked. He slowe

I couldn’t remember now. I could only think of Nicholas and his hot mouth and the feel of his fingers running up and down my spine. He stilled one hand near the back of my neck and cupped the top of my spine in a traditionally possessive gesture. A thrill shot through my body. I wanted his mouth w

A guard was seated in a chair just inside my bedroom door. He looked nervous, his eyes darting all around. Behind him, Mark was standing tall, arms crossed. His features were stern. In front of him, Nicholas was pacing like a caged animal. “Let’s go over this again,” Nicholas said. “In the middle

I nodded, just as Elva returned with her third doll. Nicholas stayed to play until late in the morning, when his duties finally pulled him away. He hugged Elva extra tightly before he left. He squeezed me too, though I pretended not to notice. After lunch, Tiffany stopped me just outside in the

That night, Julian came to escort me down to the cellars so that we could explore the tunnel again. He waited to speak until we were clear of the other candidate’s rooms, but once we had descended the staircase, he case me a sideways look. “I heard about what happened,” he said. My hand tightene

Really, right now, the urgency was only for my sister. She was the one causing me the most danger. She was also the one I wanted to know the most about. Was she there by her own free will? Or because she was coerced? Tonight, I wouldn’t rest until I learned the truth, and then either saved her or

Terry had his arms around my sister. His lips were against her lips. Her hands were on his shoulders. Holding him close? Pushing him away? I didn’t know, but I couldn’t chance it. If he had been willing to drug and assault me, then who knew what atrocities could be happening here? My mind went

Terry motioned to the men around him, and they began to come closer. With a growl, Nicholas, in full wolf form, pounced from the dark of the tunnel and tackled two of the men closest to me at once. I had never seen him in his wolf form before, but I knew at once it was him. The dark brown fur wa