Beside me, Elva yawned. “I’m tired, Mommy.” I immediately crouched down beside her. I touched my hand to her forehead, but I didn’t feel a fever. Still, my nerves were frayed and I couldn’t help but worry. “Do you feel hot?” “No. Just sleepy.” She rubbed at one eye. I hated to leave early. We

Suddenly, Nicholas was beside me, a look of unabashed anger on his face. Terry met it with an easy, self-satisfied smirk. “Why, nephew. How good of you to join us.” “The feeling is not mutual,” Nicholas snapped. “Nick-lass?” With her free hand, Elva reached for Nicholas. He caught her hand in

As Terry pulled me out onto the dance floor, I at least felt the relief of knowing Elva wouldn’t overhear whatever terrible things Terry was sure to say to me. About me, or about my sister. This worked for me, because I wanted answers. Terry placed his hand on my waist. His other gripped my hand f

“You can’t,” I said. “He’s one of the benefactors.” “To hell with it. With all of it. If it keeps you safe, I’ll drag him from the grounds myself.” “And then what? The Luna brings him back. Or the King? And you are on the outs with them. There’s nothing you can do, Nicholas,” I said. “But, Pip

For too long, I watched Nicholas across the room, as he greeted a benefactor and then introduced Olivia. As it wasn’t Lilliana’s turn with the benefactor, she had been asked to stand back. She glared at Olivia behind Nicholas’s back. Nicholas turned on the charisma for the elderly benefactor. Oliv

The guard nodded and went to carry out the task. Back inside my room, I couldn’t help but pace, worried about what Jane could possibly be doing in that gown. Did she decide to go to the gala? Was she pretending to be me? What could she possibly be saying to the benefactors, or the candidates, or

Nicholas I helped Olivia as best I could with one of the benefactors, though in truth, she hadn’t need me to do much but give her the initial introduction. Olivia seemed like a natural at speaking with others – or at least, those she wanted something from. After introducing her, all I did was st

I turned around in haste. Jane had sneaked away from behind me and was pointing Mrs. Marble roughly in the collarbone. “Old hags like you are the reason this kingdom is in the shitter,” Jane sniped. I rushed to intervene. This time, I snatched Jane’s wrist in a vice lock. I forced a laugh. “

“It doesn’t seem like this exhaustion is directly related to her illness,” the doctor told me. We stood a few feet away from the bed where Elva rested, watching her. “She likely got so excited for tonight that she simply wore herself out.” “So she’ll be alright?” I asked. The doctor nodded. “She

Whatever Jane had said to Nicholas must have been something horrific. “I’m okay, and Elva’s okay,” I said, hoping to soothe him and his prowling wolf. “If the worst she’s done is tarnish my reputation, then we can recover from that.” A storm raged in Nicholas’s eyes, the green flashing against t