Much later, after Nicholas and I had gone our separate ways for the day, I received notice from a servant that the candidates were required to go to the foyer for announcements from Nathan. I was already a bit late, having been so thoroughly lost all morning, so I hurried to join the others. I was

“I heard he had dated another person after he was with me,” she said. “Back then, he had a little more freedom so I suppose anything is possible.” That wasn’t a compliment, but then, her entire demeanor had seemed to shift now that we were alone. Her smile had an edge. Her voice was curter. This f

I bullied myself for a good long while after that. I tried to push back against my wolf that wanted to distrust Bridget at every turn. Jealous was what drove these feelings, I just knew it. Nicholas and Bridget had a past, but that didn’t mean they had a future, right? I needed to get myself under

Back in my room, I immediately set Julian to work on his assigned task: teaching Elva more magic tricks. This time he had a pack of playing cards and started to show Elva how to shuffle them. Elva’s tiny hands could hardly wrap around the deck. When she tried to shuffle like he showed her, it made a

After a while, I began to suspect he was just trying to make me laugh. Maybe putting me at ease was part of his helping me? I didn’t know. By the end of Julian’s visit, I had no misconceptions that I was going to be a better actor, but I did at least feel better about it, knowing Julian would be t

After we each reviewed our individual scripts for a few minutes, we began to have our first rehearsal. We didn’t have a stage yet. The actors in the scene just stood in the center of the ballroom with everyone else gathered around in front. We did a dry run through the entire play with Nathan doin

The next morning, Julian showed up at my door. I had only just changed out of my pajamas. Elva was still in hers. “I want to escort you to breakfast,” he said. I blinked. “Breakfast?” Usually the royal family avoided breakfasts and lunches with the candidates, unless there was an event. The meal

She was probably used to rubbing elbows with celebrities. But polite manners were polite manners. I was suddenly very annoyed on Julian’s behalf. Maybe it was time I really lean into this and give this fake relationship my all. I leaned forward again. “Bridget?” Bridget stopped talking to Ol

That night, I left Elva with the nanny, and met with Nicholas, Julian, and Veronica in one of the sitting rooms. “Why are we meeting here?” I asked as I entered the room. “Wouldn’t it be easier to meet near the royal family wing?” “It would be, if that’s where Joyce was,” Julian said. I blinke

Veronica was still quiet. I wished I could give her a hug, but I didn’t want to disturb her train of thought. She had personally asked me to come with her. “I don’t need you to do anything,” she had said then. Her eyes had been downcast, like she was embarrassed to be asking for help. “But I wou