August 2026,
Imporia, Soare-Luna Kingdom
Alyanna
Mikhail sat on the couch in front of me, looking more serious than I had ever seen him. He set a recorder on the coffee table in front of us and picked up a notepad and a pen. He seemed calm and collected while I felt out of place. I had never seen him in work mode. It was weird.
"You seem nervous," he stated.
"No, I'm fine.” I was nervous. I didn't particularly enjoy talking about the life that I had lived and was forced to leave. The life that I was desperate to get back to. It had been so long now. Too long. Too many things had happened. Changed. I wasn't a fool. I didn't think that going back would magically make everything okay. But it would be a start. Even that seemed like an unattainable dream right now.
That didn't mean that I would give up. "Let's just start."
"Okay." He nodded. "I've gone through Remi's
August 2026,Scars Bay, USAJaydenI had stopped seeing Alya. After Kate showed me the picture in the company's newsletter, I wasn't able to conjure up Alya anymore. I was going through severe Alya withdrawals and I needed to find her quickly. I needed to talk to her and ask her a million questions but most of all, I wanted to hold her in my arms again.I didn't know if this was a twisted joke the universe was playing on me though. What if the woman in the picture was a doppelganger? What if she wasn't my Alya? I needed to get to the bottom of it.I looked at the watch and then at Kate who was sitting in front of me. "They're late."The moment I said those words, the restaurant door opened and Grayson walked in, looking around. He met my eye and a smile spread across his face. It felt like a punch in the gut. He looked exactly how he did back in college. The same happy-go-luc
August 2026,Scars Bay, USAKaterinaI looked down at Felix's hand holding mine under the table. His thumb was caressing his ring on my finger.Back and forth. Back and forth.Again. And again.The weight of the ring had never felt heavier.He was reveling in his claim over me. His victory. The way he was caressing the ring felt like a taunt. It was as if he was saying, 'you're mine now. And there is nothing you can do about it.' It was true. I would have to marry this man and spend at least three years of my life with him. What an absolute waste.I looked at him. Thick dark brown hair, light brown eyes, angled jaw. He was a good-looking man. I couldn't disagree with that. And he was actually a decent guy. One who hadn't mistreated me once in the two years we had been together and loved me very much.He was simply not my type.Apparently, I preferr
September 2026,Imporia, Soare-Luna KingdomAlyannaI wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror and looked at myself.Looking at myself every morning felt like a battle. I had to gather courage before I did it. Today, it felt particularly difficult. I felt empty. A shell of my old self.For the longest time, I thought I would grow up to become a professional athlete. A sprinter. It was my dream to participate in the Olympics and win. I had come close. So fucking close.But one accident ruined it all.That dream of mine was stolen from me. And now, it would always remain just that. A dream.It always hit harder after a long, hard run. Andrei made me train especially hard today. He knew that I took it easy when I wasn't at the palace, and this was his way of getting me to make up for it. I could barely finish one mile and my leg started aching. It made me feel path
September 2026,Ovzdusia, Soare-Luna KingdomKaterinaShe didn't come.Despite all my efforts, Alya didn't deem it fit to grace us with her presence. Maybe she didn't get my invitation. Maybe she didn't hear about the wedding. That seemed almost impossible because I had literally announced it to the world.Everyoneknew. Maybe she just decided not to come.What was even the point of having such a big, flashy wedding then? I had thought that at least one good thing would come out of marrying Felix. That I would reunite with my best friend who I thought was dead. It almost made me look forward to the wedding. But now, it all just seems...stupid. If Alya wanted to see us, if she wanted to meet us, she would have done it a long time ago. She wouldn't have waited for five years to do it. She obviously was not going to show up now.I looked at the clock. It was a
September 2026,Ovzdusia, Soare-Luna KingdomKaterinaMy eyes quickly filled up with tears. "You really are alive."Her chin trembled, she gave me a tumultuous smile, and her eyes welled up. She nodded, unable to say anything.The next thing I knew, we were hugging each other. I hugged her tighter. I couldn't believe that she was here. That she was alive. I was right. After all this time...after all those people calling me delusional for coming up with 'conspiracy theories'... after giving up...I found her. I found Alyanna. My heart was full and my throat had a lump lodged in it. My tears seemed unstoppable. I couldn't believe that she was real.I pulled away and looked at her again. I couldn't stop looking at her. She looked the same and yet different somehow. More mature, more...subdued. She wasn't the same lively girl she was once.Of course, she wasn't.
September 2026,Ovzdusia, Soare-Luna KingdomAlyannaI was surprised to see the door to Jay's suite open. I peeked in and saw a tall, wiry man walking out. He was wearing the staff uniform so I assumed that Jay had called for room service. But why so early in the morning?He was surprised to see me standing right outside the door. "Could I help you with something, Miss?" he asked with a pleasant smile. Thankfully, he didn't recognize me. A lot of people didn't and that was a very good thing."I'm here for Jayden. Is he in?"The man looked at me and then at Gillian, my bodyguard, standing a step behind me. He looked a bit intimidated by the presence of the mountainous man. He quickly looked back at me and smiled. It looked a lot less natural than his previous one. "He indeed is. Mr. Carlton had requested a wake-up call with coffee," he said, explaining what he was doing there.
September 2026,Ovzdusia, Soare-Luna KingdomDimitriI haunted myself by recollecting all the sins I had committed in the thirty-two years of my life. While the list of all the heinous things I had done was long, there wasn't one particular thing that would warrant such a fucked up fate. Maybe it was the tally of all my deeds. That had to be it. My soul had to be unredeemable, which was why I didn't deserve a soulmate. At least not one that was meant to be mine."Alright, this looks good. Thank you," Katerina told the little army of people that were helping her get ready for her wedding. It took them five minutes to pack up and leave.Once they were gone, she turned to look at me. "Any update?""They are working on it," I replied. Katerina was right when she said that Louise Richardson had somehow managed to alter the contract after it had been signed. I had a team of very ta
September 2026,Ovzdusia, Soare-Luna KingdomKaterina"Ready?" Dad asked right before we were about to make our entrance.I wasn't but I nodded anyway. We had taken our sweet time to get here but there was still no word from Dimitri. I would have to go in so that no one grows suspicious.The doors opened and the music changed to a slower, softer piece.My grip on Dad's arm tightened as we slowly walked down the aisle. He looked at me in slight concern but I smiled reassuringly. At least I think I did.Each step I took reduced the distance between me and a future that I detested more and more every second. I tried to walk slower than usual, taking more time so that Dimitri would find the blasted contract and get me out of here before I had to endure more of this torture.I could feel the eyes of hundreds of people on me. But the only one that burned my skin was F