*Jonah*There was a Shakespeare quote that seemed to plague my mind these days. 'All the world's a stage and all the men and women are merely players.' Maybe it was a beautiful way of looking at things if you're a playwright, but for me, it was pitiful. I decided from the moment that I'd heard the quote that I wouldn't be just a player. I didn't know if I considered myself a director or not, but I certainly wasn't just a bystander.I might be something of a playwright myself.It took a lot of work to orchestrate something like this. Convincing Aurora to get on board with my plan had been the most time-intensive thing I'd done in a very long time. I was used to making deals and twisting people to my will. But she was smarter than most.Aurora truly had a heart of gold. That was the most complicated part of the entire plan. She didn't want anyone hurt. She cared about making sure the people of our countries got the help she thought she could offer them. She wanted to be a f
*Genevieve*I looked down. That was a mistake. I was stories above open water and some ragged-looking boulders. I took a deep breath and kept climbing. I had done enough free climbing in the gym with Rowan to feel confident doing this.Still, my palms were sweating as I made the climb. It was no surprise that the outside of the palace wasn't exactly the most conducive to climbing. Usually, people wanted castles and palaces to be difficult to scale and gain entry to. If you weren't coming in through the front door, they probably didn't want you coming in at all.I hadn't decided if it was lucky or not that enough of the palace had weathered to the point I could find footholds and handholds. The good thing was that I had enough options on how to climb that I felt fairly confident I could get to a window or something where I could enter. The bad news was that from time to time, the stone would crumble under my feet or my hand, and I would slip, forcing me to make a quick decision ab
*Genevieve*Even though I had barely gotten more than a few hours of sleep last night, I woke up feeling more rested than I had in weeks. My fingers and toes stung, and my arms and legs were sore from the climb, but I felt an overwhelming sense of pride at having been able to survive the climb in the first place. I was rusty, but I wasn't ruined.I rolled over as I tried to convince myself to get up for the day. Something cream-colored caught my eye.I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and reached for my pillow. There was a note left on cream linen paper, with beautifully scripted writing in black ink. I picked it up and read it, feeling my mood instantly brighten.'I enjoyed being with you last night, minus the murder stuff. When can we meet to make a plan? Leave a response note in the planter outside of your room by nine this morning.'The note was signed 'Just R'. I smiled and set it aside. Just Rowan. I should dispose of the note somewhere, destroy it so that no one would f
If I had to listen to one more presentation about flowers for the wedding, I would probably lose my mind. At first, I was enjoying sitting with Aurora as different florists presented their ideas for the wedding. I started to get bored after the sixth one. I had lost count at this point."How many florists are on the island?" I asked Aurora during a break."Only three. But the king and queen wanted to bring in some other options from the surrounding areas. There have been two from Spain, three from Portugal, and I don't know if you noticed, but one of those florists was Scottish. I'm not sure where most of the others were from," Aurora answered."I did notice the Scottish one. I've sort of been tuning the rest of them out. I don't know how you do it. I would go crazy if I had to be the one making the decisions."It was hard to pretend like nothing had changed between the two of us. I couldn't let her know that I knew, but I was having a hard time interacting with her as usual. I
"Listen, I'm flattered, but I'm old enough to be your dad," Budge whispered."What in the world are you talking about?" I hissed back."I mean, we both know what's going on here. You were looking for me the other day, without really having a good reason. Now, you're asking to meet me in old abandoned hallways… Really, I think you're a lovely girl, but I'm way too old for this kind of thing," Budge continued."Will you shut up for a second? I don't want to be with you," I retorted with a grimace.Budge's mouth snapped shut, his dark eyes narrowing as he waited for what I was going to say next."I need to know that your number one concern is Rowan's safety," I continued."Of course it is. Honestly, just what the hell is this about? You mope around the castle for weeks and now all of a sudden you care about something?" Budge snapped back.I looked around the dim hallway of the lower corridor, confirming that we were fully alone before answering. "First off, I haven't been mo
*Rowan*I felt like there was some sort of countdown to the moments I had left on this earth. I found out only yesterday that Jonah and my fiancée were plotting to blow me away, literally, at the dinner table tonight. It started a clock in my head, a stopwatch to my own death.I wasn't going to die. I reminded myself of that over and over. Sergeant Duvall, Budge, Genevieve, they all were working to make sure I survived the attack. It was as simple as not being in my chair at seven tonight. That should be easy. Still, it felt too easy, as if the bomb was only a distraction and I was going to really be killed in some other horrible fashion.The clock kept ticking though, as the day went on. It was getting closer and closer to seven, and I was running out of time.What would you do if you only had hours left to live? I hated to admit that my answer would be to act like it wasn't happening. I mean, sure, the circumstances were a little different. I was going to survive this. I wasn
*Genevieve*"I want to go home," Aurora cried.If I wasn't sure that Aurora was involved, I would genuinely feel bad for her. She seemed frazzled. I couldn't decide if this was a genuine reaction to realizing what she had done, or if she was just that good of an actress. Either way, she put on a good show."I'm sure that can be arranged," I answered calmly."Well, then we should arrange it. I want to go home. I'll come back. I'll marry whoever they tell me to marry. I just need to see my parents first," she sobbed."I'll get that arranged now," I promised.I got on my phone, sending out a handful of texts and emails. I let more of the guards, a few diplomats, and some of the Boldovan contacts I had know that Aurora wanted to go home. I told them that in light of recent events, she would be going back to Reyna a little sooner than expected. I also made sure that they knew she was safe, and that the visit would be brief at best. They helped me set up accommodations before lea
*Rowan*The palace was cacophonous. The massive halls echoed with the sound of busy footsteps. People hurried from place to place, and repairs were taking place as quickly as possible in the dining hall. I walked down the hall to the temporary area where they were serving breakfast. I got some fruit and piled a few pieces of sausage onto my plate and carried it back to my room.I wasn't feeling very social. I hadn't felt very social in a while, so it should be no surprise, but today was especially bad. Aurora and Genevieve had left early this morning for Reyna and left me behind.The palace was empty without her. Empty and torturously loud and busy. Genevieve brought a sort of peace with her that I had come to rely on. She didn't get rattled by much, and she always had a plan. That was part of what I missed. After surviving the bombing, I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder.Jonah was becoming insufferable. He felt the need to constantly check in with me. We had ne