Silence tailored her thoughts with silken threads. It used to be comforting and warm. But now, silence didn’t help with the whirlwind of thoughts bombarding her mind. It was like a spark that triggered the fire in Clara’s head, and the failed escape attempt had thrown her into a pitfall.Clara examined her hands as if staring at them could bring back her powers. Without it, there was no space in her heart with nothing but helplessness.After Prince Alexander and Maxwell had brought her back inside the room, more guards were stationed just outside the door. And Clara knew she couldn’t pull off what she did earlier again. It was one lucky chance, yet she blew it off.Any moment from now, the parents of the girl whose body she occupied would barge through the door. And they wouldn’t know that a different girl was living in Ariah.There was just one big question that Clara had been dying to know the answer to: How did she end up in another’s body?‘Think, Clara,’ she told herself. ‘What is

“Rovenshire. Arcelia City’s central town,” Jayden sang in his loud voice, garnering attention from passersby. “It’s been a long while since I last stepped foot here.” Wearing black robes to conceal their identity, Clara and Jayden emerged in a bustling street that thrived under the shadow of the floating rock island of Zephyrus’ castle.It looked like the entire world had come to gather. People bustled left and right, hopping from shop to shop. Carts of scrumptious foods lined the sidewalks. The air was filled with such a mixture of smells all jumbled up, making it hard to identify one from the other. Performance artists sat at random corners doing a strange number of tricks. One man created random shapes of small animals out of air as children chased them relentlessly. Another woman had several instruments floating around her, all playing at the same time until someone told her off for making unnecessary noises.Clara was about to cross the cobblestone street when Jayden pulled her b

Clara would rather feel secure than be surrounded by mysteries. And Jayden Lavelle had become one of them.His presence was now gone without a trace. Not a single eye or soul turned their heads to him. It was like he was a ghost, a specter no one had noticed.“This will be the last time you’ll have the opportunity to escape again,” the prince said, his face hard with displeasure. “I hope your little escapade satisfied your wanderlust, at least for a little while.”“Wanderlust?”“The way you keep on leaving the castle? What’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting strange. You should’ve been resting, focusing on your recovery.” Alex’s voice held a lot more coldness than it had the first time she met him. “You have to stop doing that when I’m not around to look after you.”“Excuse me, Prince Alexander,” Clara said, her tone rising in irritation. She yanked her arm off his grip. He attempted to wrap his fingers around her wrist once more, but she shook him off. His eyes were wide and dark, an

A week had passed since the Fyrians’ damage to Rovenshire’s property, leaving people with nothing to save from their businesses. And only a few days were left before classes began. And in that time, Clara needed to figure out exactly how to spend the first days living as someone else.Clara was wary of the future. Of course, she had been feeling ecstatic, but a nagging voice at the back of her mind told her that it was too good to be true.But then, she began imagining herself living the life of her dreams. It would start from something simple like dining in a downtown bakery shop—having breakfast as she watched people go by their daily lives—to seizing an adventure with her own crew to retrieve a lost dragon egg. It might be a silly thought. Who would risk their lives just to get a dragon egg?Clara knew everything was temporary. Soon she might just wake up and discover all of this as a dream, or worse she’d be busted by Ariah’s parents for stealing their daughter’s body. But then aga

“Haven’t you taken a bath before coming here? And of all places”—the prince waved his hand at the soft streaming water — “the lake. Really?” Alex and Willow searched for Clara around the campus when they didn’t see her emerge from the portal. They were about to send a report to the court when they heard a loud splash at the lake behind them.The prince was back from being grumpy and hot-headed. No sign of the gentle and caring prince who went after Clara at Rovenshire. Being an air prince really suited him—unpredictable and inconsistent.He stared back at Clara with the same intense amount of her glare. His face showed how bored he was, but she didn’t miss the sly smirk he failed to conceal. Clara removed her eyes from him to stare at her wet clothes.“What am I going to do? I can’t go in there all soaked.”Clara felt a change in the air around the prince as he brought his clasped fists up to his mouth and blew through them. A gust of wind blew past her, its warmth the same as the sum