“What about you?” I turned to see Julian walking towards me. He was scowling and was still red in the face. Humiliation and anger do that to people. When I looked over behind him, I saw the entire tour group was watching us. “You’re the future empress, but you look like you’re clueless about it, like the rest of us.” “Of course not.” I raised my chin in the air. “Henry told me about it all.” It was a lie, but they don’t need to know that. “So you approve of this?” I don’t, but my stepmother’s words rang in my ears. People loved Henry and his mother and they supported the Royal Family’s decisions. I needed them to love me, too. “The king does not need my approval to do anything. It’s his kingdom,” I said, earning several nods and murmurs from the group. “He knows it better than anyone. Now, if you’ll excuse me...” I left the quad, and as soon as I was far enough from the group, I made a turn to one of the buildings and hid there, trying to calm myself. Although I was born and rais

These were the three things we knew about Jade at the time. Number 1. Jade is a liar. Number 2. Jade is a scientist and the student body president. She was way up there in the social hierarchy. Occult or not, everybody loved her. Number 3. Jade is madly, deeply, irrevocably... in love with Henry. The first two, I agree. The third one I’ve yet to find out. When I left the Science Center, I found Henry alone in the garden in a much better mood, but he looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion, so I called the driver to pick us up and take us home. I never mentioned what I saw, and he never mentioned having company. Jade never texted me about Henry’s location either, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and waited until midnight for her to contact me. It never happened. Two days later, when the lockdown was finally lifted, Empress Camilla hosted a televised State Reception for me. She granted me Volfenheim citizenship and then introduced me to their people as Henry’s f

I knocked three times on the door before a uniformed maidservant opened it. “Is Henry here?” I inquired. After the incident in the Ball Room, I left to find where my fiancé took his best friend’s sister. People would think of me weird if I didn’t. Henry’s reaction to what happened was excessive. The other guests thought so too, so as my stepmother and Becca. If there really was something happening behind the scenes, I needed to put a stop to it. Or at least I needed to tell them to tune it down. “Who is it, Malia?” Henry asked from inside the room. “Your fiancée,” I replied flatly, brushing the servant girl aside and entering the room. “Well, well...” Henry was standing next to Jade, who was sitting and crying into a handkerchief. She was still dressed in her wine-stained gown. Seriously, she went to a party without bringing a backup dress? What a m*ron. “What are you doing here, Selina?” Henry demanded, clearly irritated. “What do you mean?” I asked, a wry smile on my face. “I’

When I opened the door to my dorm room and saw the state it was in, I couldn’t help but frown. I’d like to think there was a mistake—I didn’t deserve to be staying in such a place, but the pink luggage at the foot of the bed and the key in my palm told a different story. It was the first day of classes. It was also the first time I went to my assigned room and I was in for a shock. I was already obstructing traffic in the hallway, so I entered her room and regarded it with contempt. There was nothing in the room other than the bed in the corner, the large closet next to it, and the plain wooden desk near the window. The ceiling was a typical cream color. The walls were painted gray, and the floor was simply polished red cement. This room had nothing special to offer. It was dull and cramped. It was downright depressing. I took a picture of the room and sent it to Henry with a sad face. He replied with a picture of himself standing in the middle of a tiny room

I stabbed the soil I was cultivating with my small shovel more forcefully than I should have, but I did not care. Another week has gone by, and it hasn’t been any better than the last. Problems seemed to come my way the longer I stayed at the university. My grades were excellent, and I was enjoying all of my classes, including political science. I listened to my future mother-in-law and took the course as an elective.However, that’s not what’s stressing me out, it’s my extracurricular activities. I joined gardening, art, and dance clubs, but as soon as I discovered they also included occults, I had to stop going. My gathering of supporters turned more irritatingly hard. So I established my own club for plant-based eaters. I shared information about how much good it did to our nature and how animal consumption was bad. I taught the members to prepare and cook a lot of plant-based recipes. They knew of my plans for running for the president of the student council and my projects. My me