It was exactly what Jasper said. One week after the lockdown was lifted, Henry returned to school, and I had the chance to talk to him again. He apologized for accusing me of mur*der, but I could tell he was still blaming me for his governess’ death. He wasn’t openly angry, but he had this look. It made me angry and scared that he was sighing and distant like he doesn't want to deal with me, like he was tired of me. Which made me lash out at him. I hit him where it would hurt him most: his precious friends. I reminded him of what they were, insulted them, calling them by every name in the book just to get a reaction out of him.He closed his eyes tight for a few seconds before looking at me again.“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Henry had told me. “However, the occults ARE human. It’s just that the cards they were dealing with differed from yours. And werewolves do not know what they’re doing when they shift. They have no choice. They are sick. No one can stop me from helping sick peop

“Selina, Henry, what is happening here?” Camilla asked, concerned.“Mother,” Henry said before inhaling a calming breath. “Selina and I broke up.”My jaw slacked in shock, and so did the empress’. Frederick and Jet appeared to be surprised, but their reactions were sketchy. Did they know?“What?” The Empress Regent choked out after a while. “But Henry...”“You don’t have to worry about anything, mother,” the king said, straightening his stance. “I am going to talk to King Saul to formally end the engagement. I’m confident he’ll understand.”I balled my fists in anger. I briefly wondered where the king got the audacity to break up with me and the balls to talk to my father about it.“Selina,” Henry turned to me, all formal. “You can stay here for as long as you like, but we need to be clear about—”“Screw you!”It was everyone’s turn to be shocked, except Jasper, who appeared to be amused for a second before pulling on a serious face. It was uncouth of me to curse, but it took everythi

Jade“You’ll get what you deserve, you conniving little bitch.”I saw hatred in the princess’ eyes. I felt her anger radiating through her body. I wasn’t scared of her or anything, but why was she taking it out on me? I didn’t do anything to her. It wasn’t me who betrayed her.‘Do you still like me?’I heard ‘that’ person’s voice echoing on my mind again and I realized... that what I said wasn’t true at all. I betrayed her, too._____A few nights ago...“Do you still like me?”I had looked up from my favorite microscope, almost breaking my neck and dizzy from the whiplash because of how fast I turned to the boy who spoke. I was in my lab just like always, when Henry stormed in, breathless but determined.“W-what?” I had almost choked on my own air. It was the first time he spoke to me about liking him.“You told me before,” Henry had said, blushing bright red. “Before you came here for your undergrad. You said you liked me.”“Y-your majesty—““Henry,” he reminded me firmly.“Henry,”

Selina“Oh my god, it's her.”I felt everyone's prying eyes on me as soon as I entered the College of Sciences, my department. I was on my way to class, but I forgot my books in my locker, and I had to go through literally hundreds of students loitering in the building to get them.“Hey, did you hear about what happened?”“No, what?”“It’s all over social media. Henry broke up with her.”“What?!”I clenched my fists tighter around the wicker basket I was carrying as I walked past the students in the hallway to get to my locker. I avoided everybody’s eyes, but still kept my head held high. I was embarrassed, but I needed to keep a nonchalant façade, or else they would only make fun of me, think of me as weak.“Jasper and her fought in the middle of the hallway yesterday and the tea was hot!”It was only a day after the garden maze incident, when Henry declared our breakup to his mother… when Jasper did something despicable. I did not sleep a wink that night and was up and about, baking

Henry only released his grip on my arm when we arrived at the quad. He pushed me away from him, not enough to make me stumble or fall, but not exactly gentle either.“Henry, please...”“Stop it.”“I’m telling you the truth. Why won’t you believe me?”I tried my hardest not to cry in front of the king. I told him in detail what Jasper had done to me, but he refused to believe me. His face was one of disgust as he listened to me.I felt the invisible wall between us grow wider. Again, I felt the sting of rejection, as if I wasn’t worthy of being believed. It hurts. It was like my chest was being crushed with ice and I couldn’t breathe.“Because I know you’re only doing this to slander my friends, Selina.” Henry clenched his fists and looked at me in the eyes. “Jay would never do what you were accusing him of. He’s a gentleman. Ask countless women who knew him. Ask his girlfriends and his exes. They’ll tell you the same thing: he’ll never do that.”Gentleman, my a*ss.I chose to swallow