When vengeance strikes in the form of a bullet out for the princess's blood, Princess Aleia VonAuclair must flee the heart of her country in order to protect the people she loves and take back the pieces of her soul she'd lost to the girl she once l...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Winter break had finally rolled around the corner, arriving in all its chilly days and cozy nights in front of a fireplace glory. Nico, Lily, and Edrian had gone back to visit their families for the week, which left Cara and Luke on campus.
I, however, did not have such an option so the majority of my holiday was spent lounging away on the couch all night or burying myself in whatever assignments I had left. Most of the days passed by uneventfully. Even the letters had gone off radar, the last one being the one I found on my car windshield.
After the whole fighitng club escapade, Bryan had given me an earful. I'd sat at the kitchen island for almost an hour while he lectured me on the importance of my safety and ability to measure the risks of my surroundings before I found myself in an imminently damning situation.
But I'd been too high on cloud nine after the kiss with Edrian to listen to anything he said. The words entered one ear and traipsed right out the other.
"Aleiaaa, you're not paying attention to me!" Mila whined.
I laughed, glancing back down from my daydreaming to the little girl swaddled in a jacket that was two sizes too big for her petite frame.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I'll pay attention now."
"Good," she huffed, tugging on my hand to get me to start skating alongside her again.
When Edrian had mentioned his brother's surgery this week, I'd offered to watch Mila any time Arina needed to visit the hospital during her off- shifts. That way, she wouldn't have to pay for extra hours at the day care center and Edrian could accompany his mom without worrying about Mila.
Apparently, Tyler was still in the recovery stages of his surgery and having an energetic, bouncing four-year-old child wasn't exactly the best idea for a man with stitches in a small hospital room with little to no seating space.
"Who taught you how to skate?" I asked, pouting. "I'm jealous it wasn't me."
She giggled. "Edrian showed me! We skate every time he comes home."
"You do? Without me?"
She giggled again, yanking on my arm to go faster around the ice rink. I grinned. Her bubbly, sunshine persona was infectious, filling the college stadium with every ounce of her happiness like a tiny bundle of joy.
"How's school? Did you show that girl your awesome colouring skills?"
Mila nodded enthusiastically and held up three fingers.
"I coloured three pictures. Three! My hands were so tired after that."
I chuckled.
"I bet she went home so jealous of you."
"She better. I spent hours on those pictures. Give me a break."
