JEOPARDY: The Cursed Soldier.

38. The moon.

Kayla stalked through the palace halls, but her mind was on everything but.

She still couldn't unwrap her mind from everything Ivan. From their kiss to the talk afterward.

If her heart wasn't racing and her lips tingling, she would've thought that it was all a dream. But the intoxicating smell of apple and spice still clung to her clothes, her lips still tingled from the pressure of his lips, and his taste still lingered in her mouth.

Kissing Ivan made a lot of things make sense. For one, why movies made such a big deal of kissing. All her life, she had thought of kissing as a very disgusting exchange of saliva. But in those few minutes of Ivan's lips on hers, she understood it all. Kissing was an otherworldly experience. A magical journey out of your body and within your body all at the same time.

But, she and Ivan had so many issues to settle. She couldn't let herself be obsessed with Ivan, his all-consuming kisses, or the world he promised... yet.

She didn't even know if she believed Ivan when he said that he liked her as much as she liked him. It took her a minute, but understood that he had never actually liked Angela. It had made perfect sense once she had really thought about it.

But why her out of every girl he knew? That she couldn't make sense of.

But maybe her mama and Ivan were both right, and she had self-worth issues. Maybe she didn't see herself the way they saw her. Maybe a guy as perfect as Ivan could like a girl as flawed and plain as her. Maybe she needed to work on her self-worth issues and accept Ivan's feelings wholeheartedly.

But even then, could she run away with him?

She loved Ivan. With all her heart, soul, and spirit. She wanted the world he had painted. A world where she wouldn't be a slave, a world where she wouldn't always have to look over her shoulder, a world where she could dream and chase those dreams.

Her mama had always wanted that kind of world for her too.

But what about her father?

Her father would never leave The Lunarheart world. Being a werewolf was everything to him. Anything else—including their happiness and freedom—came second. He had worked so hard so that Kayla could restore their family to the palace. If Kayla left with Ivan, she would be betraying her father's trust and invalidating all his years of hard work and dedication.

Was this world worth betraying her father?

Could she be happy after betraying her father, the person she looked up to the most?

What about her wolf?

She felt it in her. Her wolf was close, on the verge of coming out. The weird, suffocating ordeal that had led to the kiss was proof. She still didn't know what had happened, nor could she explain it, but she knew that her wolf was involved.

Her wolf was emerging soon.

But what if her wolf could only come out if she was in The Lunarheart palace? In the two months she had been there, her wolf had made several almost-appearances that supported her theory.

Could she sacrifice her wolf for this world Ivan had offered her?

Could she sacrifice this world for her wolf?

Could Ivan really accept a werewolf girlfriend?

He had said that he could take whatever baggage she came with, but she was sure if she told him that she might one day be able to turn into a wolf or that she could hear, see, and sense microbic things, he would freak out.