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...
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Edrian
I tossed the ball up in the air again and caught it as it plummeted back down within reach. I threw it again. I caught it again.
Three open tabs stared at me from my laptop, the cursor of the case file blinking impatiently for the past twenty minutes.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
I'd switched on my laptop in hopes that working on the unfinished assignment would distract me from the broken record of Aleia's words replaying over a hundred times in my head. The case file sat open in front of me, the trafficking ring still left unsolved and yet, all I could think about...
And one day, I hope to marry a man, not because of the political ties and international relations he can bring me, but because he makes me happy, and loved, and safe. I think that is something everyone hopes for. I am no different.
I tossed the ball up again. I caught it again.
I'd been so determined to let her go, to believe that she could find happiness elsewhere that now that I kept repeating those words in my head, I was beginning to think I should've been selfish. I should've been greedy for her, and I should've been weak when that first tear fell from her eyes.
She was the lone star in my empty sky. The only one who brought any kind of light into my life. with her smile and her laugh, and the way her breath catches any time I touch her, and I made her wink out. She was my Northern Star, and I was the explosion that killed her.
A frustrated groan split the still air and I chucked the ball at the door with full strength. I was seconds away from exploding.
The ball thudded against the door just in time for my mom to open it. She glanced down at the ball, then back up to me.
"Should I be worried about replacing this door?"
A playful tenor bracketed her tone but the pity and downcast in her eyes told another story. An army of ants crawled up my skin.
"The door's fine."
Knowing what she wanted to talk about, I went to step around her, but she blocked my way to the door and pointed to the desk chair.
"Sit."
I blinked and refused to move. She gave me admonishing look.
"We're going to talk about this whether you like it or not, so sit down. I gave you enough time to stew in whatever this is." She gestured her hand around me. "Your friends already left so, sit down, Edrian."
I stared at her for two more seconds but when she didn't budge, I grunted and walked over to my desk to sit down. She nodded in satisfaction and took a seat on my bed opposite me.
"Start from the beginning."
I sighed and dragged my hands down my face. I was stalling. My mom started tapping her foot on the ground repeatedly in that way she did when she was impatient.
