The Twist | ✓

twelve.

Mason ends the Selection a week after that. I don't show up for the Report. It would be like continuing to watch a movie even though you've guessed the ending and you know it's how it'll go. There's no point.

I keep myself locked away in my room. I don't let in my family. Cassiana has tried visiting. I cover my ears to block out her voice. Clara will spend hours outside of my door, leaning against it and waiting. I never let her in.

After seeing Cassiana and Mason in the gardens, I've kept my windows covered with thick curtains, leaving small gaps for strips of sunlight to peek through. Most times I sleep. Sometimes I pace around the room. I don't read any more.

They're married not even a month after the announcement. Mason stands outside of my door and asks me to be his best man. I never answer. I think they left me a spot at the wedding, but I couldn't bother to show. I couldn't fake a smile for them even if I wanted to, and I didn't want to ruin their special day. They're better off without me.

I wake to find my windows open, the curtains blowing in the October breeze. It's dark out, the stars glittering in the sky. I haven't seen the sky in a long time.

"So. I see they broke you again." Aline. She sits in my desk chair, twirling a dagger around her fingers again. Two other girls are with her, dressed exactly the same. One has dark skin. The other has skin as pale as Aline's, though I know immediately that they aren't related.

"What do you want?" My voice is hoarse from not using it.

"Help." The girl with dark skin has a soft voice. "We want to take Illéa and make it into America."

The other girl smiles wickedly. "Your brother is being given the throne, since they assume you'll be dead soon enough. Don't you want your throne, Alexander? Come with us. We'll make a soldier and a king out of you."

"You mean you'll make the king you want out of me."

Aline smirks. "That's the way it'll go," she says, "but not really. We'll make you the king educated on a democracy and we, the people. We'll teach you everything about America, help you improve it, and we'll reestablish it. But there's a catch."

"There always is."

"Kill your family."

"What?"

"Not right now." The other girl is smug. "Not tomorrow, either. In a few years, after we've taken the shards of the old Alexander and pieced him back together. You have to rule uncontested, and that means getting rid of your family. All of them. Your parents, Mason, Cassiana, Clara, and any children of Cassiana and Mason's. Clara and your nieces and nephews will have as much of a claim to the throne as you. You'll need to get rid of them."

"I can't."

"We can't do it for you." The girl that spoke second says. "That would form a rift between us and you. You'll have to do it.'

"Join us, Alexander." Aline says. "You'll be a wonderful ruler and soldier, and we know that your brother won't do half as well as you could."

My breath gets caught in my throat. Can I do it? Should I do it?

"I want to know who you are, first." I say. "All of you. And I want to know what you look like."

They smile and whip off their hoods.

"I'm Viola." It's the second girl, the one with dark skin. She's beautiful in a way that's different from the girls that were in the Selection, with dark eyes and hair and full lips, but there's a light in her eyes that I wouldn't have expected to see in a rebel, and it seems to shine from all of her. Her lips curl up in a smile.

"And I'm Audrey Dakota." The pale skinned girl is beautiful, too, in her own ordinary way. Her hair is a bright red, chopped short and carefully styled out of her big blue eyes. Freckles cover her face, and she lacks the light in Viola's eyes.

Aline is lovely too. Her skin is flawless excluding the scar that crosses her face from her ear to her hairline, and her eyes and hair are black as the night sky. Her eyes are slanted and mischief glitters in them. Her hair is short, like Audrey's, but longer than the redhead's. "Satisfied?" She asks, smirking.

I ignore her question. "When do I leave?"

I've decided that the smug look never leaves Audrey's face. "Go get dressed, Highness. We leave now."