Break My Heart a Thousand Times (The Selection Series Story)

Chapter XIX: "House of Cards"

"You feel your strength in the experience of pain"

-Jim Morrison

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Once she had left, I approached Valleree. Her body was slumped.

"Are you okay?" I murmured. I reached out to give her a hug.

She straightened, pulling away from me. My hands fell to my sides. "I'm fine," she said stiffly. "It just really drains my energy when I have to do everything I can so I don't scratch out her stupid eyes and pull out her stupid fake hair."

I laughed lightly, but I was still a little shaken up. Why had Lady Jewel even been here? Why had she been so mad, and why was she so angry about leaving? All of this was giving me an uneasy feeling, but I tried to push it away.

"So you weren't exaggerating when you told me how horrible she is," I said to Valleree as we head back into the main house, looking to find Gerad and Chelsey.

Valleree snorted. "You thought I was exaggerating? Well, as you can see, I wasn't. Gosh, vampires and zombies could take lessons from her." She scowled. "If she shows up at the Palace or here again, I swear I'm going to sound the alarm," Valleree pledged. "Oh, no, Lady Jewel is here! Get the guards! Protect the king! Shield the children from her horrible face full of cakey makeup!"

I laughed again, but this time it was real. Valleree always has a way of cheering me up.

"Why are you here?" She asked me.

I wanted to say that I missed all of them, and that I've been so lonely, and I miss Maxon so much. I wanted to to tell her how I was worried about my brother, and I didn't want another person I loved to leave me. I wanted to say that I felt like everyone was slowly drifting away from me - all my friends were out and about, traveling, Maxon was in another country, and I could feel Queen Amberly starting to give up. She was so tired, and I was just beginning to feel close to her...

Instead, I just shrugged. "My brother wanted to have a look around."

"Your brother?" Valleree's eyes were wide as we climbed up the grand staircase. "That guard was your brother?" She laughed. "He's grown a lot, America. Or at least he sounded a lot younger in your stories."

I shook my head, hiding a smile. "Yeah, I suppose he is getting big now."

"Big? He's nearly a foot taller than Chelsey," Valleree chuckled, then paused. "Speaking of Chelsey..." She smirked. "Don't tell me you didn't notice the googly eyes he had when he looked at her." She raised her eyebrows. "He's not going to break Chelsey's heart, is he?" Valleree too, had heard stories of my brother's many, many, girlfriends. I had no idea how Gerad had gotten any of them to date him, but he was never happy with them. He broke up with every single one of them.

I shrugged. "I'd be more worried about Chelsey breaking his heart. I've never seen him so infatuated. And so quickly too..."

Valleree sighed. "There's so much drama. You'd think, after awhile, that things would calm down..." She smiled. "I guess there's no hope for that, huh?"

I smiled slyly. "With you around, there's never going to be any hope of peace."

Valleree swatted at me, but I ducked. We were laughing as we entered Chelsey's honorary bedroom - she didn't live here, but we fondly called it hers.

We both stopped laughing when we entered and saw the scene before us. Gerad was sitting hesitantly on the bed, staring at Chelsey while she paced the floor. She was muttering words that were not very kind to Jewel, but she stopped and looked up when we came in. Her eyes were rimmed with red from tears, but from her face she just looked mad. Her face softened when she saw us.