"I still wonder about it," I said.
His brow furrowed, eyes searching my expression. "Wonder about what?"
"Whether you're the villain in my story."
~~~~~~~
Mara Monroe is at the center of a war she wanted no part in.
But with her new throne she fac...
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The fall from the window in my Art History classroom had around a 75% chance of causing certain death.
However, the longer I sat and listened to Professor Janikowski drone on and on about Picasso's blue period the longer I contemplated my escape through that jump or by cutting off my own ear.
And yes, I do know that that was Van Gogh not Picasso, but the incessant lecturing had my mind crumbling. Two weeks ago, I was fighting faerie princes to stay alive and rescue my nephew and now? Now I was fighting to stay awake through a history lecture about oil paintings. Not even Ellie could save me.
I tried to remind myself that I'd chosen this. After my grandmother died and the crown passed on to me, I told Maddox I was returning home— to my other home. He wanted to argue, but how could he? I was the queen.
He gave me three weeks to finish out the semester and then I had time to make my decision over the summer. To take the crown for good or to hand it off to one of my many distant relatives.
Just your run-of-the-mill twenty year old decision. Not monumental or life changing or anything like that. And I knew that the moment I returned, they'd all be watching me, awaiting my answer.
Well, at least we had that in common.
"Was that as bad as it was for you as it was for me?" Ellie asked, on our way out of the classroom. "Any chance you take me to fairy world next week?"
I nudged her in the arm, glancing around at the other students in the hallway. Nobody seemed to be looking. I knew my bodyguards were somewhere down the corridor, making themselves practically invisible just as I'd instructed.
"Want to say it louder so all the humans can hear on the other side of the planet?"
She scoffed. "Relax, if anybody overheard us they probably think we're talking about a bad trip on shrooms or something."
Two months ago I probably would've laughed at that. But two months ago me had a lot less to worry about. Ellie narrowed her eyes at me, but I smoothed out my expression, removing any trace of what I was thinking, shrinking my power even tighter inside of me.
Ever since that day in the throne room, I'd kept my Élan Vital—my lifeblood—locked inside my chest. Now that I knew how some people could use it—well, I wanted to give my enemies as little weakness as possible to exploit.
"Come on, we're going to be late."
She grinned. "A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early."
"Quit quoting the Princess Diaries and get moving."
After classes that night, much to Ellie's dismay, I refused to go out with her and her girlfriend, Dani, to our favorite Thursday tradition. She'd spent almost an hour begging before finally giving up. When she finally settled on an outfit, she leaned against my doorframe.
