Annalise Stark, orphaned after losing her parents in the military, is desperate to find a way to pay off her sister's medical debts. She finds work at the palace, home to the infamous Prince William. Despite her efforts to ignore him, Annalise soon...
"For a star to be born, there is one thing that must happen: a gaseous nebula must collapse. So collapse. Crumble. This is not your destruction. This is your birth." ~N.T.
Will
I paced back and forth, anxiously waiting for James to call me back. Maybe it was my paranoia, which had been rampant ever since I learned of Everly's apartment fire, but I couldn't shake the feeling something was terribly wrong with Annalise. She would've called me back by now- no matter how mad she was- if James had told her to. Since he hadn't returned my call either, it set me on edge.
Giving in to my concern, I called the guards I'd assigned to trail Annalise. The phone rang and rang and rang.
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No answer.
My hand shook as I dialed again.
And again.
And again.
Still, no answer.
"Markus!" I called out. My head bodyguard entered my office, bowing, and asking what I needed. "Send some of your men to check on Annalise and her guards. None of them are answering their phones, and I have a bad feeling about it."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
I shook my head. "Please, it's still Your Highness or William. I'm not King of Verona yet."
"But you will be soon, and you'll be a great one, sir," Markus said sincerely.
"Let's hope. Now go send those men, and let me know when you get an update."
Markus bowed once more and left me tapping my fingers on my desk, staring at the picture of James, Annalise, and I in South Africa. It'd never left my desk, not even when I foolishly and briefly thought Anna had leaked my dad's condition to the press. I wished for those simpler times, when she and I were still close, and when I hadn't made a dumbass decision to date another girl to get over my feelings for Annalise.
Unable to stop myself, I reached for my phone and redialed James, praying he'd pick up. Like Annalise and her guards, he didn't answer. Sheer panic now started settling in, sending my stomach roiling. An uneasy queasiness formed in my heart, slowly radiating until my whole body shook with fear.
I glanced at the time.
5:30 p.m.
Half an hour before the party was supposed to start. Half an hour before I was supposed to greet guests at the door. Could I do that in the state I was in? I felt if I moved even a little from my current chair, I'd be sick. I hated that I'd let myself get to this point, but the terror of losing anyone else after my dad died increased by a tenfold, and it affected me more than I cared to admit, and more than I could control.
"Sir!" Markus burst into the room, eyes wide in panic. "My men found Miss Stark's guards unconscious in their room. Miss Stark isn't in her apartment, but it looks like there's been an attack."
