Chapter l357

Chapter 0357

“Then, what?”

He glanced at me. Slowly, he stopped walking. We were alone in the hallway though there was talking up ahead. Around the corner was the dining room. Some of the girls must have gone down to lunch early.

“Joyce called you out to that balcony,” Julian said. “He said it was because you are too

reckless, but when has he ever cared about something like that before or since. You aren’t one of his selected candidates, and he’s never taken an interest in any of Nicholas’s or my relationships before.”

“You can’t think… he had ulterior motives?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Julian admitted quickly. “It does seem unlikely. Joyce has never been rebellious. He’s always done just enough to stay within the rules our parents set for him. I suppose he could have seen, as I did, how fond Nicholas is of you, and wanted to step in, but…”

My throat went dry. “But?“”

Julian squeezed my arm. “The timing is what concerns me. He locked you out there the same night Nicholas was almost taken. It felt wrong to me, even then I felt something was off. That was why I was so insistent we check on Nicholas.”

My worries culminated into a dark jagged swirl that sliced mercilessly inside my chest. I had to voice an unhappy question. I felt guilty even thinking it, so I whispered it to Julian rather than saying it too loudly, “Could Joyce be working with the underground?” o

Julian looked at me. There was a hard edge to his gaze. “You should be careful around him.”

“You do suspect him, then?”

“Piper,” he said, and for a small moment, he sounded so very tired. “I suspect everyone.”

I had no reply to that. He rendered me speechless.

After a moment’s more quiet, Julian urged me into walking again, and we finally turned that corner into the louder hallway.

Only it wasn’t the candidates in the dining room making the noise. Instead, it was two different camera crews trying to capture every angle of Nicholas and Olivia as they stood in the center of the hallway. A producer was holding a microphone in Nicholas’s face and asking Nicholas questions.

In the chaos, I couldn’t make out the question, but it made Nicholas dip into his reservoir of unpleasantly cold princely faces.

Julian might have heard it better than I did, because in the next instant, he called out, Nicholas! How funny meeting you here!”

Suddenly every eye in th

turn, looked at me.

crowded hallway turned to look at Julian instead, and then, in

I half wanted to hide, but Julia..

ulian’s hold on my arm was fierce, like an unrelenting vice.

Julian led me straight you?

Nicholas and Olivia. Both

the crowd until we were standing directly in front of

with displeasure. It was eerie hatching faces of cool indifference, while their eyes burned

y heart ache

similar the glances were.

too. Maybe the

truly were perfect for each other. More perfect than

It made truly Nicholas and I had ever been, perhaps.

“Are you also on a date?” Julian asked.

Nicholas frowned deeper. “Yes, Julian,” he said it like it was obvious. Which, honestly, it was.

“About to have lunch, then?” Julian asked.

Nicholas narrowed his eyes. “Yes.”

“Great!” Julian brightened, smile wide. “Then we should eat together.”

“That’s not…” Nicholas began.

Julian spoke to the camera crews now. “Surely you guys would love to see a double date with the princes and their favorite candidates, right?”

The crews cheered, vocalizing their agreement.

Looking at Julian, I wondered if he had somehow planned for this entire arrangement, just to upset his brother. I had no idea how he would have pulled it off, but that didn’t ebb my suspicion. If anyone could have figured it out, it was him.

“What do you say?” Julian asked Nicholas.

Nicholas glowered. “I guess.”