Chapter l385

Chapter 0385

Susie arrived around lunchtime, carrying a basket full of sandwiches for us all to share. Julian, strangely, arrived ten minutes later with a bottle of wine, He seemed surprised to see so many others.

“Thought you might fancy a drink,” he said, holding the bottle high. “I know! do.”

I welcomed him. Charlotte went and got us some glasses, and everyone but Mark and Elva had a bit of wine. Mark insisted he was working, Susie smiled at him from behind her glass. His eyes sparkled when they caught hers.

Julian groaned, drank his full glass, and then poured himself another. He usually tolerated their secret love well enough, so I wondered about the change. 1 lifted a brow at him when he glanced at me, and he sighed,

“I don’t come with the greatest of news,” he said.

“Did something happen?” I asked. What I meant was, something else. Last night was a mountain of somethings all on its own.

“My parents aren’t sure what to do with Joyce right now,” Julian said. “There’s talk of removing him from the competition.”

“What?” Susie asks sharply. Everyone looks at her, and she blushes. “I mean…”

Joyce being cut would affect her more than any of the rest of us, as Joyce was the one who selected her to stay. Would she be sent home if Joyce was removed from the competition?

What would that mean for Susie and Mark?

Mark looked away. His brow was furrowed.

Susie frowned miserably into her wine glass.

“He made a big splash on television,” Charlotte said. “Commenters on the forums who were live-updating nearly broke their keyboards, I think.”

“Did they believe him?” Julian asked.

Charlotte shook her head. “The biggest opinion was that he was vying for popularity. Most believe both Prince Nicholas and you, Prince Julian, are vying for Piper’s hand. By that account, she would have no reason to chase after the third son. There’s always outliers of course, but that’s the main consensus.”

“Good,” Julian said. He sipped at his wine.

+15 BONOS

When the sandwiches were eaten, and the bottle emptied, Julian asked to speak with me privately. Susie had already pulled Mark into the other corner where she seemed to be softly crying. My heart broke, glancing at them.

“Don’t look so sad,” Julian said, as he led me to the opposite corner, near the closet. “If they want to be together, all Mark has to do is propose. There’s no way Nicholas would deny him.”

“It would cause a scandal,” I said. Susie would hate fielding a scandal like that. Falling for someone outside of the princes was breaking a major rule of the competition.

“People will rally around true love,” Julian said, and shrugged. This wasn’t what he wanted to privately talk about so I quietly waited for him to continue. He looked at me grimly, and I held my breath. “Joyce is in the underground.”

“What?!” I gasped, far too loudly. Looking around, I noticed many eyes on me. Sorry… Sorry…” I lowered my voice again. “What?” I whispered.

Julian rubbed his forehead. “My family confronted him last night. He’s got the tattoo. It was… stretched, like he had it for a long time.’

“Oh my G od. Like Veronica.”

“Yeah. My parents believe Joyce was taken in at a young age. Brainwashed, like Veronica was. And then once Jane got her claws in him, any hesitations were right out the window.”

“How terrible,” I said. Who had taken him in, then? Terry? I couldn’t even fathom it. “I can see why your parents want to hide him.”

“They want to break the brainwashing,” Julian said. “But on the other hand, hiding him away will only make the public even more suspicious. I’m sure they have many questions about his outburst, despite what Charlotte says. No one knows where to even begin on answering them. What a mess.”

No wonder he needed the wine.

“Have you spoken with Veronica from last night?” I asked. I immediately wished I didn’t, because Julian seemed even more stressed. It was strange, watching the lines form in his forehead, when he was usually so relaxed. Or at least, pretended to be.

“She definitely felt traces of dark magic that could be teleportation. She admitted she doesn’t know all that much about it. She’s researching now.” He sighed.

2/4

+15 BONOS

“I’d never heard of anyone being able to teleport before,” I said, “even with dark magic.” Granted, I didn’t know all that much about dark magic to begin with.

“Never say never,” Julian said. “There’s always some as shole in the world dabbling in something.”

I wrap my arms around myself, feeling suddenly cold. This conversation has left me unnerved.

Julian touched my shoulder. When I looked at him again, his sunshine smile was back, pushing away the rainclouds. “Chin up, Piper. We’ve made it this far, and you got your wolf. We’ll make it to the end.”

G od, I hoped he was right.

Then, suddenly, my stomach growled.

Julian blinked. “Didn’t you eat a sandwich?”

Yeah. I’d had three of them. I covered my stomach with my hands.

“Susie!” Julian called. She wiped her eyes as she stepped away from Mark and hurried over.

“Yes, Prince Julian?”

“They should still be serving lunch in the dining room, shouldn’t they?” Julian asked.

“I believe so. Are you hungry, Sir?”

Julian hitched his thumb toward me. “Piper’s stomach is making an argument.”

Just then, it growled again. How embarrassing.

“Oh!” Susie’s eyes went wide. “I can run down at once.”

“No,” I said quickly. “I’ll go.”

“Let’s go together,” Susię said with a small, shaky little smile. Maybe she wanted to get away for a while. Had she and Mark had a fight? I’d never find out keeping her in this room.

“Let’s go together,” I said.

I excused myself from Julian. He winked as I left.

Susie didn’t say a word more to Mark, even though he watched her walk all the way to the door.

3/4

+15 BONOS

In the hallway, I waited until we were out of earshot of the guards, then I asked, “What happened with –”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Susie said, then she looked embarrassed. “If that’s okay…”

“No, it’s fine.” I bumped my shoulder into hers. “You never have to tell me anything you don’t want to, okay? We’re friends.”

She nodded, and seemed to relax more.

We continued on for a while, and then saw Nicholas coming toward us.

“Ladies,” he said as he came closer. His eyes were locked on me. I couldn’t look

away.

“Prince Nicholas,” Susie said with a curtsey.

“…Nicholas,” I echoed, slower.

Nicholas and I continued looking at each other until we passed each other and physically couldn’t anymore.

Susie looked behind us. “He’s still looking at you,” she whispered.

I didn’t dare look back myself, or I’d stare at him all day.

Susie’s sharp gaze came to my face. “You are blushing.”

I brought my hands to my cheeks. They did feel warm.

“Did something happen?” Susie asked.

“Huh?”

–

“With you and Prince Nicholas? Did you oh!” She gasped sharply and her eyes went wide. In a whisper yell, she asked, “Did you have S*x?!”

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