Chapter l68

Chapter 0068

I awoke the next morning to the sound of thunder outside my window and pounding on my bedroom door. I’d barely gotten out of bed when the door burst open and a slew of Joseph’s guards flooded in.

“Mommy!” Elva shouted as she hid under the covers.

“At least let me get dressed,” I said, holding up my hands.

The guard closest to me shook his head. “Orders are orders.” He grabbed me roughly by the arm and

dragged me toward the door.

met

In the hallway, Joseph’s guards were arguing with Nicholas’s. Mark was running toward me.

“Mark!” I called to him. “Elva’s in there!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll watch her!” he called back. He tried to come closer to me, but one of the guards roughly

shoved him. “Hey!”

“Mark, please.” I was worried he might start something. “Elva!”

Mark grit his teeth, but stepped backwards, letting the guards and me pass.

“Keep her away from this! Please!”

“I will,” he promised.

In my nightgown, I was dragged through the hallways. It was early, just before dawn, but many of the

girls peeked their heads out of their doors to see the spectacle.

The cameras were nowhere to be seen. Likely this was not something the royal family wanted the public

to see.

On the ground floor, near the back door, Lena had her arms crossed.

“Please, let me change,” I said, hoping to appeal to her sense of decency. If I went out into the storm in

my nightgown, it would soak straight through.

Lena sneered. “You should have thought of that this morning.”

When would I have had the time? Somewhere between being startled awake and dragged into the hall?

Yet I knew talking back to her would get me nowhere. I had no power here.

The guards shoved me forward, out into the gardens. They forced me down to my knees in the grass.

“Don’t move,” one of them warned. Then they disappeared somewhere behind me.

I was facing away from the palace. I couldn’t see what happened behind me.

This view was better though, I reasoned, looking out at the flowers and the trees.

Cold rain pelted down on me like tiny, frozen daggers. After only a few minutes, my nightgown was entirely damp, clinging to me like a second skin,

I wrapped my

my arms around myself. They hadn’t said I couldn’t do that. It was all I had to fight my

growing chill.

I didn’t know how long I kneeled there. The cold had set in. The wind had picked up.

Lightning struck a nearby tree and I jumped.

My tears flowed freely, with the rain to hide them. I was cold and tired and miserable, but I couldn’t give

That’s what they wanted me to do. They hoped I would give up and leave.

But I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. Elva needed her medicine. Julian and I were going to expose the underground

trade. And Nicholas…

Seeing Nicholas yesterday. The way he smiled. His kindness when playing with the children.

I knew we could never be together again like we had been in the past, but I’d enjoyed being around him. Compared to my other reasons to want to stay, this one was entirely selfish.

But I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him again.

Not yet.

The rain continued to pour minutes, hours later. Time had no meaning out here.

I hoped someone was taking care of Elva and keeping her away from the windows. I didn’t want her to

see me like this.

She had been frightened this morning. Had anyone calmed her?

Surely Mark would have. If not Mark, then Susie? Or maybe even Nicholas.

She shouldn’t be punished like I was. She’d been through far too much in her young life already.

After another lapse of time, I heard arguing behind me. I knew those two voices.

Nicholas, I would recognize in a crowded room. Joseph, took me a bit longer.

“You cannot interfere!” Joseph shouted. “This is tradition!”

“It’s a barbaric tradition, and you all are well aware of it,” Nicholas snapped, tone sharp. “If this was any

kind of acceptable, you’d let the cameras in to see.”

“She disrespected our Luna,” Joseph countered.

1.don’t have time for this.”

“Your Royal Highness, stop!”