Chapter 10


    But Julian would know, because he was there.


    In another life, being near Nichs would have given me enough reason to want to stay.


    But he’d made his feelings about me clear. And I had other priorities.


    My gaze slid to Elva, ying with her dolls at the foot of the bed.


    “I don’t want to y house,” I said. “Nor do I want to partake in this game of undercutting nobles and


    chasing princes.”


    I had been away from nobility for a long time, but I hadn’t forgotten their cutthroat politics, where an


    action as small as selecting the wrong utensil at dinner could start a blood feud. Backstabbing,


    betrayals, pretending to be nice just to make someone vulnerable…


    The memories made my already tired body even more exhausted.


    Elva coughed and immediately reimed my attention. She recovered quickly this time, thank God,


    and returned to ying.


    Softer, so that she wouldn’t overhear, I said to Julian, “My daughter is frail and sick often. I have to work


    hard to care for her. I can’t waste time staying here.”


    Julian tapped a finger to his chin. “Piper, you realize this is the royal pce, correct?”


    “Yes, but-


    “So while you are here, wouldn’t you have ess to all the royal resources? Including our medical staff


    and supplies?”


    I froze.


    I hadn’t thought of that. Would the royal family truly be willing to use their resources to help Elva?


    Julian must have seen the disbelief on my face. “While you are here, you are under the care of my


    family. We wouldn’t simply stand by and let you or your daughter suffer.”


    narrowed my eyes at him. Turning away a sick child would surely be bad for public rtions.


    It would be horrible, be said, smile adding teeth


    Why was be being so generous with what were probably


    me to know the real rese


    When I asked him, Julianughed. A roguish light danced in his eyes. They were different than


    Nichs’s, more brown than gold, with no flecks of green.


    I’m not so different than I was in the Academy,” he said.


    He’d been a trickster then for sure, constantly teasing or performing borate pranks. Nichs, the


    more serious one, had always used him of never taking anything seriously.


    Once, Julian had put a smoke bomb in the teacher’s lounge, and in a panic, the fire department had


    been called in. Julian hadughed and said it wasn’t a real fire. He couldn’t understand why anyone


    was upset.


    Nichs had apologized profusely for the act, as if he himself hadmitted it. At the time, I had


    thought he felt responsible for the entirety of our ss. Now I knew he only felt responsible for his


    brother.


    “I like stirring the pot,” Julian said now. “I want to see what happens.”


    “What does that have to do with me?”


    “I want to see what you’ll do, Piper.” His grin turned mischievous. “And what Nichs does, too.”


    I wrapped my arms around myself. “Nichs and I don’t want anything to do with each other.”


    “Oh, really? So it doesn’t bother you at all that he will mate with another women during this contest?”


    “No,” I lied. My heart twisted at the mere mention of him with someone else, but I quickly, internally,


    scolded myself. I was the one who had broken Nichs’s heart. I had no right to be jealous now.


    He certainly didn’t think of me with any fondness. And I had no intention of holding onto a hopeless


    past, when I had my daughter and our future to contend with.


    Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.


    “Say what you want, but I’m no fool,” Julian said. “You and Nichs have a special bond.” Heughed.


    ” And I can’t wait to see how far I can bend it.“