?Chapter 0599


    Just as they were about to enter the house, Nichs turned to look at me. We didn''t truly say goodbye and already we were pulled apart from each other once more.


    Despite all the trauma that urred at the ind, good things happened too. Nichs and I being able to spend so much time together was one of the good things for sure. But now, we were back to reality. Nichs would always be called away.


    Our gazes lingered on one another, but all too soon, he had to turn and go into the pce. I already missed him.


    Later, Susie, Elva, and I went out to the edge of the gardens to talk more privately. Elva yed with the two wolves while Susie and I sat on a bench, watching. The two wolves were fond of Elva and licked at her face until she loudly giggled.


    Elva''s smile made me smile. It kept me strong, even as I revealed to Susie some of the darker events that urred on the ind.


    Susie was sympathetic over my hardships, and shocked over Bridget''s actions. But a different detail seemed to stick out for her more than any other.


    *You and Nichs finally had sex!" she whisper-yelled. She was careful to keep her voice low even as the excitement was obviously bubbling up within her.


    "Shh!" I still hushed her, though it was more out of personal embarrassment than fear that anyone would overhear her.


    Susie lowered her voice further, but it raised with each word as if she was simply unable to contain her excitement. "Don''t you see? This is a sign that Prince Nichs is going to choose you as his Luna!"


    "It doesn''t mean that," I said, even as my heart thundered wildly, driven by hope.


    "It could," Susie insisted.


    I gently shook my head. "I''ll admit that my heart does... yearn for that rtionship. And sometimes, in the quiet moments, I let myself believe that maybe it could be possible. But then I wake up to reality. Susie, I''m not fit to be a Queen."


    Susie''s face scrunched up in annoyance. "Says who?"


    "Everyone," I insisted. "Maybe I can do something things, but a Queen needs to be able to rule. I don''t know how to do that."


    *You are simultaneously being too hard on yourself while overestimating everyone else," Susie said. "You think Lilliana or Olivia are more capable to be a Queen than you? You think I am?"


    My answer is, "Yes."


    Susie''s annoyance ttened out into a look of pity instead. "Piper. You have proven yourself time and time again during thispetition. Who always brings a down to earth attitude to everypetition? Who puts others first? Who so easily makes friends with everyone, even those that should be enemies?"


    "Not everyone," I tried to argue, but it sounded weak even to my own ears.


    Susie gave me a small smile. "You think these other girls would make a better queen, but their selfish attitudes would always hold them back."


    "You are not selfish," I told her.


    She ced her hand on her stomach. She wasn''t showing yet but we both knew the life she was growing there. "If I wasn''t selfish, I wouldn''t be having this baby with the man I love."


    I would argue to the death that choosing her baby and her love over a life of loveless misery did not make her selfish.


    But she lifted her hand stopping me before I even began. She must have known what I was going to say.


    *This is what I''m talking about, Piper. You are so inherently... good. And that good nature is what will be needed to help rally the spirits of those home and abroad in theing war."All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    I... Wait. What?


    I blinked a few times as I tried to process her words. "What war?"