“After much deliberation and consideration, we have decided…”“To automatically make Richard prom king” Maddie said she smiled at her girls who were by her side.Usually, the position of the prom king and queen was to be made by the opinions of the students who would vote for the candidate whom they saw as the most suitable for the position.Maddie, whose full name was Madeline Freeman, was a rich brat who was raised and spoiled with luxury.She was from one of the extremely wealthy backgrounds that attended the Varsity along with both of her friends Vanessa Hughins and Stephanie LeCroi.These three were best friends who were basically always seen together.Their wealth and love for luxury materials like designer bags, shoes, expensive watches and even cars made them stand out amongst all the other rich students in the school.From there, the trio somehow legalised themselves as a group that had a say in affairs concerning the school.The school authorities didn’t approve of it but th
He had to drive back to the closest place he could think of at that moment, his house.Vincent explained the situation to Jane as he changed the course of his direction and started to drive towards his residence since it wasn’t far from there.After a few minutes' drive, Vincent arrived at his tall grey coloured gate and proceeded to open it with the remote key.The gate opened slowly as he drove in with the pace in which the gate opened.After his car had driven in fully, he pressed a button on the remote key again which closed the gate.Vincent alighted from the driver’s seat as he went over to her side of the car to open the door for her and help her out like a gentleman would.Jane stepped out to get a complete view of the exquisite mansion that stood before her eyes.“Wow”“it’s….It’s beautiful” She said with a stutter as she stood there, speechlessly staring at the giant building from top to bottom.“Do you like it?” Vincent asked with a smile, seeing her towards the view of his
She was met face to face with a shirtless Vincent.It was obvious that he had just taken his bath as he stood at the door with his entire body dripping wet.His upper body was bare as he had a towel tied around his waist.Jane was speechless and awestruck at the same time.She didn’t mean to walk in on him like that.She felt sorry for barging into his room and at the same time the sight of his perfectly toned abs repelled every apologetic feeling she harboured in her.She stared shamelessly at his bare upper body as wild thoughts ran through her innocent mind.Her eyes stayed glued to this god-like structure that stood before her.She was lost in this perfect, perfect sculpture.Vincent who noticed this the entire time suddenly brought her back to earth, snapping her out of her trance with his words. He just wanted to play a small mind game.“You seem lost, what are you staring at?” He asked sarcastically as she suddenly realised that he had caught her staring.“I….I’m”“I jus…”“I
"And where is that?" Vincent asked Jane with a puzzled look on his face."An appointment at St John's" She replied."Okay then, shall we?" Vincent asked as he proceeded to lead her out of the house before locking the main door to the house.Although the security of his residential area was very tight, meaning that one could literally leave their house wide open for weeks and still meet it the exact same way they left it. Vincent was the type to never take chances that could eventually lead to heart-touching stories of sorrow. Vincent and Jane drove off to the appointment.They got there in no time.Vincent waited for Jane until she was done with whatever she had to do before they both headed to Ms. Anna's residence.Vincent finally dropped Jane off at her place but just as he was about to leave, he turned to ask Jane “Would you like to go shopping for prom with me?”“Of course not!” Jane replied with a silly tone in a high pitched voice.“Why not?” Vincent responded reciprocating the
After a while of waiting patiently, Jane’s heel echoed in the stairway as she descended down the stairs.She was effortlessly breathtaking.She seemed to have the same effect on Vincent every single time.Vincent watched keenly as she carefully walked down the stairs.She wore a fitted, rich-burgundy coloured dress with a high slit in the front that was almost reaching her thighs.It had a low square shaped neckline with a thin rope in a criss cross design that held the backless dress firmly.She wore a thin black coloured heel that complemented her Black Hermes Birkin Handbag along with her long thick brunette hair which she had in a low bun tied down with loose side braids.Every single thing she had pieced together screamed perfection, she was gorgeous.She didn’t wear the clothes, the clothes wore her as it was her figure that reflected the complex design of the dress.She walked up to Vincent who h
His lips curled into a sinister smile as a glint of cruelty flashed in his eyes. He muttered "It's about to go down"Watching the following events unfold before his very own eyes; a crooked smile etched across his lips, revealing his perfect set of white teeth.Vincent observed the scene from afar where he sat with Jane at the very edge of the hall.With The deafening silence that enveloped the room, eyes watched him keenly, trying to unravel what was going on at that moment.Richard continuously refreshed the page as there seemed to have been a network error; or so he thought.His persistence in reloading the page seemed to yield futile results as he repeated this action incessantly.Beads of sudor began to emanate from his forehead as he took out a white handkerchief that was neatly folded in the left chest pocket of his suit.He tried to reiterate the transaction but he kept on receiving the same error messages as the ones he had been receiving on his previous retries."Insufficie
Richard and Elizabeth stood on the main stage in front of everyone, feeling completely embarrassed.This was the height of it as Elizabeth prayed for the ground to open up and devour her.To make matters worse, they were both still wearing the sash and crown that they were adorned with.Just a while ago they were both feeling on top of the world and now, they are being ridiculed and belittled by the people that used to respect and admire them so much.Trying so hard to hold back the tears that were about to leave her eyes, she stylishly looked up in order to avert the salty stream that was about to overflow her sockets; one that could ruin her makeup.Darting his eyeballs from place to place in all corners of the room, he lanced at each and every single one of the people he thought he had a relationship with.Richard just couldn’t believe his eyes and his ears.These murmuring voices grew louder as overlapping chatters began to fill his ears and surround his mind, secluding his body f
With the metal rod that one of them held in his hands, he hit Mr. Thompson hard on the right leg.Causing him to lose balance so that he would quit struggling with them while they continued their mission with ease as they had been ordered to.After they had finished robbing him, they fled into different directions as Mr. Thompson lay on the ground screaming in pain.Mr. Thompson didn’t show up at school for three whole months after that.Richard was finally satisfied that the threat was gone.He thought that the man got scared and left the school.It turned out that they had broken the bone a little above his ankle, destroying a muscle which prevented him from walking properly.That eventually led to the permanent limp in Mr. Thompson's right foot.Also, the important documents he had earlier were for the custody of his child.Losing the papers that day was not the major problem, but unfortunately, he s
Closing her eyes, Irene unspooled her magic into a gentle, probing thread, and laid a palm on that splattered star atop his spine.The cold slammed into her, spikes of it firing through her blood and bones.Irene reeled back as if she’d been given a physical blow.Cold and dark and anger and agony—She clenched her jaw, fighting past this echo in the bone, sending that thread-thin probe of power a little farther into the dark.The pain would have been unbearable when it hit him.Irene pushed back against the cold—the cold and the lack and the oily, unworldly wrongness of it.No magic of this world, some part of her whispered. Nothing that was natural or good. Nothing she knew, nothing she had ever dealt with.Her magic screamed to draw back that probe, move away—“Irene .” His words were far away while the wind and blackness and emptiness of it roared around her—And then that echo of nothingness … it seemed to awaken.Cold filled her, burned along her limbs, creeping wider, encirc
“Will it be hours every day that you work on him?” Nesryn’s words were steady, almost flat, and yet … The woman was not a creature who took well to a cage. Even a gilded one such as this.“I would recommend,” Irene said to Nesryn over a shoulder, “that if you have other duties or tasks to attend to, Captain, these hours would be a good time for that. I shall send word if you are needed.”“What about moving him around?”The lord’s eyes flashed at that.And though Irene was predisposed to chuck them both to the ruks, she noted the lord’s simmering outrage and self-loathing at the words and found herself saying, “I can handle most of it, but I believe Lord Westfall is more than capable of transporting himself.”Something like wary gratitude shot across his face. But he just said to Nesryn, “And I can ask my own damn questions.”Guilt flashed across Nesryn’s face, even as she stiffened. But she nodded, biting her lip, before she murmured to Vincent , “I had some invitations yesterday.”
Vincent shot Irene back an equally displeased look the moment Kashin paused to sip his wine, and then launched question after question to the prince regarding his life. Helpful information, he realized, about their army.He was not the only one who realized it. Arghun cut in while his brother was midsentence about the forges they had constructed near their northern climes, “Let us not discuss business at dinner, brother.”Kashin shut his mouth, ever the trained soldier.And somehow Vincent knew—that fast—that Kashin was not being considered for the throne. Not when he obeyed his eldest brother like any common warrior. He seemed decent, though. A better alternative than the sneering, aloof Arghun, or the wolflike Hasar.It did not entirely explain Irene ’s utter need to distance herself from Kashin. Not that it was any of his business, or of any interest to him. Certainly not when Irene ’s mouth tightened if she so much as turned her head in Vincent ’s direction.He might have calle
Vincent waited until Nesryn had been gone for a good thirty minutes before he summoned Kadja. She’d been waiting in the exterior hallway and slipped inside his suite mere moments after he’d called her name. Lingering in the foyer, he watched the serving girl approach, her steps light and swift, her eyes downcast as she awaited his order.“I have a favor to ask you,” he said slowly and clearly, cursing himself for not learning Halha during the years Levi had studied it.A dip of the chin was her only answer.“I need you to go down to the docks, to wherever information comes in, to see if there’s any news about the attack on Rifthold.” Kadja had been in the throne room yesterday—she’d undoubtedly heard about it. And he’d debated asking Nesryn to do some searching while she was out, but if the news was grimhe didn’t want her learning it alone. Bearing it alone, all the way back up to the palace. “Do you think you could do that?”Kadja lifted her eyes at last, though she kept her head
She’d known his age, but Irene had still not expected the former captain to look so … young.She hadn’t done the math until she’d walked into that room and seen his handsome face, a mix of caution and hope written across the hardened, broad features.It was that hope that had made her see red. Had made her ache to give him a matching scar to the slender one slicing across his cheek.She’d been unprofessional in the most horrific sense. Never—never had she been so rude and unkind toward any of her patients.Mercifully, Hasar had arrived, cooling her head slightly. But touching the man, thinking of ways to help him …She had not meant to write the list of the last four generations of Towers women. Had not meant to write her mother’s name over and over while pretending to record his information. It had not helped with the overwhelming roaring in her head.Sweating and dusty, Irene burst into Hadiza ’s office nearly an hour later, the trek from the palace through the clogged, narrow str
He tried not to flinch. Even Nesryn blinked at the frank question.“Yes,” he said tightly, fighting the heat rising in his cheeks.She looked between them, assessing. “Have you used it to completion?”He clenched his jaw. “How is that relevant?” And how had she gleaned what was between them?Irene only wrote something down.“What are you writing?” he demanded, cursing the damned chair for keeping him from storming to rip the paper out of her hands.“I’m writing a giant no.”Which she then underlined.He growled, “I suppose you’ll ask about my bathroom habits now?” “It was next on my list.”“They are unchanged,” he bit out. “Unless you need Nesryn to confirm.” Irene merely turned to Nesryn, unruffled. “Have you seen him struggle withit?”“Do not answer that,” he snarled at Nesryn.Nesryn had the good wits to sink into a chair and remain quiet.Irene rose, setting down the pen, and came around the desk. The morning sunlight caught in her hair, bouncing off her head in a corona.She
So Vincent had, half paying attention to the meal unfolding before him, half monitoring every word and glance and breath of those around him.Despite their youngest sister’s death, the heirs made the meal lively, conversation flowing, mostly in languages Vincent did not know or recognize. Such a wealth of kingdoms in that hall, represented by viziers and servants and companions—the now-youngest princess, Duva, herself wedded to a dark-haired, sad-eyed prince from a faraway land who kept close to his pregnant wifeand spoke little to anyone around him. But whenever Duva smiled softly at himVincent did not think the light that filled the prince’s face was feigned. And wondered if the man’s silence was not from reticence but perhaps not yet knowing enough of his wife’s language to keep up.Nesryn, however, had no such excuse. She’d been silent and haunted at dinner. He’d only learned that she’d bathed before it thanks to the shout and slamming door in her chambers, followed by a huff
Hadiza ’s face darkened. Not with ire, but memory. “I was once asked to heal a man who was injured while evading capture. After he had committed a crime so unspeakable … The guards told me what he’d done before I walked into his cell. They wanted him patched up so he could live to be put on trial. He’d undoubtedly be executed—they had victims willing to testify and proof aplenty. Eretia herself saw the latest victim. His last one. Gathered all the evidence she needed and stood in that court and condemned him with what she had seen.”Hadiza ’s throat bobbed. “They chained him down in that cell, and he was hurt enough that I knew … I knew I could use my combat to make the internal bleeding worse. They’d never know. He’d be dead by morning, and no one would dare question me.” She studied the vial of blue tonic. “It was the closest I have ever come to killing. I wanted to kill him for what he had done. The world would be better for it. I had my hands on his chest—I was ready to do it. Bu
Of all the rooms in the Torre Cesme, Irene Towers loved this one best.Perhaps it was because the room, located at the very pinnacle of the pale-stoned tower and its sprawling complex below, had unparalleled views of the sunset over Antica.Perhaps it was because this was the place where she’d felt the first shred of safety in nearly ten years. The place she had first looked upon the ancient woman now sitting across the paper- and book-strewn desk, and heard the words that changed everything: You are welcome here, Irene Towers.It had been over two years since then.Two years of working here, living here, in this tower and in this city of so many peoples, so many foods and caches of knowledge.It had been all she’d dreamed it would be—and she had seized every opportunity, every challenge, with both hands. Had studied and listened and practiced and saved lives, changed them, until she had climbed to the very top of her class. Until an unknown healer’s daughter from Benjamin was appr