Chapter 21

The guards grabbed me by the arms and yanked me to my feet. Once I was standing, they continued to grip, as if I might try to run away.

“I’m not surprised,” Lena said, turning up her nose at me. “It was only a matter of time before this one started some trouble.”

I struggled to maintain my calm. “She wished harm onto my daughter.”

Kirsten rolled her eyes. “Please. No one believes that. I am of the highest breeding. My word carries so much more weight than yours, or that of your spawn.”

“But –”

“Save your excuses for the head of the royal guard.” Lena cut me off. “He’ll be the one deciding a punishment that will fit this show of disrespect.”

The head of the royal guard? Not the King or Queen or the princes?

Lena must have seen the confusion on my face. “Arguments between candidates are too trivial to bother the royal family about. These matters can be handled by the palace staff.”

A knot began forming in my stomach. What punishment could the head of the royal guard dish out?

I wasn’t likely to be ejected from the competition without the royal family’s consent. As a publicity stunt, it wouldn’t look good to drop me flat before the first elimination. But expulsion wasn’t all they could do to me.

They could move us to a smaller, windowless room. Or take away some of my freedom of movement through the grounds. Perhaps, they would want me to perform physical labor.

All of those potential punishments I could handle. None of them were what made me feel sick.

My deepest fear was that they would take away Elva’s medical care.

That fear alone kept me silent and complacent, as Kirsten laughed in my face.

“Aw, were you hoping Prince Nicholas would save you again? You should know by now, Piper, that you are the lowest of the low. You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as the prince, let alone speak to him.”

“Prince Nicholas chooses whom he can speak to,” I said, daring a soft retort.

To imply that Nicholas would not speak to anyone common was a slight he didn’t deserve. His issues with me had been regarding our shared past, not because of my upbringing.

Kirsten’s smile tightened. Her eyebrow twitched, revealing the truth of her barely-hidden annoyance.

“Prince Nicholas only talks to you because he is a good person and he feels bad for you. You can’t honestly think you actually have a chance in this competition? Someone like you?”

I had no misconceptions about my place here. I knew I was allowed to stay simply to improve the reputation of the royal family among the common people.

Yet Kirsten’s blatant dismissal of someone like me had me lifting my chin in defiance.

Seeing that she was not breaking me, Kirsten’s smile wavered, and her anger grew.

“You will never be Luna, Piper. You are weak and pathetic. You don’t even have a wolf! How could a Luna not have a wolf? Outrageous.”

“She does not necessarily need a wolf to be Luna,” Lena corrected. “However, what she does need is a certain poise and respectful demeanor. Neither of which she possesses.”

Lena had a strange sense of decorum, to think Kirsten a paragon of virtue and me significantly less so.

I should have continued to hold my tongue, but the injustice of it all had my blood boiling. What had I ever done to deserve such bullying?

It wasn’t as easy to defend myself as it had been to defend Elva, but for Elva’s sake, as well as my own, I had to try.

“Prince Nicholas will see through you soon enough,” I said to Kirsten. “You stole credit for that handmade gift, but how long will that goodwill last? Eventually, you will reveal your true self.”

“I stole nothing, you – oh. Oh, I see.”

Her fury, which I had caused to heighten for a moment, quickly smoothed out again. Her grin returned, wide and sharp.

“I should have known you were the one who made that sad little gift. It was so simple, so… fashion-backwards. I had been ready to apologize for its very existence, before the prince made his small mix up.”

I had spent hours crafting that wrist guard for the prince. I had purposefully made the design simplistic, knowing Nicholas would prefer it that way. Flashy clothes were never his style.

That Kirsten didn’t know that only showed how little she understood the prince she chased.

“If you wanted him to know it was from you, you should have given it to him directly,” Kirsten said. “That you didn’t only shows that you knew he would reject it. Just like he’ll reject you, very soon.”

“You shouldn’t have taken credit –”

“It’s too late, Piper. No one will ever believe you made it. Not now. Not against my word. Although…” She tapped her finger to her chin and looked at Lena. “I think I know a fitting punishment.”

“Oh?” Lena lifted a brow.

“She should continue making gifts for Prince Nicholas,” Kirsten said. “Gifts that I would then give him, of course. Only one gift might arise suspicion eventually. But many gifts would surely lead me into his good graces.”

She turned her sharp grin on me. “And then I will be Luna.” She laughed. “Maybe I’ll keep you making gifts, locked down in the dungeons. My little secret.”

A crunch sounded from behind me, in the trees.

Suddenly, Lena’s whole posture shifted. She lost her spiteful arrogance and become small.

The guards continued to hold me, but their grip loosened.

Only Kirsten seemed unchanged, her vicious eyes searing into mine. “Then I can get rid of your brat –”

“You will be doing no such thing.”

I knew that firm, male voice.

Kirsten’s eyes went wide. She straightened. “Your Royal Highness!”

Turning my head, I watched Nicholas push through the trees and come to stand beside us. Holding his hand and guiding him was my daughter Elva.

His face was a mask of cool indifference as he took in the scene before him, looking from the guards, to their hands on me, to Kirsten, to Lena standing behind.

Only his eyes gave away his inner fury, gold flashing.

“Mommy!” Elva tugged at Nicholas’s hand. She pointed at one of the guard. “Let go of Mommy, you meanie!”

The guard frowned at the girl, then looked up at Nicholas, who was watching him expectantly.

“Well?” Nicholas asked. “You heard her.”

At once, the guards’ hands fell away from me. They’d held me roughly for some time now, so I wobbled unsteadily when they released me so quickly.

I wasn’t truly in danger of falling. I just needed to readjust my footing.

Even so, Nicholas closed the distance between us in a heartbeat. He placed a steadying hand on my waist, and kept it there even after I repositioned.

This close, I could see the green flecks in his eyes, bright under the sunlight.

“Are you hurt?” he asked me. His eyes drifted down, as if looking me over. Quickly, his gaze found mine again.

“No,” I replied in a whisper, afraid to speak too loudly and pull us from this rare moment of peace. “Thank you.”

He shook his head once, a dismissal of my gratitude.

“Is she okay?” Kirsten’s whiny voice sliced through the air. “I’m the one who was wronged!”

“Hush, girl,” Lena hissed, but it was too late.

Nicholas lowered his hand away from me, and shifted his full attention onto Kirsten.

“Kirsten.” His voice devoid of any and all emotion. Dangerous. “I have one question for you.”

She swallowed thickly. “Yes, Prince Nicholas?”

He lifted his right hand, showing the wrist guard. “Who made this?”

Kirsten paled.