Chapter 230

An announcement went out for all the candidates to head to the foyer to receive the results of the most recent event, the ball where we were supposed to look happy.

At that same ball, everything sort of fell apart. Joyce declared erroneously that he and I were having an affair. Jane tried to kill me. Jane plummeted off the balcony and then disappeared into thin air curtesy, we suspected, of Hawk himself.

I stood between Susie and Veronica in the foyer, with Tiffany nearby. Olivia and Lilliana were nearer the stage, looking bored. Jessica, behind them, looked simultaneously nervous and annoyed. Of everyone here, her situation was probably the worst.

She had thought she was making progress with Joyce. She’d had the rug pulled firmly out from under her with Joyce’s sudden declaration.

“Thank you for coming today,” Nathan said, speaking into a microphone as he stands on top of the stage. There were no cameras present for today’s announcements, which wasn’t totally unusual for announcements, but did seem odd in regards to the results being released.

Maybe the public had already been made aware of the results. Or maybe the entire event was edited for public consumption. I would have to ask Charlotte later.

“I will now give the results for the event. As you recall, points were to be awarded for those who seemed to be having the most fun at the event,” Nathan said. “As such, the winner of the highest number of points was Susie, one of Joyce’s candidates.”

Susie gasped excitedly. I clapped for her. Others did too.

I was glad I showed Susie those dances, so that she could use them to her benefit. I likely would have benefited too, had I not been called away to face off against Jane. I couldn’t complain though, not that I had my wolf back.

My standings were still precarious in the competition, which was a worry, but I was relieved at least that Susie was no longer in danger with me.

Suddenly, Lilliana’s hand shot up. She had not clapped for Susie. If anything, she seemed irritated by all that was happening.

Nathan politely called on her.

Lilliana spoke loudly for the whole room to hear. “Isn’t it unfair for any of Prince Joyce’s selections to receive points, considering what happened?”

Nathan’s polite smile slipped into a sharp, disapproving grimace. He lifted his microphone once more. “Prince Joyce is still a part of this competition.”

Maybe he’d expected questions like these. Maybe this was why there were no cameras in the room.

“But he made his intentions clear, going after a girl who is not even one of his selections,” Lilliana continued despite Nathan’s clear dislike.

“Prince Julian cleared Piper’s name,” Tiffany said loudly, in my defense. “It’s pointless to bring that up.”

“I didn’t name her,” Lilliana snapped at Tiffany. To Nathan, she proceeded to argue. “Prince Joyce is the one I’m questioning. If he has no interest in his own candidates, why should they continue to receive points?”

“Maybe you don’t blame Piper,” Jessica growled. She turned to me, and I could see now that what I had confused for annoyance was actually bitter hatred. All directed at me. “But I do.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said at once.

I could feel her hatred radiating off of her in shaky waves. Was this part of gaining my wolf? With my heightened senses, was I now also able to perceiving others’ emotions more distinctly?

I glanced at Veronica and found her watching me. I placed a hand over my chest, signaling that it was giving me pain. She seemed to understand what I meant. She nodded.

Shit.

Jessica stormed toward me and each furious footfall hit me like a punch in my chest. Her anger and hatred was so strong I could practically taste it.

Tiffany stepped in front of me, blocking Jessica from getting too closely.

“Her name is clear, Jessica,” Tiffany said.

“I don’t care if they didn’t fuck,” Jessica growled. “At the very least, she tricked him somehow. He’s a decent guy. He never would have behaved this way on his own.”

“Back off, Jessica,” Veronica said. Her voice was terrifyingly calm for the amount of anger that burned in her own eyes. Veronica, I knew, was the only person in the room to truly be afraid of. She might be away from the underground now, but she still had magic.

“I didn’t sleep with him. I didn’t trick him.” I wished she would believe me, but she shook her head at my words, as if shaking them away from herself before they could sink in.

If I was free to talk, I would tell her that Nicholas was the one I wanted. That the night Joyce claimed we were together, I was likely with his eldest brother instead. But that would endanger Nicholas and his run for the crown.

So I had to keep my mouth shut and take the brunt of her rage without much of a defense.

“You slept with all of the princes,” Jessica said, and the words irked straight through me, pushing back all my sense of calm. Of forgiveness. Instead my wolf reared its head, its own anger stoked.

“Admit it,” Jessica said. “You came here just for bragging rights. You wanted to fuck all three princes so you could go home to your little hick town and feel important to all your hick friends!”

Heartbreak made people act irrationally. I knew that.

I didn’t want to hurt Jessica. She was already hurt. She was just taking it out on me.

But the wolf was raging, and my energy had to go somewhere.

“I. Am. Not. A. Whore,” I growled very slowly, trying to keep myself under control.

“Then why do you act like one?”

“That’s enough!” bellowed a male voice from the entryway. Everyone turned in time to see Nicholas stalk forward. Tiffany sidestepped away as Nicholas took up place between Jessica and I. He kept his back to me, facing her. His shoulders were taunt as a bowstring.

Yet tense as he was, his closeness gave comfort to my raging wolf. Slowly, my rage began to seep away, as if it had never been there at all.

Thank God. I could barely control my strength. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt someone, especially someone like Jessica, who acted only out of her own grief and heartbreak.

Veronica came closer to me. She glanced me over.

“I’m okay now,” I whispered and she nodded.

Susie hooked her arm around mine. I gave her a reassuring squeeze.

Nicholas was a stone wall between me and Jessica’s rage.

“I’m only saying what we all know!” Jessica shouted.

Into the microphone, Nathan scolded, “If you cannot control yourself from making such accusations, Jessica, you will be removed from the competition.”

“What does it matter?” Jessica shot back. “Prince Joyce only wants Piper.”

“He was mistaken about what happened that night,” Nicholas said. He was using his authoritative voice. It claimed the attention of the room. “Joyce was taken advantage of by a yet-unknown adversary. Do not consider yourself out of the running, unless you lack compassion.”

Jessica’s face went pale. I felt as her own anger slipped away, replaced by a devastating kind of upset. “Someone hurt him?”

Nicholas nodded.

She brought her hands to her face. “Oh, Prince Joyce… How terrible…” She slumped a little.

Nicholas looked to Nathan.

“If there are no other complaints?” Nathan asked.

With Nicholas present, the rest of the girls kept their mouths shut.

Though with my heightened senses, I could tell when Lilliana and Olivia looked at me with suspicion.