“Quite the romantic evening,” Evangeline’s, one of Calla’s girls' voices, cuts through the morning air like a blade. “Though I suppose spending the night in a dungeon is fitting for someone of your… background.”
I whirl around to face her, my jaw clenched. “Say what you mean, Evangeline.”
“I mean that seducing princes in dark places seems to be your specialty.” Her smile is sharp as winter frost. “Though I hear Henry emerged looking rather… disheveled.”
“We were trapped, nothing more.”
“Of course you were.” She examines her perfectly manicured nails. “Just like you were ‘trapped’ into burning down your own room for attention.”
My hands curl into fists. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” She steps closer, her voice dropping to a vicious whisper. “Everyone knows you’re desperate enough to do anything for a moment in the spotlight. Even if it means destroying Academy property.”
“Get away from me.”
“Make me.”
Before I can respond, she’s gone, gliding away with that infuriating grace that makes me want to scream. The breakfast hall feels like a battlefield I’m not equipped to fight on.
I skip the meal entirely, taking the long route to avoid the dining hall whispers. The corridors echo with fragments of conversation that follow me like hunting hounds:
“…found them curled up together…”
“…obviously planned the whole thing…”
“…what kind of girl throws herself at a prince…”
“You’re avoiding breakfast.”
I don’t need to turn around to recognize Henry’s voice. He catches up to me in the north corridor, his expression unreadable.
“Brilliant deduction, Your Highness.”
“You can’t let them starve you out.”
“I’m not hungry.” I keep walking, but he matches my pace.
“Helena, stop.”
Something in his tone makes me halt. When I turn to face him, his eyes are harder than usual, like he’s bracing for battle.
“There’s something you need to know,” he says.
“More royal wisdom? I’m honored.”
“It’s about Mirelle.”
The name hits me like a physical blow. “What about her?”
Henry’s jaw tightens. “Calla has something on her. She’s been blackmailing your sister.”
The corridor spins around me. “That’s impossible.”
“Is it?” His voice is gentle but relentless. “Think about it. The way she avoids you in public. The way she flinches when Calla’s name comes up. The way she warned you without ever explaining what you were walking into.”
“You’re lying.” But even as I say it, pieces click into place. Mirelle’s strange behavior, her desperate warnings, her refusal to stand up for me publicly.
“I wish I were.” Henry steps closer, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper. “Whatever Calla’s holding over her, it’s enough to make her choose silence over sisterhood.”
My throat closes. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you deserve to know the truth. And because…” He hesitates, something vulnerable flickering in his eyes. “Because I can’t stand watching you blame yourself for her betrayal.”
The admission hangs between us like a confession. I stare at him, seeing past the princely mask to something raw and unguarded underneath.
“I don’t understand you,” I whisper.
“Neither do I.” His smile is bitter. “But I’m tired of pretending I don’t care what happens to you.”
Before I can respond, he’s walking away, leaving me alone with the wreckage of everything I thought I knew.
The storm hits by afternoon, rain lashing against the windows with violent fury. I seek refuge in the commons, watching water stream down the glass while my thoughts spiral.
Mirelle’s betrayal. Henry’s revelation. The growing certainty that I’ve been playing a game where everyone knew the rules except me.
I need air. Space. Somewhere to exist without every eye cataloging my humiliation.
But the Academy doesn’t believe in mercy. Three days later, they assign me a tutoring schedule like nothing happened. Like I wasn’t just publicly eviscerated in front of half the nobility.
Tutoring Assignment: Miss Isadora Renelith. Public Speaking. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4 PM.
Great. They want me to teach someone else how to speak in public. The irony would be hilarious if it weren’t so fucking cruel.