Chapter 208

I had waited for days for Andrew to call and invite me to the banquet that Jeffrey had told me about, but I refused to call him and ask. If he had wanted me there, he would have asked me.

The day after the night of the banquet, I had my answer. He never called. For whatever reason—our fight, Bob’s arrest, the way I had acted the last time that King Frederick was in town—Andrew did not want me to attend.

So, I lay in my bed that afternoon after the banquet, scrolling through my social media feed and trying to not think about Andrew, our fights, or the slight that he had just served me. I needed something mind-numbing to keep myself from thinking about everything going wrong in my life, and social media was more than zombifying. I had almost fallen asleep several times, my mind was relaxed from the thoughtless scrolling.

Then I saw it—the news article.

I was going through the many, many posts from Lily with pictures of her and her family traveling around the world when I came across a sponsored post from a news site that featured an image of Andrew…with a young woman.

I froze on the post. It linked to an article with the headline:

ALPHA KING ANDREW COZIES UP TO HUMAN PRINCESS AURORA AT WELCOME BANQUET

Beneath the headline was the image of Andrew sitting close to a beautiful blonde woman around my age. She could have been my twin, in fact, or at least a close look-alike. It appeared that they were holding hands.

My hand squeezed my phone until I was certain that I was going to break it. Angry tears trickled down my cheeks. I blinked them away and forced myself to continue reading.

Alpha King Andrew Dubois was spotted sharing a close moment with Princess Aurora, the half-werewolf daughter of King Frederick of the human world, at the welcoming banquet for the royal father and daughter. It is unclear where Crystal Blanchard was during the banquet or what the status is of her and the Alpha King’s relationship, but it is clear that something new might be at play in Andrew Dubois’s court…

I groaned in frustration and threw my phone down on the bed. This could not be happening. Andrew could not have moved on already, not without talking to me first; he wasn’t that kind of man.

Or was he?

Could he have gone behind my back and found someone new without breaking up with me first? Could he really be so mad at me that he wouldn’t consider my feelings first? Could he really be that much like Bob?

I ran my hands over my face.

How could I have been so stupid, to let myself get played with again?

I leapt to my feet.

No. I would not let that happen again. I would let Andrew know exactly what I was feeling, and I would not let him go.

I dressed myself quickly and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. I applied basic makeup and perfume—nothing too complicated, just enough to hide the lack of sleep and showering—and then I was ready to go. I didn’t look my best, but I didn’t look my worst, either.

I walked out into the living room, where Jeffrey was doing his rounds by the window. Ever since he told me about the banquet, he had insisted on doing his rounds inside, to keep an eye on my progress.

“Well, look who got out of bed today,” he teased.

“I don’t have time for your banter,” I snapped as I slung my purse over my shoulder.

Jeffrey arched a brow at me.

“Where are you heading?”

“To confront Andrew.”

“Confront? About what? You’re not still mad about him being mad, are you?”

I brought up the news article on my phone and shoved it in Jeffrey’s face.

“Don’t tell me that you don’t know anything about this,” I hissed.

He took my phone and skimmed the article. His eyes narrowed in genuine confusion.

“I hadn’t heard anything about this,” he said as he handed me back my phone, “but I’m sure that it’s all a huge misunderstanding, like when the paparazzi took that picture of you and me outside of the hospital that Nikolas was staying at.”

That gave me pause, but I shook my head.

“They’re holding hands, Jeffrey. How do you explain that?”

Jeffrey shrugged.

“I was not there, so I really have no idea. I just think that you shouldn’t go jumping to conclusions—”

“That’s exactly what he did with Noah and me!”

“Yes, but do you want to make the same mistake? Do you want to barge over to the mansion and just explode on him?”

I growled in frustration.

“First, you wanted me to go talk to Andrew. Now, you’re trying to stop me. Make up your mind!”

Jeffrey appeared taken aback by me yelling at him, but he did not back down.

“Do what you want. I’m not your keeper,” he said. “Just remember how you got into this mess in the first place.”

I huffed and slammed the door behind me.

I didn’t need Jeffrey acting as my moral compass, not now. If Andrew was cheating on me, I needed to know. I would not be made a fool of again, not by another man I had given my entire heart to.

I stormed to my Honda Civic and climbed in, enclosing myself inside it as quickly as I could. I took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel as I tried to not have a meltdown. My knuckles turned white, and I bit my lip to keep myself from crying again.

As I inhaled the last of my deep breaths, a buzzing caught my attention. It was a text from Noah.

Just checking on you. Wanted to make sure you were OK, it said.

I sighed and shook my head. Poor Noah, caught up in the middle of all of this. To think, this had all started because Andrew had not trusted me and had jumped to assumptions.

Just remember how you got into this mess in the first place, Jeffrey’s words rang through my head.

That was how all this had started, because Andrew had not trusted me when he didn’t have all the information. Now, I was not trusting him.

I released the steering wheel and sat back. I would not let Andrew get the best of me. He might not have trusted me, but I would show him that I trusted him, even if he didn’t deserve it.

I climbed out of the car to find Jeffrey standing by his. He walked up to me.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, perhaps expecting to find another dead mouse.

I shook my head.

“No. I just decided that you’re right. This is one fight that I don’t need to pick.”

Jeffrey looked me up and down, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Why the sudden change of heart?”

“I just realized that if I want Andrew to trust me, I need to show him that I trust him, too.”

I smiled bitterly.

“And I’m going to show him just how much I trust him.”