YENA

“Ooh, how about this one?” Lucy asked.

She passed me her copy of the course catalog and pointed to one of the class descriptions.

I shrugged. “Art History around the World… I mean, sounds interesting, but maybe not totally up my alley.”

“Yeah,” Lucy said. “Just sounded cool.”

“Okay, between these two, what do you think?”

I showed her two options for fashion workshop classes. They were almost the same class but were taught by two different professors with different specialties.

“The first one sounds more like your style,” she said.

I looked at the class descriptions once again. Lucy was right.

“Thank you! I really needed a second opinion to help me decide.”

I looked at the clock and realized it was already past midnight. Lucy and I had been working on my class selections for hours. I could probably keep spending tons more time on it too, if I let myself.

“I’m sorry this is taking forever,” I said. “It’s really cool of you to help me out with this.”

Lucy yawned as she started saying, “No problem.”

“Okay, here I go…” I pulled up the web page where I would make my final selections and started checking the boxes next to my chosen classes. Got everything filled out and hit submit.

“It’s done!”

“Yayyy!” Lucy said, clapping her hands lightly. “Good job, Yena!”

“Goddess, I can’t believe it. This time next week I’m going to be living in a big city, going to fashion school, and taking all these crazy classes.”

“You’re gonna crush it,” Lucy said. Her voice was tired but she still sounded enthusiastic and totally confident.

“Ugh,” I said. “I hope. These classes look really hard.”

My own lack of enthusiasm in the moment was mostly just fatigue. It’d been a lot of work getting my student account set up and everything.

I’d been so excited while working on it, and now that I’d sent in the form and was finished for the night – I felt insanely tired. Completely wiped out.

Lucy crashed out the second I turned the lights off, and started snoring.

I expected I’d do the same once my head hit the pillow and I got myself cozied up in my blankets.

But the longer I laid there on the couch, the more awake I gradually started to feel…

My body was tired, but my mind was wired.

The thing I’d said to Lucy… it kept replaying in my brain.

Within a week this life would be behind me.

Yeah, I’d be doing something cool. Going to fashion school and living in a big city.

But the truth was, I loved my life here.

I loved my friend Lucy, and my family, and…

Well, I had loved Nolan, too. Though that wasn’t so simple, anymore.

“You love him, still…”

Lily’s voice was so loud and clear as she said this, I almost thought it was Lucy, woken up and talking all of a sudden.

But it was the wolf.

She was certainly wide awake.

“Don’t lie to yourself,” Lily said. “You still love Nolan, and he loves you too… and you know it!”

“It’s over,” I told her. “It doesn’t matter anymore… he moved on.”

“You know that’s not true,” she said, laughing lightly.

I rolled onto my other side and pulled the blankets over my head. Held my eyes closed tight and wished for sleep. I needed a break from Lily, and my worries, and all my doubts about my decisions…

ADAN

“Of course,” Kerr said quickly. “Of course, I trust you.”

“Good.” Adan’s lips were set in a line.

Another moment of tense silence settled into the car.

Adan usually liked to speed on the highway, but the rain tonight was a beast. So even though the highway was completely clear, he stayed in the slow lane and actually went the speed limit. Maybe even a little slower.

Kerr cleared his throat and said, “Well, you know…”

Adan thought, Here we go. He worked up the nerve and now we’re gonna argue.

“The location might really be the best choice,” Kerr continued. “A great idea, really. Brilliant.”

Adan gave his friend a sideways glance. “…But?”

“But I wonder if the timing’s right.”

Both men were having to yell just to be heard over the sound of the heavy rain crashing down on the car.

“You keep wanting to slow everything down,” Adan replied. “Every step of the way. You don’t think that hesitation might just be fear, Harlan?”

“Fear!” Kerr repeated angrily. “Fear?! You really think I’m scared of Nolan?”

“I don’t know. We’re so close. We’re finally so close, Kerr, to everything we’ve been planning for years… why do you keep trying to pump the brakes now?”

“I’m not trying to —”

“Maybe it scares you it’s really gonna happen? Is that it, Kerr?”

“God, Adan. Fuck. No!”

“Then tell me what’s got you wanting to delay our future, huh? It’s ours for the taking, and we’re right on the edge of having everything we’ve ever wanted.”

“I know.” Kerr rubbed his eyes and let out a deep groan. “I’m telling you Adan, I’m not trying to delay, I just want to be sure we’re picking our moment exactly right.”

Adan nodded.

“I mean it,” Kerr said. “And I can’t blame you for questioning me, but you’ve got to believe me. I’m behind you one hundred percent, Adan, just like always.”

Adan looked over at Kerr and made eye contact with him.

He was trying to read Kerr’s emotions. See if he was nervous. See if he was lying.

Kerr looked genuine.

“Okay,” Adan said. “I’m listening. Why is the timing wrong?”

“It could be too shocking for the public,” Kerr answered.

Adan laughed. “Declarations of war can’t be subtle. How do you figure we could ever time it gently enough?”

Kerr shook his head.

“Maybe we let them announce Yena’s departure. Let the public start to question the prince. They like her more than him, you know.”

Adan did know. The princess had become not only a very interesting public figure recently, but also a beloved one.

“If we give that a little time, we can even start stirring up some rumors about the prince. Get us to a place of public unrest. Then, when our time comes… Nolan’s not dying a martyr.”

“Fair points,” Adan said.

He slowed carefully as they approached their exit off the freeway and went down the offramp.

“But,” he continued, “I don’t think they’re seeing Nolan like that right now anyway. We did some of that groundwork a while back, and even though Yena did her whole sympathy tour, still, people have been thinking twice about their formerly discreet and supposedly saintly Heir apparent, ever since then…”

Kerr grunted in semi-agreement.

“So we’re good to go,” Adan concluded. “The time is now. There’s no need to wait.”

Kerr nodded. “Alright, boss. Understood.”

Adan rolled up to a red stoplight. There was no one else around, and he could have just kept going. But he stopped the car and took the opportunity to look Kerr in the eye again.

“Listen, I know you don’t really give a shit about the timing,” Adan said. “You’re still worried about the location.”

Kerr looked straight ahead. The rain was pouring down the windshield in sheets.

“And I’m just gonna repeat one thing to get you outta that mindset once and for all. Do you remember what my dad told us when we were kids, huh?”

Kerr took a deep breath in and sat back in his seat.

“About… risk?” he said.

Adan nodded.

Kerr finally met his eyes and said, “Risk is necessary in war.”

“Risk is necessary in war,” Adan repeated. “And this is a risk we have to take.”