Chapter 28

Susan was alone. At least that was a relief.

“Hey,” I said as she walked in.

She looked at me but said nothing. She walked over and sat at the other end of the table.

“I just wanted to talk to you,” I continued, “to see if we can find a way to move on from all this. I know things will never be like they were before, but I just want to get to a place where you and I can be civil with each other… for both our sakes.”

She crossed her arms and gave me a hard look. And more of the silent treatment.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “About Nolan. I know that was hard for you.”

Susan looked away and I saw tears flash into her eyes. One rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly with the sleeve of her sweater.

“You have to understand, though,” I explained, “that I never asked for any of this. It was actually awful for me, at first —”

“Oh, right,” Susan said, interrupting me. “Awful. Having to move into a palace with a gorgeous prince.”

“Yes,” I replied, “he wasn’t very nice to me, you know. And I didn’t want to leave home. I didn’t really have a choice, though.”

“Yeah,” Susan said, her voice quieter. “Look, I actually thought that maybe I could let it go, when I saw your text last night.”

My heart leapt a little with hope.

But then she continued.

“Seeing you now, though,” she said, looking me up and down, “it just reminds me of everything you did.”

“I’m sorry Susan,” I said again. “You have to believe me, I was just as surprised by everything that happened as you were. What can I do to make things right with us?”

As I asked this question, I remembered I did bring her a gift. I pulled out the cupcake box and pushed it slowly across the table.

“Just a gesture,” I said.

Susan watched the cupcake as I slid it over to her. She kept her arms folded across her chest.

Then she blinked up at me and said, “Seriously?”

I just looked at her, befuddled. I’d run out of things to say.

“You’re giving me a cupcake?” she asked, her tone incredulous. “You think that can make up for stealing my life?”

I arched an eyebrow and asked, “What?”

“Everything you have now, that was supposed to by mine,” she spat. “My crown, my husband, my future. How could you take that all away from me?”

It was an interesting thing to hear… I didn’t realize she’d been thinking about it that way.

“And by the way,” she continued before I could reply, “I was inducted into the Noble Club last week. I’m sure you never thought I could get an invite, right?”

“What?” I asked again, starting to worry that I was sounding kind of stupid.

“You think you’re better than me now,” she said, “with your fancy antique earrings and your big makeover. You think I’m trash, huh? Well, I noticed you weren’t invited to join the Nobles, so at least there’s one thing I’ve got that you don’t.”

Disappointment washed over me.

Susan was not going to let go of her problem with me, after all. Not by a long shot. All she wanted to do here was try to hurt me.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her I did actually get an invite to join the Noble Club but turned it down. It seemed like it made her feel better to think that I had been excluded.

I resisted the impulse to fidget with my earrings, feeling self-conscious about them now.

Luna had given them to me as a wedding gift. They were small pearls set in gold filigree. I loved them and wore them almost every day.

“Yena,” Susan went on in a flat, serious tone. “I don’t think I can ever forgive you for this. You and I will never be friends again.”

My eyes filled with tears.

“You don’t mean that,” I said. My voice came out quiet, almost a whisper.

“Oh, I mean it,” she said.

She stood suddenly, shooting her chair backward, and put her palms flat on the table.

“And honestly,” she added, “Lying to me about being human? Why the fuck would you even do that?”

“I didn’t know, I swear,” I said. My voice warbled.

“How could you not know what species you are?” she shouted.

When I didn’t answer, a look of understanding appeared on her face.

“Oh, right,” she said. “You’re an orphan. And some strange breed of wolf, too.”

My jaw dropped a little.

“It figures you’re a freak of nature,” she finished, turning toward the door. “I should have known there was a reason no one wanted to be friends with you. I felt bad for you, you know.”

“Stop it Susan,” I said, standing. “Enough of this. This whole thing is crazy.”

“Now I’m crazy, too, in addition to being trash?” she snapped back.

“I didn’t say you were crazy,” I insisted. “And I definitely never called you trash.”

“Whatever, bitch,” she mumbled. She tightened the strap of her shoulder bag and stormed away.

I sat back down in my chair, feeling like I’d been run over by a truck.

The library door opened and closed. Then opened and closed again.

Susan came back.

She stormed up to the table and picked up the cupcake box.

“I forgot one last thing,” she said. “Fuck you and your stupid cupcakes!”

She took the box and threw it at me.

I dodged it and it landed behind me, breaking open on the floor.

Then she stormed away once again, this time slamming the library door so hard on her way out that it shook the whole wall.

I was on my knees collecting chunks of cupcake from the floor, piling them into the crumpled remains of the pastry box, when I heard the library door swing open and closed again.

I flicked my eyes up to see who it was. A tall man with wavy, sandy blonde hair. He looked like a professor, carrying a briefcase and dressed in the typical garb of an academic.

It was not Susan. That was all I really cared about.

I went back to my project, starting to scrape some chocolate frosting out of the carpet with the edge of the box lid.

The man approached me, no doubt curious about the girl crouching in the corner of an otherwise empty library at eight in the morning.

“Hi,” he said. He had a kind, comforting look, and was smiling at me amiably.

“Hello,” I replied, standing.

There was something super familiar about the man. He was well over six feet tall, and actually looked a little bit like Nolan. But with gentler features, lighter coloring, and a relaxed energy.

“Everything alright here?” he asked. “Need any help?”

“Well,” I said, looking down at the mess. “I have to admit, I actually do. Would you mind helping me find some wet towels so I can get this frosting out of the carpet?”

He let out one little burst of laughter then said, “I’m so sorry. That’s just not a sentence I was expecting to hear from the first person I spoke to this morning.”

I laughed. The tears that had been welling up in my eyes spilled down my cheeks.

I put the busted cupcake box down on the table and wiped my face.

“Sorry,” I said, “it’s been a strange morning for me too.”

The man put down his briefcase.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, and he disappeared back out into the hallway.