Chapter 41

I walked the runway wearing the second look in my collection. It was a dress with a layered skirt that hit just above the knee and highlighted my hourglass figure.

I knew I looked good in the dress. But maybe I hadn’t realized just how good.

The photo flashes, the wild applause, the whistles, and howls were deafening.

The rush I felt was amazing.

Then my turn on stage was over just as fast as it started, though the crowd did not sound like it could be stopped.

Lucy had done her little magic trick backstage and was heading back out to model the third look.

She was the one that came up with the idea when we were in the studio.

Lucy had only a few seconds behind the curtain in which to get the big ballgown on. But we’d found a way to make it work.

We had cut the gown in half.

It was agonizing to break those seams apart, after all the work I had put in. But both the bodice and the skirt survived the operation, and then we did something fun with them.

Lucy had been wearing the fitted bodice the whole time, underneath the long sleeve top she wore for the first look. I’d added buttons down the back of the first-look top, so backstage all she had to do was pull it forward and off her arms. The first-look skirt was invisible under the gigantic ballgown, so she just left it on.

Lucy had somehow gotten the gigantic, tulle-filled skirt over her head already, and was holding the zipper together while pacing slowly over to stage right again, when I got back behind the curtain.

I sidestepped the huge skirt and chased her. When I caught up, I grabbed the zipper and pulled it up to the top.

I started getting nervous. The sound of the crowd’s applause was muting a little. We were almost done, and it was only taking as long as we knew it would from the times we practiced this dance in my studio.

Some of them were still hollering, though, and I realized that this wait was only adding to the drama of our performance.

Lucy finished fastening the clasps that attached the top of the skirt to the bottom of the bodice. I did the ones on the back.

We got to the stage entrance. I could hardly think over the blaring electronic music playing and the blinding neon strobe lights moving across the stage.

Lucy had a coy smile on her face. She was stopped right at the edge of the curtain.

I couldn’t tell why she was still stalling. The applause was getting quieter a little more every second. Some of the audience must be thinking we forgot to send out our last model.

But she was waiting for the perfect moment.

The lights, which had been neon purple a moment ago, changed again and now blasted bright white and lit up only the center stage, just as the song playing was building up to a crescendo.

She walked out and hit the mark just as the beat dropped.

The audience went completely insane.

I looked over at the wrinkly old lady judge in perfect time to watch her mouth fall open about an inch.

Lucy glided forward onto the runway. I had goosebumps.

At the end of the runway, she hit her poses, earning even more applause. Then as she turned for the walk back to center stage, she tucked her thumb into the waistband of the ballgown skirt and pulled to the right, tearing it off in one fluid motion. She was left with the shorter skirt on, the one she’d had underneath.

The crowd gasped.

The ballgown skirt came away in Lucy’s right hand and she let the length of it slip almost to the floor. Then with a swift, practiced movement behind her back, Lucy attached the two skirts to each other. Now the bottom of the ball gown was a dramatic train that trailed behind the silky, fitted skirt wrapped around her hips.

I went ahead of Lucy for our final walk up and down the runway. This was the moment to showcase the whole collection and let the judges see all the pieces together at once. The transformation of the ball gown skirt, turning it into a train for the other one, had been my solution for how to bring all three designs onstage at the same time.

I hadn’t been sure Lucy and I could pull it off. Or if anyone would appreciate it, even if we did.

Boy was I wrong.

The second we were back at center stage, four of the five judges threw their scoreboards up to reveal all tens. Perfect scores.

The little old lady was the last one, taking the longest to make up her mind.

Finally she held up her sign.

Ten.

I had watched most of the show from behind the curtain. No one that I saw had gotten all tens.

The only designer whose scores I didn’t know was Susan.

Lucy and I had been in that odd position, second in line at stage right, when she was onstage. All I heard was the applause she got.

Susan had gotten the best crowd reaction of the night, up until that point. Didn’t quite compare with the deafening roar Lucy and I were getting now though.

I looked at Lucy and she mouthed, You won.

She probably said it aloud, but I couldn’t hear her over the applause.

NOLAN

He finally sent Yena a text that said, I am so proud of you, Princess. Wish I could be there with you today.

Of course, it would not have been safe for Nolan to attend such a public and crowded event. He already worried for Yena’s safety in such a setting. The prince being there in the audience would cause nothing but heightened security and distraction.

He sent the message right around the time the show started, so she still might not have seen it.

Nolan’s secretary brought him a pile of mail as soon as stepped into his office. Nolan tossed it onto his desk and went over to his office fireplace.

Any minute now the fashion show would be ending, and the “Princess Yena” news alerts would start flooding in. He turned up the volume on his ringer and set his phone on the little table by his armchair.

For the first time in over a year, he started building a fire in the fireplace. He never used it, because he never usually took breaks from his work. For any reason.

But right now, Nolan was feeling anxious. And a bunch of other strange emotions he did not know what to do with. He wanted to distract himself.

When the fire caught, Nolan sat back in his chair, poured himself a glass of wine, and waited for the news.

YENA

Lucy and I started to take a little bow, hand in hand. It felt surreal to be accepting this win, after all this time and work.

Then it got real.

Susan was rushing up to the stage.

Seemed like I could always count on her to do that.

“You can’t just let her win because she is the princess,” she was yelling. “These clothes are cheap and ridiculous.”

Feeling suddenly powerful, I took a few strides in Susan’s direction, blocking her path before she could make it all the way up the stairs. I stood tall over her, a few steps above her.

Lily had activated me. I felt ready and confident. Susan had picked the wrong moment to mess with me.

There was a wicked little laugh in the back of my mind.

Put this bitch in her place, Lily said. Her voice was a low growl.

I smiled. I had a feeling that if I wanted to, I could shift into a wolf at this very moment. If I just let go, I could let Lily take over.

Susan wouldn’t stand a chance.

It was a fun thing to think about.

But instead, I stared hard into Susan’s eyes and said quietly, “Back down. Now.”

Susan’s body seemed to shrink a little. But her mouth twisted into a snarl.

Then the guards that I’d forgotten about appeared as if from nowhere.

One had been just behind the stage curtain. Another was now visible at the very back of the auditorium. Two were taking very slow steps up the stairs on either side of the stage.

They had not drawn their weapons. I held up a finger to signal them to stand down, and they froze in place.

The blood was draining from Susan’s face.

I saw in her eyes that this time, she realized her mistake and regretted it. She hadn’t decided yet, though, what to do now.

Lucy, a few steps behind me, said, “Bow to her.” Her voice was right on the edge of total rage.

Susan looked like she was at war with her own body. She started retreating backward.

The wolf in her knew she had to submit to me. But the mean girl in her was fighting hard against her instincts.

The Gamma warriors took a single, dramatic step forward in Susan’s direction in perfect unison, and finally she fell onto both knees and hung her head low at my feet.