YENA

“Sorry I couldn’t come over yesterday,” Lucy was saying.

“No problem,” I told her. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Just this thing I had to go to with my family, out of town.”

“Oh, that sounds fun. Where was it?”

Lucy looked away and squinted.

“Hmm,” she said. “I don’t remember the name of the town. We stayed at a little place on the mountainside. It was very cold.”

“Huh.” I couldn’t tell why, but it seemed like she didn’t really want to talk about it. “Anyway, you want to try some stuff on?”

Lucy gleefully accepted this invitation, and the work I needed to get done with her kept us very busy for quite a while.

The big windows at the short end of my studio parlor were always helpful for telling the time. I watched the shadows move across the room and decided we should call it a day when it started looking like late afternoon.

We had some snacks before Lucy got a ride home, and then it looked like she had something she wanted to talk about before she left.

“Yena,” she said, setting her teacup down very gingerly. “I just wanted to check in about the stuff you told me before. Are you doing alright, with everything?”

“You’re so sweet,” I said. “And I don’t know. I still haven’t talked to Nolan about it again.”

Lucy looked at the wall and nodded.

“I just want you to know, Yena, that I am here for you no matter what.”

“Thanks, Lucy. You’re the best.”

“And,” she added, “if that means changing everything, and doing something that’s difficult, in order to follow your dream… you just let me know what I can do to help you make it happen. And I’ll do it.”

The intensity with which she was speaking was a little unnerving. But it did feel nice to know that Lucy had my back. I thanked her again before producing a little surprise gift for her (a box of chocolates) and walking her down to the valet.

We said goodbye. Then I walked back to my studio really slowly. Thinking about what Lucy had said.

Her message about wanting to support my dream felt amazing, like a warm embrace.

Very unlike the terrifying message I’d gotten from Luna, when I told her about it.

Or even the lukewarm, uncertain way Nolan acted when I brought it up.

NOLAN

Yena met Nolan for dinner in their dining room. He was glad he beat her there so that he could enjoy watching her walk in.

She greeted him sweetly. But once they had sat down, Nolan noticed there was something not quite right about her energy.

The first thought he had was, unfortunately, about Gina.

The text messages that Yena might have seen from her.

It would be best if he brought it up. Just told her about it casually, somehow, so she knew it was nothing. That nothing was happening, Gina meant nothing to him.

But when he thought about speaking Gina’s name in the presence of his princess, it put a sour taste in his mouth. He did not want to give his annoying ex the gratification of making him talk about her with his wife. It felt degrading, and he did not want Gina to have that power over him.

Yena graciously broke some of the awkward tension that was mounting between them. She told him about her day, describing an afternoon of working with her friend Lucy, who had been Yena’s model for her fashion show.

“I just realized,” Yena said, “you and Lucy have never met.”

Nolan shrugged. “Would you like me to meet her?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Okay then. Let me know when. We can invite her over for dinner, or we could all go out somewhere.”

“Oh,” Yena said, “I think she would really love that. Thank you.”

Nolan smiled.

Then the awkward quiet came on again. And Nolan’s anxious mind had him flipping through different possible reasons why Yena could be behaving strangely.

The Gina thing. The Luna thing. The Adan thing.

Worries about the business.

Worries about having children.

Nolan sighed. They needed to talk about everything.

“So,” he said at last. “Should… we be thinking about those interviews, or not?”

Yena sighed.

“I don’t know. Your mom really freaked me out the other night.”

He nodded slowly.

“Do you agree with her?” Yena asked. “That I really shouldn’t study abroad?”

“It’s not that simple,” Nolan replied. “I don’t agree with her, no. I think you should be able to do whatever it is that you want to do.”

“But?”

“But she is also not wrong. It’s not the same for you as it is for other students. It will not be easy for you to go abroad.”

“Why?” she asked.

“There are policy issues to be dealt with,” he said. “The werewolf princess cannot just immigrate to a foreign country, Yena.”

“Immigrate? But isn’t study abroad a totally different thing? It’s not like I want to move there forever.”

Nolan gave Yena a stern look.

She really did not understand.

“Even if you want to reside in another country for a short time, Yena, there will be complications we will need to sort out before that could happen.”

He did not want to elaborate about those complications. Or what it would really take to get them sorted out.

“Listen,” Nolan continued. “Maybe we should talk about this more another time. After you have had some more time to think.”

Yena said, “Okay,” and looked away. She fidgeted with the hem of her dress.

“If it’s just an idea, like you said,” Nolan continued, “then maybe we don’t even need to keep talking about it. All the problems that would come into play. Just know that… if you’re actually committed to doing this study abroad program, it is something we will have to start working out soon.”

Yena gave him a sad look. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll think about it.”

Nolan took a long drink from his wine glass, draining it dry.

Then he reached out and took Yena’s hand.

“Just let me know when you’re ready,” he said.

They rose from the table to leave. Nolan paused, taking Yena’s face in his hands.

“I’ve got to get some more work done tonight,” he said. “But probably just a couple hours. Will you stay up for me?”

She gave him a tired smile and said, “Sure.”

He kissed her lips gently, then walked her back to their suite. Yena told him she was going to spend the rest of her evening taking a hot bath and reading a book. Nolan gave her another kiss before turning on his heel and heading right back in the opposite direction across the palace.

When his office door was locked behind him, Nolan started a fire in his fireplace.

Then he gathered up the surveillance photos from his desk, a bottle of whiskey from the bar cart in the library, and sat down in his armchair. He pulled a tiny notepad out of his jacket pocket and dropped it on the circular table beside him.

And he started studying the photos, jotting down notes as he went.

Names of all the people he recognized. And descriptions of those he did not.