“I will not allow this,” Luna said. “Absolutely not. What were you thinking, Nolan?”

She was furious, pacing the room with her arms folded tightly across her chest. The volume of her voice was normal, but her tone was vicious.

“You cannot do this, Nolan!”

Luna stopped beside the table to look at the divorce forms again. She reached out one hand and drummed her fingers anxiously on the top of the thick stack of papers.

Then in one quick, wildly angry motion, she swiped it off the table. The papers went spilling onto the floor and floating into the air.

Nolan gave up trying to look like he had any composure left.

He dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his tired eyes.

“Tell me what you were thinking,” Luna said through clenched teeth. “Tell me what was going through your head when you had this contract drafted.”

Nolan kept his face buried in his hands. His voice was muted as he answered.

“I was thinking that she would say no.”

“You handed her divorce forms.” Luna enunciated every word slowly and carefully, like she was speaking to a child. “What did you expect her to think about that, Nolan?”

He looked up at his mother. “I thought she would be grateful. I thought she would see that I was willing to sacrifice my own happiness for hers, and that it would make her want to stay.”

Luna resumed pacing the room. She was muttering something under her breath that Nolan could not quite hear.

“I know it doesn’t make any difference,” Nolan said to her back as she paced away from him. “But I’m sorry.”

Luna choked out a dry, sarcastic laugh. “Sorry?”

She spun around and stared at him from the other end of the room.

“This will be your downfall, Nolan. This will be the end of you. You must undo it.”

“How? What can I do? She signed the papers already.”

“Burn the fucking papers!” Luna yelled, startling Nolan. He had not heard her swear, or seen her lose her cool like this, in many, many years.

“Apologize to Yena,” she continued. “Ask her to take you back. I don’t care if you must beg her.”

Nolan hung his head.

“Son, do not let your pride paralyze you now. Not at this critical time. This—”

She pointed to the mess of papers all over the floor.

“This cannot happen, Nolan. It must not happen. Fix it.”

“I don’t think I can, Mother. She wants to leave. And I love her too much to force her to stay.”

Luna had been boring holes into Nolan with her intense, angry stare. Her dark eyes looked like they had gone completely black.

But when he said this, about his love for Yena… he saw a flicker of empathy in his mother’s eyes.

She turned and walked over to the window and stared out into the dark forest.

“Do you want Adan to take your throne, Nolan?”

Her voice was calm and even again. But still angry.

“Do you want to roll over and die? Do you plan to bow before him?”

“No,” Nolan said firmly. He rose to stand.

Luna turned to face him again.

“Then get Yena back. Because that is what will happen if you don’t.”

Nolan was frozen still. He had no answer for this.

“And your father,” Luna added. “He will not allow this. And he will not be happy with you when he learns what you have gone and done.”

Somehow, Nolan’s thoughts had not even gone there yet.

His stomach dropped as he thought about how the King might react.

That was the moment Nolan’s entire body and mind flooded with regret.

He had made a terrible gamble. Betting on Yena’s love for him.

And he had lost.

Not only had he lost Yena…

He might have set himself up to lose everything he had ever worked for.

ADAN

Lucy bounded down the steps from her house, beaming.

Adan was finding it increasingly difficult to return fake smiles back to her when she smiled at him.

Because she was grinning at him all the fucking time.

Adan opened the passenger door of his car, and Lucy threw her bag inside. Then she stood on her tip toes and her hands on Adan’s chest, beckoning him for a kiss.

He gave her a quick peck on the lips, then guided her into the car and closed the door.

Letting out a frustrated exhale on his way back around to the driver’s side, Adan reminded himself to be careful with the girl.

Swapping Lucy out for Yena was going to be tricky.

If he dumped Lucy too fast or made her suspicious of him in any way… she’d poison Yena against him.

But there was a way he could convince Lucy that they needed to break up, and get her to not blame him for it. But they needed to get a little bit closer to the start of the new school term before he could pull it off.

So, for now, he just needed to be patient.

The ride back to his house was occupied by a long story about a painting Lucy just completed, and the many boring reasons why it took her so long to finish.

Adan made a lot of mm-hmm noises. Wondering if Lucy would realize at any point that he hadn’t spoken a single word for the whole duration of the drive.

She did not.

Adan’s kitchen staff had dinner just about ready by the time they were walking into the house.

“Oh, that smells amazing!” Lucy cried out, sniffing the air.

Everything was amazing to her. All the time.

“Why don’t you settle in, make yourself comfortable,” Adan told her. “And meet me in the dining room in a few minutes. I’m gonna go have a smoke.”

He took the stairs two at a time, heading up to the library. It had a small, private balcony attached that couldn’t be seen from any other part of the house or yard. He chain-smoked two cigarettes quickly.

When he felt his nerves settling down, he stubbed out the last cigarette in a porcelain ashtray and went back inside. He washed his hands and face in the bathroom and met Lucy at the dinner table.

“I talked to Yena, by the way,” Lucy said as Adan took his seat beside her.

A maid filled Lucy’s wine glass, then took a step back to the bar to retrieve a whiskey glass for Adan.

Lucy took a big drink of wine the moment her glass was filled.

It was improper to do that. To drink before everyone’s glasses were full, and before toasting.

It was something only a commoner would dare to do.

Adan kept his face neutral, and quietly waited for Lucy to continue speaking. Even though his noble blood was screaming at him to reprimand her for her lack of manners.

“I told her my worries about Nolan, and she said she might go through with the divorce.”

Now, Adan could let out a sincere smile.

“I’m sorry that they’ll be splitting up,” he said, “but I feel proud of her for standing on her own two feet.”

“Totally.”

“And did she say anything else about her school plans?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah, but I don’t really remember what’s going on with that…”

Lucy shrugged, like it didn’t matter, and took another drink of wine. Then started eating.

Adan shook his head ever so slightly, watching the happy girl enjoying her meal.

She was so… simple.

“Oh,” Lucy said, looking up from her plate. “By the way, baby, I was wondering, since you said you’re gonna try to reach out to Yena maybe, and make nice with her again… do you think that we could finally tell her about us?”

Before he could stop himself, Adan slammed his fist onto the table.

He didn’t mean to. But he was a big guy, and very strong, and the impact sent his golden flatware clattering to the floor.

Lucy’s wine glass wobbled on its stem, but it stayed upright. If it hadn’t been almost empty already, it would’ve spilled.

Lucy was stunned. Her eyes went big, and she froze.

“I’m so sorry,” Adan said, finding his neutral face and voice again. “But Lucy… we’ve talked about this so many times before. Why do we have to keep having the same argument over and over again?”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking only slightly less scared. “I thought maybe things were different now… or would be soon.”

Adan rubbed his eyes.

“Lucy, you will get me fired if you tell anyone about us. I know that Yena would not mean to spill our secret, if you told her. But she could do it on accident, and it’s too risky.”

“Okay.” Lucy nodded. “I understand. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Adan reached across the table and took her hand.

Lucy jumped a tiny bit, recoiling from his touch. But then she let him hold her hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’m just on edge about some other things, that wasn’t about you. Please forgive me.”

Lucy softened a little. She offered him a small, hesitant smile.

It was much less annoying than her usual, too-cheerful grin.