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“But won’t that give away the fact that the princes are here?” I pressed. “Word could get out.”

I was in the king’s office. After finishing a surprisingly uneventful class with Madame Lucille, which was the first class I’d managed to make it out of without being chided about something, I was whisked away to this meeting. Ashton met me on the way there.

The king had announced that there would be a gala of sorts held in the palace in a few weeks. That wasn’t very surprising since I’d learnt that the royal family usually gathered once a year for this. What made it surprising was the fact that the entire royal family was expected to attend, including Ashton and CaVaughn.

“That brings me to the next thing you need to know,” he smiled. “I’ll be announcing the return of the princes before the Solar Gold Festival.”

Ashton and I stared at him in disbelief. Where was this coming from? Doing that would just put them in danger all over again and that would be a recipe for disaster. It was too soon.

He must have read the expression on my face as he sighed and leaned forward on his steepled fingers.

“It has to be done. It’s a bit sooner than I’d planned, but everything is already in place so it doesn’t make sense to put it off. Thanks to the prime minister, the entire kingdom’s been buzzing with talk of the crown prince.”

Ashton frowned beside me, clearly not pleased with his father’s agenda.

“They will only know that you’re back,” his dad spat, sensing Ashton’s darkening mood. “They won’t see you for a few more months.”

They were both still pretty much on unpleasant terms with each other. They had argued over and over about who should rightfully be crowned the next king. Ashton insisted that CaVaughn be given the chance to recover before the king made a final decision.

“It’s time to face reality,” the king continued. “CaVaughn won’t work. I’ve already decided that, so stop trying to change my mind.”

Ashton rolled his eyes, clearly displeased with that answer. We sometimes talked about him becoming the king, more times at my house when he dropped by. My mom had all but given him the residence keys. She had taken quite a liking to Ashton. My dad refused to be won over so easily, but I could tell that he was not as averse to having Ashton around as much as he used to be. They saw his best sides. The sides I’d come to know and love; the sides I’d gotten used to.

Ashton wasn’t exactly eager to take the throne and assume his duties as the seventy-eighth monarch of Crysauralia. However, he did care for the kingdom. I could see it in his eyes. I could hear it in the way he spoke about the people and the cities. This was his home and legacy.

He just didn’t think he was ready, and he wanted to give his older brother a chance to claim what was rightfully his. He was afraid to become what his father was, and what his father wanted him to be.

The king ignored Ashton, as he usually did when they disagreed, and instead focused his attention on me.

“You must also be in attendance, Elizabeth.”

Huh?

“Of course you have to be there,” he frowned at the surprise clearly written on my face. “It is time to introduce yourself as Ashton’s betrothed.”

Say what now?

“Wait, why? I mean it’s not decided yet…” I trailed off, biting my bottom lip with a slight frown.

“It is,” he informed me casually. “I decided it. All members of the royal family of Crysauralia will be in attendance.”

I paled at the thought of meeting the entirety of the king’s extended family.

“There will be no media present. It will just be us,” he continued. “And of course, the fact that you are Ashton’s betrothed won’t get out to the public. At least not for now.”

“But I won’t fit in there,” I protested. “I-”

“You already know everything you need to,” he answered confidently. “Madame Lucille has reported that you are performing well.”

I narrowed my eyes at that information and sighed. Compliments from Madame Lucille were few and far in between. Maybe I should have messed up today after all. I glanced at Ashton, but he was surprisingly composed. When he caught my eyes, he gave me a reassuring smile.

And cue the butterflies.

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I looked over at Callie, suddenly aware of the silence that surrounded us.

“You’re not listening,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me accusingly.

“Uh… sure I am,” I mumbled.

I mean I had been listening. When did I lose focus?

“Sure you are,” she smirked and a Cheshire cat grin spread across her face. “You’re thinking about Ashton, aren’t you?”

My face heated up and her grin got wider. I rolled my eyes with a groan. Yes. I was thinking about Ashton.

“There’s something different about you,” she continued as we walked to class. “It’s like you’re glowing.”

I cocked my head at that description. I looked like I was glowing?

“And you feel different somehow. I can’t put my finger on it.” She tapped her chin as we entered the noisy cafeteria.

My eyes immediately found Ashton in the crowd. As soon as I looked over at him, he looked up and a smile spread across his face. Callie didn’t miss that little exchange and she nudged my side with another smirk.

“So you were thinking about him this entire time.”

“Shh,” I glared at her, hoping that Ashton’s super hearing didn’t pick that up.

A smirk formed on his lips and the taunting look in his eyes informed me that he did in fact hear her.

“Mel, what’s different about Liz?” Callie asked Melissa, who suddenly appeared beside us.

“Her walk’s different,” Melissa commented after studying me for a moment.

“Is it?” I frowned, trying to watch myself walk.

“Yeah. You remind me of a princess. Or the queen,” she grinned. “Looks like someone’s turning into royalty.”

“Ugh,” I groaned, trying to turn my ‘royal walk’ off.

Looks like Madame Lucille finally fully indoctrinated me. I tried to channel my inner King Kong during the rest of the walk to our usual table. Micah, whose face was buried in a book, smiled up at us as we sat down.

“Hey, Liz, I-” Kevin started as he came over to us. Whatever he was about to say was cut short after he saw Micah.

Micah shrunk back in his seat as Kevin came closer. He knew that Kevin wouldn’t hurt him, but he still got anxious when he was near them. After all, Kevin was friends with Jun and they were Betas like the guys who always got into fights with his brother.

“Hey,” Kevin said after a few beats of silence. He eyed Micah uncertainly and rubbed his neck awkwardly.

“Er- Hel-hello,” Micah stuttered, visibly surprised that Kevin had initiated the conversation. He glanced at me and I gave him a reassuring nod and he relaxed a bit.

Kevin sat down beside Melissa, still deliberating if he should just leave. He didn’t want to make Micah uncomfortable.

“So let’s talk Solar Gold Festival,” Callie said, shattering the wall of awkwardness between Kevin and Micah. Her eyes twinkled with excitement. “We’re going right?”

“What’s the Solar Gold Festival?” Micah asked, his eyes mirroring Callie’s enthusiasm.

“It’s a celebration that happens every twelve years,” Melissa explained. “It’s when a comet passes over slowly and aligns in just the right position over Crysauralia and the sky looks golden for almost the entire day. After that, the sky gets pitch black for an hour or two and then there are fireworks.”

“Wow,” he breathed. His eyes were lost in a colorful imagination of fireworks and lights.

“I’m so excited!” Callie squealed, tugging at my arm. “We’re going. We have to go!”

“Not so fast,” I said, detaching myself from her contagious excitement. “I have school stuff.”

“It’s a holiday,” she huffed. “No one has school.”

“Not school. School stuff. I’m studying with Noah.”

“Oh come on!” she yelled, throwing her hands up exasperatedly. “Just forget studying for one day, please. Invite Noah… and Yasmine too. Let’s make it a party!”

“I don’t know, Cals,” I said, nibbling my nails nervously. “The festival sounds loud and crowded. I can watch it on the T-”

“Do not say TV,” she sighed dramatically. She turned to Melissa and Kevin. “Help me out here. This is going to be her first Solar Gold Festival.”

“Cals has a point, you should think about it. It’s going to be fun,” Melissa laughed as Callie nodded eagerly.

“It is. I’ve been waiting for forever. My brothers have never seen it either.” She turned to Micah. “You’re probably too young to remember the last festival. Don’t you want to see it again?”

“Yeah,” Micah grinned. But then his grinned faltered and his brows creased. He hurriedly shook whatever was on his mind out of his head and turned to me. “I want to see the festival too!”

“Aren’t we festive?”

“What do you want?” I asked, as Nicole sauntered to our table.

Her eyes drifted to Kevin. Of course.

“You blocked me on Snapchat,” she pouted. “Why?”

“You know why,” he growled.

Nicole grinned, her icy blue eyes coy and locked firmly on her newest target.

“I thought red was your favorite color.” She smirked and then leaned down to whisper, “I wore it just for you.”

Anger flashed through his eyes as he looked at her. “I told you to stay the fu-” he glanced at Micah and sighed, realizing that he had to censor what he wanted to say.

She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You can act like you don’t want it, but it’s only a matter of time before you cave, Kevin.”

“Something reeks of desperation,” Melissa crinkled her nose.

Nicole rolled her eyes and her gaze landed on Micah. She scoffed, seeing he was too young to be her prey and stalked off.

“Woah,” Callie said, through a mouthful of orange juice. “She’s a persistent one.”

“He’s a hot commodity,” Melissa teased. “I get asked for his number at least twice a week.”

Kevin rolled his eyes, and crumpled his empty can as if it was paper. “It’s annoying.”

Micah laughed at that and I couldn’t hold back my laugh either. When Nicole had declared that she was going after Kevin, I didn’t really think she’d do it. I mean I believed her going after the other guys in their squad, but Kevin was Ashton’s best friend. That was a line that she shouldn’t cross. But the more Kevin resisted her, the more she wanted him.

“So,” Callie grinned, returning her attention to me. “The festival.”

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