Chapter 351

I couldn’t think clearly when faced with such an obvious threat. My protective instincts kicked into high

gear. I would do anything to protect those closest to me. But Piper was close

to me to.

I swallowed hard. “I care about Piper.”

The King’s demeanor had shifted. Maybe he could see the hesitation in me, where I had been so firm

before, and softened in response.

“You are a prince. Someday, you may very well be a king. Those feelings won’t mean anything in the

end. Everything is secondary to your duty.”

His words cracked through my heart until it blistered. I knew what he meant. Even if I cared for Piper, I

would never be able to marry her. Unlike the others, she hadn’t been trained since birth to become a

queen. She’d probably hate the job, even if it meant we could be together.

Piper and I would have to part ways eventually. Shouldn’t it be now? When I could help protect my

family and my kingdom with the choice?

I didn’t know what to do. I was worse than torn, I was agonized.

“I’ll give you time to think it over, but I expect your agreement in the morning,” the King said.

I nodded, numb. Then I walked the halls like a ghost, my lost in the riptide of my thoughts. I weighed

every option, but the inner debate mostly came down to my feelings for Piper versus everything else. I

still wasn’t ready to decide.

Hours later, as dawn broke, and sunlight crept up above the tree line, I watched from one of the hallway

windows as the protesters began to assemble again. Many had been there all night.

Soft footsteps approached me. I didn’t have to look to know it was my mother.

“Did father send you?” I asked.

She took vigil beside me, and watched out the window as I did.

–

“He told me what happened,” she said in a soft, soothing voice more motherly than she’d sounded

since before this competition began. “I’m worried about you.”

She was never the most feeling of mothers, at least outwardly, but I had never doubted her love. It was

only when the contest started that she delved too deeply into it, focusing on finding the perfect bride for

her sons rather than remembering they needed support too.

With how little she had said to me in the past months it wasn’t that I thought she hated me. She was my

mother, and that bond was strong. I just thought she didn’t like me very

Honestly, I hadn’t much cared for how she was acting, either. Maybe it was a two–way street. Maybe I

kept my distance too.

“I know you want to do the right thing,” my mother said. “And that the right thing may seem unclear to

you now, especially because of your feelings for that girl.”

That girl, said with such distain. “Her name is Piper.”

The Luna sighed and her voice regained its softness. Yet now that I’d seen the crack, I was suspicious

of it. Of her.

“I understand your dilemma, Nicholas, but… you must understand that continue seeing that

Piper, puts her at risk too. Her and her little girl.

I looked at her sideways. Her face was doing what it should, showing the correct amount of concern.

Maybe I imagined the distain I had thought I heard.

“They could so easily be caught in the middle of this,” she said. “They might even be hurt in an effort to

affect you.”

“The people love Piper.”

“They do, for now. But how often does public opinion sway. How quickly can it drop?” She motioned

toward the protesters beyond the window. I looked too, and that’s when I saw it.

A sign with Piper’s face on it. Her eyes were x’ed out. 2)

The text below it read, TRAITOR.