“Kiran, I’m just tired,” I answered confidently.

“Then sleep well,” Kiran relented casually. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

I smiled gratefully in return and internally tried to figure out a valid excuse to skip school. I knew there wasn’t one, and I already resided all alone on Mr. Lambert’s bad side. But a girl could dream….

“Oh, Eden?” Kiran pulled me out of my rebellious planning; he walked casually over to me. I backed against the door, trying to shrink into nothing. He reached me, leaning against the door frame, his eyes searching out mine and flashing turquoise. “I did have a wonderful few days with you.” He lifted his hand to brush my jaw line with his knuckles and I unforgivably leaned into his touch, my magic igniting in my blood.

“Kiran,” I sighed, wanting something sarcastic to just fall out of my mouth, but shooting the guns today was fun and yesterday…. Yesterday had been a roller-coaster of emotions but why couldn’t I make myself regret that stupid kiss? “Kiran, I-“

Thank the Lord for Talbott who opened the door just at the right moment. I fell into the apartment, landing on my back and staring up at an overly large bodyguard that suddenly looked two years old, adorably ashamed.

“I’m so sorry, Eden!” Talbott apologized quickly, scooping me off the floor with ease. “I heard Kiran, I didn’t realize you would be standing right there!”

“Talbott, seriously, thank you,” I smiled at him and patted his shoulder genially.

“Yes, Talbott, thank you,” Kiran mimicked sarcastically, glowering at his dearest friend.

“Seriously,” I added, flashing Kiran a devilish glance.

I found Lilly then, standing off to the side and threw my arms around her, thankful that she lived with me here now. She hugged me back, always surprised by my devotion to her and laughed at me.

“Let’s go, Talbott, the future queen desires some rest,” Kiran sounded less than convinced now that I was suddenly a ball of energy.

“I prefer current Oracle,” I teased. I released Lilly so she could murmur her goodbye to Talbott by the door and averted my eyes awkwardly when he bent down to brush her lips with a kiss.

“You’re sure about dinner tonight?” Kiran asked, eyeing me over skeptically.

“I’m sure,” I promised. “Now, both of you get out of here! Lilly and I have months to catch up on and none of it deals with either of you two!” I assured them, although I felt sure most of it would deal with Talbott, or Kiran….or both of them.

I pushed them out the door and then slammed it in their faces, locking it forcefully behind me. I turned around to grin at Lilly, who eyed me with careful curiosity.

“Ok,” I demanded, crossing my arms and tapping my foot. “Spill it, I want to hear everything!”

She smiled bashfully and floated to the couch in a dreamlike state. I followed her, so happy for my friend that I could push all of my other fears and dread aside. Right now, I would listen to Lilly, I would focus on Lilly. Nothing else in my life existed right now.

Later. Much later, I would deal with the rest of it.

----

“So, he shows up at the safe house, all out of breath and with my father! I didn’t even know what to say at this point, because of dad being there, and everyone else was watching…. It was actually embarrassing,” Lilly’s face matched her hair color, but the smile twisting her lips convinced me she wasn’t as mortified as she let on, “But he didn’t even say a single word to me at first! He asked my mom if he could speak with her and my dad alone, and then I stood in the hallway while they talked, feeling like a complete fool for still having feelings for him!” She sighed, and let her face drop into her hands. She was radiating with happiness and peace and in the last hour had talked more than I ever heard her before. But she was talking about Talbott, and she was glowing joy from it. “So, anyway, they talked for a long time. I learned later, that he asked for forgiveness for hurting me, and not standing up for me when I faced trial and then after Lucan raided the farmhouse. What I tried to tell him though is the second time I went to prison, he kept me alive, he saved me…. But he won’t listen. He’s too stubborn.” Her smile grew impossibly bigger and I laughed.

She paused in her story, thinking back on the night, and grew shy. “So did he ever talk to you that night?” I prompted, wanting the rest of the story.

“Yes, he did. After he finished with my parents, who apparently gave him their blessing…. He came out and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk,” She went on.

“And you trusted him?” I pressed, wondering if she was as skeptical of Talbott as I was of Kiran until I found out he joined the Resistance.

“Well, yeah, I trusted him. I mean, he joined the Resistance right after Kiran and I had been working with him for weeks. Plus, he had just broken my dad out of prison and delivered him to me, so I didn’t see any need to worry,” she explained patiently to me.

“I guess those are good reasons to trust someone,” I laughed.

“Exactly! So, we went for a walk, or really, more like a hike, since he was so nervous he had me literally climbing mountains so he could stall! But then he had me climb peak, where we sat down and admired the stars and the moon and finally he opened his mouth. He started with apology after apology…. I felt awful for him. I mean, there were things that obviously sent up red flags in our past, like when he planned to testify against me at my trial, and when he attacked the farm…. But then a lot of our past was him trying to protect me too. But during his apology he told me that when he first came to Kingsley, Amory had talked to him and reminded him that he had sworn to protect Kiran and that was his first obligation. Talbott said he thought it was a little strange the first time, because Talbott obviously remembered, but then Amory kept reminding him. And right before the night I was taken, Amory had spoken to Talbott again and made him swear to protect Kiran first and foremost before anything else. I always expected that though, I mean from day one, I never believed anything could happen between Talbott and me. His devotion is to the monarchy and with the blood oath and all, I just knew it could never be. I don’t know…. But then he spent all that time with me when I was trapped, and then he joined the Resistance and I started to hope…. Anyway, he apologized for all of that and I forgave him and then…. Then he kissed me!” she squealed her ending, and pressed a pillow against her face to hide her excitement.

I made a screaming sound too, mimicking her happiness. “And let me guess,” I finished for her playfully, “after a sufficient two to three-hour make-out session, he declared his undying love for you, proposed, you were married in secret, and now you’re expecting triplets!”

She gave me a rueful glance, “Well, he did declare his undying love for me….”

I made the screaming sound again and we burst into laughter. I was so happy for my friend, so utterly proud of the progress that had been made, even if Talbott and Lilly were the only couple so far freed from the oppression of our laws. And they weren’t free right now…. But they would be soon.

“Your turn,” Lilly smiled in the most sadistic way I had ever seen her. She waggled her eyebrows and I gulped, not wanting to confess any of my selfish, fickle feelings. I was a traitor to my own heart, to my cause and to my family.

I sidestepped her direct command by asking another question, “Um, Lilly?” I was suddenly still, shy…. afraid. “How did you, I mean, I know he asked you to and all, but how did you ever bring yourself to forgive Talbott? Please don’t think I’m trying to be rude, but he left you to die on that witness stand, he hated your kind up until a year ago and he was part of the attacking force that killed Amory…. I mean, how did you find it in your heart to forgive him?” I looked down at my hands, too ashamed to meet Lilly’s eyes.

“Eden, are you and Jericho, Ok?” her voice fell to gentle intuition.

“No,” I sniffed and a giant tear tumbled down my cheek. “He broke up with me.”

“Oh, Eden, I’m so sorry,” Lilly reached forward to lay a hand on my knee that was pulled to my chest.

“The awful thing is, I’m not even crying over him!” I let the ugly, honest words fall out of my mouth; I couldn’t hide my wretchedness from Lilly. I had to tell somebody! “I mean, I was upset when he broke up with me, and like, I had no idea that he was going to…. It’s not like we had problems or didn’t get along or anything. We loved each other…. Well, I mean, we had problems, but nothing that dealt with our relationship, other than you know, I was held prisoner in a castle and engaged to another man, but just normal stuff like that,” I joked through a barrage of new tears. “But now I don’t know what we had…. I don’t know which parts were real! What’s wrong with me, Lilly? Why doesn’t he want to be with me?” I demanded, hoping she would let the awful truth spill, that she would just come straight forward with my detestable faults so I could figure it out, so it would make sense to me.

“Did he say he was breaking up with you because of something you did?” Lilly asked, already knowing the answer.

“Well, no,” I admitted reluctantly, “he just said we had different stories…. That he deserved better than our relationship because we were never meant to be together.”

“And do you believe him?”

“I didn’t at first. I mean, I thought I walked away from Kiran forever, turned my back on him totally and moved on. I believed that Jericho was it for me. Like the one. I thought we would struggle through all this crap; eventually we would take over the kingdom and be together…. I fell in love with him and assumed he would be my happily ever after…. But then he broke up with me and not even four hours later, I was making out with Kiran on the couch, and I forgot about Jericho altogether,” My face flamed a deep crimson when Lilly’s eyes popped out of her head and her mouth dropped open.

“You did what?” she gasped.

“I made out with Kiran….” I repeated in a shameful voice. “But it’s not like we just jumped on top of each as soon as we were alone! It was like this whole thing where we got into a fight and then I started to figure out he was in the Resistance, but he wouldn’t tell me anything and so I did this like, Complete-Mind-Manipulation thing. Then I found out how he really felt about me, and our emotions were all mixed up, so…. So that’s when I kind of jumped on him.” My hands flew to my face to cover my disgrace, and I shook my head furiously, trying to forget the way my blood flared at the memory of Kiran’s lips against mine.

“You did what?” Lilly gulped with more force and definitely more shock.

“I’m a terrible person,” I mumbled into my hands.

“Eden,” Lilly comforted soothingly, “I know Jericho was there for you after everything happened, but did you ever feel what you felt with Kiran with Jericho?” She smiled at her confusing way of questioning and clarified, “I mean, with Kiran you were literally ready to sacrifice everything to be with him. When you two were together, it was like you were part of your own world…. I don’t know, it’s a love I have never witnessed before. Was it like that with Jericho?”