“It doesn’t seem like this exhaustion is directly related to her illness,” the doctor told me. We stood a

few feet away from the bed where Elva rested, watching her. “She likely got so excited for tonight that she

simply wore herself out.”

“So she’ll be alright?” I asked.

The doctor nodded. “She just needs a good night’s rest. Let her sleep. In the morning, I’ll return and

check on her.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

The doctor saw herself out. When she’d gone, Mark approached me.

“I can watch her,” he said. “I’ll stay inside the room. No one will get past me.”

I was worried about what Jane might have been getting up to at the gala in my absence.

Mark checked his phone. He frowned.

“Something wrong?” I asked. My heart began to race.

“Still no reply from Prince Nicholas,” Mark said. “I’m wondering if he received my messages.”

“Maybe he hasn’t checked,” I said. “When I last saw him, he was busy talking with the benefactors. It

to check his phone at that

convinced. “I tried to warn him

don’t think…?” No, surely Nicholas would be able

there,” Mark said, and

bedside one last time, and brushed

rising and falling with each

princess,” I

Then I stepped away.

the ballroom, I felt the weight of many pairs of

of the candidates hear me whispered to someone else. “She changed again. Who does she think she is? None of the rest of us got to

idea what they were talking about. I hadn’t changed. This was still my

me. Even Tiffany and Veronica were casting me dark looks. Only Susie waved when our eyes locked, though she

ballroom first for Jane, and then for Nicholas. Jane, I

walking toward me.

at my side, he asked at

I answered

relaxed only marginally. His whole body seemed wired with tension. A

of

asked. “Why is everyone looking at me like they want to push me off

was here,” Nicholas said. “She pretended to be you. She…

had taken root in my stomach blossomed now, spreading

“What did she do?”

the benefactors while pretending to

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