Chapter 0326

“Okay,” I said. “Um, so how do we trap Jane?” I looked at Julian. He’s typically the master of schemes. I expected him to have a few up his sleeves.

Right now, however, he seemed a bit blank. He shook his head, as if to recover. “We just need to lure her in… if we could… prepare a closet to trap her…”

“A closet?” I ask.

“Something to…” He rubbed his forehead. “Something, confining.”

“She likely has back ways out of every room in the palace, closets included,” Nicholas said. It wouldn’t surprise me.”

“What if we jump out behind her and put a sack over her?” I asked.

Julian, Veronica, and Nicolas all looked at me.

I blinked. “What?”

Julian rubbed his temples next.

It was only after a few moments that I realized the many, various flaws with the plan I announced so confidentially. A few moments more and I started to feel how achy my joints were and how heavy my eyelids were.

The adrenaline of the day was wearing off, and my body was worn.



“We should break for the night,” Veronica said. “You’ve all had an exhausting day. We should return to this with fresh minds.”

Julian, Nicholas, and I glanced at each other. In them, I could see the exhaustion that I felt. No doubt, they saw the same in me.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Julian said.

“I agree,

“Nicholas replied.

“Yeah.” I was reluctant to admit it. I wanted to stay up, think of a plan, and resolve everything right away. But… shifting my gaze to Nicholas, and his healing but still battle- bruised body, I couldn’t deny some rest was in order.

Veronica bid us goodnight and we left the room.

“I’ll walk you to your room,” Nicholas told me.


Julian frowned but seemed too tired to argue. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Before he could walk away, I pulled him into a quick hug. “Thank you, Julian.”



He gave me a light squeeze in return, then sighed and let me go. He quickly saluted as he turned and walked down the hallway, back toward the royal family’s private rooms.

It occurred to me then, and I asked Nicholas, “Where will you sleep tonight?”

Nicholas, who had seemingly been lost in his own thoughts, broke the silence first. “Piper. Tonight. Earlier. How did you know I was missing so quickly?” His voice lowered. “And why had you been out with Julian so late?” As messed up as it was, his jealousy healed a part of me. I didn’t want to be caught in this dark, ugly feeling all alone. That he was there with me, helped. “I received a note to meet out on the balcony,” I said. I worried my bottom lip with my teeth, unsure if I should reveal the next part. Though, in the end, I was

I ignored that dig. “But then he accidentally locked me onto the balcony.”

Nicholas frowned deeper. “Accidentally?”

I couldn’t imagine it any other way. “I was trying to climb down a tree, when I slipped and landed on Julian. When I told him what happened, he said we should check on you.”

Nichola s’s face was growing increasingly sterner.



“Did I say something wrong?” I asked him.

“No…” He ran a hand down his face. “But there’s a lot to think about.” His You thought that note was from me and foolishly obeyed it.’



“Yes…” I glanced up at him from under my eyelashes. “And you opened the door in the middle of the night and assumed it was me…”



“I’d hoped,” he said. He sighed and some of his rising tension slipped away. “I wanted to see you so badly.”

“I’d hoped, too,” I replied. “It was the same for me.”

“It was?”

“Yes.”

His gaze slowly drifted down to my mouth. Mine dropped to his much quicker.

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