Chapter 0444

Despite the argument between Bridget and Nicholas, the show needed to go on, which meant Nicholas and Bridget were called back to the stage. Bridget was silenced after Nicholas’s final words, so the air between them was obviously tense. They didn’t talk at all as they returned to the stage.

For the finale, Julian was needed on stage too. This was the final showdown between his character and Nicholas’s, where Nicholas would beat him in a duel and officially claim Bridget’s character’s hand in marriage.

I knew Julian had to go, but I was still holding onto his arm. I wasn’t ready to let him go yet. We still hadn’t talked and his face was still like that of a strangers, unsmiling and stern.

Julian glanced pointedly at where I gripped his upper arm.

“I have to go now, Piper,” he said.

“We still haven’t talked,” I replied.

“Later.”

I still didn’t let go. “Do you promise?”

He huffed a harsh breath. “Why does it matter?”

He was so dismissive, it hurt a little. Why did it matter? Because I cared about him. Because he was acting strangely. Because I wanted to know if he really said those terrible things about me to Bridget.

“It matters because it matters,” I said. It really was as simple as that. To put it into further detail only made it more needlessly complicated. It mattered because Julian mattered.

He looked at me a bit longer. His eyes were so detached, he truly looked like a different person. I missed the always smirking instigator that had become my friend.

“Piper…” he said, and it seemed like he was about to say something else. Maybe he’d give an explanation. Maybe he’d finally tell me what was going on.

Instead, he sighed. “I have to go.”,

I didn’t have any other choice. I couldn’t make him look bad and hold up the play for everyone else, just because I selfishly wanted answers from Julian. So I released his arm.

He nodded, then hurried up onto the stage to finish his scene.

I felt so cold inside. I didn’t want to believe the things Bridget said, but with Julian acting so distantly, what was I to think?

really did say those

rush. I felt a bit like I was in a bit of a trance, woken only when, in the final scene, Elva had her big role as a flower

adorable, in her puffy dress, her ribbons springing along behind her as she lightly sk

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+15 BONUS

applause of the night.

cheek. This time, Bridget did not push for more. Good. If she had tried, I might have run- onto the stage myself and yanked

wolf was angrily pacing within me. It couldn’t wait until we had Nicholas alone and could scent

for a bow. I held Elva’s hand, and we bowed together. The crowd cheered and cheered, a standing ovation. When Nicholas and Bridget

Bridget a bouquet of roses as he arrived onstage. “From

Favoritism, once again.

tried not to let it

stairs and mingle with the crowd.

an audience,”

Requests. More like demands.

the crowd toward the royal

Julian making his way out the

no hope of speaking to Nicholas now. I couldn’t save him from a royal summons. Even if I was dying, he’d still be required to speak with the King first, before he could even visit me. The King took precedence

could speak to

few polite hellos to guests who wished to greet me and give compliments to my performance, and

on the railing of the balcony. His neck was bent back, his gaze up on the

and took a spot beside him on the railing. I looked at him for a long moment. When he didn’t turn to meet my gaze,

wanted to talk,” he

I asked. Of all the

he said, without any hesitation. “Was that your only

his answer only added

tied to where he was last night, so I decided to start

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