#Chapter 19: The Real Deal

Sophia & Liam Sophia Sophia stumbled, gasping, into the forest. Hot tears of pure rage streamed down her cheeks as she leaned against a tree, pressing her palms so hard against the trunk that the bark bit into her skin. Humiliated. That was what she was now. She had spent the better part of the evening scouring the glade, searching for a stray rogue. When she finally lured the beast back to the festival, she thought everything would go as planned. The rogue had Ella’s scent—Sophia had made sure of that when she had stolen one of Ella’s gloves from the house and waved it in the rogue’s face. He should have attacked her, only her, and for a moment, it had seemed like it might work. But then Ella had leapt onto the beast like some kind of warrior princess, distracting it until her two knights in shining armor could come save her. And all Sophia had gotten out of it was a burnt dress—from having been knocked too close to the bonfire by the surging crow