#Chapter 8: Public Relations

Holding Elva, I walked further into my assigned room, bringing the man into focus. It wasn’t Nicholas, but his brother. “Julian.” I knew Julian from my days at the Royal Academy, though we hadn’t been friends. Since Julian and Nicholas were arch-enemies, and I was Nicholas’s girlfriend, I avoided interacted with Julian as much as I could. He quirked his lips into a playful smile. “You know, these days I go by, ‘Your Royal Highness.’” I swallowed hard, realizing my mistake. I had to be careful here. Any perceived slight against the princes could cost me my life. But it was so difficult to reimagine the boys I knew at the Academy into the princes they presented themselves as now. Nicholas and Julian were brothers, too. I never would have guessed. I guessed Nicholas had plenty of his own secrets. Funny, back then, I had thought I was the only one with something to hide. “I’m teasing,” Julian clarified. I exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “It’s