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One

STORY

In fairy tales the roles are clearly drawn The princess waits for the hero, the hero slays the villain, and happily ever after an when I stole his happily ever after, and as our four hearts crossed, all our roles corrupted

Now I stared at ht a prince

“What is this place?” I asked

It was already raining so hard I could barely see beyond the sparkling, black beads The inky uht of water splashing against my ankles and wrists We stood before the double doors of a castle, its stony towers vanishing into the black night

Scotland

My uncle alantedhis vision was a little bit different

West stared at the doors with a distant look He’d been quiet during the plane ride and in the ensuing town car It had been little less than eleven hours since I’d left Grayson, and I was exhausted

I stayed awake the entire trip, refusing to let uard down for a second around West, even when he fell asleep I thought about Grayson constantly If he’d gotten out of the cuffs If I never should have put him in theuards would co

Still his wife, legally

I wondered if I’d made a mistake

If what I was doing was the right thing

I turned to West “West, what is this—”

He snatched er Gone was the distant look, the quiet sleeping boy from the plane

In his place returned the limpsed in the town car

I’ you

“You should really practice speaking only when spoken to, Angel I can’t protect you if you refuse to understand the rules”

My heart thu rain

The door beyond us opened, but West’s grip on aze The way he spoke wasn’t cruel In fact, the entire trip from Crowne Point to here…he’d been nice

As if ere still husband and wife

As if he hadn’t handedI dreaded most

But I ground my teeth to hold in my words

This was never about protection

He clenched his jaw like he could see the words in my eyes, but released me

“Grab your luggage,” he said, picking up his own black leather carrier and walking through the arched stone doorway