Chapter 4


    Lily


    “Lilianna, breakfast,” her mother called up the stairs.


    She stood in front of the mirror in the corner of her room. She studied her face. Her blond hair was


    in high pigtail braids. She ran her hands over her hair, smoothing the loose pieces. Her blue shirt


    and blue jeans were simple, making her look in. She nervously rubbed her hands down her


    pants. She didn’t want to go to school. She had been home for a week and she had no idea why,


    but Lukas had ordered it. Her father had listened. No matter how much begging she had done, she


    had been locked in her tiny room everyday, while her parents handled pack business. She didn’t


    understand why they had put a lock on the outside of her door. She wondered if it had anything to


    do with the king. Everything had changed after he came to their n.


    She touched her face in the reflection. Goddess, how she hated it. She could see out of her blind


    eye more now, but it was super cloudy and blurry. She hated the whiteness in it and the way blood


    filled it sometimes. She loathed the way her nose was too big for her face and her lips were too thin.


    Her cheeks were chubby and her skin was covered in e. She could hear the kids at school now.


    Pizza face. One eye. Cyclops. Ugly. That one hurt her the most. She knew without a doubt in her


    mind that she was hideous to look at. She had been told countless times. Everyday at school, she


    was tormented. At home it was worse. It seemed like no matter how ugly she was, she was the


    favorite toy that was used by her parents, their men, and everyone else in the castle.


    There was no way she could fight back. With the way her leg dragged, it was impossible to run


    away. Even the teachers didn’t try to help her. They joined in instead, throwing things at her and


    berating her in front of the ss. Her parents always treated her better when people were around


    and made her gush about them to everyone. She wanted to tell Lukas, and his sisters, everything,


    but something held her back.


    It wasn’t until Lukas had shown up that she thought she was worth anything. He had been so kind


    to her, and hadn’t shunned her. He had walked beside her and defended her. She touched her


    cheek and closed her eyes. She missed the sparks his touch sent through her. They rxed her


    and made her feel safe and confident. She missed him and being stuck in her room for a week had


    made it more obvious. Now, she had to go back to school… oh, Goddess. Everyone probably knew


    by now that the king had taken her away. She leaned her face against the mirror as a fat tear rolled


    down her face. What was wrong with her? She needed to focus on getting through the day. She


    already didn’t want to go to school. This was not helping her feel better at all.


    “LILIANNA!l I SAID BREAKFAST! GET A MOVE ON!”


    “I’M COMING!,” she yelled back, before flinching.


    She sighed, knowing there was a beatinging for being disrespectful, but she didn’t care. She


    grabbed her backpack off of her table and headed down the stairs. She entered the kitchen and her


    eyes widened when she saw Jo. She nced around, her heart pounding hard.


    “Beta Jo? Is Lukas with you?”


    She shook her head. “No. He sent me to bring a message to your father.”


    Her mother smiled at her. “Your father asked her to escort you to school today. Is that okay?”


    “Mom, do I have to go? I don’t feel good.”


    She raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”


    “I was… my stomach hurts?”


    Her mother set a bowl of cereal in front of her chair and sat down at the table. “Lilianna, what’s


    going on?”


    She nced at Jo. “Nothing.”


    Her mother pointed to her chair. “Sit.”


    Lily dropped her bag on the floor and sank into her chair, defeated.


    “Why don’t you want to go to school, Lily? Surely, you miss your friends,” Jo inquired.


    “I don’t have any friends. Besides, everyone is mean to me.”


    “Sweetie, kids are cruel. You have to ignore them,” her mother said.


    “It’s not just them, Mom. It’s the teachers, too. Even the lunchdies pick on me. They give me the


    burned pieces and one time she spit on it, before she gave it to me. The teachers give me detention


    for every little thing I do, and don’t do. It doesn’t matter. Theyugh when the other kids hit me and


    yell at me in front of the ss.”


    “I’m sure you are misunderstanding what is going on. Your father-”


    Lily gave a bark of harshughter. “Yeah, I don’t know what else Mrs. Jones holding my head in a


    toilet in the gym locker rooms could mean.”


    She got up, snatched her bag up and tried to storm out of the room, which of course was ruined by


    her stupid leg. As soon as the door shut behind her, she punched the offending appendage. She


    wanted to scream. She wanted to run away and nevere back. She wanted away from this


    ce. It was never going to end and her parents had never protected her. She mmed the door


    behind her and began to walk the mile to the bus stop.


    If her parents weren’t going to care, then why should she? She heard yelling from inside the house


    and she paused to nce over her shoulder. She couldn’t make out what was being said by Jo, so


    she shrugged and continued on her way. What was one more reason for a beating? She was almost


    to the gate when Lukas’s charger pulled in front of her and Jo hopped out. She rushed around to


    the passenger side of the car and opened the backseat door.


    “Please, Princess, allow me to give you a ride to school.”


    She red at Jo. “If I don’t, are you going to tell the king?”


    She shook her head. “Nope, but it seems like you need a friend right now.”


    Lily hesitated, before climbing into the passenger seat. Jo shut the back door and gotfortable in


    the driver’s seat.


    “So, Lily, you have a lot of mean people at school?”


    “Yes,” she answered, staring out of the window. “There are mean people everywhere.”


    “Did you tell King Lukas?”


    “No. It’s not his problem. You heard my mom. Kids are mean.”


    “He would want to know.”


    “So, you tell him.”


    Joughed. “Are you always so feisty?”


    “When I don’t care anymore, yes.”


    “I see why the king likes you.”


    She looked into the mirror outside her door, looking at Jo secretly. “He said he likes me?”


    “Well, you’re the only little girl he has ever kidnapped from school, so he didn’t have to say it. I know


    it.”


    “It’s only because he feels bad for me.”


    “Sure, keep thinking that.”


    After a few more failed attempts to initiate conversation, Jo gave up. In no time they were pulling up


    in front of the school. The kids milling around the courtyard stopped to watch them curiously.


    “They’re all staring at me.”


    Jo squeezed her shoulder. “Do you want me to go in with you?”


    “No. I will be fine.” Her grip tightened on her backpack. “I hope,” she muttered, before getting out of


    the car.


    She walked past the other kids, keeping her eyes trained on the door. If she didn’t look at them, she


    could pretend that they weren’t talking about her.


    “I bet she offered herself to the king to get him to give her family more power,” a teacher she didn’t


    know said, not bothering to even lower her voice.


    Her shoulders slumped and her head dropped. She crept through the hall and tried her best to be


    invisible. Maybe if she kept her head down, the day would fly by and she could go home to hide in


    her room. She would neverin about being stuck in her room again. It was better than being


    here. At least in her room, the only one who hurt her was her, until her father showed up anyways.


    She didn’t need anybody else to do it. She was shoved into the lockers on her left and her hair was


    pulled. She screamed out in pain. Her body heated rapidly and a growl came from her lips. The boy


    in front of her let her hair go, backing away with a look of fear on his face.


    “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I thought you were someone else.”


    Lily watched Aaron dash away in shock. What just happened? He had never let her make it through


    the day without harassing her. She looked around the hallway, and gulped when she saw everyone


    staring at her.


    “Lily,e on, dear. ss is about to start,” Mrs. Romanas said.


    Her eyes widened. Okay, this was even weirder. Mrs. Romanas was one of the meanest people to


    her. She cautiously made her way toward the teacher standing in the doorway of her first period


    ss. Mrs. Romanas smiled at her.


    “Wee back, Lilianna.”


    “Th- thank you, Mrs. Romanas.”


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    “Please, take your seat at the front of the ss.”


    “But my seat is at the back.”


    “Not anymore. It is better for you to sit closer to me.”


    “Umm, okay.”


    Lily moved past her and her eyes immediately found a desk that had her name carved into it. She


    walked around it, running her fingers carefully over it. She didn’t want any nasty surprises. Finding


    none, she sat down. A few minutester, the bell rang and the teacher closed the door. She passed


    out an assignment to all of the students, before sitting at her desk to do the roll call. Lily bent over


    the paper and frowned at the intricate math problems in front of her. She got a pencil out of her


    backpack and began to slowly work through the equations like Lukas had shown her. A ball of paper


    hit her in the back of her head. She blinked back the tears that formed, trying her best to ignore the


    four spitballs that followed. Mrs. Romanas came over and her heart started beating rapidly. The


    teacher simply picked out the little wet pieces of wadded up paper from her hair.


    “Macey and Joshua, detention for a week.” She patted Lily’s shoulder, before walking back to her


    desk. “Lily, you may be excused to go to the bathroom to wash your face, if you would like to.”


    Lily stared at her. “No, ma’am, thank you though. I am fine.”


    What was going on? What had changed in the week she was gone? Why now? Was this the calm


    before the storm?