Grey paced the length of the West Wing tower, the cold seeping out of the stones and into his bones. On the school grounds in the distance, he saw students in colorful coats and jackets sprinkled across the snow-covered grass like confetti. Laughing, talking, going about their day. He stood above them, apart, alone, trying to understand what had just happened.

He hadn’t been prepared for the pain. Grey had forgotten what it meant, to care about people, to let them have the power to hurt you. He’d let her in; he’d given her the keys to his heart and she’d tossed them carelessly over her shoulder and walked away.

Grey screwed his eyes shut. Maybe he’d misunderstood. Maybe he’d let himself feel so deeply, but to her, it had always been a shallow dalliance. It was just a kiss. He was just a boy. Nothing more.

Or perhaps she’d reconsidered, come to see just how damaged he really was. Perhaps she knew someone like him didn’t belong with someone like her.

Roaring to release the valve on his agony, Grey slammed his fists into the indifferent stone walls. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have ever thought she could love someone like him? He was an animal, a beast, and he deserved to die as he had lived—alone.

Jaya

“Your engagement?” Appa said, sounding taken aback.

“Yes. Announce that preparations for the engagement are underway. Let the papers talk about that, how lavish the engagement ceremony will be, what we’ll be wearing, how big the feast will be. Have one of the papers interview the Hegdes. People’ll get sidetracked. It’ll show everyone the Hegdes are very much still on board with allying with the Raos. And… and it’ll keep the Hegdes from changing their minds. The announcement for the upcoming engagement has to be immediate, or it won’t work.” She swallowed and began to pace her room again.

“But, Jaya—you’re still in school!”

“We won’t actually be engaged until June, after I graduate. We’ll need that long to get the palace ready anyway. But the buzz, the conversation, needs to happen now.”

“I don’t want you rushing into anything,” Appa countered. “It’s too fast.”

“It’s not too fast,” Jaya forced herself to say. “I’ve known Kiran and I were meant to get married for years now. We’re just speeding the timeline up a bit. It’s for our family, Appa. It’s for our kingdom. This is the right thing to do, and I want to do it. There’s no other solution. You know it as well as I do.”