I ignored Bridget as best as I could. This wasn’t my fault, after all, and I wasn’t about to take responsibility for it, just because Bridget seemed set on blaming me. But I didn’t say anything, so she didn’t either. The conversation between Nicholas and Queen Sonal continued on without notice of

With Nathan gone, some of the guilt set upon me. Nathan had been gaslighting me, I knew that. Bridget’s actions were not my responsibility, but his words had given me a measure of discomfort inside of my chest. Even though Bridget’s actions hadn’t been directly caused by me, she was likely acting

I had been naked for a while, but suddenly, with Bridget here now, seeing us, I felt vulnerable and exposed in a way I had never been with just Nicholas alone. I held up the towel, blocking as much of myself – and Nicholas – as I could. “What the hell, Bridget?” Nicholas snapped. Where my first

Nicholas and I walked down to the first floor and sought out Selma. We found her in the kitchen, preparing the chefs for the day’s menu. We waited near the door, not wanting to disturb her work. When she was finished, the chefs returned to their duties and we approached her. She was an older woman

Nicholas, Julian, and I walked to the base of the stairs. There, we stood calmly, while peering around, waiting for all the servants in sight to go elsewhere to attend to their duties. Then, with Julian being the boldest and first of us, we sneaked through the servants’ door and into the servants’ q