Page 6 of Queen
Avery huffed. “I was saying the coronation is only a couple of weeks away, and you still haven’t even found a gown.”
“I would assume they have something picked out already,” said Ella. She had already been warned by Sterling that once she was officially Empress, her life was going to be even more heavily monitored. She wasn’t even wearing the crown yet, and it already felt heavy on her head.
“Huh,” Avery said thoughtfully. “I guess you’re right. Hopefully it comes in a maternity version. You’re not getting any smaller.”
Ella gave her a look, but before she could respond, something caught her eye further down the hall. It was almost time for the bell to ring, but there was a cluster of students packed in by the side doors leading out onto the campus.
Ella’s heart thundered in her chest as she heard Bishop’s name being whispered. She walked forward, feeling drawn automatically rather than in conscious control of her body.
She pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring the fact that Axel was calling her name. She couldn’t have turned back if she wanted. It was as if some magnetic force was pulling her forward--the same force she had felt in Bishop’s presence ever since he had marked her. The mark itself made the separation even more painful, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he felt it at all. She couldn’t imagine he did, or he at least would’ve called.
When she saw him through a break in the crowd, looking as debonair and calm as ever, time seemed to stand still. No matter how upset she was, or how hurt, her instinctive reaction was always to feel a surge of love and longing when she looked at the tom. It was soon followed by the hurt that had plagued her ever since his absence, not to mention concern.
He didn’t look physically harmed, at least. His uniform was perfectly pressed, and he strode into the Academy like it was just any other day. He didn’t even seem to notice the sea of students parting on either side of him.
When his eyes locked on Ella’s, she froze like stone. He was looking right at her, and walking toward her. Before he could reach her, Axel was by her side even though Avery seemed to have slipped off into the crowd.
“Ella,” Bishop said in a cold but not unpleasant tone, nodding to her like they were just acquaintances rather than mates. “Axel.”
“That better be a shitty beginning to one hell of a speech explaining where the fuck you’ve been this last couple of months,” Axel said, his voice laced with rage. They had always hated each other, and Ella knew they were never more than a stray comment away from another fight, but she had never actually seen Axel look at him that way before. Not even when they were both fighting in their shifted forms.
Bishop’s expression didn’t change. He remained cool and collected, his gaze drifting from Axel to Ella. She felt as exposed as she had the night of the formal, her intimate secrets playing on a speaker for the entire school to hear.
“I was with the search party,” he answered. It seemed like a rehearsed answer, and not one he had put a lot of time into practicing. That was probably the part that hurt the most.
“Bullshit,” Axel growled. “I looked. They said no one had seen you since the night of the formal.”
Ella stared at him in disbelief. He’d gone looking for Bishop? He hadn’t told her anything about that. On the one hand, she was annoyed he had kept it from her, but on the other, knowing he had actually gone out looking for his romantic rival when he was clearly happier without Bishop in the equation was touching. He was full of surprises lately.
Unfortunately, so was Bishop.
“You never even called,” Ella said, her voice nearly too tight to speak. “I didn’t know if you were alright, or if something had happened to you, too.”
Bishop didn’t answer immediately. The other students had gone back to at least pretending like they weren’t listening. Ella knew they’d heard enough, but what did it matter? It was plain enough for anyone to see that he’d abandoned her without a second thought. Admitting as much was just a formality.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said in a tone of quiet apathy. “I just needed some time, but you’re right. I should have called. I asked my brother to check in with you, but I guess he didn’t follow through.”
His words rang hollow, and Ella knew in her gut he was lying to her, but she wasn’t about to call him out on it in front of the school. With the coronation mere weeks away, they needed to at least look like a united front.
He was saying all the right words, but they were just that…words. There wasn’t a hint of any emotion in his gaze. Nothing that had been there before. Not love or longing, or even anger. She would have taken hatred over the way he was looking at her now, the way everyone else once had. Like she was nothing.
Coming from him, the one person who’d truly seen her before she had anything to offer, it hurt more than she’d imagined possible. More than anything would have, except for losing him.
Part of her couldn’t help but wonder if she already had.
The bell rang before they could continue their conversation, and Bishop reached out to touch her shoulder. Even the physical contact felt empty and obligatory. “I should get to class and hand in my makeup assignments. See you at lunch?”
“Sure,” Ella said, still in shock. She watched as he walked down the hall, then turned to find Axel still fuming and glowering at the spot where he’d been.
“Who does that prick think he is?” he asked through gritted teeth.
Ella shook her head. She had once naively thought she knew everything there was to know about Bishop, but now, she realized she had never really known him at all.
Chapter 4
Axel
With Ella settled in her second period class across the hall, Axel ducked out of his own course early. The teacher looked up in indignation when he realized someone was slipping out of his lecture ten minutes ahead of schedule, but when he saw who it was, he went pale and turned back to the chalkboard like nothing had happened.
