This is unacceptable. I march down the stairs toward Elle. She rises, as does my sister. “Don’t you dare think of leaving,” I tell Elle firmly. She raises an eyebrow. “Is that an order?” I run a hand through my hair. “Not an order. A… Elle, I want you here with me. I thought you wanted to be here, too.” “I do,” she says. She glances toward Andrew, who’s still sitting on the bench beside us. “I’m just not sure I’m welcome here.” “We have a deal with my father, and my father’s word is law,” I tell her. “I don’t care what anyone else in the palace says. And I especially don’t care what Stephan says. That man is a vile excuse for a human being.” “Who works for your father,” Elle points out. “Would he send me away without your father’s permission?” “If he thought it was what my father wanted, then yes,”
