The quiet rustle of pages echoed through the library as Evelyn traced her fingertip across the spine of a worn tome, half-distracted by the lingering thoughts from the ball. Her days at Aetheris Academy had settled into a rhythm, but since Alexander's unexpected intervention, nothing felt quite the same.
At school, whispers followed her. Students speculated, watching her like a hawk. Was she truly close to the Valerius heir? Or had she manipulated her way into his favor? Evelyn kept her head down, focusing on her magical studies, yet the stares dug into her like needles.
Her stepsister Isabella had only grown bolder.
At home, the façade remained. Her father, Reginald Hawthorne, offered polite smiles over breakfast while making subtle jabs about Evelyn's "ambition." Her stepmother, Clarisse, played the doting matron in public but never missed a chance to remind Evelyn of her place in the house. Isabella continued to flaunt her connections, bragging about how she was invited to private galas and secret society meetings.
But Evelyn wasn't alone. At Aetheris Academy, her small circle of friends—Mira, a clever girl with a knack for potion-making, and Theo, a half-elf with a calm demeanor—offered her quiet support. Mira had already started teasing Evelyn about the infamous dance with Alexander.
"You know the way he looked at you, right?" Mira said, slapping a worn parchment onto their shared study table. "Like you were more interesting than his entire kingdom."
"I doubt someone like him looks at girls like me twice," Evelyn murmured, hiding the faint warmth creeping to her cheeks.
Yet Evelyn wasn't sure. Something in the way Alexander had held her, in the way he'd brushed a hand across her shoulder when shielding her from the crowd… It hadn't felt empty.