Congratulations on your win, baby girl. You shocked the nation out of their complacency, and even some of your biggesthaters are praising the move was bold and needed to keep order. All you need to be is your amazing self and you will win them over. Be patient.
I miss you,
Onyx
I knew I was flushing fire dragon hot but tried to ignore it as I put the card back. I opened my mouth but then closed it and looked at Treena. “I put them in my room and send him a picture, right?”
She tried not to smile but failed. “If you’re accepting them as someone who is welcome in your bedroom, yes. Otherwise, you keep it more neutral like your office. I always send pictures though. It’s just polite. If it’s someone I’m trying to brush off, I have an aide do it.”
“Smart, thank you.” I cleared my throat and looked at the guard. “If you could take that to my suite, I would appreciate it. The breakfast nook table is fine.”
“Smell your flowers first and be girly,” Treena muttered. “Take the win before we move on to the next drama.”
Fair enough. So I did.
They were beyond gorgeous. Huge yellow roses which I knew were meant as an apology but also big white peonies which, knowing Onyx, had a meaning.
“It says they symbolize victory and courage,” Treena said, already on her phone.
The guard cleared his throat and we both focused on him. “My sister works at a florist near here, Your Majesty. This is specifically the Ivory Victory peony named when we won a battle and found it… I forget where.”
“We love smart men,” Treena teased him. “And thoughtful ones.” She gave me another wink before walking off chuckling.
Brat.
But she was right. I thanked the guard again and headed to what was next… Which was something I dreaded.
Especially because it started off about as shitty as I’d thought it would.
Velle Rahim was a griffin from Danyl. She was a standard griffin in looks besides her piercing indigo eyes that worked well with her ultra-blonde hair.
She wasn’t as tan as most griffins, which told me she hadn’t been spending much time outside over the summer because griffins were known for that. She was also average height for a female griffin, maybe five-five.
She was pretty, but honestly her personality just influenced how I saw her.
Apparently, she’d been in the same program as Treena and me, but I didn’t know her then or maybe had simply seen her in passing. Treena hadn’t been a fan, but it hadn’t mattered.
Until she’d also been in the same program as Myriam and me and she learned I didn’t remember her. At first, she seemed to think I was bullying her or playing games that she wasn’t worth my time, but as I’d told her repeatedly, theundergraduateprogram I’d been in with Treena was huge.
Huge.
There were tons of people I hadn’t known, and even if Velle was smart and at the top, I did have other things going on in my life. It wasn’t the right way to handle things, and while others accepted it, she always took it as insults and trying to bully her.
And that annoyed me.
Badly. She was one of the few who could ruffle my feathers and snap my temper in a way I wasn’t proud of.
At all.
The last time we’d seen each other had been when the program was wrapping up and final grades were being posted. I came in first—as was expected of me—and she’d made a snidecomment that it was my name not my intelligence that “earned” me the spot.
I’d wanted to let it go, but someone else had defended me and it had snowballed so fast that I’d lost my cool and almost punched her. So I hadn’t wanted to call her and I didn’t think this was the right move. Velle was close with Myriam though and I knew she thought it was the right decision.
I shouldn’t have been surprised when she didn’t push me again about inviting Velle and just did it.
Mostly, I was just tired and felt Velle was too petty to be of any help, which she proved by not even standing when I walked into the room. She looked amused like she was waiting for me to be petty and call it out.
I was glad when Myriam sighed, seeing it for what it was.
