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Aurora is breathing hard. I stare at her.

“You need to pack your stuff,” I say, whispering now, like me being quiet might balance out the fact that she was just shouting. “And if you could bring a little extra for me, that would be great. I didn’t have a chance to—”

I cut myself off as another swell of nausea rises in me. I turn and run to a door I think must be the bathroom. Luckily, I’m right, because a moment later I’m on my knees, retching into the bowl like I have been for the past two days.

“Shit,” Aurora says, appearing at my side, taking my hair into her hand and holding it for me. For a minute, we’re just two girls in a bathroom, and she’s standing to the side as I swish sink water around in my mouth, spitting it out and leaning against the sink.

“Are you sick?”

“No, I—” I start to lie, but realize there’s no point. If Aurora and I are going to be escaping together, we need to tell one another the truth. “Your brother is my fated mate.”

Aurora’s mouth opens, but it’s not a jaw-drop. This is something she’s suspected, clearly.

“And you…” She glances at the toilet, then back at me. Dropping her voice to a whisper, she says, “You went through your heat?”

Nodding jerkily, I shake the water from my hands and move to the towel. “Yes. And even after that, your brother clearly has no intention of claiming me. He is getting married. II’m not going to be his little side piece tucked up in a castle. So, I’m leaving.”

I dry my hands hastily and turn to step back into her bedroom. Aurora catches me by the wrist and drops her gaze to my stomach pointedly. “Mylah, how long have you been getting sick like this?”

Yanking my hand from hers, I say, “I drank a tonic, Aurora. The morning after. And I’ve been seen by doctors all week.”

“Beta doctors?” she asks, still looking at my stomach, as though she can tell something about it.

I don’t have the time for this. “This is just the physical withdrawal from the bond. I’ve felt it before.” Though never like this. Then again, I’ve never almost had him before. “Sooner or later, once I get far enough away, it won’t hurt as much. But we need to go now.”

Walking back into her bedroom, I head for the bed. I was calmer earlier, but my heart is starting to pick back up. I’ve been gone from my room for nearly half an hour now. If a guard comes back to check, they’re going to realize I’m missing.

Picking up the sheets again, looking at them and not my friend, I say, “Grab a bag—a backpack if you have one. Wear boots. If you have a first aid kit, too, that would probably be—”

“I’m not packing anything, Mylah,” Aurora says, putting her hands up and looking past me, to the large balcony doors. “I’m not…”

I furrow my brow at her, pausing my hands for a moment. “What do you mean?’

“I’m not leaving.”

“But didn’t Augustus lock you up in here?”

Aurora says nothing, just presses her lips together, looks away.

“Wait.” I suck in a breath, trying to process this. “Are you…your own brother locked you up like some sort of damsel in distress, and you don’t even want to try to get out?”

“And go where?” Aurora presses, throwing her hands up. “What would we even do?”

My frown seems to burrow into my face. “Survive? I was doing research on the Oceanic pack. They have initiation customs. They accept omegas from other packs, and have far more protections for us—”

“Mylah, can you hear yourself? You think the two of us can go out there and…what? Walk to the Oceanic pack borders? Without anything bad happening?”

“Yeah, something bad might happen! But bad things have been happening to us our entire lives! What’s a little more risk to get to freedom?” The words come flying out of me, and I feel certain that they’ll sway her. Inspired almost directly by the book she gave me, they must make her see that we have to go.

But she just looks at me sadly.

And I realize—bad things have been happening to me my entire life.

Aurora is a princess. All she’s done is read about the kind of stuff I’ve gone through in a book. And, even with all her talk of fighting back and gaining freedom, when it comes to actually doing something—facing danger—she’s immediately backing out.

“You’re a coward.” I shake my head, the words coming out as a breathy, sarcastic laugh. “And a hypocrite.”

She scowls, “I am not—”