SEQUEL: TWENTY-THREE

Alina thought about calling up her friend before going to visit her but she decided against it. It was better to talk to Maddie in person after over a week of not speaking to her.
The Gustav estate was a sprawling one, situated on the North end of Mistbourne City. She had to take a flight from Reef City and spend the night in a hotel before leaving for the Gustav estate first thing the next morning.
Just like her, Madeline had stayed out of the media for a week now, the tabloids must be going crazy over their absence. But that was only for a short while, after she made up with Maddie, they were going clubbing just like they should have before they were interrupted by Iyla.
Talking about the weird bitch, they also had to deal with her. They could leave that to Peyton and Wesley, Madeline’s older brothers. She had already taken up far more of their time than was permitted for such a low life like her and they weren’t going to waste any more of their time on her.
She had been to Madeline’s house enough times for her entire family to know who she was, the security included, although Madeline had only visited her a few times because she didn’t like the stifling air of her father’s Castle.
So she was let right through when she got to the gates, the security men smiling and waving her through. The car she was in drove down a winding road through sprawling lawns, elaborate fountains on either side of the road.
The car stopped in front of the large house and Alina stepped down to see Madeline’s brothers on their way out. “Hey,” She greeted with a polite smile.
They immediately gave her their full attention, “Lina! Hey, Maddie didn’t say you were coming over.” Peyton, the eldest spoke up.
Alina tried not to grimace, “Yeah, it’s kind of a surprise, are you two heading out?” She asked to divert the attention from herself and Madeline’s shaky relationship over the past week.
“We’re going to a racing show sponsored by Dad, I hope we’ll still see you when we return.” Wesley said, getting in the passenger side of their car.
Alina didn’t doubt that, she had a lot to tell Maddie so she would probably end up sleeping over at their place. “Have fun!” She waved them off, walking up the stairs.
The butler was already at the front doors to receive her, “It’s pleasant to have you, Your Highness. Miss Madeline is in her room at the moment, would you like me to take you to her?”
“Yeah,” Alina said breathily, bracing herself to face her best friend after their biggest fight ever.
The butler politely knocked on the door, bowed to Alina, and then disappeared down the hallway, leaving her all alone to face Madeline. She fixed a strained smile on her face as she heard footsteps get louder behind the door.
It swung open to reveal Madeline in a loose knitted sweater and short shorts, a scowl on her face, “I said I’m not goi- oh… Alina.” She pressed her lips together, the scowl fading away from her face when she saw that it wasn’t her older brothers.
“He-” Alina started to say awkwardly only to be caught off by Madeline doing a double take.
“Did you fucking dye your hair? Without me?” She blurted out, walking into her room and leaving the door open for Alina.
Alina walked in with a sigh of relief and closed the door behind her, more interested in other things. “So, are you still mad at me?” She asked carefully.
Madeline walked to the edge of her bed and whipped around, “I wasn’t earlier but now I am! Dyeing your hair brown without informing me? I can believe it!” She exclaimed, sitting on the edge of her bed with a genuinely upset expression.
“I’m so sorry, I really am… things just kind of happened-” She said in a rush, sitting by Madeline’s side with a big smile. “Talking about that, I have so much I want to tell you!”
“I hope it’s not going to be you trying to convince me to go to the car show with Peyton and Wes,” Madeline muttered.
Alina laughed at this, the tension in the air dissipating like the soft breeze blowing in through the soft pink curtains. “It’s not, I promise…”
She pushed her hands through her dark brown hair with a sigh, getting more comfortable to begin her tale.
“After leaving Silverfall I decided to stay in one of my dad’s old houses on a whim, and guess what I found?” Alina asked excitedly.
“Brown hair dye?” Madeline quirked a brow.
Alina didn’t even have the patience to play into her joke, eager to share it with her. “No! My mom’s old pictures.”
Madeline quietened down at this, “Oh. I thought they were all lost when your house burned down.”
“I did too!” Alina said earnestly, “But it turns out that there were some saved, I think the old house I stayed in used to be hers,” She added in a somber tone.
Madeline did the math, it would mean that Alpha King Costin knew about it, and from the vulnerable look in Alina’s eyes, she knew this. She didn’t think it was right to bring this up because she knew how tetchy things were between Alina and her father.
“Did you dye your hair back because of your mom?” She asked gently.
“Yeah,” Alina whispered, “I also found out that the hairdresser that did my hair also knew my mom.”
Madeline’s eyes went wide, “No way! Did she know who you were?”
“No, and I didn’t tell her,” She added, fiddling with the tip of her dark hair. “I wasn’t ready.”
Madeline helped her tuck a stray lock of hair and gave her a reassuring smile, “It’s fine, take your time and I could come with you when you’re ready if you want.”
Alina’s brow furrowed, “There’s one more thing…”
Madeline rose to her feet and headed for a table in her room, “We should continue our discussion over some snacks, do you want champagne?” She asked deviously, picking up the furry pink phone.
“Roman and I are contracted to be mated.” She said steadily, her gaze fixed on her best friend.
The phone in Madeline’s hand slipped and fell to the table with a thud, Madeline refusing to turn around.
Alina kept talking, now that she had gotten the secret out, she couldn’t hold it in anymore, she had to tell someone. “My dad arranged it and I couldn’t say no, so you see why I dislike him so much. He’s not helping me to be nice, he’s doing it because he’s literally bound by a contract.”
She finished up, remembering how Roman had treated her when she went through the trouble of taking a flight down to meet him.
Madeline’s soft blue eyes were wide in horror, her hands trembling. This couldn’t be happening… How dare Alina complain about something like this? She was already a princess but now she would get to mate a Royal as well, what was there to complain about?
After thinking about it all week, she had been willing to put their argument aside. She needed Alina to get close to Roman after all so it was all a means to the perfect end but now it was all ruined!
She slowly turned around, her hands clenched into fists so tight that her nails left deep indents in her palm. “That’s… I don’t know what to say… couldn’t you just say no to your dad?”
Alina gave her a disappointed look at her insensitive question, “You know I can’t do that.”
“But you don’t even love him!” Madeline blurted out.
Alina sat up straighter at this, “You say it like you do.”
“I’m… I’m sorry,” Madeline heaved a breath, keeping her distance from Alina so she didn’t lose it and try to murder the one thing between her and her one dream. “I’m just so shocked, you know…”
Alina fell back against the bed, her shoulders felt lighter now that she had shared the secret with someone else. “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone until it was finalized and that’s why I couldn’t tell you all this while.”
Madeline knew that she should offer Alina some comfort or say something supportive at the very least but she couldn’t bring herself to, she needed some privacy to try to process the new information she had just learned.
“It’s fine, why don’t you order snacks in my place? I need to use the bathroom, then we can talk after that.” She said in a rush, hurrying off before Alina could respond.
In her pink tiled bathroom, Madeline stared at herself in the backlit mirror, her soft blue eyes wide in rage. Damn Alina, she always had to be so useless and never do anything according to plan.
The sole reason she had made an effort to be her friend was to get Alina to mate one of her older brothers essentially making her a princess but apparently, she was too good for her brothers. Now, she wouldn’t even be able to get mated to either of them because she was going to end up with Roman… all because of her dad!
How weak of a spine could she fucking have? She could just stand up to him and tell him no, and Madeline’s path to royalty through Roman would be clear once again but she never would! It was almost like she was actively sabotaging Madeline, it made her enraged.
Madeline had to breathe in and out deeply for a few moments to get her emotions back under control because she was a few inches away from snapping. There was only one thing to be done… or more like one thing she wouldn’t allow to happen and that was Alina getting mated to Roman.
If she couldn’t appreciate the privilege of being born a princess, then Madeline would take it from her. It had been her one dream ever since she was a little girl. It was the only thing she ever really wanted. She fucking deserved it.
And she was going to get it.
Her lips tilted in a deranged smile in the mirror, she just had to hatch the perfect plan to get rid of Alina without suspicion. Getting rid of her was the easy part, the difficult part would be keeping herself off the list of suspects.
With that decision made, Madeline found that she was much calmer. She straightened up and touched up her lipgloss, a determined glint in her eyes as she turned from the mirror and headed back into the bedroom.
Alina had already gotten cozy on her bed at this point, her heels kicked off as she tried to find something to watch on the TV while eating from a glass bowl of chips. “Took you long enough, Maddie, I was just about to come to check up on you.” She glanced at Madeline and returned her gaze to the television.
Madeline didn’t break her stride, she walked to the other side of Alina and hopped on the bed, dipping her hand in the bowl of chips as well. “Sorry about that,” She said lightly, “Don’t you want to change into something more comfortable? You’re free to raid my wardrobe.”
Alina gave her a grateful smile before getting off the bed to do as she said, “Got any plans for tonight?” She asked in a muffled voice because she was half in the wardrobe.
Madeline picked up the remote and mindlessly scrolled through stations as she thought deeply about Alina’s question. This was a very frequent question between them but it held it different meaning now that Madeline was on a mission.
“I don’t have any, want to make some?” She replied.
Alina went quiet for a while to change out of her clothes and in that time Madeline put in more thought into her plans. Thinking about getting rid of Alina unwittingly made her think about Iyla and an idea sparked into life in her head.
“Lina, did Iyla do anything to you all week?” She abruptly asked.
Alina tugged down the shirt she had swiped from her best friend’s closet, “Oh yeah, I can’t believe I forgot to mention that. She didn’t, did she do anything to you?”
Madeline shrugged with a frown, “She didn’t, does she only make a move when we’re together?” She said without thinking and her idea took shape.
She had found the perfect alibi as well as the perfect suspect to frame. A lot of people knew about Iyla, Roman inclusive, and they knew that Iyla had been actively trying to harm them. If she was present when the attack happened, no one would think that she would have a hand in it.
There was the issue of Iyla herself also making a move with the intention to harm Madeline as well but she had already told her older brothers about her and she could trust them to deal with her for now.
“Or maybe she got a scare from the last time we clashed,” Alina said, walking over to get comfortable on the bed again. “If she has finally learned her lesson and doesn’t make another attack again, I might even let the matter go.” She said placidly, getting comfortable on Madeline’s bed.
As nice as it had been to spend some time alone and kind of find herself, she missed hanging out with Madeline so she was looking forward to possibly the rest of the month with her best friend. She had just been here for less than an hour and she had already gotten over her interaction with Roman.
Madeline scowled briefly at this, if that happened, all her plans would fall through the floor. “You’re really going to let her go after all she did?” She said tightly.
Alina looked over to her in concern, usually, she was the one encouraging things like this while Madeline played the pacifist so it was a little surprising to see them change roles. “I mean, I’m just saying, we have far better things to do than to waste time on some lowlife like her.”
“Doesn’t mean we should let people of her class cross us and get away with it,” Madeline countered sharply.
Alina quickly backed down, she didn’t want this to escalate like it did the last time they had a disagreement. “Fine, we’ll make her pay but let’s wait first until she makes another move so we don’t walk right into another one of her traps.”
Madeline calmed down just as fast, “That’s smart, now about where we’re going tonight…”