CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: OF ACCUSATIONS, A FALL FROM GRACE, AND THE RETURN OF CHAOS
Riyee's POV
The hallway of Veritas Hall were still packed, noise bleeding through cracked doors and echoing off polished walls. I moved fast, head down, hoping to disappear before someone decided to throw another headline-worthy stunt at me.
No such luck.
A hand clamped around my arm.
Hard.
I didn't even get two seconds to react—we were already past the stairs. She dragged me toward the corridor behind the High Chamber offices—quiet, hidden, shady. Classic.
"Are you kidding me?" I snapped, yanking my arm away. "Planning to lock me in a tower now, Bianchi? Is this your fairytale villain era?"
She didn't answer. She just opened a door and pushed me into the empty council room.
Click.
Locked.
Of course.
I wasn't even surprised.
"What is this?" I brushed off invisible dirt from my clothes. "Another 'Stay in Your Lane' TED Talk? Print it on a tote bag, babe. Might be a bestseller."
Her glare was surgical. Like she was prepping for dissection.
She didn't speak.
Which was worse.
"You think this is a joke?"
"No," I said coolly. "But with this level of intensity, it's practically satire, bestie. Exhausting."
She stepped closer. Her breath like venom.
"You're getting in the way."
I blinked.
"Of what? Your reign as Supreme Allievo's Evil Queen?"
No reaction. Not even a twitch.
"Of Dylan."
That stopped me. Just for a second.
Then I laughed—loud, sharp, cruel.
"OMG. Is this what this is about? KD? Are you serious?"
I shook my head.
"You rejected him, remember? Or did you think silence meant he'd wait around with a crown in his hand forever?"
Her jaw locked. stepped closer, my voice now a blade.
"Tell me, Bianchi. Is it KD you want back... or just the way the room used to spin when he looked at you?"
The slap landed before I even saw it coming. My face stung. My vision snapped.
"Hit a nerve?" I said through gritted teeth.
"You don't deserve him," she hissed.
"Then maybe you should've told him that. Because right now?" I tilted my head.
"He clearly disagrees."
Harder.
I stumbled back. But I didn't hit back. I didn't shove her. I didn't scream.
I just stood.
"Feel better now?" My voice dropped to ice. "Or do you want to break your hand too?"
Then she pushed me. Hard.
YOU ARE READING
STRINGS BETWEEN US
Teen Fiction"A slow-burn teen romance threaded with secrets, rivalries, and a dangerous past neither of them remembers-until it comes for them." ✧ STRINGS BETWEEN US ✧ She left her crown behind. He ruled with silence. But some strings pull-no matter how far you...
