‘I’m not going to tell anyone it’s not you,’ she said firmly. Lottie wondered if the boy in the photo was her boyfriend.Įllie sighed deeply, placing the picture frame back on the table.
Her raggedy hair covered her face as she stared intently at the picture. She grabbed the photo of her and the mystery boy from her bedside table and sank into her bed, shoulders hunched over in a protective little shell.
I tried to tell people it wasn’t true, but it got out of hand.’ Somehow the words felt empty and useless.Įllie grunted in furious exasperation. She prayed that this wouldn’t affect Ellie’s attempt at a normal life.Įllie stared at her, but Lottie couldn’t think of any way to make it better. By not clearing up the misunderstanding as soon as it happened she’d been partly responsible for the rumour spreading. A feeling she had never experienced had settled firmly in the bottom of her stomach, hard and cold, and wound its way up through her chest and caught in her throat. She suddenly felt exceptionally stupid, not just because of her lack of thought but the idea that she could ever pass as an actual princess. She’d thought it all sounded like a fairy tale. Not once had it occurred to her that the Maravish princess might actually be at Rosewood. ‘I bet it didn’t even cross your mind once what this means for the real princess, did it?’ Selfishness was the exact opposite of her nature. She prided herself on being kind, on being welcoming, helpful. Lottie flinched as if she’d been slapped. ‘You are so selfish – it’s unbelievable.’ She willed herself to say something, anything to break the oppressive silence before it consumed them both.Įllie laughed humourlessly. She was truly furious and Lottie could feel the intense anger radiating towards her – that same storm she’d felt when she first saw Ellie at the school entrance. The awkward silence as the two stared each other down was only broken by the soft ticking of the clock above the door. The tension in the room was so thick Lottie was sure she would suffocate under it.
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