Uma had thought she was alone in the library. The term was ending and most of the students went home to their respective kingdoms on break. She kind of liked this place when it was mostly empty, finding a nice corner with a stack of books. There hadn't been a lot of books on the Isle. Here, they just let you borrow as many as you wanted.

"Uma!"

She jumped in her seat, head whipping to the side to see Gil happily running across the library floor toward her. She sat up, boots to the floor, and snapped her book shut. "What the hell don't you understand about a library?"

He stopped only when he reached her, grinning. "What's to understand? Room of books." He pointed.

She glared. "You're supposed to shut your trap in here. That's the rule!"

"Then why are you yelling?"

"Because you started it!"

He shrugged like none of it made sense but he didn't much mind.

Uma laughed despite herself, pressing her lips to try to stop.

Gil tipped his head to the side, watching her for a minute before his own smile grew. "You're in a good mood."

Uma waved her book at him. "What do you want?"

He sat down on the floor in front of her chair, looking up at her, his smile growing goofy. "Read to me?"

She forced a frown. "Forget it. We haven't done that since we were kids."

"That wasn't that long ago…" he countered.

She sighed, leaning back in her seat and considering him. He'd been eating well, but they never had trouble getting Gil to eat even back on the Isle. The trouble had always been stealing enough food. She knew he was doing well in school, shocking everyone, and excelling in sports. Gil could do just about anything if you pointed him in the right direction and kept him from getting distracted—no small accomplishment. But he had a tell. He paid attention when he was worried. When he was happy, he was very much in his own thoughts, blissfully far away. "What's wrong?" she asked.

His eyes widened. "What?"

"What's wrong? Why are you here?" She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes as though she might see the answer write itself across his forehead.

He squirmed, like he too was worried it might. "I just… I like it here in Auradon…" he said.

She nodded. "Yeah…"

He was fiddling with something in his pocket now and she finally saw his emotions bubble up. "But that wasn't nice—what Audrey said about you. You didn't bewitch Harry! And then King Ben broke your necklace!" He jumped to his feet, shaking his head and pacing. "So, if we're leaving it's okay."

Uma blinked. "Leaving?"

He nodded like she'd agreed. "We could go at night. This place has bad security. But we should take some of the food… And maybe some of other things. They have a lot of nice things here. Maybe we don't have to go back to the Isle? Maybe we could just go someplace else…"

Uma laughed and stood up, shaking her head and reaching out to put her hands on his arms, stopping his pacing. "Wow. Okay. No. We're not leaving."

He stared at her for a second and then his face crumbled. "You're going to leave me behind?"

"What?" Uma shook her head.

His shoulders sagged.

She gave him a shake, trying to pull him out of it. "Gil! Snap out of it! I'm not leaving and neither are you. We'll stay here as long as we like and someday, when we leave, we'll talk about it." A part of her was rolling her eyes at how much she'd changed in Auradon. She was soft.

He took a deep breath and then let it out, looking down at her. She always forgot how tall he was until she was standing this close. There was a reason Gil had been their muscle on the island. "Okay?" Uma pressed.

He nodded. "Just don't leave me behind. I'd leave with you."

She sighed, hands dropping from his arms. He meant it. He liked it here. He was happy—practically spoiled—but he would run away with her if she decided to go. "Okay." If she ever did leave, she would talk to him first. She wouldn't vanish in the night on him. She took a step back and started gathering up her books. "I'll walk you back to your room."

He let out a funny laugh. "Shouldn't I walk you to yours?"

She raised a brow. "Why?"

"That's what they do here… You're a girl…"

Uma laughed. "But you're more likely to get lost."

He nodded. "That does make more sense." He had his hand in his pocket again, fiddling with something.

They left the library and she waited patiently for him to get the nerve up to show it to her—whatever it was. She was hoping he hadn't stolen something. She'd have to find a way to put it back or take the blame or just get rid of it.

He was talking about the other students in his class. His new friends. The mashed potatoes he had for lunch. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and reached into his pocket and pulled out the little wad of paper he'd been playing with.

His eyes went big and he jerked to a stop, twisting toward her.

"What is it?" Uma snapped. Okay. She still needed to work on her patience. She held up the crumpled paper.

He hesitated before nibbling his lip and finally reaching out to take it from her, opening it up. "I put it back together but I couldn't make it like before. Not really…" he confessed, before taking the necklace out from the paper and holding it up for her.

Uma blinked at it. Her shell necklace. It was whole again. It spun on the chain and she saw the fine seams of cracks. It would have been almost impossible to put it together again. "How?"

"I picked up the pieces after Ben smashed it…" his voice dipped, unapproving, when he remembered that. "He shouldn't have done that."

He'd collected the pieces off the dancefloor? He'd put it back together?

Uma threw an arm around his shoulders, leaned up on her toes, and hugged him. Gil tensed for a second before hugging her back, lifting her off her feet. "Thank you," she said and when he put her back on her feet he hurried to put the necklace back on her.

She walked him all the way to his door. It was late. Most everyone was asleep. "Breakfast tomorrow?" she asked. She didn't usually, she realized. Other people usually came to her—often when they needed shelter. But that was the old ways and maybe her crew were really friends. Maybe she needed to show that affection—not completely different from how she had to learn to show Harry her affection for him. People thought she didn't care and suddenly the idea of Gil thinking she didn't care was acutely unpleasant.

He lit up, throwing open his door.

She frowned. "You should lock that…"

"Why?"

She blinked, not sure why. Auradon was different. People knocked. Still. "Just do it?"

He nodded with a shrug. "Okay. Goodnight!"

She smiled and gave him a wave before turning and starting back down the hall. Her fingers found her necklace. She could feel the cracks and found, to her surprise, she loved it more this way.


Harry showered in the locker rooms after training with Ben, Lonnie, and Jay. Ben had left first and he and Jay and Lonnie had stayed to train longer. Harry was next to leave, sensing that Jay and Lonnie enjoyed sparring more than the average couple.

Harry had never much liked sparring with Uma. It was contrary to how he usually fought—which was always on the same side as her. Though he did love watching her spar with others in gym. He could tell when she was playing around, her movements slower and lighter, even if she still kept most of the Auradon kids on their toes.

He rubbed a towel against his hair as he walked out of the showers and back down the aisle of lockers, stark naked in the dimly lit room. Even when it was packed, he had never been shy, not even with the scars and the tattoos, dragging more than a few eyes. He used to strut around on the Isle to keep attention on him, he'd flirt and grin and make strange lewd comments to draw the focus of the more dangerous villains—to keep that attention off Uma and the rest of the gang. He was bait. But this bait had fangs and claws.

He reached his locker, flipping the metal door open. But before he reached for his clothes, or tossed away his towel, he heard the scuff of a shoe. His skin tightened. Logic told him it could be Jay. The dreamer in him wanted it to be Uma. But nothing soothed the pin pricks of his nerves clawing over his spine. He turned to his left just as she slid around the corner, close.

Audrey appeared first unmoved, a sentinel standing there, four lockers down at the end of the metal cavern. And then her gaze slid over him, from top to bottom, lingering in the middle against muscles and tattoos and his sex, before dragging back up to his gaze—her own darker now.

Oh, Harry knew that look. He grinned coldly, sideways and mean, and finished rubbing the towel in his hair before tossing it on the floor. "Didn't know the locker rooms were coed. Very progressive…" he muttered.

She smiled, heels clipping on the floor as she came closer. She must have been walking on her toes to sneak up on him. "I wanted someplace private for us to talk."

He laughed, the sound echoing. "Is that so?"

She grabbed his wrist when he reached for his pants, sliding into that tight space in front of him, between him and his locker. He froze, staring back at her. Her hand slid up his arm, curling over his naked shoulder. "I'm a princess," she said, like maybe he hadn't heard. "I get what I want and I could give you things you've never even dreamed of before."

He continued to grin down at her, though the gesture was empty. She didn't realize. They never did. "You want to buy me?" he cooed, as though it were laughable.

"If it's what works." Her other hand trailed smooth nails down his chest, over his hip. "You'd be untouchable if you were with me—at the top of society rather than scraping along the bottom. You have no future right now, Harry. What do you think's going to happen after Auradon? You have no kingdom to go home to. No one will want to bring isle rats back with them. Be mine, and I'll take care of you. I'll be your queen." She rolled her body against his, expecting a reaction, heat coloring her cheeks when he gave none.

He rolled his tongue against the inside of his cheek, looking bored. "Is that all you have?"

She darkened, nails digging into his hip. "Don't make me break you."

His smile was almost real then, wild and insane. "Oh, lass, you don't have what it takes to break me."

"Really? Because all I have to do is get rid of Uma."

He snarled, shoving her away from him hard enough to have her staggering to the side. Her eyes widened in shock. "If you hurt me, I'll say the pirate boy attacked me and you'll be on a one way trip back to the Isle…" she hurried to remind him of the stakes, like he'd forgotten.

"Leave me alone," Harry said harshly. "And leave her alone. I'm not interested in trading queens."

Audrey's teeth gnashed. "She isn't a queen! She isn't even royal!"

"But she's my queen!" Harry snapped.

"No! We have a connection," Audrey pressed, she came at him again, this time grabbing his hair and pulling. He cringed, trying to stay away from her without striking at her. She turned him, slamming him up against the lockers. "She's a witch. She's a villain. She's nothing."

He snarled, looking away from her stubbornly.

She pressed against him, but he didn't move, didn't react. Audrey pulled harder at his hair, dragging his head to the side. "I still can't decide if I like you… Or if I just really hate her," she confessed in a snarl, mouth close to his. "She has a power over you and I want it."

Harry laughed darkly, lips still curled in a snarl. "Villain," he purred.

She crushed her mouth against his, the back of his head thumping against the locker when he tried to get away from her kiss, her fingers ripping at his hair and the nails of her other hand digging into his shoulder—latching on to him.

"Hey!" Jay shouted from the other end of the long aisle of lockers, dropping his gear and starting to run toward them in the dim locker room.

Audrey shoved herself off of Harry and vanished around the corner. She was gone by the time Jay reached him, Harry still leaning naked against the lockers.

"Who the hell was that?" Jay demanded, brow pinched.

Harry spit on the floor, trying to get the taste of her kiss out of his mouth before rolling his shoulders and turning back to his locker. "An admirer," he said, deadpan, and fished his clean clothes out.

Jay grabbed his shoulder and Harry jerked away from him, shooting the VK a glare that had Jay holding his hands up, but his gaze still went to the crescent cuts on Harry's shoulder before following them down to the ones on his hip. "Whoever it is… You should report them."

Harry laughed, pulling on his pants. "To who?"

"To Ben."

Harry's smile darkened. Ben would care—of course he would. He had a soft heart. But something like this would put the word of an Isle rat against the word of a princess. "Don't be stupid."


Uma was walking the quiet night halls back to her dorm when she got the feeling of being followed. She kept walking, eyes ahead, but listening intently. It was there. The soft padding of shoes. She took a corridor toward the windows, watching the dark glass ahead to spot the two figures tailing her. Blue sweats with yellow piping. Gym clothes.

She tucked her necklace under the collar of her sweater and turned another corner, books hugged to her chest, and ran. Ran hard enough to get around the next corner before they turned to follow. She swung around it and then ducked down a staircase. She heard their voices now, swearing to one another and then heavy footfalls when they went running past the stairs down the hall.

For a second she thought she'd lost them, smirking to herself when she pushed open the emergency door and stepped out into the cool night. She got two steps before someone lunged at her from the dark, a fist clipping her cheek and sending her whirling back into the wall. She swore, jaw throbbing. A hand grabbed her shoulder, pulling her from the wall and she turned with it, swinging the book to crack it against Chad Charming's face. She followed it with a knee to the soft inside of his thigh, hitting a nerve and sending him to the ground.

She tried to jump over him and make a run for it—last thing she needed was to be caught standing over a prince in the dark. But the two boys she'd ducked in the halls came bursting out the emergency door behind her, chasing her onto the midnight field. She had dropped her books, running hard. Where the hell was she even going? The woods? That seemed bad. She almost wished she'd just stayed put and taken the beating. She'd probably be on her way to her room by now—books in hand.

A body hit her from behind, the boy tackling her and knocking her shoulder so hard into the ground that she cried out, feeling and hearing it pop from the socket. He was laughing in triumph, the others catching up. He got up and she rolled onto her side. Yeah, her left arm was definitely out of the socket. She looked up in time to see Chad, nose bleeding, just before he kicked her hard in the stomach, throwing her onto her back and heaving the air from her lungs.

"I just wanted to talk and you attacked me," Chad said before he sat on her chest, knees digging into her shoulders and forcing another groan of pain up from her throat before she bit it back. "I think I could get you thrown out of Auradon for this," he continued.

She clenched her teeth, growling up at him. "Then why haven't you?" Her heels dug into the soft grass, kicking and squirming, trying to get out from under him.

He swung his fist down, knuckles clapping against the side of her head, bouncing her skull on the grass and making her see stars, and in those stars, she thought of Harry—her pale star with all the beautiful scars. She smiled, vision still blurred for a second.

"I think you knocked her out," one of the boys said, sounding nervous.

"Nah, just knocked her crazy," the other, the tackling one, laughed.

"Audrey wants to know how you do what you do," Chad went on, grabbing her jaw and turning her face up toward him. "She wants to know your secret. But I don't care about your secret. You're a danger to Auradon and to all of us. You're a witch."

He stood up, taking two steps back so be out of kicking range. They were far enough from the building that it was a big shadow with square lights from the windows of those still awake at this hour. Her heart pounded in her ears when she sat up, one arm limp and hanging. Blood dripped down the side of her face and she realized he'd split her temple with his knuckles.

"Aren't you going to ask what I want, sea witch?" Chad taunted in the dark.

Uma almost laughed. "I don't care what you want." She barely got it out before liquid splashed over her, making her cough in surprise and the harsh chemical smell. Panic turned her heart into a wild bird and she looked up at him, finally seeing him clearly. Oh, she had underestimated Chad Charming.

"I want to burn the witch," he said darkly, and she believed him.

She reached out, like maybe she could stop him, when he held up a lighter and flipped the lid. It had a royal seal on it. The sky rumbled, clouds clapping, but the boys didn't notice. No rain would save her. No waves close enough to rescue her.

Before Chad could thumb the flame to life, a shadow barreled down the field and hit him hard, knocking him to the ground before turning on the other boys, throwing a punch before he'd even stopped moving.

Uma kicked hard at Chad on the ground, grappling the lighter from his hand and snapping it shut. He groaned, crawling to his feet and swearing.

Gil punched one of the other boys, sending him falling into Chad and within seconds all three were making a run for it, back to the safety of the buildings.

Uma blinked up at Gil where he stood, watching them run, body caught between wanting to chase but the unwillingness to leave her there. "What are you doing out here?" she asked, voice thinner than she would have liked. Her eyes were burning from the lighter fluid but she didn't dare rub them, vision blurring at the edges.

He spun toward her then, his eyes going big and his expression changing from hard to soft when he took her in. "They say you're supposed to walk girls to their rooms here…" he repeated before his brow pinched in disgust. "Is this why?"

She honestly didn't know. But she suspected most guys didn't treat girls like this—at least not Auradon girls. "You followed me?"

"I was going to be quiet. You weren't supposed to know so I was far behind…" He came over to her, looking her over, his frown deepening. "Uma?"

Everything hurt. "Yeah?"

"Maybe we should leave Auradon…"

She sighed but shook her head. "No."

"Uma?"

She smiled a little. "Yeah?"

"Can I pick you up?"

She groaned because she always hated being carried when she was hurt. It was one thing to be carried because she demanded it, or because she'd jumped on his back—but this was different. "Yeah," she conceded and he came closer, curling one arm under her thighs and the other around her back, lifting her easily against his chest when he stood. Gil was strong. It was one of his many, many good qualities.


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