Audrey's Perspective
Audrey, Charm, Aria, Winter, Tina, Meredith, and Jazlyn were in Aurdrey's family townhouse getting ready for the coronation. The entire downstairs had been rearranged, leaving room for the lights and chairs they all sat in. They'd all brought over their own personal make-up artists as they got ready for the event. The event that most of them no longer had dates to.
"I'm sorry, Winter," Tina said, her hairstylist braiding her hair into an ornate crown-like shape on her head. "Navesh never acts like this. A couple weeks ago you were all he could talk about." Her voice broke and she said, "I'm not supposed to tell you, but he said he thought you were his true love."
Winter's makeup artist grabbed a tissue to catch a tear before it could ruin his work on her face. "I just...it's so hard for me to trust people and I fell for him so hard. And he just left. He said all he can think about now is Evie. Can I have some water?" Audrey's servants fetched a bottle of water, opening it and holding it to her lips for her.
"You still have Lovespring, Audrey?" Jazlyn asked. She looked in the mirror and told her makeup artist, "a sharper wing, please." Another of Audrey's servants brought her a bottle, holding it for her. When she finished drinking, she said, "nothing else tastes the same."
"I thought the factory caught on fire," Meredith said. "I haven't been able to find it anywhere."
"I always have a few dozen cases wherever I am," Audrey said as her eyeshadow was done for her. "Like my parents wouldn't have me protected from curses at all times. They were asleep for a hundred years, remember?"
"Can I take a few?" Jazlyn asked.
"We're talking about Winter, guys," Tina scolded.
"I still can't believe Navesh would drop Winter like a bad habit," Charm said bluntly, earning a gasp from the other girls. "Sorry, Winter, but it's true. Chad, I'd expect it from...we all know how bad Chad can be."
"Don't we ever," Tina said sadly.
"Are you really trashing your brother?" Meredith asked. She giggled. "Sorry, sorry, the brushes make me ticklish."
"It's not trashing him if we all know it's the truth," she said. "Something is fundamentally wrong with boys. You all know I have an aversion to stupidity and..."
"I'm pretty happy about that," Aria said flirtatiously. "I'm glad we'll get to be together tonight."
"Speaking of an aversion," Winter said, "can you guys believe Lee dropped Anton for Evie, too?"
"I know, right?" Jazlyn asked. "I asked Lonnie to do some digging into that, but she says she can't spy on her brother."
"Are you guys seeing the pattern here?" Audrey asked. "Lee dumps Anton...for Evie, when he always said girls aren't his thing. Chad dumps Tina—"
"Not too surprising, given his history," Charm said. When she saw Tina's look, she said, "I'm allowed to say that, he's my brother."
"Whatever." Audrey continued, "Eren dumps Jazlyn...for Evie. Navesh dumps Winter...for Evie. Aziz dumps Meredith...for Evie. Ben dumps me after ten years of dating...for Evie. And what's the one reason they all give us?"
"Evie's all he can think about," Tina, Jazlyn, Meredith, and Winter said in unison.
"What are you suggesting?" Aria asked.
"That all these boys falling for the same villain kid like lovesick puppies is suspicious," Audrey said. "Her mom cursed your mom, Winter. There's no telling what she learned. And I'm not gonna sit back and let her take what I've been working for all my life. Do you guys really want her to be queen?"
The girls all gasped. "Gross, defs not," Charm said.
"So, while we're getting glammed," Audrey said. "I have a little plan."
Evie's Perspective
It was coronation day. Evie's dress had been altered perfectly, but she'd spent hours hiding the fact that her face had been through a lot recently. Bags under her eyes from not sleeping due to worry about all the princes stalking her. And her foundation was darker than her skin after all the time she'd spent away from the sun. But, when Ben picked her up from her dorm, he'd still complimented her. It felt a little hollow knowing he didn't have a choice. On the carriage ride over, Ben had asked her all kinds of questions about what she'd been up to, what perfume she wore, and an avalanche of compliments. But she just smiled and nodded through it. She was here for one thing only.
Once she had the wand, her mother could come back. And Mommy always knew how to make a curse work as intended.
Jay's Perspective
The balcony Jay and Lonnie sat at was perfect. Not for the view or anything, watching dozens of royals mingle wasn't very interesting. It was the royal students that were amazing. A watch from Chad, a ring from Eren, a necklace from Elsen, a pair of cufflinks from Navesh, a brooch from Raul, a tie clip from Aziz, a bangle from Jazlyn, a bracelet from Joan Smith, a diamond hairclip from Winter, a pearl necklace from Aria...it was basically a pickpocket's field day. At least until Lonnie noticed him reaching for the amulet at Audrey's neck while he was behind the princess. Lonnie grabbed his arm, pulling him back to her side.
"What was that?" She asked, looking at him disapprovingly.
"What?" Jay asked, deciding to play dumb. "She had something in her hair, don't you see it? Should I have just left it—"
"Jay, please," Lonnie said. "You've barely spoken to me since we got here and you keep going to 'get a better view' of literally the same thing you can see from right here. Do you really even wanna be here with me or are you just trying to rob my friends?"
"No, no," Jay said charmingly. "I'm just...intimidated by you." Lonnie raised an eyebrow. "I've never dated a girl that was a princess before—"
"Not really a princess," she clarified. "War hero's daughter."
"Really?" Jay's eyes widened. "That's sick. But I'm just so...I don't know what to do to make this date go well. I...I guess I'm just not saying anything so I don't ruin it."
"Well not interacting with me isn't really helping there." When she saw the disingenuous look on his face, she said. "How about this...?"
"All ears," Jay said, glancing down at the wand on the middle of the dais.
"There are some waters near the stairway back where we came in," Lonnie said, pointing toward the stairs. "If you go get one, think of it like calling a timeout. Get your head clear and come back ready to...speak and stuff."
"Totally," Jay said, covertly rolling his eyes as he turned around. On the way back to the hallway, he snatched a ring off of Martie's hand, ignoring the prince when he called after him.
Jazlyn's Perspective
Jazlyn approached Eren, noticing how he started to adjust and loosen his tie when she approached. "Hey," she said, noticing all the girls were doing the same. Winter next to Navesh, Meredith next to Aziz, Tina next to Chad.
"Hi, Jazzie," Eren said, looking straight forward down at all the...nothing going on.
"Look, I don't want things to be all weird between us," she lied. "It hurts, but I don't, like, own you or anything. If you like another girl more than me, fine. We can just be friends if you want."
He turned to her and it hurt to look into those crystal blue eyes and lie to him like this. "Really?"
"Totes," she said. "I know how passionate you can be. You seem to really love this Evie girl."
Eren looked down at her sadly. "So much it hurts." Jazlyn looked at her too and wished she'd brought her pet leopard to scratch out the VK's eyes. If Audrey was right about her... "She's all I think about. I love her so much."
That broke Jazlyn's heart a little. He doesn't mean it, she thought. "You know she's down there because..."
"Yeah," he said. "She chose Ben."
"I've known you for a while, Rennie," she said. "You've always followed your heart. I'm surprised you're just accepting this."
"I can't make her love me," Eren said sadly. He was actually crying. How? "And how am I supposed to compete with Ben? He's nice. He's the king. He's the one that freed her from the Isle...she didn't even belong there."
Oh, didn't she? Jazlyn thought. "Well, why don't you try to change her mind? I mean...it's not like it's too late. They're not even engaged yet."
"I...that's not appropriate," Eren said.
"If I were in love with someone as much as you seem to love her," Jazlyn said. "I would risk it. Thinking that the love of my life would just pass me by like that...I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing I might be making the biggest mistake of my life."
When he looked down at Evie again...Jaz knew she'd gotten to him. She put a hand on his arm, telling him goodbye as she returned to the group of Audrey's friends.
Jay's Perspective
Jay went downstairs, grabbing a bottle of water off a table it was set up on. When he turned around, he saw a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes behind him. Very close. "Whoa, how'd you sneak up on me?"
"My ring," the boy said with a definitely unprincely scowl. "You stole it off my finger."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jay shrugged, going to sidestep him. But he blocked Jay's path again. "Who even are you?"
"As far as you need to be concerned, I'm Martie Pendragon," he said. "Keep whatever you stole, street rat, but you have a ruby ring and if I don't get it back—"
"You'll what?" Jay stepped forward and...Martie didn't back away.
"Depends," Martie smirked. He reached into a pocket. "Do you prefer burns or poison?"
"What are you..." When he focused on the blonde, it seemed like his hair and eye colors flickered from one shade to another.
"Jay!" Lonnie called. "You lost?" When Lonnie descended the stairs, Martie pulled his hand from his pocket. His appearance settled, leaving Jay wondering if he imagined it. She looked between the two boys, standing face to face. "Did you do something to poor little Martie? He's the most gentle person in the world, if you're picking on him..."
"I'm not!" Jay said. "He was the one who said he was gonna bur—"
"Oh, nothing's wrong," Martie said with a bashful smile, his eyes falling to the ground. "I was just talking to Jay about dreams."
"Really?" Lonnie asked.
"Yes, it's so interesting," he said, "how we never know what our dreams will be about. I wonder what Jay's will be about when he falls asleep soon."
"Oooooookay," Jay said, grabbing Lonnie's hand, "see ya."
He and Lonnie went upstairs to return to their places. He passed the bottle over to Lonnie. "Was that a little weird?" Lonnie whispered. She opened the bottle. "It's almost like—wha...!"
"I saw that," Audrey knocked the bottle out of her hand, sending it flying down the balcony. She looked at Jay suspiciously, pulling Lonnie away. "I'd go with something that hasn't been handled by a VK if I were you, Lonnie."
"Audrey, come on," Lonnie started, but Audrey interrupted her.
"Jazz," Audrey called to a princess in a teal dress. "Give Lonnie a bottle of Lovespring...just to be safe."
"How do you still have that?" Lonnie asked when Jazlyn reluctantly handed over her own, unopened bottle. "Isn't there a shortage?"
"I have a stockpile," Audrey said. She glared at Jay. "Grammie wanted to protect me when she found out about Ben's little experiment."
"What's a lovespring?" Jay asked.
"It's a brand of water that uses some of the true love crystals from the Enchanted Lake," Lonnie explained.
"Helps with curses," Audrey said pointedly. "It was mostly just used because it tastes like your favorite drink in the world...but it'd come in handy now, don't you think, Jay?"
"If people are capable of cursing you I guess," Jay sighed. "It's not like I have a giant, creepy, magic scepter so...sounds pretty paranoid."
Audrey looked down the balcony. "Maybe you weren't the one to cook the curse up. Can't be too careful, can we?"