Friday 9:15 p.m.

*

Grew-Ella pressed her lips into Quig's as they entered the living room.

Her wings twitched, and her hands trembled. She hyperventilated and rocked to calm herself down.

Quig broke away from the kiss. "No, talk to me."

"But I thought you wanted us to be a real couple and each other's forever." She looked into his eyes.

"Oh, Grew-Ella, I do. I... um... adore you, but no one should force you to love me. What about your romantic needs?" He stepped away. "You aren't ready, but when you feel better, I'll love you."

She rested her hand over where his heart would be. "I regret hurting you, and I'm afraid I'll do it again, without meaning to."

Quig turned toward the window and watched the snowflakes fall instead of turning to her. So, she couldn't see the overwrought emotional drama hiding in his eyes. "Your fear could mean you have feelings for me and-"

Grew-Ella interrupted. "I hide my feelings under my so-called physical flaws. The men I've dated have tried to force me into plastic surgery or left me for my sister. Quig, I love my real appearance. Yes, I have signed an NDA, but that is an excuse because it's over."

"I wasn't lying when I said how pretty you are." He bent down and kissed her forehead.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I'll give you extra time, but in my defense, I don't want you to change or even hide your so-called flaws. My relationship with Ann started because you became engaged to a man that you barely knew. When I fell in love with her, she never truly believed me, but I never said I love you casually. I've only ever told three women I love them in my life."

"Ann told me that you both settled, but I didn't realize she was telling the truth. Why should I believe that?"

"Grew-Ella, if I give you the name of my online therapist, would you go to a couple of sessions with me? As much as I wish to, I can't fix this with my love."

"You're right, I'm broken." She trembled.

He touched her face. "No, you're just in pain. If I still was a full elite, and you were unacceptable, I'd crush my other wing to marry you, or run away with you to the Ivy Kingdom."

Grew-Ella stared into his eyes. "Wow, you mean that." She unfolded the paper heart.

*

Dear Quig,

I would have volunteered to be your bride at your canceled wedding to save you, but it wasn't up to me.

Love,

Grew-Ella

*

The paper heart drifted onto the floor. Her voice rose over the wind outside their apartment building. "I didn't want to be with Chase in the first place!"

"What happened?" Quig asked.

She sat on the couch. "Zill arranged an illegal engagement contract, otherwise known as the mistress contract. She would have been arrested if Sean-Mack and Vex weren't involved. Chase and I were never intimate, but I wasn't allowed to date anyone that she didn't pick. My sister enjoyed torturing me."

Quig's shoulders slumped. "She what?"

"I wish it ended there. You can't legally tell anyone. Please, don't stop loving me. I never told you I didn't love you, but that I couldn't." She scooted closer to Quig.

"I love you too." His thumb rested on her lips for a split second.

"Quig, I ran four times when Chase bought me for a cheap cameo on his canceled show. I never loved him. Vex ordered me to come back."

Her memories flashed to Vex's limo. He shoved a cloth mask over her eyes, with the symbol of a moth embroidered into the dark cloth.

The Past:

*

Vex shoved a crown on Grew-Ella's head and tightened the shackles around her ankle.

An attractive older man shook his fists. "But what about me? I'm a grand elite. I'm not supposed to be here."

"Yes, but you stole from me." Vex turned to the guards. "Throw him and the runner-up in the vat. Grew-Ella Eliot is being crowned our winner."

Chained prisoners clapped and cheered as prompted by a neon sign.

Guards grabbed the attractive older man and dragged him off. His sash fell to the floor.

A workhouse board member saluted Vex. "But only a single person is supposed to be killed once a month. The sewage vat has to be cleaned in between executions. We've had survivors escape through the pipes that lead to the landfill when we overload the system. They don't even have to be strong swimmers."

Vex waved his hand. "Most starve to death or are buried in trash, but use a binding spell, if it concerns you."

Grew-Ella tried to grab the woman's hands to save her, but Vex dragged her by the chain.

"I'll do the work for her," she said.

"You should be grateful! I kept you alive, and you won." He smiled. "Fine, you can keep this one, since you are such a good worker. We'll even let her go because she is useless."

The workhouse prisoners were given popcorn and removed from the room.

"You were supposed to kill her." Sean-Mack stepped from the shadows. His face was partially disguised with heavy cosmetics. "Too many elites are making sure she isn't badged again. She convinced Avery-Joy to give up the crown, and Yoleta to run against me. A girl like her shouldn't have power. It's even Grew-Ella's fault that I now hate her adorable mother. But at least Karen is fun to look at."

Vex struck Sean-Mack. "I gave you your money, and you'd be in a workhouse prison without me. She has double the work output of anyone else here, and she is moderately attractive despite her small deformity." He held Grew-Ella by the chin and tossed her. "I told you not to do this because her adopted mother had friends in the media."

"Tell me the real reason," Sean-Mack said.

Vex straightened his black suit jacket. "You're going to be recalled and if it happens, you're out of a job. You might even end up as a contestant on one of my shows, or in the workhouse. If you don't return Grew-Ella, I won't protect you. She is valuable."

"The recall won't happen," Sean-Mack said.

"You moron, of course, it'll happen! Maybe not this year, but you destroyed everything we built and don't even know it. Stanton will pay for her, and I need her as bait for Junior and his sister, Delia Orchid, aka Delia Rose, aka the Flower Princess. You kill Grew-Ella, and she becomes a martyr. I won't murder either of your grandchildren, but you promised me, Delia. She has grown into a woman worthy of my affection. I can transform her into a beauty, but her brother's political activities are troublesome. He and Madd-Ox keep me from her." Vex took his cane from a guard and hit Sean-Mack with it.

Sean-Mack broke the cane with his hands. "Zill and I demand you kill that girl."

Vex handed the broken cane to a guard. "Chase even begged me not to kill her. We'll dictate who she can marry and what she can say, just for fun."

"I love the idea of legally torturing her for the rest of her life," Sean-Mack said. "Rodrick will help with the contract. He hates her, but I can toss his girlfriend in the workhouse. Since the last official died, we have no one to cosign, besides Lana and Yoleta, and they're both corrupt."

Dragon wings formed on Vex's back, and his eyes transformed. He grew massive and muscular. His claw brushed her cheek. "I could tear a little woman like you to pieces with my claws. Never betray me. I keep you alive for amusement."

*

Grew-Ella continued speaking. "Vex and Sean-Mack kept me in a workhouse for weeks until I signed Chase's NDA and another engagement contract. I wasn't at a teacher's retreat, and I didn't skip town."

"What is wrong with your ex?" he asked.

Her wings spasmed. "He wanted a fake engagement to marry my sister. She is furious that any guy would pick me over her. My self-esteem isn't based on multiple men fighting over me. I worked for seventeen hours a day in that pit of a workhouse, and Zill didn't care. She only pretended to. I was given extra meals and meds in the workhouse office, so the others didn't see I was getting special treatment. If you call it that."

"I'd call that abuse," he said.

"Quig, I feared I'd never see my parents, or Betsy again, and I'd miss your wedding."

He reached for her fingers, and his hand rested over hers. "I wasn't there when you needed me."

She kissed his cheek. "Oh, you were. We had half of Monday off, and I woke up in the middle of the night to be first in line for the care boxes, but I wasn't waiting for a random package. I searched for one of the boxes you dropped off. I kept the blanket. The wool felt warm, smelled like you, and reminded me of home."

"What can I do to make this right?" he asked.

She stared out the window at the falling snow. "I don't know yet. If the foreman examined my feet, I would've lived and died in that festering prison. Stanton tried to convince Sean-Mack to sell him the engagement contract instead. He planned to do terrible things to me, which is why I hid in your apartment."

"I wish I knew what to say to you," Quig said.

"Tell me it wasn't my fault."

"But it wasn't." He pressed his lips against her knuckles and kissed them.

"When I slept in that freezing dorm, I realized I could never find a guy half as compassionate as you were and how blessed Ann was."

Fallen trees and the sounds of smashed cars startled them, and they ran to the window.

Quig pressed his fingers against the window and stared at the fallen trees blocking the parking lot. "Classes will probably be online for the next two or three weeks. I'll text Avery-Joy to make sure that she, Betsy, Odin, and the guards have enough food."

"Even a normal space shuttle couldn't land in this. Flint's ship could, but I doubt he'd help Chase. There is no way he'll be able to reach me in time," she said. "But I'm worried about Rodrick and Hempstead."

"Most villages have barns that double as emergency shelters. Four winters ago, hundreds died. When I had money, Ann and I volunteered to supply the materials for the villagers to build them." He sat on the floor by Grew-Ella's feet. "When she didn't show up for our wedding, I knew you were right. You disappeared for another two weeks. Did Vex punish you for telling me?" Quig held Grew-Ella, and his working wing wrapped around her.

She closed her eyes, and only the sound of the wind filled their living room.

"Please, tell me the truth," Quig said.

"Yes, I spent time at the workhouse when he found out, but it was a prison cell with my only contact being the guard that brought me my food each day. My cell was worse than the factory floor, being frozen and alone with my thoughts."

The wind died down, however, the snow kept falling.

"Why did Chase change his mind?"

"I'm not sure, but the media was asking questions." She clutched her stomach. "To end the pain, all I had to do was lie that I didn't love you and pretend it didn't kill me when my sister flirted with you. Vex could've given you reject status if I said anything, but he lied and tried to give it to you, anyway."

Quig didn't stutter. Rage broke through. "They're playing an abusive game, and we're both pawns. It's illegal for them to include threats to me in a contract I wasn't party to."

"Vex is powerful, even now." Her eyes felt heavy, and she nestled against him. "Quig, it's late, and I want to feel safe in your arms."

They helped each other to bed, and they nodded off into comforting sleep until noon the next day. Snow still fell, but the wind had died down to a whisper.

Grew-Ella slid her arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Chase is the one that needs to apologize. You're good. He tried to force me to take supplements and medications. I don't know what he planned to feed me."

"Grew-Ella, tell me how I can help. Tell me what to do."

"I don't know." A hollow laugh came from her mouth. "He only kissed me in public, and he called me gorgeous, but never meant it." Her wings expanded in size and wrapped around Quig, almost daring Chase and her sister to burst in as she pressed her soft lips to his.

"Are you sure you're ready?"

She nodded, 'yes.' "Punishing myself by allowing others to dictate my life isn't happening anymore, but Chase threatened to expose who your father is." Grew-Ella's fingers rested on her stomach.

"He thinks Trent is my father..." Quig brushed her face with his fingertips. "You're my one, but would you still love me if I confessed that Trent isn't Rodrick's son, but I am? He was a teenage single father when he married my much older mom, and he hoped she'd bring stability. Dad didn't know she was on drugs, and he spent his life protecting me."

"As I said before, I figured out Rodrick was your dad. He visited you in the hospital with and without Dot."

"Dad lived with us, but he pretended he lived three houses down."

"I'll be fine, but I plan to contact the therapist tomorrow."

Quig trembled.

"What is wrong?" she asked.

"Dad and Nan-Gran raised Junior, and Sean-Mack only used..."

"You mean for press ops, but why? Junior is only common."

"To show that he'd lower the status of his family." Quig kissed her. "I wish I had dumped Ann at our engagement party. She knew Zill tried to sell Trent's. I didn't know Ann worked for Vex until after."

"You mean my sister sold Trent's children to Vex? He is in charge of all the workhouses. I don't understand why you pretended everything was okay with her. I wouldn't have posted it online."

"Junior and I are working on forgiving her, but I'm not perfect. With Zill, forgiveness is even harder because she keeps hurting the people I love. But I wouldn't allow either woman to take care of Betsy. Forgiveness is not allowing abusers, free-range, to do it again."

"Junior and Madd-Ox will tell me if they choose to, and I don't plan to put you in a position of violating their trust." Grew-Ella kissed him again, her wings wrapping around him.

"Thank you for understanding. I'm Junior's unofficial brother, and there are things I can't tell you yet because Vex might find out where Delia Orchid is hiding and why she always gets away. Losing her would destroy your brother."

"Vex kept me alive because he planned to set a trap for Junior and his sister. I'm pretty sure they know, but your brother and father saved me despite the risk."

"My family is great like that."

"Sean-Mack wants me dead, but I'm just bait to Vex. He's obsessed with Junior's sister."