Madison’s POV
The word queen still rattles in my bones, like a bell that refuses to stop ringing.
I stare at Austin’s Beta, eyes wide, lungs aching from the breath I’ve been holding. Even my parents are struck dumb, which almost never happens. Father’s lips part, then press together again, his jaw flexing. My stepmother frowns, stroking Zoey’s shoulder, but for once she doesn’t rush to her darling’s defense.
Zoey, though… Zoey looks like she’s swallowed poison. Her painted lips part as if she’s about to argue, but she doesn’t dare. Her eyes dart from me to the Beta, her thoughts written in every twitch of her expression: Could it be true? Could the man who marked Madison really be the royal prince?
For the first time in forever, she has no words.
The Beta doesn’t even acknowledge them
