Friday afternoon, Yoleta's Castle: Grand Ballroom:

Grew-Ella rode the crystal elevator down and walked into the main ballroom. A foggy glow draped over the room.

Quig waited for her on the other side in a full tux.

The ballroom floor was made from polished Moth Kingdom hickory. The glass chandeliers that lit the room were filled with multicolored bulbs and appeared as if they belonged in a club rather than a stone palace.

Grew-Ella and Quig walked past guests sitting on marble tables, each decorated with gold roses.

Paintings of hundreds of past queens stared back. Each woman resembled a doll version of themselves, and glass buttons covered their eyes.

"We can stay for a few minutes and leave." Quig stared at the paintings.

"I don't want to stay here longer than I have to. Those paintings are nightmare fuel and need to be burned," Grew-Ella said.

Yoleta waved at them and glided on the polished floor.

"Why do Quig and I have to be here?" Grew-Ella fumbled for Quig's hand.

"For publicity." Yoleta strutted around an ice sculpture of a moth. "I'm trying to snag Junior's endorsement now that he's dropping out. Honestly, Lana's son, Voltaire, might win because he's smoking hot and smart."

Reporters lift their cameras to record Quig kissing Grew-Ella.

The kiss lingered for two minutes.

"Break it up. I got it; your love is real." Yoleta pulled them apart. She motioned to her guards to turn on the lights, and the room lost its ethereal glow.

Her ex, Dean Frog, sat next to a woman with a beehive hairdo and a tight black dress, and she flirted with him.

"Something is wrong," Yoleta whispered to Grew-Ella.

"You're jealous of your ex's date."

"Oh, shut up, I'm so over my loser ex!" Yoleta accidentally yelled.

Security guards surrounded her.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Grew-Ella's brother, Madd-Ox, asked.

Yoleta rolled her eyes and clenched her fingers. "I'm fine."

"Sis, find your table. It's the closest to the door," Madd-Ox said.

Grew-Ella and Quig made it to their table.

A man entered.

"Silvan-Mack isn't supposed to be here." Grew-Ella pointed at him.

He strutted over to her. "I'll call off my killers if you give up the rebel queen." He kissed her hand, then licked it. "Yoleta won't take my calls anymore."

She wiped his slobber on his cloak and suit.

"You ordered Ida killed," Quig said. "And Lana sent copies about the little torture contract you used on Grew-Ella."

"Too bad; I wrongly thought Grew-Ella was behind the NDA leaks. Yoleta and Voltaire went over to the evil side..." Silvan-Mack paused. "The binding spell was former King Zoreon's idea, and the contract is owned by Grew-Ella's hotter sister. The tactic was only to bait the rebel queen. Ida was never that important until that one stolen and fake prediction, but it accidentally revealed that the queen lived."

"I'm no queen or a princess," Grew-Ella said.

"Quig, you're not a good little boy; you're helping people escape the workhouse with the forged bracelets. I'll prove you married the rebel queen." Silvan-Mack knocked roses off a table.

"Grew-Ella is only my queen, not the rebel queen. Karen homeschooled her to avoid being selected." Quig narrowed his eyes. "I'm a lot more popular than you right now. Zoreon abused magic, and death chose to take him and not Ida. It might be you next."

Yoleta strutted to Prime Minister Silvan-Mack and shook his hands.

Grew-Ella mouthed the word 'trap.'

"I'm here to see if you are worthy of my endorsement." Silvan-Mack traced over his elf ears.

"Please don't support me, I'd lose. We were incorrect about beauty." Yoleta wiggled from his grasp. "My daughter and ex-husband were right about everything. Imperfect kindness is more important than beauty."

"Wrong answer." He glanced at the door, his smile upturned.

Assassins rushed at Yoleta and Grew-Ella, clutching daggers.

Dot formed into a flash of light, and kicked a woman in her shin, until the breaking of her bones could be heard. The man threw himself on top of Yoleta.

Madd-Ox jabbed him in the forehead with his knee and pushed Junior out of the way.

Other guards pounced.

Photographers took Yoleta's photo and videotaped her.

"Dumb Assassins Pummeled by Future Prime Minister's Friends is a fantastic headline." Yoleta ran after Silvan-Mack. "If you are trying to kill me, I'll evoke the blood contract. You'd need four executioners to side with you to get out of it, and they'd do the same to you as they did to Zoreon, but I don't plan to kill you, only cage you in a workhouse with the other creatures."

Madd-Ox held a microphone. "The blizzard collided with another storm front and shifted, and it won't be a light dusting. Meteorologists claim it'll be the worst storm in forty years."

"How much time will we have?" Quig asked.

Madd-Ox looked up at the clock. "Snow is expected to strike in four hours."

"Are you coming with us?" Quig asked Junior and Grew-Ella's brother. "We'll make room."

"No, we promised we'd coordinate the efforts here with Yoleta," Junior said.

Quig and Grew-Ella chatted with a few other people before heading toward the door.

Rodrick ran after them. "Where are you going?"

Grew-Ella leaned closer, so no one could hear. "Quig and I are heading to the tent village to find out if Tiffany and Chase are alright, and then we'll head to the apartment."

"They're with Dot's mom," Rodrick spoke, his voice low and soft. "Most of the local tent villages are being evacuated to the castle. You two go home, and that is an order. Avery and I will take Betsy to her apartment. Meet us later."

*

Avery's apartment, Same Night:

Quig and Grew-Ella read to Betsy for a half hour before she fell asleep.

The snow finally fell and kept falling.

Pink chandeliers hung in every room, and the light made Grew-Ella's bracelet sparkle.

Books and jewelry-making supplies were stacked, but not properly.

Rodrick hid in another room.

"Dad Rodrick, come out; she knows about you and has always known who the queen is," Quig said.

Quig's father dragged a small hot chocolate table and served melted chocolate covered in cream. "Karen helped us hide her, but we fostered her even before she was forcefully taken. She is Silvan-Mack's own daughter, and he doesn't know."

"Madd-Ox told me who the queen was. My brother wanted me to feel included because I was so awkward at the time. I thought I'd never fit in with your family, but I realized you were as different as I was."

Avery hugged Grew-Ella. "Grew-Honey, I always adored you, but your mother and I wanted to keep you safe. We didn't even tell Ida, and she lived with us on the weekends after her father received main custody."

"I suspected anyway because you were always over," Grew-Ella said. "It looked like I wasn't paying attention, and I was only reading or swimming, but I wanted to know what typical people acted like, so I could mimic it."

"None of us are normal." Rodrick finished his drink. "We'll hang out tomorrow and coordinate our stories. We'll invite Phyllis the day after Christmas when Betsy is at the pool. She might accidentally spill information we can use against the workhouse."

Avery sipped her drink. "Rodrick and I secretly married again. I won't allow the government to dictate who I'm with anymore."

Rodrick sipped from his porcelain cup. "Phyllis has a so-called truth serum she plans to use against my family. "

Quig shrugged. "It's worthless."

Avery smiled. "What if she thought it worked with the power of suggestion? Quig, why don't you go home and talk with your wife? We'll take care of Betsy."

"Chase will help us," Quig said. "And he and Tiffany are trustworthy."

"I'll call him," Avery said. "Do you know who Quig's biological mother is? It's not the woman who carried him."

"No," Grew-Ella said.

"You found the egg donor?" Quig asked.

"Quig doesn't even know, but I'm his biological mother. I donated my eggs to be kind, but I couldn't receive custody and fostered my children into adulthood even though it violated the law. That was why his father and I were so determined to marry because at least I got some rights back." She hugged her son. "I'm so sorry, but the law was with Rodrick's ex even though she lost custody. I wasn't allowed to be on the birth certificate."

Quig hugged her.

"Aren't you angry at me? I was always afraid they'd take you away, and your sister had been through so much. I didn't know about her drug abuse and the neglect. Even now, I run the risk of a prison sentence, but if Zoreon found out, others will too. So, I'm publishing it on my blog. I sold those bracelets, so I would never be accused of committing fraud, but I didn't realize it would lead me to fame, and elite status for most of my children."

*

Same Night:

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. "I need to tell you the truth because the NDA has been over for days, and you kindly gave me extra time." She stood near the door.

"It's okay."

"But it's not. I'm the real hypocrite. All my life, I've been told that I am not pretty enough for someone with high status, and while I never believed it, I had to fall in line and pretend I did. I like the way I look and who I am."

"I love you, and what happened to you isn't your fault," he whispered.

"But how I treat you now, is; I could've said I love you in private. If they arrested me, at least you would know I always loved you." Grew-Ella hugged him. "Your ex-friend, before your engagement, would always string you along and tell you she wasn't interested, and then sabotage your new relationships. Why didn't you cut me out of your life like you did her?"

"She wanted me to get rid of Betsy and told me she was the most important woman in my life. I told her that weren't dating, not even friends anymore, and she had no right to dictate my life. I blocked her on everything."

"Oh," she said.

"Grew-Ella; you've always had my back and helped me with Betsy. You're a good person and don't owe me your love, and that is why I apologized to you."

"But you were never a backup, and I'd be tossed in a workhouse for you and those girls, but living is scarier sometimes, but worth it. The government tortured me and I didn't want you to go through it, but when you almost died, all my best-laid plans to save you and Betsy failed. I need a therapist because I'm broken."

Quig kissed her forehead. "I support you, and we'll be broken together."

*

The Past:

King Zoreon Kiffed shoved an orange crown on Grew-Ella's head and tightened the shackles around her ankle.

An attractive older man begged on his knees. "What about me? I'm a grand elite, and I'm not supposed to be here."

"Yes, but I want your money, and you have been disrespecting me online. No one mocks me." Zoreon turned to the guards. "Throw him in the vat. Grew-Ella Eliot is being crowned our only winner." Zoreon winked at her.

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

Guards grabbed the attractive older man and attempted to drag him off. His sash fell to the cement floor.

A Squad member saluted Zoreon Kiffed and addressed him. "We've had survivors escape through the pipes that lead to the landfill."

Zoreon waved his gloved hand. "Most are buried in trash, but I'll use a binding spell or an acid wash; if it concerns you. Grew-Ella is going to sign her life to me."

A dozen workhouse leaders walked into the room, and they took the older man and let him go.

Silvan-Mack walked over to Zoreon. "Her sister and I will control her contract. We often seed beauty contests with uglies, and we might save her for the next contest, but she won't win again."

"No, this one is mine; I am the king and a workhouse leader, but why is she so special?" Zoreon asked.

"A 12-year-old girl hid, and it was the only time we had an almost 100% death rate and all the winners were male. By default, this girl won."

"Didn't you have an assassin killer and declare two kings?" Zoreon asked. "Don't you have records of who she is, or did you lose them?"

"I wasn't prime minister when it happened, but they lost every record, or rather, Karen destroyed them!" Silvan-Mack yelled. "Noel refused to kill her, and Karen helped hide the brat. Since the ugly queen never resigned, she is still the queen for ten years." He touched her face. "Grew-Ella Eliot didn't exist until she turned 13."

She shook and couldn't hide the fear from her eyes. "I was mostly homeschooled. Yoleta attempted to adopt me and changed my name to her own, but my bio mom thought she was too young. It created two files, and you can ask her."

"What better way to fool us, and your bio mom hates our beauty standards." Silvan-Mack tossed her to the ground and smacked her. "There are no videos of the contest; someone messed up the feed and all photos and files were deleted. No one knows what this girl looked like because they all died, other than your mother."

"I'm not the queen," Grew-Ella said, her voice cracked.

Silvan-Mack touched her face. "I'll torture you for the rest of your life if you don't tell me who she is. You'll never be able to say I love you, or feel one bit of joy."

"What about me?" King Zoreon Kiffed asked.

Silvan-Mack hissed like a snake. "I'll keep you in mind, but it's a no—for now. You made too many mistakes. The only reason your king is to be the voice of the workhouse leaders is because Voltaire is naive."

*

Grew-Ella continued speaking. "Zoreon Silvan-Mack kept me in a workhouse for weeks until I signed the NDA and another engagement contract. I wasn't at a teacher's retreat, and I didn't skip town." She paced the living room and walked around the couch. "I worked sixteen hours a day in that pit of a workhouse, and my sister didn't care. 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.

She cuddled him. "Quig, I feared I'd never see my parents, or Betsy again, and I'd miss your wedding. My sister came into my life, only because her bosses thought I was the rebel queen. I didn't give her up."

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."

"We'll call a therapist, but what other way can we do to make this right?" he asked.

Grew-Ella stared out the window at the falling snow. "Tell me it wasn't my fault."

"Oh, Grew-Honey, it wasn't." He pressed his lips against her knuckles and kissed them.

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

"I love you," she whispered.