I HANG MY HEAD as low as I possibly can. My father paces the room in front of me and I can only think of him wearing out a hole in the rug. Principal Foster doesn't seem to mind. She is perched like a treacherous hawk on her swiveling chair, her eyes on me.

William is right next to me. We are sitting uncomfortably in the plush armchair placed in front of Principal Foster's desk. My father runs a hand through his hair, a vein popping on his forehead. Behind him, the walls are covered with books; ancient and new.

The built in shelves are carved out of rosewood. Dusty light streams in from the huge arched windows. A low chandelier hangs from the ceiling, which reflects the light darting across the room. The floor is covered with the prettiest carpet, a far cry from the crumbling hallways.

The large oak door behind us flies open and William trembles slightly. I turn to face a haggard Consul Lane. His hair is awry, his lips pressed into a thin line and his steps are frantic. His eyes land on my father and he immediately walks over to him, completely ignoring Principal Foster.

"What's happened? Is it about the PPT results? Did he- Is he a-" The words seemed to choke in Consul Lane's throat.

A Forsaken.

He can't even say it.

It was unthinkable that he might have to lose his son after what happened to his daughter. His face was red from the running and my father shook his head.

"No. It's not," my father says but without much enthusiasm.

The Consul relaxes immediately, his shoulders slagging and the nervous tap of his boots stopping. He does not notice the low tone of my father's voice. His face becomes softer, the one that we see all around on posters on our continent. The façade that he beautifully manages to pull off.

"Consul Lane. General Meyers." Principal Foster sits up straighter and rests her elbows on the desk in front of her. Her eyes lock into mine as she continues talking. "Please, there's no reason to worry about that. Yet."

"What do you mean 'yet'?" My father pounces on the insinuation like a cat on a mouse.

She sweeps her eyes from me to William, then to my father and the Consul and then back at me. We have never met before in her office except for the time I had to give my admissions test. She had been intimidating then, she is intimidating now.

Some things never change, do they?

Our parents shuffle quietly to stand behind us. My father places a hand on my shoulder and I tense. There is no greater crime than being a Forsaken on Elara but teenagers making out in the middle of the hallway?

Suffice to say that we might not live to see the sun rise again tomorrow.

"I am afraid Consul and General but you absolutely must discipline your children. They were caught," she coughs, "together, in the middle of the hallway."

The way she says it makes my skin crawl. It sounds like the name of a disgusting slug rolling off her tongue. My father begins to speak but she cuts him off. "Avernus High is a ground of knowledge. I do not take kindly to kids who do not know their own place."

At that, she gazes straight into my eyes. They flare up and for a second I could swear I saw an orange gleam in her black soulless eyes. But before I could point it out, it was gone. Just like that.

My eyebrows furrow together in confusion. I know what I saw and I saw her eyes, gleaming like a cat's. No one else says anything, even if they've seen it. They must have; it was impossible to not notice it.

Principal Foster's tremendously long sigh pulls me back into her office. "I am letting them off the hook this time. But make no mistake, I won't be so kind next time. And you know very well what my next time means. You can see yourself out now."

I hear Harvey mutter under his breath and I catch on to "woman" and "bitch" without straining my ears. I am sure it was intentional and he wanted her to hear him.

I have no confirmation because she simply reclines back in her chair and places one knee above the other. She folds her hands in a prayer like posture and closes her eyes. My father's grip on my shoulder becomes tighter as he pulls me up.

I walk by his side, Consul Lane and William in front of us. But my eyes are still on her. She looked at me and it just wasn't the glow. It was the emotion too; the look of familiarity, the look of someone you knew a long time ago but hated them and still do.

My picture of her is suddenly slashed as I walk out of the room and my dad slams the door behind us. "The audacity of that woman-" my dad says but the Consul stops him by raising his hand.

My dad falls silent.

Thinking back on it now, William and his father were eerily quiet inside. Not one word was uttered by the usually vocal Consul. Harvey talked a lot, especially when he was supposed to shut up. He always ended up making things worse.

And this was Lydia Foster, no less. A perfect candidate for his temper. But not today.

I look at William, who is busy admiring the design of blue waves on his shoes. He's never normally this quiet. Now that I really think about it, he didn't even try to hold my hand or reassure me inside. No eye contact, no subtle gestures.

He's only like this when his father is going to make a public announcement and it was just us with Harvey. It's not like he can just belt out a decree right here, right away. He wouldn't-

"I think it's best to get Cynthia and William betrothed." Harvey speaks up and I almost drop my jaw on the floor.

"Lydia Foster must no longer spread rumours to dampen our image, she threatened as much inside. My position," Harvey looks at my dad, "along with yours, will increase tenfold. Think about it, Calum. This could do wonders for our image."

Spoke too soon, Cynthia, too soon.

I know I cannot look at myself right now but if a mirror were to magically appear in front of me, I would definitely see my own eyes as huge as saucers. This is not what I was expecting. At all.

My palms turn sweaty and the world around me starts tilting further on its axis. I wobble slightly on my legs, feeling like the ground has been swept away from under my feet. I blink furiously to focus on my surroundings.

William.

Harvey.

Corridor.

Lockers.

I feel sick. I love William, I really do. We had been together for over three years now. Being friends had catalysed our relationship in the beginning. We were everyone's envy. We were Cynthia and William, the fairy tale they wished they had.

But being betrothed? I always imagined my ending to be so much more than a statement put down by the Consul. I had imagined carpeted roads over the dying earth of Elara, leading me to the drowning sea. Standing there, would be William and I would rush into his arms and we would forget about the world.

I shake my head ever so slightly. Once upon a time's are only for stories of destruction. Not love. Besides, I shouldn't think about what I want right now. I must put my family and my duty first. I did put them in this position after all.

I look at William once again, trying to make sense of what Harvey had just put forth. I expect him to be unsettled, just like me. Surprisingly, his eyes are now level with mine. There is a glint in them that I had seen once before.

On the day he gathered the courage to ask me out.

We'd been family friends for so long that being present at the most significant moments of each other's lives was a given. We were always there for each other. No matter what. William had been so unnerved that he completely stopped talking to me a week before.

I had decided that I had had enough of his diva behaviour and I barged into his room, only to find him red faced and shaking. I had dropped down to my knees near him and he had held my face with his warm hands.

"I know this might break things between us but I have to. I have to tell you. I know there's no easy way to say this. So, I'll let my heart do the talking." He lifted one of my hands and placed it square over his chest.

"You feel that? That's not the work of playing Deadhand. It's because of you. I won't say my heart started beating after I met you because that would be biologically incorrect. But I will say this. My heart started beating faster after I met you."

His eyes had shone with a glimmer I would remember forever as tears slipped down my face and I reached over to kiss him. It had been the most magical night of my life and I never thought I would see that burning desire again in his eyes.

Love like that could be professed only once with such truth and passion. But William knows that he can prove me wrong at any point of my life. And here I am again, seeing that perfect glint, that perfect desire in his eyes shining even brighter than before.

Realisation suddenly dawns on me. They'd talked about this. He was ready for this. He had come prepared for this announcement sometime soon but the situation made Harvey say it out loud today. William was all in for us.

I was sure of it. Of him. Of us.

But was I not worth a choice? I think as William's arm snake across my waist and he smiles down at me from his towering frame. I watch blankly, completely in shock, as my father walks over to hug Harvey, his hands trembling with effort to keep the tears in check.

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