Chapter 70

• “How could you run off?” Hazel was breathing down on me with fire in her eyes. “Do you know how much Mother suffered because of you? Everyone said you’d taken a short vacation because you were overwhelmed with your new life but I know you ran off, probably with that man. How could you be so selfish?”
• Hazel, true to her role as the daughter who replaced me, was quite protective of my mother. To protect my mother’s fragile heart after I’d been kidnapped, no one said anything to her but it didn’t take her long to figure things out.
• Asher and my father had cooked up a weak lie that I’d gone on a secret, short vacation because I was overwhelmed with all the new things that came with my position as a princess. I wasn’t sure she believed but she’d given me a relieved smile when she saw me and hugged me tighter than anyone had ever hugged me. She didn’t say anything but Hazel had taken it upon herself to scold me.