The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

"For what it's worth, I think she should know now," Roger says with a steady nod. "But you have my support if you think delay is better."

"Yes, delay is better," Dominic says, steady. Cora nods too, murmuring about it making sense from a medical perspective. "Let her mourn her loss, heal from this grief. When she feels stronger, we'll tell her and she can make whatever decision is right for her."

"I'll kick her ass too," Cora murmurs, pissed off. "If she decides to take him back."

"I'm telling you guys," Roger murmurs, shaking his head. "A dungeon goes really far in a moment like this. Just lock him away - never see him again - no longer a problem.

"You go build it, Rog," Ella says with a sigh, standing up. "Fill it with all the toe-nibbling rats you want. Dom? She wants to talk to you. Be gentle with our girl."

"You know I will be," Dominic says, looking at his mate quite steadily. "Go and get her. We'll have our chat."

Early the next morning, Ella, Daphne, and Cora let Ariel sleep in.

"What's taking Cora so long?" Daphne asks, frowning towards the door. "If she doesn't get back soon I will not be blamed for the lack of coffee."

"Oh, we'll just make another pot," Ella says with a sigh, splashing more coffee into Daphne's mug and moving the cream and sugar close to the pretty seamstress. "With the Sinclairs, there's always more coffee."

Daphne smiles at the Queen and there's a beat of silence while Ella turns towards Ari's bedroom door. "I think her talk with her father did her good. He always knows what to say to her."

"Yeah, he's a good dad," Daphne says, smiling softly down into her cup. "I'm glad she has him."

Ella smiles too as she studies Daphne's downturned face, knowing there's more to that statement than on the surface. "How is my girl doing at school?" Ella asks quietly. "Girl to girl. When I ask that question to the boys they give all sorts of boring statistics about her ranking and her run times. As if any of that matters." Daphne grins and looks up. "Do you want to know the changing statistics regarding her uniform size? Her waist has gotten quite trim and -"

"Oh no," Ella groans, faking misery with a dramatic hand over her forehead. "Not you too!"

Daphne laughs and shakes her head. "Nah, kid. But really, all of this rejection drama aside, I think she's okay. She works very hard - harder than everyone else, I think - but she really, really loves it. I think losing Tony..." she bites her lip. "Will be very hard on her."

"They've really gotten that close?" Ella asks, looking curiously into Daphne's eyes.

"She thought he was so funny," Daphne whispers, giving a little shrug. "And he was very honest and helpful toher. Plus, he was the first to call Luca out for bad behavior. Tony he's a big loss to the little group of friends, even if he was rather a late addition."

"I liked him too," Ella sighs, sighing and sitting up. "It's so hard to lose someone so bright so young. The funeral is tomorrow, you know."

"Really?" Daphne says, sitting up and glancing towards Ariel's door. "Does she know?"noveldrama

"No, we're not telling her," Ella says, shaking her head. "She'll want to attend and think it will be too hard on her. I think she still needs to heal and we can have our own ceremony when she's ready. Plus, I think that rat-boy is in the city," Ella says with a frown. "And I'm not letting him anywhere near my girl again."

"Ah, makes sense," Daphne says.

But before Ella can say anymore, Cora comes flying through the door.

"Is she up?" Cora whispers, rather belying the need for stealth when she accidentally slams the door behind her, leaning back against it and panting with excitement, clutching something to her chest. "Is Ari awake?"

"No," Ella says, looking at Cora with surprise. "What the hell happened -"

"You have got to see this," Cora says, grinning like a cat and striding over to the table, slapping down a collection of tabloids. "I got these from the front desk. They're a train wreck but...I cannot look away." "Oh my god," Daphne whispers, awed, reaching for the tabloid on the top.

Which features a big and glossy photo of Luca Grant on the cover.