Elena truly loved James, she really did. But as she stood there, watching how he smothered her stepsister with kisses, she was surprised at the fact that she did not feel even an ounce of pain. It was so much so, that she stood there, studying the complexities on the way he kissed her; it almost seemed as if he was swallowing her whole face.

James had never kissed her like that. The highest he had ever done was to give her a featherlight kiss on her lips, one she doubts she even felt. She supposed she should have seen it coming; the betrayal that is. Nothing had been going right for her ever since the death of her beloved Queen Mother. And her father the King did not waste his time in replacing her.

She doubts that her father ever loved her mother. As soon as she had reached the age where she could understand her surroundings, She realized that the marriage between her parents was just a a farce. Oh, her mother loved her father, but the king never even as glanced at her.

She had heard the gossip between her mother's maids, on the day of her mother's death, that the only reason her existence came to fruition was as a result of a drunken stupor her father had fallen into. He slept with her mother, mistaking her for one of his lovers.
Her mother, being her mother, as her...