I continue to fake a smile, and follow him out of the room, flinching as his hand comes to my waist. My smile disappears as he shuts the door. 

“I hope you don’t expect me to pretend to be in love with you,” I hiss, starting to walk off. Ashton rolls his eyes. 

“It’s Angel’s plan,” He defends, grabbing my hands, and tugging me in a different direction along the hallway. 

“Yes, well, you’re going along with it,” I accuse. Ashton chuckles quietly. 

“Olive, I’m getting rewarded very well for this, you know. You will be too if you go along with it.” He holds a finger to my mouth, pulls me behind a tall plant, then pushes me against the wall next to it. 

I start to protest as he leans in, but his lips are on mine before I can make any sound. I hear a camera snapping, and try to pull away, but he has a hand behind my head, and the other hand gently tugging my sleeve downwards off of my shoulder. 

“Get off of me,” I snarl, as he pulls back for air, less than a centimeter. 

“This is how I get Angel off of you. Stop complaining.” I glare at him, as he kisses me again, his hand straying lower than my waist, coming to rest on my thigh. 

“It’s not that bad, Olive,” Ashton says, sitting on my bed as I stare at the two of us on a tabloid cover. 

“You knew the photographer was there,” I mumble, clenching my fists. 

“Yeah. But look, it won’t be so bad for you. Angel gets who she wants, becomes governor or governor’s wife. You and I get hitched, go live at my huge house in Water. You’d certainly live comfortably.” I glare at him, my eyes filled with tears. 

“I want C-” I pause, and turn away from Ashton. He chuckles. 

“You don’t get him. Metals don’t get what they want,” He says, an arm slipping around my waist. There’s a knock at the door. “You tell Caden to go away, if it’s him.” 

“Who is it?” I call, my voice quivering. 

“It’s me, Olive. I need to talk to you,” Cai says through the door, sounding exhausted. 

“Well, I don’t think you should be in my room. It’s inappropriate, since I’m dating Ashton,” I call, repeating what Ashton whispers to me, his hand tight around my arm. 

“Yeah, that’s what I want to talk to you about. I saw the news,” Cai calls back, his voice getting quieter. “Can you just let me in, Ivvy?” He asks, knocking on the door gently. 

“No,” I answer. Cai sighs. 

“Is he in there?” He asks, and opens the door. He sees Ashton with his arms around me, and his brows furrow. 

“Here, babe, let’s go to my room instead. It’s got a bit more privacy,” Ashton says, standing up, and pulling me by a tight grip on my wrist. I feel his nails digging into my skin, and have to restrain myself from calling for Cai’s aid. Angel will only kill me. 

“Ivvy?” Cai asks, as I’m pulled past him. My eyes fill with tears as soon as I’m in Ashton’s room. I sit on his bed, wrapped tightly in blankets and my nightgown, my eyes filling with tears. He wraps his arms around my waist, and starts kissing my neck, but I push him away. 

“We’re not in public. Don’t touch me,” I mumble, grabbing a pillow, and putting it between him and me. He rolls his eyes, and moves to his side of the bed, scoffing. He calls me something under his breath, and I curl up, without Cai to read me to sleep. Ashton’s breathing isn’t the same as his. 

They opened the palace pool, right in the gardens, since the autumn cold spell is over, and it’s sunny today. I tie the straps of the two-piece swimsuit they gave me, staring at the long white scar on my left side. Ashton walks into my room in his swimsuit, and smiles at me. 

“I like this look,” He mumbles, coming up behind me, and putting his arms around me. I feel his breath on my neck, and push his hands downwards as they stray up towards my chest. “What’s this from, babe?” He asks, tracing the scar. “Couldn’t you cover it up? It’s rather ugly.” 

“We’re going to be late.” I mumble, walking away, and brushing my hair quickly, putting on a sun-hat. It’s far too bright here, and I already got slightly burned the day I went riding with Cai, Dennis, and Hadley. I put on a sundress over the swimsuit, so I’m not exposed to the world and the people in it. 

“Fine.” Ashton says, and grabs the front of the dress, pulling me into a kiss before leading me out of the room. 

Cai watches me while we’re at the pool, servants with food walking around, and photographers taking snapshots of all of us.

Dennis and Hadley sit on the other end of the pool, their legs in the water as they ignore everyone but each other. Julia sits away from the pool, sipping something alcoholic in the shade, in her dark red swimsuit. 

Angel is practically on top of Cai, but he looks at me, his blue eyes serious. They’re across from us at the pool steps, sitting on the edge. Ashton and I sit on the edge as well, him behind me with arms around my waist and legs on either side of me, so I can’t escape very easily. 

“You two are so in love,” Angel says, leaning on Cai’s shoulder, and watching me. I swallow. 

“It’s fate, her getting chosen to be here,” Ashton says, his hand on my thigh. Cai’s expression hardens, his blue eyes darker than I’ve seen them. I glance back at Ashton. Please just leave me alone so I can go read on how to rule a country. I’m severely behind. 

“I’m going to go get us some drinks, okay?” She asks Cai, and stands up, kissing his cheek. He wipes it off once she’s gone, and goes back to watching me. Ashton laughs mischievously, and shoves me into the water. I yelp, and glare at him through my wet hair as he stands up. 

“You need a drink. You’re too tense,” He tells me, smirking, and walking off. I am not letting him get me intoxicated. I rub my face, and turn to Cai, whose jaw drops. 

He points to my face, and I realize my makeup rubbed off on my hands. I bite the inside of my cheek, as he gestures for me to follow him. I nod, and he helps me up out of the pool, pulling me quickly by my hand around the side of the pool building. The gravel pokes at my now-delicate feet. 

“Who did this to you? Was it Ashton?” He asks, turning me to face him. 

“Angel,” I mutter quietly. Cai nods, his hands on my arms. 

“What’s going on with you? You’re avoiding me, and I know for a fact you’d never date Ashton,” He accuses. “You said we were friends, and suddenly we don’t talk.” I swallow. 

“Well, Julia wants the best chance of herself getting to power. She knows you’re popular and she’s popular, so she wants an alliance there. She doesn’t want you to be close to me. So she made Ashton kiss me in front of a photographer.” I take a deep breath, finishing my explanation. Cai pulls me into a hug, swaying on his feet. 

“Did he do anything to you? Because I have nothing against revenge when it’s your case,” He squeezes me gently. 

“Not yet. Just touching me weird. You saw him.” I feel Cai nod, and he pulls away, looking down at my scars, on my leg and side, now visible because of the swimsuit. He smiles at them, then looks up at me. 

“I’ve got a plan, but I need your permission. If you don’t want to do it, we can try something else,” Cai begins, fixing my wet hair. I nod. 

Cai pulls me into the governor’s office, both of us slightly damp still, but in dry clothes. Connolly looks up from his desk at us, and glares at me. 

“Sir, before you say anything snide to Ivvy, I’m half Metal,” Cai admits. “She’s not any less than anyone else here. Nobody on her island is.” The governor stares at him. 

“You-” The governor sighs. “Talk.” 

“Angel and Ashton plotted against her. Ashton assaulted her, and told the media they were dating, with a planted photographer,” Cai explains, still holding my hand. “Julia’s basically out of the running, Dennis and Hadley don’t want to do this.” Connolly nods. “I know you care about your family. What if Ivvy was your daughter?” Connolly scoffs. 

“She couldn’t-” 

“It’s a hypothetical. If someone beat up and blackmailed and threatened your daughter, would you trust them to rule fairly for twenty years?” Connolly pauses. “If someone touched your daughter inappropriately, would you trust them?” Cai asks, squeezing my hand. 

“No,” The governor says. “Does that mean you’re the only possible contestant left, besides the girl?” He asks. 

“You know I’m winning this,” Cai says. “I have a plan. Ivvy and I will get a story out that Ashton was abusive in the relationship. Then Ivvy and I will pretend to date for the media, bringing both of our ratings up, and allowing me to protect her.” I nod. I want it to be real dating. I think to myself. “If Angel tries anything, she’ll lose her perfect reputation and you get a family friend who you trust on the throne.” Cai offers his hand to the governor to shake, and Connolly takes it, smiling. 

“Clever boy. I’d be proud to have you as my son,” He says to Cai, standing up, and patting him on the back. He looks over at me, smiling a bit. “And you as my daughter.” My eyes fill with tears. “Get to work.” 

“We really should finish The Scarlet Pimpernel before getting distracted with other books,” I comment, as Cai pulls me by the hand into a bookstore. He’s not wearing his glasses, since there are people watching us on all of our dates now. 

“Well, we’ve got to find something to read together after.” Cai says, and gestures at the shelves full of books. People in the store stare at us. I laugh. 

“I haven’t read for fun since I was thirteen. My taste would suck,” I tell him, as he laces his fingers in mine. 

“Well, obviously, you giggle at every single tiny thing in the story that even alludes to romance. You’re such a child,” He tells me with a laugh. 

“And what am I supposed to do? Just not get excited whenever Marguerite starts to fall for Percy? You’re boring,” He laughs. “You have good taste in books, which ones would I like?” I ask. 

“I don’t pretend to understand who you are. It’s really confusing at times,” He says, then pulls me over to the back wall, where the old books are. “The classics always have better romance than the teen section,” He says, gesturing with his head towards the section of pink books with shirtless men on the cover. 

“Oh, and you want romance?” I ask, tilting my head. He glances up at me with his dark blue eyes laughing. 

“You’ve got no idea how much I want romance.” He reaches for an old book with blue binding. He doesn’t elaborate further, and passes a book to me. “Anne of Green Gables. It’s from Canada, way far west. I don’t know if it exists any more.” I open the cover. “I’ve read the whole series. It’s really sweet.” 

“Are we going to read the whole series, then?” I ask, looking at the beautiful pages, yellowed on the corners. 

“Well, I’d rather be with you than anywhere else, so…” He sets the book back on the shelf. “Most of these classics are really good. It’s hard to pick.” I smile, and read the titles on the spines.