Lena Majestic hugged her second mother.

A long time ago, the greatest High had encountered Nova Majestic. Reese Low. Sabrina Sam.

No matter what name Nova preferred being called, she couldn't change the fact her mother had adopted Lena.

The blind High had spent a few months living with Nova.

Six Highs. Six Watchers.

There were six Highs, and five of them had Watchers. Thanks to the wonderful Lena, Jake had lost Peter. The boy didn't know it.

Was Jake more foolish than Nick?

Was Nick more foolish than Jake?

The day Jake insulted Lena for the last time had been years ago.

A certain spaceship had landed in a desert on Earth. Six child rulers and their Watchers had emerged from the spacecraft. One of those children was Nova.

One year had passed after the landing. Planet Still had robbed Lena of her sight and her Saves.

More years had gone by. Nova's sister Hailey had come into Lena's life. She had gotten on her knees for her High. Lena hadn't seen it, but she knew Hailey had kneeled. She had done it for her.

Lena had used her cane to strike Hailey with pain.

The blonde had spent years away from the great Lena. How unfortunate.

Hailey had met Lena inside the space station they were in, and she had chosen to call Lena's blind eyes beautiful.

Gray irises. Gray pupils.

Lena had slammed her cane against Hailey's leg. The High had given the girl what she had deserved.

Blindness followed Lena like a shadow, gripping her no matter how much she wished it didn't. She was even Saveless. Powerless.

Nick had become Lena's new problem, and her mother wouldn't make him leave the family space station. Her son had refused to kneel for Lena.

He had earned that slap.

Meanwhile, Lena wore a green shirt and blue jeans, because blood had gotten on her other shirt and her other pair of pants.

Yesterday she had stripped. She had revealed her beautiful body to three others in the throne room. She had been naked. Lilly. Hailey. Zoey. They should've been grateful to see Lena wearing nothing. They hadn't been.

In the present, Lena wasn't naked.

She knew the colors of her clothes. But she didn't see them. She couldn't.

Her hands were against the fabric of her mother's shirt. Warmth from the woman met Lena, and the floor beneath her shoes remained hard.

Lena couldn't look at the woman she embraced.

The hug ended.

"Are you okay, Lena?" Lena's mother said.

If Nick told Lena he planned on leaving the space station soon, the girl might smile.

"I don't like the way Nick treats you," Lena said. "And I don't like the way he treats me. I'm his High. And you're his mother."

Lilly.

The woman was Hailey's mother. Hailey, who had broken her no-kill code to save her wonderful High, showed Lena the respect she deserved. Her biological brother didn't. Nick didn't.

"Nick is a vicious boy," Lena's mother said. "Clearly. He will disrespect anyone, and that's the truth. But he won't kill you. He knows how I feel about you."

Lena knew how her biggest fan, Betty, felt about her. But she wasn't the girl's mother.

Her only living mother, Lilly Majestic, stood in front of her. Lena was blind and her mother wasn't. The High's first mother, Lauren, hadn't been afflicted with her daughter's disability. But she had died.

"That won't stop him from trying to kill me," Lena said. "If he had it his way, I would be dead."

"Nick won't have his way, unfortunately for him," Lena's mother said. Warmth came to Lena's hand, the woman touching her. Thin fingers. A hand. "He won't kill you."

"You hope."

The hand left Lena's.

"Lena has the right to be afraid of Nick, Lilly," Betty said.

Lena clenched her fists. No, she wasn't weak. And she had taken Nick down. There was no need for her to fear him.

"Hailey tried to kill her," Betty said. "And Nick has already hurt Lena. How bad did he hurt her, Lilly?"

"What he did to her was worse than being slapped," Lena's mother said.

Nick had slammed Lena against a wall, then he had used his telekinesis to make her crash against the floor. The hard floor.

After the fool's attack, Lena had used a Soynite healing glass on herself.

A Soynite healing glass even had the power to replace a missing adult tooth with a new one.

"I love this girl," Betty said. Someone caressed Lena's hair. Betty, she assumed. "If Nick kills her, I won't be so forgiving."

Lena smiled. Nick should've been as loyal to her as Betty was.

"You want to protect Lena," Lena's mother said. "So do I. She's not just my High. She's my daughter as well. And she's worthy. That's why she's wearing her father's crown."

"She has a crown and a throne," Betty said. "She deserves to have two crowns and two thrones. I want her to become Great Leader Lena Majestic. I want her to become the new leader of the Freemans."

"I know," Lena's mother said. The door to the throne room opened. "Someone has to."

If a Soynite killed Lock Tannis in the future, which one would become his slayer?

"Mother!" Hailey said. "Lena! Betty!"

The girl's shoes slapped against the floor. Lena listened as Hailey's footsteps drew closer, their maker heading closer to the women and the High.

Another pair of footsteps arrived. They belonged to Nick, Lena assumed.

"I was thinking," Hailey said, speaking when she was close enough. "I want to attack a Freeman base on Earth. I want to go to the land called America, specifically. California. I have to go there. It's where me and Vera found a Freeman base. We never went inside it, though. But it's where I want to be. When the time comes, I could use a teleportation stone to take me outside of the building."

Peter had informed Lena about Nova, Jake, Ken, and Ben. They were in California. Not Peter, of course. Thanks to Lena, he wasn't anywhere.

"You want to find Nova," Lena said. "You want to find her, Jake, Ken, and Ben."

Jake Wayne.

Lena hadn't seen him in years, and she wouldn't see him if he entered her throne room. It was planet Still's fault.

Ken Herman.

He was the younger brother of Lena's mother. The High's adoptive uncle. Nova's Watcher. Ken was also her uncle.

Ben Sam.

Nova had adopted him. She had made a baby Freeman into her son.

"There are a lot of Freeman bases in California, Hailey," Betty said. "Even if there was only one, it's not a guarantee that the people you want to find will be there."

If Vera were with the group, she could lead Hailey to Nova, Jake, Ken, or Ben.

Hailey's Bloodhound was missing. What was the girl supposed to do?

"Peter said that they were in a Freeman base," Hailey said. "What if they all go to another one? I might meet them. Or some of them, at least. I really want to see Nova again. I want to hug her. I never have."

"It's unlikely you'll meet her in that Freeman base you mentioned," Lena said.

"I found you," Hailey said. "I was fortunate that I found you in this space station. I might find Nova in California."

"If you're serious about attacking that Freeman base, I'll go with you," Betty said.

The Watcher had all the Saves. Strife could bring her death, and the Freemans favored that green substance.

"No," Hailey said. "After everything that me and my mother did to you, you deserve a break. I have to go alone. Lena can't go. I don't even want anyone to come with me. I don't need help."

"Someone should go with you," Lena's mother said.

A shuddering breath left Hailey, but a chill didn't cloak the room.

"If someone comes with me, they might get killed," Hailey said. "We reunited with Nick earlier. Boone reunited with Lena and Betty, then he got killed by a Freeman. I can handle them. I can deal with Freemans. Very easily, too."

Hailey had tried becoming a High slayer. She now planned on making two sisters meet for the first time. Hailey was one of those sisters.

"If I meet Nova, she wouldn't be meeting a sister who worships Lock Tannis," Hailey said. "I'm not Anne."

Anne.

She had gotten tangled in the Lock Tannis Church. Even though four Majestics stood in the same room, one of them remained away, loyal to Summer Sinister and other Lock worshippers.

"No, you're not some worshipper of Lock," Lena said. "You're better than that. Go find Nova."

"She's not the only person who will look for her," Lena's mother said. "Hailey, I'm going to go with you. I don't want to do anything you'll dislike, but I have to go with you. I need to. My baby isn't going to attack a Freeman base without her mother. I've been away from you for way too long. We'll fight together. We'll do it as mother and daughter."

A long time ago, before Lena's first meeting with Hailey, Lauren Windsore had died. Lena hadn't saved her. A long gap of time had formed between the death of Lauren and Lena's transformation into a Majestic.

Eleven years. Lena's first mother had been killed, and it had taken over a decade for her to gain a new one.

"Okay," Hailey said. "Thank you, Mother."

"Nick, you'll have to stay at our space station," Lena's mother said. A hand came to the High's shoulder. "Lena, you can stay in this one. I don't want you and Nick trying to kill each other while I'm away."

As if someone had told him he would see his father soon, Nick sighed in satisfaction.

"Finally, I will be away from the two of you," he said. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," Lena's mother said. "Me and Hailey will go to that Freeman base tomorrow. Maybe we'll meet Nova there. Maybe we won't. Either way, me and my girl need to kill the Freemans inside that place."

"What's going to happen after you find Nova and the others?" Lena said. "If you find them, I mean?"

Nova. Jake. Ken. Ben.

"We'll take them back to our space station, sweet one," Lena's mother said. "All of them. We'll all be living together."

"If you find them," Nick said. He scoffed. "And you never should have abandoned Nova."

"Nick is a fool, Mother," Lena said. She moved her hands toward where she believed her mother stood, grabbed what seemed like an arm. "Don't let his words frustrate you. They come from someone who is almost as bad as Lock Tannis."

Lena's mother had never met Lock. She hadn't been alive when her husband banished him.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

But Lock, Lena's mother, and Nick were alive at the same time as each other. Lock had a pale military aiding him. In addition, the dictator possessed various Saves. Unlike Lena.

Nick. He was, well, a bad brother.

When the boy was unconscious and defenseless, Lena should've assaulted him with her fists. She couldn't see. But she could beat someone needing a beating.

"Hailey, you should've killed this tyrant," Nick said.

He needed to be beaten. Lena, with her bare hands, could provide what Nick needed.

"She didn't, thankfully," Lena's mother said. "She wants to find your father just as badly as you do. Believe it, my vicious boy. I believe it. You should, too."

"How could you do that?" Nick said. "Why did you adopt this monster? Have you forgotten that this is the same girl who tried to kill Hailey?"

In the space station's cafeteria, Lena had tried murdering Hailey. She had failed. Because she hadn't been successful, Hailey still had a working heart. Yesterday she had sliced Lena's arm. She had prepared to stab a dagger into her chest, but Zoey had stopped her.

"Have you forgotten how you treat your own mother?" Lena said. "You don't treat your mother with respect."

"I treat people how they deserve to be treated," Nick said. "You slapped me and I slammed you against a wall. Mother abandoned her family. I haven't forgotten that."

"People can change, brother," Hailey said.

She had changed.

Hailey, a former stranger, had become Lena's sister. She had kneeled for the great High. Nick hadn't. In addition, Hailey had broken her no-kill code. She had done it to save Lena.

Theo's third child had dropped her pacifism, and she had replaced it with the will to kill.

"I know that, Hailey," Nick said. "And take your hand off my shoulder. I don't want to be touched right now. Good. Anyway, that girl is a monster. Lena is cruel, violent, and she's on the path to becoming a second Lock Tannis."

Lena didn't scowl, but the urge to ran rampant.

"You're describing yourself," Lena said. "What's stopping you from killing innocent Soynites?"

"I love Soy and its people," Nick said.

"Not the ones you should, obviously."

Lena's mother carried guilt because she had abandoned her loved ones, and Nick acted as if she wasn't sorry.

"I love my mother," Lena said. "In addition, I love our mother. She could've killed me yesterday, but she didn't. Hailey didn't, either. Our mother made me into a Majestic. She chose me. She chose me to be her daughter. You act like you're a better person than me, Nick, but you're not. You're below me. You always will be. I'm a High. I'm not a mother-hating boy who used telekinesis to attack a blind girl. By the way, Soy won't explode if you forgive your mother, you angry fool."

Lena unleashed short breaths. As her heart hammered, she clenched her fists.

A finger pushed against her arm.

"If me and you were alone in this room, I would be hurting you so badly right now," Nick said, his voice thick with anger. "So badly. You said that I'm below you, but you hurt me before I hurt you. That's all you're good for, isn't it? You meet good people and then you hurt them. Doesn't she, Hailey? You should know."

Lena narrowed her eyes.

"You abuse good people," Nick said. "You abused Hailey. You abused me."

"When did you become a good person, Nick?" Lena said. "There's a great woman who feels guilty about her mistakes, but you're cruel to her anyway. If you're a nice example of a good person, I don't want to meet a bad one."

"You already have," Nick said. "Look in a mirror. Nevermind, actually. You can't."

"Nick," Betty said.

Lena couldn't look at her reflection. Nick knew it. But he must have known Lena had the power to strike pain into others. She had done that to him earlier.

"Hailey, hold my crown," Lena said.

She placed her hands against the blue headwear.

It had belonged to her second father, and she needed it to be away from her head. Lena removed the crown.

"Here, Hailey," Lena said. "Hold your High's crown."

A High needed to beat a horrible boy.

The crown left Lena's hands. Hailey had taken it, she assumed.

"What?" Nick said. "Are you getting ready to fight me, tyrant? I'm going to hurt you so—"

"Get back!" Lena's mother said. A few seconds went by. "I'm sorry I had to push you back, but I need you to leave this room, Nick. Hailey and Betty, I need the two of you to leave, too. Give me and Lena some space. Please."

"Gladly." Nick said.

Multiple pairs of footsteps drew away from Lena. When the door closed, a hand came to her shoulder.

"I want my children to love each other, Lena," the High's mother said.

"Your son makes that impossible," Lena said.

"He's your brother."

Lena was younger than Nick, but he hadn't always been her older brother.

Sepsis Nail had murdered his father, Voy Nail. He, Sepsis, had come up with the title of Great Leader. He had killed his biological father. Nick had an adoptive sister, one he could kill.

"Sepsis Nail killed his own father," Lena said. "I'm not even biologically related to Nick. He won't spare my life just because you adopted me. I won't become a second Lock Tannis. But maybe I'll become like Voy, killed by a member of my own family. Will your son kill me, Mother?"

"You haven't even been my daughter for a week, Lena," Lena's mother said. "Yet you're still my child. You're mine. I won't let anyone kill you."

In the throne room they stood in, the older Soynite had beaten the younger one. Hailey and Zoey had witnessed the assault. Lena hadn't seen her own beating. Her sightless nature had made sure of that. She was blind. As usual.

She ran a hand through her hair, touching no crown.

"I saw you give your crown to Hailey," Lena's mother said. "If you hadn't been planning on fighting your brother, your crown would still be on your head."

"Yet I'm still a hero," Lena said. "That's what you called me, right? Or am I a tyrant? That's what your son thinks I am."

"Nick has opinions I don't agree with," Lena's mother said. "His opinion of you is a bad one. I don't agree with it."

But the woman believed Nick deserved to live. Lena didn't.

"He thinks I'm a tyrant," she said. She took a step forward. "Should I show him what a cruel tyrant looks like? Should I slice open Hailey's arm with a dagger, then stick it into her heart? Should I do the same to Nick? Should I kill the woman who tried to get her daughter to kill me?"

"You won't do any of those things," Lena's mother said. "I know you, Lena. You're not a ruthless killer."

"That depends," Lena said. "I killed Peter and Maggie. Ruthlessly, too."

Peter and Maggie. Lena had stabbed death into them, and her mother had left their corpses on Soy's ruined land.

"It was heroic," the High's mother said. "You're not going to kill me, Nick, or Hailey."

"Thanks for not being like Nick," Lena said. "Give me a kiss."

She tapped her lips.

"Right here," she said.

The kisses Lena had exchanged with Betty and Zoey had been platonic. The possible upcoming kiss with her mother wouldn't be a romantic one, either.

Jake Wayne. He and Lena had flung harsh words at each other. Much like Nick, Jake was a fool. Lena didn't prefer to kiss him in a platonic way or a romantic one.

Lena's mother kissed her on the lips.

"I love you, Lena," said the woman who had tried getting Lena killed.

But Lilly Majestic had turned the girl into her daughter. It had been mercy. She had shown the High what the ruler hadn't shown Peter and Maggie.

"You better," Lena said, her body flowing with warmth. "I love you, too."

Her mother embraced her, and the High hugged her back. She closed her blind eyes. She saw as much as she did with her eyes open.

Whenever her eyes were open, Lena saw nothing. Whenever they were closed, she saw nothing.

Lena opened her eyes, and the hug ended.

In the future, she might embrace Nova. Hailey had splattered Lena's life with mentions of that girl. Before meeting Hailey for the first time, Lena had met Nova.

Then, years after that first meeting, Lena had met Nova's pacifistic sister.

Hailey had broken her no-kill code. That had led to her being willing to kill Lena. Her High. Her older sister.

Hailey had discarded her plan to murder Lena.

A new one had penetrated Hailey. Her recent plan involved attacking a Freeman base on Earth, and her mother intended on helping her.

Lena couldn't go.

Hailey and her mother preferred not to bring along the blind and beautiful leader. If they chose to let Lena go on the mission with them, a Freeman might kill the High. Maybe Lock Tannis would.

If Lena could see, fly, and heal wounds, all abilities she had possessed, she would bring much trouble to the Freemans. Brutal and ruthless kind of trouble.

Lena couldn't see, but she had sliced off a Freeman's arms. She had put a sword into his brain. That sword was red and sharp.

It wasn't Freeman Killer.

Nerra Majestic. In life, Hailey's distant aunt had owned Freeman Killer. She had given the weapon its name. That sword was in Lena's latest home, the space station Hailey lived in.

With a hatred for Freemans, Nerra had used Freeman Killer to slay Spike Zero. No Freeman had been born before him. He had been born as the first of his kind, and the Bloodhound named Nerra had murdered him.

Nerra had been born as Hase Majestic's only daughter. The first Bloodhound had used her sword to murder the first Freeman.

Who owned Freeman Killer?

Lena knew. She had met the sword's previous owner. She had met him outside a spaceport. He had transferred his possession of Freeman Killer to Hailey.

It was her sword.

"When I first saw that picture of you, I didn't think that you would become my daughter," Lena's mother said. She caressed the girl's hair. "The picture Hailey gave you, I mean. You were so young in it. During the invasion, your father took that picture of you. He did the same to the other Highs. All of you were so young back then. And Nova was one of those kids. My sweet girl was with her birth father outside that spaceport and she didn't even know it. Summer had kidnapped Anne before Father arrived at the destination. He had a task to complete. His youngest child was gone, but he still had to turn six kids into Highs."

Lena Majestic.

Nova Majestic.

Jake Wayne.

Aris Upside.

Path Seekman.

Kara Ascend.

Path was the only High who was a Bloodhound. If he was still alive, he would be Nick's age. Eighteen.

When Lena was younger and had working eyes, she had spilled fruit juice on Aris's black hair.

Lena. She, the greatest High, had been made into a ruler. She had never met her sister Anne. Planet Still had taken the High's sight and Saves. Summer had stolen Anne.

Anne had a father, and he needed to kneel for Lena.

Theo Majestic's third child had kneeled for Lena. His wife had done the same. Nick hadn't gotten on his knees for his ruler-sister. He lived as a true moron. A spiteful son. An imbecile.

Nick's return to his home had led to his first encounter with Lena. She had stuck a sharp needle into his neck, and purple liquid had blasted into the boy's bloodstream. An unconscious state had claimed him.

Lena's trip to planet Still had landed her in an abyss of blindness.

Betty had touched water on Still. Her deep love for Lena had made the girl lose her vision and powers. Despite that, Betty had saved her the trouble of having a bad Watcher.

The woman was better than Nick.

He was Lena's brother, whether she liked it or not. She didn't like it.

Nick wasn't better than her, neither was Hailey or Betty. Lena's first father hadn't been greater than her. The girl's second one would never be greater than her. His wife had sat on Lena's throne. That didn't make her better than the chair's owner.

Naked and glorious, Lena had sat on her throne. That had happened yesterday.

A new day had arrived.

Lena had met Nick. He had thrown unneeded sentences at her. It was already bad enough Lena was blind, with her useless eyes. Was she doomed to be that way forever?

She couldn't see Betty, who loved her while Freemans didn't. She couldn't see her mother, who had defended Zoey. She couldn't see Hailey, her friend.

"Did you hear what Hailey told Nick?" Lena's mother said. "She said that people can change. She's right."

"You wanted her to kill me yesterday," said the High. "Do you still want her to do it?"

She doubted her mother wanted to see her die.

"You know the answer to that question," the mother said. A hand went to Lena's cheek, warmth coming with it. But the woman hadn't slapped her daughter. "Do you want to help me put this family back together?"

"Yes." Lena said.

Theo Majestic had a family. An immediate one. Lena. Lilly. Hailey. The foolish Nick. Nova. Anne.

"My last name is Majestic now," Lena said. "I'm going to help you put our family back together. I have to. And I want to."

If Lena's mother smiled, the girl didn't see it. Hands went to the High's hair. Lips touched her forehead.

"I don't care what Nick says about you," Lena's mother said. "You're not a tyrant. You want to help a family you used to hate, and you're a part of it now. You're a member of this family, Lena."

"I know," Lena said.

"I wanted to thank you,"

Lena's mother wanted to thank her. It was obvious she knew how great her High was.

"For what?" Lena said.

"For being there for Hailey when I wasn't," her mother said. "Listen, I know there was conflict between you and her. But there were good moments, right? Sweet ones. There had to be."

On the day a certain High met a certain older sister, Lena had embraced Hailey. The ruler had expressed her gratitude. She had said more to Hailey.

Regardless, the thirteen-year-old had tried slaying her High. Yesterday hadn't been a fine day.

"I tried to kill her," Lena said. "I tried to murder your child and you turned me into your fifth one."

"All of the bad things you did to Hailey don't matter anymore," Lena's mother said. "You weren't always awful to her. After she saved your life, you hugged her. And you told her that you love her."

"I know what I said," Lena said.

In a hall, Hailey had slaughtered a Freeman squad. She had broken her no-kill code. Lena hadn't seen the killings, but she didn't doubt they had been brutal.

Vera had trained Hailey well. Like Lena's adoptive father, the Watcher had gone missing.

Yesterday Lena had given Hailey permission to bash in her skull.

Lena knew she had repulsed Hailey. The younger girl had fled the space station, and she had returned to her home. She hadn't found Vera. She had reunited with her mother.

"You care about Hailey," Lena's mother said.

"She lied to me," Lena said. "Hailey said that she will always love me. It happened after I told her I love her. She tried to kill me yesterday, and that's proof that she lied. She stopped loving me. But I'm not going to kill her."

"And I don't want you to," Lena's mother said. "Hailey is my third child. Even when Nova and Anne stayed missing, I knew where to find Hailey and Nick. My boy was with me. My girl Hailey was with Vera, in our space station. Anne was with Summer, unfortunately. Sadly, my youngest is still with that horrible woman. That's what I'm assuming. Nova was with my younger brother. Hopefully, she's still with him. I knew where to find Hailey. I knew she lived in our space station with Vera. But I was a bad mother."

Lena reached out. She placed her hand against her mother's arm.

"I could've visited Hailey a lot more, but I hadn't," Lena's mother said. "Instead of seeing her more than I should have, I refused to. I killed Freemans. And I didn't bother with going back to Hailey. On one of her birthdays, I went back to the space station. Finally. Nick was with me. We saw Hailey and Vera, but my girl didn't see us. Vera let us know that your father was missing. She never looked for him. The Freemans Vera and Nick tortured didn't know where Father was. But one of them told us about you. His name was Zale Kin."

Lena took a shaking breath, and she clenched her fists. The Freeman her mother had mentioned, Zale Kin, had fled. He had escaped from Betty on planet Still. He had failed to flee from Vera.

"Thanks to Zale, I found out that you were blind," Lena's mother said. "I remember that I wanted to help you. I wanted to find you and make your life easier. But me and you both know what happened. Hailey found you before I did. Eventually, I found you, too. I wanted to kill you. I wanted Hailey to kill you, and I regret what we did to you. I really do. If you want me to kneel for you, I will do it. I'll do it without hesitation. Lena, I wish the way we met happened differently."

Lena turned her back on her mother. While walking, the girl roamed the space in front of her with her hands.

"I can help you get to your throne," Lena's mother said.

"I can do it by myself," said the girl.

She had sat on her throne when Betty was in the room. Lena's Watcher had failed to protect her from Hailey and her mother, but those Majestics had become members of her family.

Lena, her mother, and Hailey were Majestics.

After her hands touched the blue chair, Lena sat. Planet Still had destroyed her vision. It hadn't taken her throne. She would have to move the chair to her new home.

Zoey. Hailey. Nick. Nova. Anne.

Would any of Lena's siblings destroy good people?

She was the sister to five people. Only two of them viewed Lena as a person who deserved to have her sight and powers back.

Misty had reunited with Lena's birth father in Hawaii.

Did Father and Misty have sex after their reunion?

Would Lena gain a new sibling? A biological one? In the future, maybe her time as Boone Windsore's only biological child would end.

Zoey. Where was Lena's sweet sister?

The girl leaned forward, and she rubbed her forehead. She sighed.

"Hailey hurt me," Lena said. "She sliced my arm and then she tried to put her dagger into my heart. It wasn't fun. You met me yesterday, and it was a bad day. It was horrible."

"We didn't want you to kill Nova," Lena's mother said. She held the High's hands. "And me and Hailey are sorry. We really are. I wish we had just left you alone. If we had done that, no one would've gotten hurt. Me and Hailey were pathetic. We were cruel. We tried to get our High killed. I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."

The woman moved her hands away from Lena's.

"But I can help you now," the mother said. "Me and Hailey can help you. We can make your life easier, and we'll reunite you with Nova. I know that you and her were enemies when you lived together, but people can change. How you feel about someone else can change. You and Nova will love each other, and we'll find your father. He'll love you. And someone is going to kill Lock Tannis."

The door to the room opened.

Lena perked up. Footsteps came, and the girl on the throne listened.

Would someone make Lock Tannis bleed? Who would become the next Freeman leader?

"It's Hailey," Lena's mother said.

On the third of March, Lena had asked Hailey what she looked like. The sightless High hadn't always been blind. Knowing what people looked like still mattered to her.

Lena waited for Hailey to approach. Because she had planned on fighting Nick, she had given her crown to the younger girl. But Lena hadn't fought the foolish Nick.

Regardless, the crown had belonged to her father. Her missing parent.

"I still have your crown," Hailey said.

"Good," Lena said.

Her crown was close, and so was her mother, and her throne was with her. It was hers. What Lena had was power.

"I want to ask you something." Hailey said.