Chapter 52 PREPARE TO BE UNPREPARED
MERRIELYNN.
The next morning, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, my toothbrush frozen mid-air.
My eyes were red and puffy from lack of sleep, and the events of the previous night replayed in my mind on a relentless loop.
The pool. The panic. Cormac carrying me out.
It wasn’t a dream, no matter how much I wished it had been.
I didn’t want to go to school.
The thought of walking through those hallways and seeing the faces of everyone who had witnessed my humiliation made me want to crawl back into bed and never come out. But staying home wasn’t an option.
I sighed and forced myself to finish getting ready. As I walked out the door, I braced myself for the stares, the whispers, the inevitable teasing.
But when I stepped into the school building, nothing happened.
The hallways were their usual chaos, students rushing to get to class or loitering in groups near their lockers. No one glanced my way. No one whispered behind their hands or pointed.
It was like nothing had happened at all.
Confused, I made my way to my locker, my shoulders tense as I prepared for the worst. But it never came. Even when I passed Juniper and her friends, they didn’t say a word to me. They didn’t even look in my direction.
What was going on?
By the time I spotted Emorie at our usual spot before first period, I was bursting with questions.
“Em,” I said, sliding into the seat next to her. “What is going on?”
She looked up from her phone, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Why is no one talking about what happened last night?” I asked, lowering my voice.
Emorie glanced away, “Oh, that.”
“Yes, that!” I said, my frustration growing. “I thought for sure I’d be the laughingstock of the school today.”
Emorie leaned back in her chair, her expression amused. “You can thank Chaos for that.”
I blinked. “Cormac?”
“Yeah. Apparently, he threatened everyone who was there last night. Told them if they so much as mentioned your name, they’d regret it.”
I stared at her, stunned. “He… did that?”
What in the...
She nodded, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Chaos doesn’t mess around. When he gives an order, people listen.”
I didn’t know what to say. Cormac wasn’t exactly known for being kind or considerate, but this… this was something else. He hadn’t just... saved me—he’d gone out of his way to make sure no one could hurt me, even after the fact.
“Why would he do that?” I asked, more to myself than to Emorie.
Emorie shrugged. “Who knows? Chaos’ not exactly the most predictable person. But he’s been keeping an eye on you a lot lately.”
Her words made my chest tighten. I didn’t know what to make of Cormac’s actions, but I couldn’t deny that they... they what?
For someone like him to care enough to do this—it was unexpected.
He made me a laughingstock more than anyone else here.
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. “What do you know about Cormac, anyway?”
Emorie’s eyes lit up, and I immediately regretted asking. “Oh, so now you’re curious about him?”
“Just answer the question,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Well,” she began, leaning forward conspiratorially, “you already know the basics. He’s got that bad-boy reputation, the whole brooding-and-dangerous vibe. But did you know he has a twin sister?”
I blinked in surprise. “A twin?”
“Yep. Her name’s Lola or Lily or something. She doesn’t go to school here, though. I heard a lot of kids from generations in the royal family are usually home schooled.”
I processed this new information in silence.
Emorie continued, clearly enjoying the chance to share gossip. “Apparently, he treats her like royalty. Like, she’s the only person who gets to see the good side of him. Don't know why his dad lets him go here, but not her. I wonder what a female Chaos looks like.”
The idea of him having a softer, more protective side was… strange.
"You've never seen her?"
"No, maybe King Killian is super protective of his little girl."
Huh.
But I didn't see his sister when we went to the palace.
Maybe she wasn't home.
“The good side?” I repeated, the words catching me off guard.
“Yeah. You know, the version of Chaos who isn’t terrifying. People say he’s a completely different person around her.”
A completely different person.
The memory of the previous night came rushing back—the way Cormac had stayed with me, calmed me down, tucked me into bed. It had been so unlike him, yet it had felt so natural at the time.
I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be on the receiving end of that version of Cormac all the time.
The version his sister got to see.
The thought stirred something in me that I didn’t want to examine too closely.
“It’s not fair,” I muttered before I could stop myself.
Emorie frowned. “What’s not fair?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly, shaking my head.
But the truth was, I was envious.
Envious of a girl I didn’t even know.
I spent the rest of the day distracted, my thoughts drifting back to Cormac again and again. The way he’d carried me out of the pool, the way he’d stayed with me without a word, the way he’d silenced the entire school for my sake.
He was a mystery, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d only scratched the surface.
But we'd interact, day after day, and despite the new revelations about his sister, it never seemed like I was getting any closer to the depth of him.
And oh so badly, I wanted to.
But would that ever even be possible?