Erina’s eyes had a bruised look to them as she stared at me in silence after listening to me recount my encounter with Sanreal.

  Wearing a light blue hospital gown, she held her hands neatly folded over her lap while sitting on a med-bed that quietly, unobtrusively monitored her condition.

  She’d been allocated to a suite that was identical to mine but in the villa’s opposite wing. The med-bed in her bedroom was a necessary new addition, however the large room had no trouble accommodating both it and the queen-sized four-post bed that was already there.

  With the bedroom’s large window behind me, I sat on a chair beside Erina.

  The silence between us dragged on for a while until Erina decorously cleared her throat to ask, “What will you do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When you return to Ar Telica will you continue to live with me? Or will you seek other living arrangements?”

  I blinked slowly, taken somewhat aback because the question was rather off topic.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I haven’t thought about it. I’ve had other things on my mind.”

  Erina leaned her head back against a pillow that was helping to prop her up.

  I watched her regard the ceiling in pensive silence that persisted for a long while until she asked, “Do you believe him?”

  I considered lying to her then decided against it. “He seemed sincere.”

  She nodded faintly while continuing to stare at the ceiling. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

  I swallowed quietly, then offered her a faint shrug. “I don’t know. I guess part of me does believe him. That’s the part saying that he seemed sincere.”

  “Then you’re not entirely convince.”

  “No, I’m not.” I leaned toward her a little. “So you tell me. Was he lying to me?”

  “No.”

  “But he wasn’t telling me the whole truth, was he?”

  “It’s more accurate to say, that he didn’t tell you the whole story.”

  That wasn’t a surprise to me, and I could very well guess at what he’d failed to mention. “He said he’d made a promise to Clarisol. But he didn’t tell me if she was used against him.”

  Erina slowly turned her head and looked at me. “She’s the noose around Phelan’s neck.”

  I could have patted myself on the back, but I chose not to. It just didn’t feel right to do so. The Clarisol who was a Simulacrum had hurt me, but the girl in the virtual prison had not. It was that girl that I was thinking of now. “Did the Empress threaten Sanreal with Clarisol?”

  Erina gently shook her head. “No.”

  I frowned weakly but was genuinely surprised. “She didn’t?”

  Again, Erina gently shook her head. “No, she didn’t use Clarisol against him. Had she done so, I’m certain Sanreal would have caved into her demands. He would have handed me and Project Mirai over to Kateopia on a gold platter.”

  I fought the sudden sinking feeling in my gut. “She means that much to him?”

  Erina’s dark eyes stared fixedly at me. “She means everything to him.”

  “And Kateopia knows this.”

  “She does.”

  I sighed anxiously. “So why didn’t she—?”

  “I can’t tell you why. And neither can Phelan. All we can do is theorize.”

  “So what’s your theory?”

  She hesitated and I wondered if she was simply giving the request some thought. However, she then surprised me by observing, “This is the first time in a while that we’ve had such a civilized conversation.”

  Annoyed, I gruffly retorted, “Don’t spoil it.”

  Erina rocked her head on her shoulders and murmured, “Ho hum.”

  “I thought it was Hi Ho, Hi Ho.”

  “I feel it hardly matters.”

  “Great. Then can we get back on topic?”

  Erina clasped her hands over her belly and regarded the ceiling once more.

  I grew vexed waiting for her. “Well?”

  “I’m waiting for you.”

  The urge to curse under my breath came and went. Noisily sucking in air, I folded my arms and crossed my legs as I sat back in the chair. “Why didn’t she use Clarisol against Sanreal?”

  Erina tapered her lips and continued to gaze upwards though her gaze had grown intent.

  I knew she wasn’t staring at the ceiling but at something only she could see.

  “If I had to hazard a guess,” she cautiously broached, “it may have something to do with Kateopia’s once close relationship with Clarisol’s mother, Annelise Praetor Erz Novis.”

  I barely held back my shock.

  Praetor? Mat’s adopted family?

  Erina mused aloud, “It is my understanding the two were childhood friends. House Novis went to war because Annelise urged her husband to support Kateopia.” She looked away from the ceiling and focused her attention on me. “Kateopia may feel responsible for what happened to her dear friend’s daughter. Therefore, using Clarisol as a bargaining chip may be a line that she is loath to cross.”

  Was it a stretch to make that assumption?

  Erina knew more about the Sanreals and the Empress than I did, and perhaps her reasoning was sound. Being an Alpha, her guesses were likely to be more accurate than other people’s ‘facts’. Nonetheless, was she reaching too far with her supposition? Or was it possible that Kateopia wasn’t as heartless or ruthless as I’d pictured her to be. After all, I’d based my image of her on what I’d been told by Ghost, Clarisol, Erina, and others. While their views of the Empress overlapped, they were also seeing her from different perspectives, so was my understanding of her flawed or simply incomplete?

  Despite the conundrum, I found myself murmuring, “You’re suggesting that she has a heart.”

  Erina shrugged noncommittally. “It’s a possibility.”

  I sighed loudly after a deep breath and leaned my head back. It was my turn to stare up at the ceiling. “Wonderful….”

  “I will tell you one thing.”

  “And what’s that.”

  “Sanreal is a wily old fox. You haven’t earned his trust. Not yet. He’s going to watch you carefully. And though Sanreal has said he won’t box you, I’d be cautious if I were you. To Sanreal, restoring House Novis to the rank of Alus is important to him. He’ll do what it takes to make that happen. He won’t have any qualms about manipulating and using you, especially when you’re at your most vulnerable.”

  I lowered my gaze from the ceiling and down to Erina.

  Most vulnerable? Where does she get off telling me that? Who do you think is the most responsible for me being at my most vulnerable!

  However, I understood what she meant.

  After Fatina had guided me back to my suite, she’d embraced me, and warmly congratulated me. She described my decision as an important milestone in my journey to discover my new self. Her feelings had felt pure, so I’d earnestly thanked her, however, I’d asked for some time alone and Fatina had obliged me. Left in solitude, I’d dropped onto the sofa and lain there for a long while as I turned my situation carefully over in my mind, looking for as many angles as I could identify.

  Sanreal had seemed genuine and that bothered me because it wasn’t what I’d expected. Adding to my woes was the fact that he’d apologized, and I was still having trouble dealing with it. I’d walked into the encounter expecting a fight, but it had turned out very differently, forcing me to question my preconceptions and to re-evaluate my position, standing, and relationship with the people around me. Most importantly, I had to consider how to deal Phelan Sanreal Erz Novis – the man I would now have to treat as Isabel’s father.

  I knew that if I opened myself up to Sanreal, and lowered the guard around my feelings, I risked being betrayed and hurt. Although I wanted to accept Sanreal’s words and sentiments at face value, I understood that I was dealing with someone who had a bigger picture in mind – one that I wasn’t privy too – that included the future prosperity of House Novis. Everything he’d said to me could turn out to be nothing more than a lie – a means to secure my co-operation – and having been worn down by my recent hardships, I had been all too receptive to a sudden show of kindness and understanding.

  In that sense, I understood that Sanreal and Fatina had taken advantage of me. However, I had looked at Fatina’s aura and I had sensed no lie in her feelings. Yet there was a difference between someone telling the truth as opposed to telling me what they believed was the truth, thereby being honest to their underlying intentions. Leaving Sanreal’s obvious goals aside, Fatina sincerely desired that I find happiness by following the path that led to life as Isabel val Sanreal. And because of her influence, I’d reluctantly taken a long step down that path.

  That’s why it was hard for me not sigh as I met Erina’s gaze. “I’m not that na?ve. At least, I’m not as na?ve as I used to be.”

  “Very well….”

  “But I’m tired, Erina. I’m tired of butting heads with everyone. I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of running.”

  I wasn’t lying to her.

  I was mentally and emotionally exhausted, and thereby vulnerable to being manipulated and subversively coerced just as Erina had warned me. And it was likely that Sanreal knew this, which made her warning all the more pertinent.

  So what was I to do now?

  I needed a break – a change of pace. This time here on the Citadel felt like a reprieve from all the hectic running I’d been doing, but it was temporary. It was as though I’d succeeded in reaching the eye of the proverbial storm. But sooner rather than later I would need to get out of the storm, or more than likely circumstances would toss me back into it. The question was whether I’d be ready or not to face the next challenge.

  Challenge?

  Sanreal had said he expected House Cardinal to challenge for Erina and thereby Mirai, but what did that involve? What were the mechanics of a challenge between Noble Houses? I was somewhat surprised I hadn’t considered the question before. It was certainly something I should have asked Sanreal. Then again, I could always turn to Ghost to satisfy my curiosity.

  As I made a mental note to pose the question to him later, Erina intruded into my thoughts.

  “I’m surprised to hear you say that.”

  Distracted, I gave her a puzzled look. “Say what?”

  “To hear you admit that you’re tired of being uncooperative.”

  I quickly remembered what we’d been talking about.

  Swallowing slowly, I gave myself a few seconds to compose a suitable reply. “Hating you for what you did to me has kept me going this far…but everyone has their limits.” I hesitated before pressing on. “But if you push me, I will push back. Just because I’m tired, doesn’t mean you’re going to have your way with me.”

  She snorted softly. “Honestly, I never expected you to be this recalcitrant.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because you never said ‘no’ to me in the past.”

  I narrowed my eyes slightly at her. “I had my reasons back then.”

  Erina’s expression grew unreadable as though she was slipping on a mask. Yet I had the impression I’d piqued her curiosity and she was trying to hide it.

  I cocked my head at her. “You don’t know me nearly as well as you think you do. Not surprising since you left me when I started middle school. You abandoned me. You didn’t raise me. I raised myself these past three years. And I had Mat as a good friend, and his family have always been kind to me. They helped me out whenever I was in need. You could say that I’m closer to them, than I am to you or our parents.”

  And yet back then, I could never have imagined that Mat and his family were part of a noble house that belonged to an empire that resided in another universe. It almost made me laugh when I took his relationship with Ronin, and thereby me, into context. Perhaps the gods or God was having a good laugh at my expense. Perhaps I was the butt of a grand cosmic joke.

  Erina held her silence as she continued to study me.

  Should I bother trying to hazard a guess at what she’s thinking?

  Erina was an Alpha, and I wasn’t, thus how we respectively reasoned was on different levels, and if I couldn’t think like her, did this mean I would never understand her? For that matter, did I want to understand her, because in doing so would I be able to forgive her for what she’d done to me? Or was I afraid that I would hate her more, and in doing so, what would that make me? Would it turn my heart as black as night?

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Honestly, it scared me a little to think along those lines.

  However, it didn’t make me turn away from her.

  I met her gaze and held it with a hard, uncompromising stare as I spoke from the heart. “I won’t forgive you for what you did to me. I want you to remember this. Now and forever.”

  Whether I came to understand her or not wasn’t going to change my feelings toward her, but I didn’t know if I hated her. I certainly hated what she’d done to me, but that didn’t mean that I outrightly despised her.

  Erina slowly nodded. “I understand. I won’t ask for your forgiveness.”

  I snorted at her. “Of course, you won’t. Because you believe you’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “That’s not it at all.”

  “Isn’t it?” In sudden anger, I had to restrain myself from glaring at her, before shaking my head in resignation as my emotions abruptly cooled. “Forget it. I don’t care. You won’t ever change. And neither will I. But just because I’m tired of dealing with people, doesn’t mean I’m going to roll over and play nice with you. Keep that in mind.”

  Rising from the chair, I exhaled harshly as if hoping to expel some of the resentment Erina had stirred up within me.

  “I’m off,” I declared. “I need some fresh air.”

  I really couldn’t spend more than a few minutes in the same room with her, so it was better for me to leave before I blew my stack trying to tolerate her. Yet, I had to ask myself why had I come here in the first place? What had I hoped to achieve?

  “Trust your instincts, Isabel. Your woman’s intuition.”

  Again, I was puzzled by what she was telling me. “What are you talking about?”

  “Rely on Mirai. She will keep you safe. And when the time comes, don’t hesitate. Do what you need to do.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning that above all else, prioritize your survival.”

  I had trouble believing what I was hearing. “What do you think I’ve been doing? I’ve been trying to stay alive. Do you think I’ve been running around jumping off buildings or riding on top of speeding trains for fun?”

  “That matter has been addressed.”

  “Has it?”

  “It was a mistake on Umi’s part. She’s been properly reprimanded.”

  “Reprimanded?” I shook my head in exasperation. “What does that mean, reprimanded? Was she shot at with electro-shock rounds? Was she chased down a building? Was she thrown off a maglev?”

  “Isabel—”

  “Straus told me that I was this close to getting boxed. Is that true?”

  “Isabel, nobody is blaming you for what happened this morning—”

  “Is it true?”

  Erina breathed in deeply. “No. I accepted responsibility for your unorthodox departure.”

  “You took responsibility?” I frowned a little, remembering what Straus had told me back at the Hardboiled Café. “You told them you could bring me under control.”

  I watched her swallow subtly as though trying to hide it, yet her expression was calm and unreadable.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Why…?”

  “Because I should have handled the situation better. I could have diffused it. Instead, I let Spartan take charge. That was my mistake.”

  “You mean Arnval….”

  “Yes. I wasn’t able to convince Arnval that you weren’t a threat.”

  “A threat?”

  Erina exhaled softly. “Not just a threat. There was more to the situation. They were concerned about House Cardinal stepping in after you ran away.”

  “Stepping in to kidnap me?”

  “Yes.”

  I noticed I’d balled my hands into fists. Relaxing them took some effort. Afterwards, I swallowed hard a couple of times, but I wasn’t as angry as I should have been. Instead, I was a little unsettled. “Tabitha said that doing so would be a mistake. That it could lead to war.”

  “So you’ve said. But it’s dangerous to take her at her word.”

  “Then you don’t believe her?”

  “I believe it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  Confused, I also shrugged in frustration. “Then where does that leave me?”

  “For now, you remain here where you are safe.”

  “Then I won’t be able to leave this place? I’m stuck aboard the Citadel?”

  “For the time being.”

  “Until when?”

  “I don’t know, Isabel. All I know is that it’s better—safer—to keep you here.”

  Again, I frowned at her. “But this isn’t just about me. This is about you as well.”

  Erina exhaled softly. “Yes, that’s true.”

  I considered sitting back down, but decided it was best to ask her while standing up. “Tabitha said that you told the Empress that Mirai would die without you. Is that true?”

  A look of surprise flashed across her face. Unfortunately, her reaction could mean many things, and I didn’t have the inclination to figure them out, so I focused on that one question.

  “Is that true?” I repeated.

  “Yes, I told her that.”

  I shook my head sharply. “No, that’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking about Mirai needing you so that she can live. Is that true?”

  A long moment went by before Erina did something unexpected.

  She didn’t nod or shake her head. She merely shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

  “Complicated?”

  “There’s a great deal I don’t know about you. You’re a newborn—the only one of your kind. There’s much to learn about you.”

  I stepped closer to Erina’s bed. “What does that have to do with Mirai needing you for her to live?”

  “If something goes wrong, who’s going to save you?” Erina gave me another casual shrug. “I am.”

  Dumbfounded, I gaped at her. “Seriously? That’s why? That’s the reason?”

  “What did you expect?”

  I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. “I don’t know? I thought maybe there was something wrong with her that only you could fix. Like her needing special medicine that only you could make for her. That sort of thing.”

  “If she needed anything like that, I’d make sure the Sarcophagus could provide it for you.”

  I dropped my hands down to my sides. “Seriously?”

  “Isabel, you’re my greatest creation.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning that while I don’t know everything there is to know about you, I certainly know that you are not deficient. Provided that you ingest adequate nutrients, you’ll be fine.”

  “In other words, so long as I don’t starve.”

  “Precisely. And if need be, the Sarcophagus can maintain you indefinitely.”

  The onset of a headache had me rubbing my temples while I squeezed my eyes shut. “I need to sit down.”

  “There’s a chair’s behind you.”

  Opening my eyes, I glared at my former sister. “The fact that you bluffed an Empress doesn’t bother you?”

  “I made a strategic decision.”

  “She could have snatched you and Mirai.”

  “She threatened to do that, and Sanreal told her to prepare for war. So then she backed down and proposed a compromise. To enter Mirai into the Gun Princess Royale. And if she wins, House Elsis Novis will be restored to the rank of Alus. But if she loses, then I hand her over along with all the research to House Aventisse.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Sanreal accepted, but I refused. Mirai and the research is simply too important.”

  “And that’s when you bluffed her.”

  “More or less. I told her that I’d rather perish rather than hand you over. By that I meant perish along with you and my research. And I wasn’t bluffing about it. Unfortunately, I misjudged Kateopia. I didn’t realize the extent to which she would scorn and resent me for rebuffing her. I should have known the magnitude of her ego and arrogance.”

  “She’s not a woman who takes No for an answer….”

  “No, she’s not. And though I expected as much from her, I nonetheless underestimated the grudge she held against me. That’s because there is a line that I noticed Kateopia did not cross. She didn’t use Clarisol as a bargaining chip against Sanreal. But she had no reservations about using my brother against me. However, I didn’t know that at the time.”

  A dull chill spread throughout my chest, quickly encircling my heart, and squeezing my lungs. “I don’t understand….”

  “Kateopia had backed off. She wasn’t demanding we hand Mirai over to her immediately. Instead, she was insisting we put her in the GPR. And though Sanreal had reluctantly agreed, I hadn’t, but I could see there was a silver lining to this. With Mirai in the GPR we had more time for her to develop and mature. We would also collect more data. All she had to do was survive. We were confident her body was up to the challenge. The problem was her mind.”

  “Her mind?”

  “It was blank. She had been imprinted with muscle memory. She had physical training. She could move about. But her mind was a clean slate. Clarisol’s neural map had been the lead candidate for imprinting into her brain. But putting Clarisol into Mirai had become a risk. Not only was there the problem about her mental degradation, but she had no training or experience with any sort of gaming. She had little chance of survival in the GPR. Thus, we had to resort to our next best candidate, a woman of significant experience, skill, and training. However, our psych evaluation raised some red flags with her, and so I argued against using her neural map. Therefore, our search continued for a viable candidate. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, Kateopia already had someone in mind.”

  I knew what she would say next. “Me.”

  “Yes. My brother, Ronin Kassius.” Erina paused with a reluctant look on her face. “And by coincidence, I’d already included you in the candidate shortlist.”

  My expression contorted as I stared at her in confusion and disbelief. “You did what?”

  “I added you to the list. I had the psych team do the numbers on you…and they came up positive. You were a good match. A very good match, so much so that I couldn’t believe it myself. Even accounting for your fears and trauma, to find that you were so compatible with Mirai was an unbelievable break. But I had another reason to include you.”

  My disbelief grew by an order of magnitude, choking me such that I barely wheezed out, “…what reason…?”

  Erina’s gaze was steady on me. “I trusted you. I didn’t trust anyone else. Even Clarisol was someone who did not endear my faith in her. But you were someone I understood, and I wholeheartedly believed in you. The psych profile results were one thing, and though there were warnings about mapping a male mind to a female brain, I couldn’t bring myself to trust in anyone else. Thus, in my mind, I had already decided that you would occupy Mirai’s mind. That you would become Mirai.”

  “You…you did this to me?”

  “When Kateopia learnt that I had chosen to use your neural map for Mirai’s mind, she agreed. I had the impression that she was delighting in the idea that my own brother would be suffering for my hubris after I challenged her authority. But I had no idea that she intended to physically harm you. In fact, she threw me off by insisting on a proviso. You had to pass a test, and thus she arranged for the Zombie Apocalypse that you subsequently survived.” Erina paused to take a couple of slow, deep breaths. “And then she threw you into Limbo.”

  My body shivered as I stood beside her bed and listened to her with shock coursing through my veins.

  Erina continued her horrid tale.

  “I didn’t know Kateopia had used a Fabricator to make a copy of the urban zone. When you finished the challenge, she promptly translocated you into Limbo. Fortunately, Akane was able to bring you back but by then you’d suffered horrible injuries. Your body was placed in a stasis chamber to stabilize it before attempting regeneration. But there was a problem.”

  “…what problem…?”

  “We couldn’t regenerate you. The technology possessed by the Empire was insufficient. And that’s when Kateopia revealed that the Imperial Family had a Remnant in its possession—a relic of old tech created by the same race that constructed the conduit between universes.”

  “A Remnant that does what?”

  “A Remnant that can restore your body.”

  “You mean…Ronin’s body….”

  “Yes.” Erina nodded gently at me. “And she said we could use it on one condition.”

  “That you give her Mirai?”

  “No.”

  I frowned as my mind executed a double take. “No? What do you mean no?”

  “She said we could use it if you wished for it.”

  I stared at her, speechless and perplexed.

  Erina continued in a low, grim tone. “Every Gun Empress is granted one wish upon their crowning. If you competed and won, you could wish to have Ronin’s body restored by using the Remnant that Kateopia has in her possession.”

  “And so you made the choice for me. You put my mind in Mirai’s body.”

  Erina glanced away with a faint flicker of regret in her eyes. “What other choice could I make?”

  “You could have given her Mirai.”

  “She didn’t ask for Mirai. And I wasn’t going to hand her over either.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Mirai is the key to an important future. But in the wrong hands—Kateopia’s hands—she’s the key to opening Pandora’s Box. And we know how that worked out for humanity.”

  “But you just said that Kateopia didn’t ask for Mirai. You just said that!”

  “I know. And that’s what bothers me. After all the threats she made—after bringing House Aventisse and House Novis to the brink of war—she executed an about face. She changed her mind. And I do not know why.”

  “No.” I shook my head slowly. “No, you could have given her Mirai when all of this started. Then I wouldn’t have had to suffer. None of this would have happened. And I wouldn’t be here right now.”

  “There was no way in Hell that I would have handed Mirai to her. None!”

  “So you chose Mirai over your own brother? Over me? How could you?”

  “I did not choose one over the other! You are both equally precious to me! But I misjudged Kateopia. I made a mistake.”

  “You stuck me in Mirai! You wanted me in her head! You played right into Kateopia’s hands and I suffered for it—Ronin suffered for it.”

  “I did what I felt—what I believed—was right because Mirai is more important than any of us. She can either bring about a new era or destroy the present one.”

  Than any of us? Didn’t she just say that Mirai and I were of equal importance to her?

  I didn’t even notice I’d grabbed Erina by her gown until I’d lifted her off the bed with one hand. “You sacrificed me.”

  Despite her predicament, Erina met my stare with a look of calm conviction that further incensed me. “Isabel, I had to do it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re important.”

  I shook her harshly and lifted her closer to me. “Why am I important? What is the truth behind Mirai?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Tell me—!”

  “I can’t!”

  Erina’s shout stunned me.

  The collapse of her calm fa?ade, shattered in the blink of an eye, genuinely shocked me as did the sudden, intense flaring of her lifeforce aura. I realized in a heartbeat that I was seeing her true emotions. Anger, despair, frustration, and agonizing remorse. All of it radiating in one violent burst of energy that Mirai could see with blinding intensity. Erina was a cauldron – a furnace – of roiling, conflicted, tormented feelings searing her from the inside.

  But then so was I.

  And I’d reached my melting point.

  “You frekking bitch.” I clenched my free hand while the other held Erina aloft. “You frekking bitch!”

  “Isabel—there was no other way.”

  “There is always another way.”

  “Not this time! There was no one better than you for Mirai’s mind. You are the only one I can trust to save Ronin—!”

  “You frekked up and now I’m supposed to save myself?”

  In that moment, I hated Erina more than I could tolerate, and more than at any other time in my entire life. I despised the Empress for what she’d done to me, but Erina had already decided beforehand that I would be imprinted in Mirai’s mind.

  Clarisol had never been her preferred choice. Rather, she was Phelan Sanreal’s top pick. After all, everything Sanreal had done to create the false identity of Isabel Allegrando had been to give Clarisol a new life.

  However, in Erina’s mind it had always been me.

  That was what inflamed me to melting point – the fact that she’d decided all along that I was the only candidate worthy of her creation…and I had absolutely no say in the matter.

  My emotions bubbled, frothed, and then exploded.

  I was her only choice!

  With a scream, I released Erina and then whirled to pick up the chair behind me, hurling it clear across the room where it smashed into a wall and broke apart with a loud crash.

  I was her only frekking choice!

  I screamed again.

  Fury blanketed my thoughts, painting my mind white with rage.

  Before I knew it, I had yanked Erina into the air by her neck and I was crushing her throat with one hand.

  “Isabel!”

  A loud shout punched into my consciousness.

  A young man’s voice – one that I barely recognized since I was barely thinking at all.

  Then suddenly there were two arms around me – strong arms that pulled me away from Erina while a handful of girls wearing maid uniforms threw themselves onto her, shielding her from me.

  I struggled, twisting and turning, writhing madly, but those arms gripping me refused to let go.

  “Isabel—please! Please stop!”

  It was the young man again, his strained voice coming from close behind me.

  Of a sudden, I realized they were his arms that held me back – arms with a strength that seemed equal to Mirai’s.

  Then I saw Ghost standing in front of me with a desperate, imploring look on his face.

  “Isabel…,” he whispered.

  He wasn’t calling me Princess.

  He was calling me Isabel.

  And he’d never done that before.

  Inexplicably, it helped him reach me, cutting through the blinding, feral rage consuming me, and I started to think clearly again.

  My struggles eased and I slowly looked around the room.

  I saw the damage I had done to the wall and the chair.

  I saw the med-bed that had been tossed onto its side.

  I saw the maids huddled around an unconscious Erina sitting slumped on the floor.

  “I….”

  I looked down at my hands.

  They felt raw and they hurt, but then the physical pain faded like it always did since I woke up in Mirai’s body.

  However, the emotional agony stayed with me.

  The crazed killing intent that had overwhelmed me was gone, replaced by an intense remorse, guilt, and shame that made me violently tremble.

  Blinking slowly, I stared at Ghost, seeing the unbridled concern in his eyes.

  Then my gaze fell on Erina once more, sitting on the floor, supported by Fatina’s maids, and the full weight of what I’d almost done made me burst into tears.

  I felt the arms holding me loosen their grip.

  “…Isabel….”

  A heartbeat later, I pulled free and was running out of the room before anyone could stop me.

  The Gun Princess Royale on Amazon KDP and that is the series I will be continuing with after I release my new scifi/fantasy novel.