I was feeling so many emotions right now in my heart, but none of them trickled down my face. ‘A princess never shows what she feels, she always smiles, even in her death’ My mother’s words played like a command in my head, like something ingrained in every cell of mine. Yet my eyes registered Suzan’s face and saw it project every emotion that I wanted to cry out loud right then.

“Idiot, don’t thank me. How can I not come by your side when you are in distress”, Suzan wiped her tears before they slid down her pink cheeks.

My life never allowed me to have friends until I came here to Winterwells, and unexpectedly in a brief time, Suzan had become my comfort person. Trusting someone so easily or declaring them your best friend would be rash, but her friendship looked way too genuine for that. My smile couldn’t stop looking at her. It was a smile to mask my emotions, but showed my honest happiness at having met her.

After Dandeline, Suzan must have been the second person sat by my side.

I still don’t know why this girl followed me to the prison, maybe for what Channing had ordered, but then she was the only one who had visited me in the hospital once when I did not recognise her.

Later on, in the court, Suzan’s presence was ample to make me confident enough. Yes, there were other people, but she stood there saying words that were as sturdy as the pillars of that court hall. Showing me around the capital with no judgement and waiting by my side during the injury, she went so far as to sit outside in the cold so her eyes would not miss out on the pack members and ask them for my mobile because I was so concerned about it having lost it.

“No Suzan, truly thank you for being with me,” I said, and she simply smiled. Don’t know whether she understood what I meant, but she smiled as if she did.

Arina approached us and flopped Donnie’s unconscious body down. I looked at him, bruised and some blood covered him, and my eyes immediately darted to Hailey, who passed by us scowling at the look I was giving her. She did not have to go this overboard, but it was no use in telling that to her. I faced back at Donnie. “What went wrong? I had so many voices in my head, I thought I would go crazy”

Connie had come around to check Donnie for any severe injury. He answered me, still focused on his twin brother, “if someone tries to make him unconscious by force while he has hypnotised a person, then random voices start troubling the hypnotised person.”

My eyes darted between Donnie, who lay down with his eyes closed, and then back at Connie, who looked relieved that his brother did not have severe injuries.

Connie turned to me, giving me his focus and explained more, “It is a defence mechanism he has developed from his ability since he is weak at fighting. He for sure dialled it down before going unconscious or you would have gone crazy with those words disregarding you in your head, retorting to self-harm before those voices start coming from the surroundings instead of just inside your head. Eventually, your brain would react to that hypnosis so strongly that your ears would bleed and you will pass out from exhaustion”

It was a relief that he dialled it down. Or the voices that I didn’t even know would have traumatised me with words I could not even understand. “It is better he reduced the intensity”

Connie held his head down glancing at his brother then at his fingers which fiddled nonstop with each other, “He was probably attacked and that would have set the reaction into play, maybe he was trying to take down someone else and you got caught in it.” Connie looked up with wavering eyes. “Selene, both of us meant no harm to you”

“I know, don’t explain. You did what you had to do, thank you,” I said, reassuring his guilty self.

My eyes scanned Hailey, who was utterly irritated since the time I opened my eyes. I can only assume Donnie put her through the same deal. That could explain why his ability went berserk. Perhaps he pulled Hailey into it and made her suffer, as he would obviously be weaker against her. I just got caught as my mind was already hypnotised.

I looked back at Donnie and saw how merciless yet skilfully inflicted the injuries on him were. Nothing looked severe, yet the site was brutal. It only had me worry more about who this Hailey was.

Diana was the one to step in between breaking the atmosphere. “The competition is still on. I am going ahead. You two can decide for yourselves to spend the rest of your life here.” Diana’s gibe was obvious in her eyes as she glared at me and Suzan. She turned around grumpily and went off running for the finish line.

Suzan sighed, following Diana’s steps, “wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today” I couldn’t help but chuckle at her words. Suzan probably missed out on how Diana was subtly against me running in this competition, unlike before, when she apologised for misjudging me.

“Do you want to race?” I asked.

Suzan had a glimmer in her eyes. But her brows pulled together and her hand found its place on my shoulder. “Are you sure you are okay?” Her heart was unequivocal about how much she wanted to race, but that did not influence her concern about me.

I nodded my head, “I am fine, don’t worry so much”

“If that is what you say, let’s do it. Fair and square and see who wins the test of speed” Suzan got up and offered me her hand. I held it and pushed myself up. I checked whether my task completion Red strip was still secure and once done, I turned into my wolf. Beside me, Suzan was already ready and stretching.

“Ready?” She telecommunicated. I howled, which was joined by her, followed by others present there except for Hailey. It was the cue, and we went off, just like last time, cutting through the thicket, routing for the finish line.