Page 34 of Take My Throne

I kiss the top of my fingers and waved goodbye as he turns and heads off in the direction of my father’s study.

“What say you and I go get some champagne?” Romy says, offering me his arm. We walk into the dance hall together, to be greeted by a thunderous cheer.

“Ivy! Ivy! Ivy!”

Lucas walks over and wraps his arm around my waist. The whole touch is seriously uncomfortable for me.

“Congratulations, Ivy,” he says, side-eying Romy, who simply smiles. “I’m so proud of you. You brought the title home for House Archaic.”

“Time for your victory lap!” Romy suddenly bent down and picked me up. Lucas comes and stands by his side and I find myself perched on top of their shoulders as they parade me round the hall. Everywhere I looked there are happy faces, people cheering me on, glad that I’d taken the title away from the boys.

For the first time since my father kidnapped me, I feel like maybe, just maybe, I do belong here.

At last, Lucas and Romy set me down, and Lucas is the one who holds me close. Appearances are all that matter, and it is important Lucas and I maintain a united front. A win for one of us is a win for all of House Archaic.

“Mind if I interrupt?”

Lucas and I break apart as Ally taps me on the shoulder. I turn to face her and she hands me a glass of champagne.

“Can we talk?” she asks. “In private?”

“Sure.” I follow her outside, away from the hustle and bustle of the party. From experience, it is going to go on until the wee hours of the morning, but I am not sure I am going to be able to last much longer. It has been such an eventful night and all I really want to do is curl up in bed with one of my boys. Instead, it seems like there is even more politicking to get through.

“Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot when we first met,” Ally begins.

“You can say that again,” I say coldly. “I don’t like bullies.”

“Yeah. You made that clear.” Ally rubs her cheek, remembering the hard slaps I’d treated her to when I stopped her taunting Milly. “Although if you’d grown up here, you’d understand that’s just how we do things.”

“Maybe it’s time you tried another way,” I tell her. “Now if all you wanted to do is walk down memory lane together, I think I’d rather do that with someone who wasn’t so much of a bitch.”

I move to go back inside, but Ally grabs my arm.

“Ivy, wait. This isn’t how I meant for this to go. We really need to talk.”

I inhale deeply. “So talk and get it over with.”

“You have no idea how much it meant to me, to Taylor, to all us girls to see you cross the finish line first,” Ally says. “That’s the first time a woman’s been allowed to compete in the Bomber Derby and to see you win was incredible. This town has been living in the Dark Ages for too long. Us girls get to ride behind the boys while they take all the glory. Our job is to look pretty for them while they have all the fun. And I say enough. It’s time for the women to stand up for ourselves and take action. I think you’re right. It is time to try another way. Taylor and I have been talking and we want to set up a girl’s House group. My family’s affiliated with House Archaic, which is why I was Head Girl before you, but Taylor’s connected to House Dauphin. If we could get Milly involved and maybe Nicola Navarre, we could create our own team. With you leading us, people would listen and we could make some real change in King Town. What do you think? Are you in?”

I look at her, considering what she just said. I like the sound of it, but this is Ally we are talking about here. How can I trust her?

“I’ll talk to Milly about it and get back to you,” I finally say.

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