“Mom, are you there?” she called out“Sure, here I am sweetie” finally came the response as Maxine, her mother, emerged from her bedroom door a... the top of the stairs looking flustered and wearing only her dressing gown.“Oh dear, have you only just got up?” teased Bella.“Ha, no dear,” laughed her mom distractedly, “I just didn’t realise you would be home so soon.”“Well, I’m going to go and start my homework,” said Bella “I’ve got a mountain to do, and a math test tomorrow to prepare for as. He appeared to be taking details from each man in turn.Minara walked up to the end of the queue. "Is this where you apply to be the Princess's bodyguard?" she asked a soldier standing to one side watching the proceedings.The soldier eyed her up and down. "Yes, but you are a female."Minara bit back a derogatory retort and smiled. The soldier gasped and took a step back. "Your teeth!" Is this for the bodyguard position or not?" Yes." Thank you." Minara joined the end of the queue. When she. Hadn't ever wanted one. But it was good. Pleasant, and comforting. Just something else that Shahia wouldn't be getting.When they parted, his dad had one last thing to say. "Chris, as of now, we're ending your virtual curfew. You really, really, thoroughly deserve that."Chris looked at them in surprise. He'd forgotten about it; he just called them all the time anyway. Funny how you could get used to something like that, even come to value the knowledge that they cared to know where you were,. It was a rather long letter.Dear Belle,You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. You are an angel from heaven and didn?t deserve any of the terrible things that were done to you yesterday. I should have stopped it. I should never have let it start but, I was afraid. I can?t imagine how traumatic it must have been for you. I realize now that, even when you were on the table and seemed to be happy, it was just your brain trying to cope?to survive. All day I tried to justify what we were.