"She tosses the magazine aside, folding her arms on the table. "Please, tell me another joke," Ellen says. "I want so …"

"Alex clenches his jaw. He's used to doing things that piss his mother off- in his teens, he had a penchant for confro…"

"Outside Kensington Palace, Alex takes Henry's phone out of his hand and swiftly opens a blank contact page before he …"

"Alex wouldn't say he likes Henry, but he does enjoy the quick rhythm of arguments they fall into. He knows he talks t…"

""That's not your emails-from-Zahra face," Nora says, nosing her way over his shoulder. He elbows her away. "You keep …"

"Alex rolls his eyes and sends back, the harrowing struggle of managing the empire's blood money. Henry's response com…"

""It's public knowledge. It's not my problem you just found out," his mother is saying, pacing double-time down a West…"

"I was hoping you two would start talking dirty," Pez says. "Please, do go on." "I don't think you could keep up, Pez,…"

"All in all, finals come and go with much less fanfare than Alex imagined. It's a week of cramming and presentations a…"

"It's not a grudge, really. It's not even a rivalry. It's a prickling, unsettling annoyance. It makes his palms sweat.…"