Hollow Hearts (The Harkwright Trilogy)

Rules for outside the Academy

When out with a Harkwright man, we do not want it brought to the attention of a passerby that you are a Harkwright girl. Therefore you will be addressed by your first name or a nickname if the man chooses to adopt that method of addressment. You will still abide by the same set of rules, and must follow all orders given at any time. Whilst out in public, the Harkwright men will act on their best behavior and will not ask you to do anything that could prove dangerous to yourself or them or anything that could be deemed unlawful. If they should act against us, you are permitted to refuse their orders and will be given a fair hearing once you arrive back safely within the Academy walls. A bodyguard will be present at all times and will act as the eyes and ears of the Academy while you are away.

You are required to wear whatever clothing the Harkwrights deem necessary.

You are not allowed to question where you are going or how long you will be required for.

If you will be required to stay away from the Academy overnight, then you will be given 24 hours notice prior to the event.

You should have an overnight bag ready and you should be ready to go as soon as you are called upon to attend.

No calls are permitted to take place while you are gone - anyone found breaking these rules will be handed an instant dismissal and expected to pay back an estimation of what you would have earned had you made it the full three years.

Rules for Claiming

Should a Harkwright deem you worthy of the honor to be claimed then you will become solely his. All orders given prior will be cancelled out and you will from here on out be able to refuse all Harkwrights except from the one claimer and Sir Harkwright himself. You will be expected to follow and obey all rules given by the claimer and you will not be allowed to be alone with any other Harkwright without his written consent.

No one can revoke a claiming, not even Sir Harkwright.

The claiming will last until the claimer absolves his hold upon you and will only be permitted to claim you once more, after the absolvement has taken place.

Should the claiming last until your graduation day then you will be free once your graduation has taken place.

Should a proposal occur from anyone other than your claimer, you will be able to accept should you so choose to.

Additional Rules

No girl should be seen to be showing any outward signs of jealousy, attitude issues or malicious intent towards the men.

If one of the men has appeared to favor you this does not mean he prefers you to the others or that he is now ‘yours.’ - this attention is not guaranteed and will soon be placed upon another girl.

If you have not been claimed then you are nothing special, do not begin to think otherwise.

You CANNOT claim a Harkwright man and they can distribute their time however they please.

If you have been claimed this does not mean they will not see any other girl, but they have chosen to spend their nights with you so you should be prepared to have them with you for the foreseeable future. We remind you that as a claimed girl you can still not show any signs of jealousy and the men are free to spend their attention, however they see fit.

If any of the men give you money for any services you may have performed, you are not permitted to keep said payments.

One Harkwright has the ability to extend a free pass to a girl of his choice so she can leave the Academy and end her stay without having to pay back any money that has been bestowed upon her and her family. No consequences will befall said girl. However only three passes are allowed to be issued and once they are given, they cannot be taken back. You cannot ask for a pass, it has to be offered and you are not allowed to ask who has the passes. If you should fall upon the knowledge of which man is in possession, then you must not share this knowledge with any other girl!! Failure to heed this advice will result in a strict punishment, which will end in a dismissal, a full payment of an estimation of what you would have been awarded at the end of your stay and a hefty fine on top of said amount. This punishment is not extensive and could result in a lot more befalling the guilty party. Should more than one person be privy to this sensitive information then drastic measures will be taken to discover the guilty party from the innocent bystander.

Okay, I think I need to take a minute or two so I can digest all of this information, because that is insane! I thought reserves had it bad, I guess it’s good that we can at least defend ourselves but everything else is just plain wrong. If you aren’t allowed to refuse a gift how can you refuse the money? We can’t say no to the Harkwrights yet we can’t say yes to that either, this is beyond fucked up if you ask me.

No jealousy, yeah that’s fine with me. I’m not about to start pulling some girl’s hair out, but I can think of a few girls who would. Four for instance. Although, I haven’t seen or heard anything about her since Candice and I still don’t know if she survived the stabbing or not. That’s what I should have asked Tucker, for fuck’s sake, you have to despise missed opportunities sometimes, you really do.

A knock goes at my door once more and my sigh feels as though it comes from somewhere so much deeper this time, why can’t this day just hurry up and end.

It started off tense, then became one of the best days I’ve had in a long time, and that includes before I even came to this place. I mean I’ve been here almost eight months already, six as a student and that realization has hit me like a freight train. But then Caitlyn came to the door and made me realize just how petty these guys can be and now… well I think I just want to go to bed.

I pull the door open and come face to face with Liam and I don’t even say anything before leaving the door wide open and dropping back down to the sofa.

He follows after me, closing the door behind him before dropping down beside the sofa with worry etched on his face.

“What’s going on? I heard you were dragged away by Tucker, did he upset you?”

I go to assuage his fears and tell him everything that happened today, but for some reason, I can’t.