Page 87 of Royal Lies

So many questions plagued her mind but the little girlchoseto ignore them all. Shewasa fool. She should have heeded the warnings of the servants. She should have never lowered her standing for a man like the one who helped give birth to her. She should have gutted him when he finally dared show his face.

"What are you doing?" The boy with eyes as cool as ice asked, his voice all haughty and arrogant for a bastard child. The girl heard it, the whispers spread by the maids, by the fae and humans she came across.

The boy with hair as light as a lion's mane was a bastard child. In a way, the girl and boy were very similar. Perhaps that was why they got along so well, or that's what the girl led others to believe. After all, she was not her mother's daughter, not really, not by blood. At least, he had his father's blood, so he wasn't a complete outcast like the girl.

"Waiting," the girl kicked her legs side to side, staring at the golden leaf-embroidered barred gates.

The boy seemed dissatisfied with that answer. His face twisted into utter disgust, for he too heard the tales about her. Abandoned by her parents and taken in by the queen, though she was treated as the queen's daughter, everyone knew who she really was—an abandoned urchin of theFoolish PrincetheMad Prince. The man who left his castle for a siren, the worst of the worst of fae kind. The lowest of the lowest, and the little girl carried half of that siren's blood.

True they may have been the most stunning fae alongside their underwater counterparts but the sirens of the sky were wanderers. They were tribal nomads who gained their wealth in the bedroom. In a court as regal and defined in reputation as the Griffin Court, the Sirens were outcasts, mockeries of their lineage.

"Why? You know he's not coming." the boy said frankly. The boy also heard stories of the frivolous girl. A girl who waited despite everyone knowing that the abandoned prince would never come back. A girl who did whatever she wanted whenever despite her reputation and standing. A girl who was unfit for the queen's favor and mercy.

Silence.

The girl didn't know why; she heard the servants talk, she heard what everyone thought, even the kind maid, who was fired not long after she told her.

"Young Miss, why do you always wait? You should focus more on your studies instead. It would help take your mind off the topic," the kind maid, with bright green hair, advised her. But she always ignored all of them.

For some reason, she couldn't ignore the boy. She couldn't shake off his comments like she normally would with any other. A boy who spoke to her when no one else her age had ever spoken to her before. They were all too scared to be associated with the abandoned disgraceful princess. The pitiful bird whose wings flew south not north. Who's mother was a courtesan, a siren, a pretty little songbird.

Tears started rolling down the girl’s bright rosy cheeks as all the comments hit the little girl at once. All the sneers, all the mocking words behind her back, the constant pitiful glances as if they all knew something she didn't. But shedidknow. The little girldidknow the truth, that her father would never come back not for her, not for the court, andneverwithout the Siren. He'llstay away in his trance to find the girl's mother. She knew that until he had the bird back by his side he, theFoolish Prince, theMad Prince, would never step foot back inside the castle.

Maybe it was the fact that someone her age finally spoke to her, or perhaps it was the fact that she found some kind of kinship with the bastard boy that tears began rolling down her chubby rosy cheeks. That the truthfinallypenetrated her thick head.

"H-He'll come, I know he will. He's my daddy; he has to come, he has to come get me," her lips quivered, catching the boy off guard. But the girl stood tall, her golden eyes firm, convinced by her desperatehopes. For some reason, the boy felt a connection to her, maybe because of their background, but he felt linked to her in a way he’d never felt with anyone else. Perhaps it was because he was the eldest, but his court never treated him the way hers did towards their princess. The servants never dared speak behind his back, his family invited him in, but hers—they gossiped and whispered of how ignorant she was. They gossiped about her foolish father, of her lower Siren blood, even if it was half. Worst of all was her temper. Or perhaps it was because they were just jealous of her powers that they did all those nasty things to the little girl.

All the small bugs found in her bed set up by her servants. The missing jewelry from her drawers and cabinets. The outdated clothes she wore. The little girl never minded of course, because she never cared, she longed for her father to take her away so that she too might join him in his adventures. But he never did.

Even at a young age, the girl held a vast amount of magic, so great it might have even triumphed over the boy’s. The girl always knew why the boy had wanted to be her acquaintance, it was so he could gain a powerful ally.

So to solidify this bond of friendship the boy sat by her side and waited for a man that would never come.

"Don't cry; it'll make your face ugly," the boy blatantly said as all children do, handing over his bright blue handkerchief embedded with sapphires and diamonds.

But then the day came. It was so unexpected, so odd, that the whole castle was astounded. The foolish prince had returned. Without a single glance over toward the golden-haired girl, whose silky strands looked so much like his, whose features were practically the female version of his, he strode past her.

No, this man was nothing but mad.

TheMad Princestormed past the wide-eyed children by the steps to the grand castle, the boy and girl couldn’t believe their eyes. It was him, the forbidden prince, the one that left to chase a beggar, a siren.

"Daddy. Daddy!" The girl pleaded desperately trying to capture the wide-eyedinsaneman's attention. She ran past the shocked boy, his stunned face, and open mouth hung a gap at the scene before him.

The little girl was too small to keep pace with her so-called father's strides. Her tiny little legs raced to match his long determined strides. By the time she had caught up to the mad prince he was in a heated argument with the queen, the little girl’s mother in every sense of the word but blood. Her hands clenched the small ragged arms of the thing she called a teddy bear as she eavesdropped. She didn't mean to but she had learned from her mother that she couldn't ever interrupt fae when they were having conversations, it was rude. The girl didn't want to leave either, in case she missed a chance to speak with her father.

"Where is she?! I know you did something to her! You've always hated her; you’ve never approved of our relationship. You’ve hated Serafina ever since she entered the castle."

The queen, her golden hair a symbol of her royal status, smiled bitterly at the Forsaken Princes' words.

"And what of your daughter? Does she not deserve to see you? She had been waiting for you, you know.... She needs a father," the queen finally questioned, her eyes glowing brightly, she had the same traits as the girl when she was mad, both their eyes illuminated with light from rage.

"Oh please, I don't give a damn what you did to that urchin, I want to know about Serafina. Where is she? I know you did something to her!" The man bellowed for he was truly mad now. Consumed by his thoughts, he was now only a fractured soul, searching for something that would never come back. Perhaps the little girl and her father were not that different after all. Both were fools to their emotions, too consumed by their desperate foolish hopes. He searched and searched. Traveled across hundreds of realms, and traversed every land he could walk on. But he still could not reunited with his love, his mate, his fated pairing.

The queen sighed," I don't know, all I know is that your daughter needs you." The queen’s words were calm, pleading as she reached out a hand as if in comfort for the Foolish Prince, her younger brother. But the man knew what his sister, the so-called queen truly wanted. He jerked away, away from her clawing hands, her soothing touches, “I don'tcare! How many times must I tell you, that little urchin is none of my business, whatisimportant is what youdidtomySerafina! For all I know you've already turned her into a mini you. I mean just look at her; she is nothing like my Serafina!” For a second the queen's face twitched, a proud little tilt of her lips curled up. If you weren’t looking closely you couldn't even tell that the regal queen had just smirked.

The man, theFoolish Princewas pacing across the room almost in a frenzy as he swerved his glare back onto the queen, "She has golden eyes just like you. She is just as greedy, just as-"

"How dare you; she isnotan urchin, she's just agirlwhoneedsher father. Can't you see that sheisyours and Serafina's daughter? Her attitude is all too much like yours. Always hoping,dreaming. Sheisyour daughter so-"

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