Page 13 of Royal Lies

Suddenly, I felt as if an invisible force was dragging me towards her.

I was coming out of one of the five bookstores I'd already visited that day. None of which contained any books I didn't already have. There amidst the blood apples and tangerines a small petite girl, merely five foot tall, was buying something from a nearby white marbled stand. What it sold I couldn't tell with all those people blocking me. But I think I knew that the person beneath that brown tattered peasant hood was her. As if in a trance, I headed towards the booth hoping to catch the beauty, only to find her missing from the stand. I frowned. Where could she have gone?

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

I blinked, turning towards the familiar yet foreign voice. And there she was. The bright glow of her burning golden hair and eyes like that of the sun. Nothing like I'd ever seen before was staring right back at me.

"I- I beg your pardon?" I blinked rapidly, not sure if I heard her correctly.

Had she truly just addressed me?

Her soft small hands planted on her narrow waist as she looked up at me. Her lightly golden brown brows drew together as if they were confused, trying to figure me out. She was staring at me. Lords, she was so pretty. Couldn't make out much with how the sack she wore obscured her body and face. But I didn't need to see it with my eyes. It was as if I already knew how she should look. A petite button nose, lush kissable lips, vibrant golden eyes that churned like the tides of the sea. I blushed looking down at my shoes, the image was so vide it was like the hood atop the girl's head wasn't even there.

"I-I umm. I-I- I wasn't."

Lords, why was I so flustered?I didn't even know the girl.

Said girl only rolled her eyes, seemingly annoyed with my answer.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to boss me around again another cloaked figure came around dragging the girl by her hood. It was too fast for me to help her. To grab her back. I didn't want her to leave yet.Lords just give me a few more minutes.Reaching a hand out I grasped onto nothing. I was too late the boy had already taken her pulling her behind him. His frame although not so much different from hers was enough to cover her view from my sight.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to intrude." The deep yet aristocratic tone told me he was male. Hopefully not her boyfriend. I couldn't help but scowl at the beautiful bella getting away from me. He was dragging her away his hands firmly gripping the girl's smaller ones as they danced through the wave of fae in white and gold. One would think finding their dirt-colored rags would be easy to spot amongst a sea of fine white silk but they must have used a spell to cloak themselves.How have others not noticed their different clothing choices?Everyone else wore chitons, robes, and peplos. What they wore should have caused a ruckus of horror.

I wanted to chase them down but I couldn't. If I did my mother would find out, and then who knows what she might do if she found out that something had finally caught my eye.

Before I knew it he and the girl were gone. However, I caught the ice-cold blue gaze of the boy for a split second. It was the same shade of ice blue as Snow's but as cold as my Father's. I'd know that chilly glare from anywhere. As I thought about the fact I wondered if perhaps those two had just been my parents in disguise. They could have used some glamour spell. Maybe that was why I was drawn to the girl and why the boy had dragged her away, but, no. That can't be correct, right? My parents have never been that involved in my life before. My abilities would have allowed me to see through their magic.

I mean, what I felt was. Well, what I felt couldn't possibly be aimed at my mother. Plus, the boy's hair was blond, wasn't it? At least the small glimpse I caught from the boy's hair was blond, or perhaps it was the girl's. They looked so familiar to one another. On the other hand, my father was the exact opposite of my mother in the looks department. So I highly doubt they would both cloak themselves so similar to one another like that unless it was to further deceive me. But cloaking magic was hard to cast, let alone masking something so brilliantly bright as that girl's hair. It also didn't look like my mother's hair. My mother's hair never had that same brilliance. Either way, what reason would they even have to stalk me in the city? They both knew I only ever would go to bookstores. That and I could never imagine my parents getting along together in any capacity besides the bed on occasion. One thing was for sure I needed to see that girl again.

That night after dinner, I'd left to find the prisoner. And lord was she hidden deep, my mother definitely knew I was going to search for her. That or she was so special she was placed farther away before I even came. After all these cages were specifically designed to contain dark magic holding fae.

I crept closer to the cage despite the rotting rows of corpses and decay reeking in the air. You heard me right, the lovely sunny Summer Court Queen keeps prisoners, even more so than her sister, the Spring Maiden or Fall Dutchess, ruler of both the Fall and the Spring Courts. After overthrowing the Duke of Fall she took over both courts.

I peered closer beyond the cage, frowning at the stinging rose scent of the steel barred bars. Noting the small charcoal look they have but because of the enchantment, they will never break. No matter the amount of rust they sport it will never crumble. For a moment, I thought I was scenting poison in the air. But, no it was just my mother's lingering scent.

There inside the very last cage sat a girl. Her arms wrapped around her knees curled up near the far right corner of the dingy room. Her clothing was ragged with hay sticking out here and there. The hay had no doubt been from the floor, sprawled here and there. But she wasn't huddled because she was scared, I noted. No, she was simply holding herself to keep warm. How do I know? Because she didn't have the lack of hope or cloudy look in her eyes most prisoners did. I was a bit impressed given the state she was in. Her clothes were tattered around her soaked in blood and mud. Yet there the girl held herself as arrogant as a peacock.

It was as if she was waiting for someone.

I frowned, from the looks of it my mother must have put her through hell but yet there she lay, calm and as sane as ever. I've seen countless men twice her size break down in mere seconds after even just an hour of my mother's torture. So why not her? I was tempted to look back as if the person she was waiting for was right behind me. But I knew the moment I did she could attack. She was a prisoner after all. Despite my mother's spell on the bars hinted by the heavy rose scent. Now that I thought about it, it always came when my mother used her powers. Whichanswers the first question, my mother hid this person, a girl by the looks of it, away before she even knew I was coming here. There was no way so much magic could have accumulated here in such a short time. Or perhaps she knew I was going to come here for the prisoner and had the spell cast beforehand?

I covered my tracks with a makeshift doll in my supposed bedroom, so no one would think otherwise. The hazy smell and the foggy room would make me look a lot like my pillow self currently tucked under my covers.

"You're finally here." I heard the girl say, her raspy voice almost a whisper. No doubt because she hasn't drank much water. Yet I get the feeling that she wasn't whispering from dehydration but that this was simply how she talked.

I frowned peering through the bars at the scrawny girl sitting elegantly by the corner of the floor. Or as elegantly as she can in those rags. She unwrapped herself as if she was tired. She was like a cat who'd just awoke from a long nap extending out her limps the way she did. As she inched forward towards me I noted the long raven violet hair and purple night-colored eyes.

Suddenly she tilted her head as if she sensed something, “I see you've already met. Well, that is inevitable, you will meet again, for now, you must leave. You don't want to be here when they come." Her glance towards the door pulled my attention towards the heavy barrier as well just as an explosion erupted, alarming every guard in the castle.

A voice so familiar, so aristocratic, sounded through it all, "Oh bloody hell! Everetta! I told you to keep it quiet!" I recognized that voice, it was the boy from this morning. Which means, Everetta was the girl from this morning.

She must be.

*Boom!*

Another explosion.

Startled, I blinked confused as to what was happening. Then I recalled the girl's words. Was this her rescue party? Was this prisoner and that girl, Everetta, related in some way? I turned towards the door as if it was about to come unhinged at any moment. Yet, I also hoped she would be behind that door,why? I was confused for a moment unsure of why I was feeling this way towards a girl I barely knew. Yet, my body seemed to crave her. The girl in front of me sighed, catching my attention once again, “Honestly, must they always be so energetic."

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