“Does the Scorpion have a palace?” another girl asks.
“Blossom told us you were dead!” Liliana, the youngest princess, cries.
“Blossom did what?” I growl, stepping into the circle. A few of the girls glance shyly at me, but their attention soon returns to Amaryllis when Blossom pushes out from the crowd.
“I did what I had to do,” she explains to both of us. “Father would’ve been suspicious if we all turned up to Ami’s funeral giggling about her new life with an assassin. And while I could trust the older girls to pretend to be upset…” She winces.
My eyes narrow, taking in the sight of Princess Blossom in her rose-pink dance gown. I didn’t like her before. From what I saw she could be selfish, arrogant, and oblivious to her sister’s struggles while Orion was still alive.
But tonight there’s something different about her. There’s more than just pink lacy straps on her shoulders – there’s responsibility there too. And in her warm brown features, there’s compassion, and strength enough to make the right choices, even if they hurt those closest to her.
She’ll probably make a decent queen one day.
That’s if our current shitstain of a king ever dies.
“It’s alright. I forgive you,” Ruby says, taking her sister’s arm. “It was the wisest choice.”
“Well, I don’t forgive you.” Liliana glares at Blossom. “I thought you were dead, Ami.” She turns back to Ruby. “When Blossom told us that someone had…” she sniffs, “that someone hadmurderedyou… I couldn’t cope!”
Ruby pulls her into a hug, stroking Liliana’s brown hair. “It’s alright,” she soothes. “I’m here… I’m here, and I’m not going to let any nasty princes hurt me ever again.”
Her words cut me, and I’m weaving through the girls to stand beside Amaryllis before I can stop myself. “The same goes for all of you,” I tell her sisters. “If your father oranyonetries to hurt you or force you into a marriage you do not want, we’re only a letter away.”
“Really?” Liliana whispers, lifting her head.
“Of course,” Ruby replies, passing me a grateful smile before she turns back to her youngest sister. “I might not live in the palace any more, but I’m not abandoning you. You’ll always have me still. Always.”
I leave her side, giving her a few more minutes alone with her sisters. There’s crying, and many, many more hugs, until soon enough the conversation turns to gossip and stories from around the palace, the girls filling Ruby in on everything she’s missed.
When Meera arrives, shooting me a warning look and glancing pointedly at the archway, I return to Ruby’s side. “It’s time to go,” I tell her.
Ruby nods, and gives a final hug to each of her sisters.
Noticing Liliana standing alone, I pull her aside, taking her over to the tall hedgerow. Making sure my back is facing the rest of the princesses, I reach into my pocket to pull out a small sheathed dagger. “Here. For you.”
Her eyes become as wide as the moon. “What? Why?” she stammers.
“In case a letter isn’t quick enough,” I tell her with a quick smile.
Liliana studies the sheathed blade before quickly stuffing it into the pockets of her dance gown and grinning up at me. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” I wink. Ruby might hate me for this later, but she’ll thank me eventually. Just the thought of leaving the princesses –some of them children– unprotected sends a shiver through my spine, and I’m not even their brother.
I glance up at the palace, picturing Sol lounging in his grand bed and being served grapes off a gold platter. All that money, and he still can’t afford to protect his daughters… Ruby told me about the auction for her hand, and how her father had practically gambled away one of her sisters to Prince Hugo. If he tries that shit again he’s a dead man. King or not.
I wouldn’t deserve Ruby if I didn’t at least try.
Marching back to the group, my eyes fix on the one princess I’ve never managed to keep them off.
“Any last goodbyes?” I stroke her shoulders, my foul mood dissolving the moment my fingers brush her skin.
Ruby passes the girls a sad smile, but before she can speak?—
“I have a goodbye question for the Scorpion.” Dahlia pipes up from the back, her red dance gown easily spotted in a sea of colours.
“Yes?” I sigh.
“Do you have any brothers? Ideally older and more handsome, but I’d take a younger brother as long as he’s taller and?—”
