Iris had almost forgotten the cut on her hand.
It's during her first training session with the twins, Lyna sitting on the sideline, that she remembers.
She was focusing on her training, diving into it wholeheartedly. No point in waiting, that was the main reason she'd stayed. They could help her get her voice under control, and she needed that. She craved the ability to sing without causing the world around her to go haywire, and now was no different.
Mephisto had shed his shirt and was wearing a loose undershirt, sleeveless to show off his finely toned biceps. It wasn't fair, he was quite attractive. Both him and his sister were, Iris wouldn't deny that. He'd created a pair of long sticks out of this green crystal and tossed one to her, smiling.
She'd thought they'd start with vocal training.
Instead?
His staff was pressed against her neck, her own staff forgotten on the floor. Her back was pressed to a column of cool stone, and he was sliding even closer to her.
Iris took a deep breath. "I thought you were supposed to be training me with magic?"
"Would you expect a child who's never walked to be able to sprint?" He breathed out, laughing. His hair was sticking to his scalp in places from sweat, she'd put up a pretty good fight before he got her here.
She put her hands on his staff. The cut on her hand reopened and she winced, but that didn't stop her from tightening her grip and starting to slowly push back.
Mephisto held his own, grinning. "That's it. C'mon princess. Push me back. Do it."
She ground her teeth together, digging her feet into the ground. She was still not wearing any shoes, which made this that much harder. All she had was a pair of stupid shorts, a dress with no back, and loose hair. Her hoodie was sitting next to Lyna on the sidelines. "I'm trying!"
"Try harder! You're a Halphas," There was that word again. He pushed her back, her head knocking into the column and her hand sliding in the blood. "Win!"
Iris' shoulders began to shake from the effort. She closed her eyes and pushed back, but she had no leverage.
"Iris! Sing!" Lyna called from the sidelines. "It'll knock him back!"
Iris' chest started to heave as she fought to take breaths. "I. Don't. Sing!"
"Come on." Mephisto whispered.
A shiver went up her spine.
She cracked her eyes open to look at him. His eyes were narrowed and he was grinning, like he was excited. Like he was enjoying this.
He wanted to see her humiliate herself and see everything go wrong? Fine.
Iris took a deep breath and let out a long note, shoving back one last time as she did. To her surprise there was a massive whoosh of air and a sudden lack of pressure. She let her eyes slide open slowly.
Mephisto was on his ass fifteen feet away atleast, the staff dissolving in his hands. Praxina had gotten knocked off her feet too, and she was nowhere near them. Lyna's hair had gotten blown out of its bun and the candle next to the sparring area had gotten blown out.
Iris wasted no time stepping forward and picking up her staff, crossing the space to point the tip of it at Mephisto's throat and tip his chin up towards her.
"Bang." She whispered.
He grinned, laughing. "You did it! 'I don't sing!' Ha." He ran a finger down the staff and it dissolved too, her balance going wobbly for a second before she wiped her hands on her dress and backed up. "That, princess, was magic."
Iris looked at her hands. The blood smeared over her palm, the beginnings of the rough patches from where the sharp edges of the staff had scratched her. She looked back up at him.
"How do I control it?"
"That's where we come in." Praxina had gotten to her feet while her brother spoke, and she offers him a hand to let him stand too. They were both taller than Iris, but most people were. "Us and Lyna? We're your best bet at learning…" Praxina smirked. "Well, everything."
Iris glanced down at her dress. There was a dark spot of blood on the left side from where she'd rubbed her hands on it. "Can I please be wearing pants when you teach me?" She looked up at them. "And shoes?"
Lyna stood up and came towards her, offering her the hoodie. "And that's where I come in! Come on, we can train later."
Iris glanced back at the twins. "I'll be back as soon as I have shoes. I promise."
Praxina flipped her hair. "Counting on it, princess."
Iris let herself be dragged off, unable to hide the smile on her lips at her cousin's excitement. And wow, wasn't that weird? Her cousin. She'd never had one of those before… It'd always just been her and Aunt Ellen and Nathaniel, then Nathaniel's family. Doug and Zach and Joanna and Missy and everyone else had come later, when they were in school and the world wasn't just backyards and sidewalks and curling up in blanket forts with fairytales and flashlights.
And now here she was, with her cousin and a pair of twins with biceps to make her swoon, a scarred uncle she'd never met who'd killed his fiancé to take his crown and her back.
"So, you totally like him." Lyna croons once they're out of earshot.
Iris blinks and looks at the other girl. "Excuse me?"
"I don't blame you, he's totally hot. But he's cocky, don't let him do that. You're the crown princess of Ephedia, you know?"
The blonde crosses her arms as their pace slows. "Okay, no, I don't like him. I don't even know him! Besides, I'm on a new planet, I'm not going to just go and fall in love before I've even seen any cool alien warships."
"You wanna see those?" Lyna's nose scrunched up. "But that's totally a terrible idea, if a ship is coming that means that a sky captain is either on their way to attack or that they've got leverage."
"Sky captain? What, do I live in a sci-fi novel now?" Iris glanced around to try and see if there were cameras hidden in the stones. "This can't be real."
"It is, and you shouldn't joke about them. Sky captains are vicious and dangerous, okay? But we're here to protect you." Lyna loops her arm back through the shorter girls' and leans her head down onto Iris'.
If she wasn't living it, she wouldn't believe it. What would Nate say when she saw him again?
The smile slips as that thought crosses her mind. Nathaniel would love all of this sci-fi stuff, but of course it was her who was getting to do all this crazy stuff. She winced again as her cut twinges, her excitable cousin tugging her down the long hallway faster.
"So... where are we going, anyways?"
"Only my second- no, third favorite place in the castle! First is the gardens, second is the kitchen. Do you know how many types of tea we have?"
Iris couldn't help but giggle.
"But I think you're going to like it." Lyna finishes her sentence. "That is, if you like clothes."
"Are you kidding me?" The blonde leant closer. "Half my pay checks back home went to clothes!"
"What's a pay check?" Lyna blinked.
Iris blinked back. "Uh... I'll explain some other time."
Instead of answering, her cousin shrugged and turned sharply, pulling Iris through a bead curtain into someplace... magical.
There were massive towers of fabric spools, bookshelves stacked with papers and buttons and lace, erratic tealy-green streams of magic everywhere, several mannequins in strange poses with magnificent costumes, and in the middle of it all, a tiny man. He currently had a monocle on one eye, the other sightless with a big scar across his forehead and leading down to his cheek. He was primly dressed in the deepest, richest colors she'd ever seen, and everything about him was tiny. He was just over half her height, stocky, a small beard and a glove on one hand.
"Why didn't anyone warn me I'd have a royal audience today?" He calls, and Lyna giggles.
"Iris, meet Mavrin!"
Iris looked him over and offered a hand, but he took it and began measuring it instead. "Uh, hello?"
He hummed in response. "Princess Izabela?"
"How do you know me?" She looked back to Lyna.
"I never forget a face, your majesty!" He stood to his full height, which wasn't nearly as impressive as he seemed to think it was. "I am the Royal Tailor. What do you need?"
"I-"
"Everything!" The taller girl couldn't stop herself, grabbing Iris' arm excitedly. "She needs ballgowns and suits and dresses and jackets and-"
"Lyna!" Iris snapped.
The other girl jumped, looking hurt at being interrupted.
Iris shook her head. "I'm sorry, I just... I need clothing I can move in. Nothing fancy, okay?" She swallowed and looked pleadingly at the man. "Please?"
"What do you call... 'clothing you can move in'?" He put a hand to his beard, eyebrow cocked.
"You know, shorts and pants, dresses that aren't too over the top, tights and big shirts... Shoes? Please tell me you have shoes."
He got a glimmer in his eye. "Follow me."
It took forever.
By the time they got out of there, he'd measured more things on her body than Iris had thought COULD be measured, and he'd already been half-stitching things together with magic before they even left. He wanted her opinions on fabrics, on lace, on armor, on ribbons, on fashions and cuts and shoes and hairstyles and jewelry, and all she wanted was a break.
She did get a cute pair of shoes out of it, a pair of sandals that were snug and firm despite being thin. And she learned a lot more about fashion than she ever thought she would, considering her usual methods of shopping were "find something cute" or "find something comfortable".
At last, too, Lyna gave her a moment to breathe. The girl left her at the door to her room to change before dinner, maybe do something with her hair- which was unfairly tangled from the practice earlier on in the day- and for the first time since she'd woken up, there was peace.
So why did she still want to scream?
She hadn't even gone into the room yet, too tired to do anything but lean her forehead against it, her hair hiding her red cheeks from the world. She was scared that if she tried to move, she'd just collapse on the bed. That twin- Mephisto- hadn't gone easy on her when they fought.
But honestly... she was kind of grateful for that.
Too many people had treated her like she was fragile. Too many people acted like she was precious and sweet, like if they pushed her too hard she'd shatter.
She wouldn't.
What was it Naveen had said? She was a Halphas.
She could do anything.
"Princess?"
Iris jumped and turned to see the person she'd been thinking about a minute before- Mephisto.
He'd found his shirt again, but left it unbuttoned. She couldn't stop her eyes from trailing down before snapping them back up, swallowing.
"Yes?"
He smiles, a bit breathless, as if he were nervous, as if he had been rushing to get to her.
"Was this morning too much for you?"
Her heart dropped.
"No." She swallowed again and found herself frowning. "It was hard, but I can handle whatever you throw at me."
The boy's smile grew devilish and he stepped closer, her leaning back to look up at him better.
"Anything?" He whispers.
Her cheeks color. "Anything."