"That's really not necessary." I urged again for the seventh time.

"It's our job, Lady Eris." Said the tiny maid currently stripping the sheets off the humongous bed I'd woken up in this morning.

Not that I remembered actually getting into the bed, nor the room I'd spent the night in. By the end of the ball, I'd been rip roaring drunk. How I'd made it to my own rooms, I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Please don't call me that." I'd said that several times too, "My name is Eris. I'd prefer it if you just spoke to me normally."

"That's also our job, Lady Eris." Smiled a second maid. Robyn, she'd informed me. This one was tall, with wide shoulders and long limbs. Her thick ash blonde hair was coiled into a braid that hung all the way to her waist. Considering her face was completely covered in thick swathes of freckles, it was hard to discern the colour of the skin underneath.

"But-" I tried to plead, but was interrupted as the third maid, Taylor, pressed a couple of pain relief tablets into my hands, accompanied with a glass of water.

This was the stern one, I'd already decided. Dark hair twisted into a tight knot on top of her head, with dark, scowling eyes hidden behind round spectacles, and a scar at the corner of her lip which pulled her mouth down on one side. She'd been decidedly irritated with my hungover state as the three of them had woke me this morning.

"Thank you," I murmured, a little ashamed, as I threw them back and gulped the water.

This wasn't exactly the first impression I'd intended to make. In fact, I hadn't intended to stay long enough to meet the maids assigned to me.

"Don't worry about it, miss." The tiny one said. Kit, I remembered. She was so small she had to actually climb onto the bed to straighten the pillows. "A lot of the guests last night had been excitable, and many had a lot to drink."

"Not that it's something to be proud of." Taylor muttered as she moved to help Kit with the bedding.

Robyn was riffling through a huge oak wardrobe, pulling at flowing dresses with huge skirts.

"I'm sorry you saw me in such a state." I said, genuinely sincere. "I'm not even sure how I got back here-"

"You were carried." Taylor scowled harder, the scar whitening severely.

"Oh." I breathed, and felt my face flame scarlet. But no matter, hopefully that news would make it back to Prince Asher, and he'd dismiss me for being such an embarrassment. "Well, I am sorry for the trouble."

"Don't be silly," Kit tittered, "We've seen a lot worse, being maids, miss."

She was probably the most adorable creature I'd ever seen. Her skin was a rich sepia, lightening to rose pink around her cheeks. She had huge eyes, made more striking for being a clear, sapphire blue. Her hair was hidden under a piece of pale fabric that framed her face and settled on her shoulders, but I assumed that her hair was also dark. She managed to be smaller even than me, in size and height.

"Please call me Eris." I urged again, taking a seat on the stool set in front of a vanity mirror. I felt foreign in such a fancy room. "I'm a Seven, and being maids makes you Fives. So you see? You're all higher on the social ladder than I am. You shouldn't be calling me by a title."

"But you're a Three now, miss." Robyn reminded me with a smile, turning from the wardrobe. None of those clothes belonged to me personally, though they'd all been delivered with me in mind.

"But I doubt I'll be here for very long, so I'm still technically a Seven."

"You expect to go home soon?" Kit's eyes - impossibly - widened, in a gesture that seemed distinctly birdlike. Her head even tilted in the imitation of one.

"Well..." I bit my lip. I didn't want to reveal my plans to leave by any means necessary, for fear they'd rat me out to a Guard and have me clapped in chains for treason, or something like that. I had to be infinitely careful with who I trusted.

"Are you worried about keeping up with the other Selection girls?" Kit provided helpfully, smiling in a way that seemed sympathetic.

"Yes, exactly that." I nodded quickly. "I don't expect to stay here long, what with the competition being so tough."

"Aw!" Robyn and Kit exclaimed at the same time, rushing towards me with compassion and uttering assurances that they'd do everything in their power to help me get ahead.

Taylor didn't seem quite so convinced, and hung back a little, scrutinising me.

"We'll start getting you ready right now!" Kit was already combing through those beautiful dresses, musing aloud the pros and cons of each one. "You'll look amazing for the first breakfast, and you'll surely catch the Prince's eye."

"As wandering as it is." Taylor muttered. Robyn threw her a sharp glance.

"Actually," I said as Kit pulled a huge, puffy dress from the wardrobe, declaring it's perfection, "I'd rather wear my own clothes."


"Are you sure we can't rush you back to your room?" Robyn wrung out her hands. They weren't as covered in freckles as her face, and the skin beneath was a pale pink.

"I'll be fine."

"We still have time." Kit said nervously, "We could have you in a nice, pretty dress in seconds."

"Really, it's okay." I chuckled, trying not to be too insulted at their absolute devastation. "Thank you for your help, though."

The three of them were still looking as if they wanted to drag me back to my room, but I'd already ducked through the doors that would lead me into the Dining Hall.

The sight of the cavernous room fell into shocked me into dumb silence. The room itself could probably fit our orphanage in it three times over. Massive bay windows lined one side, pieces of art and bits of furniture were dotted elsewhere to make it a bit less empty. The long, oak table was clearly the centerpiece.

A table that was completely full.

It wasn't easy to ignore the sound of the doors clattering closed behind me, especially since the only noise there had been was the quiet clinking of cutlery on plates. Given also that I was purposefully late meant that every single seat bar one was taken, and everyone turned to stare.

Noise had them glancing over, but horror ensured all those eyes stayed trained on me as I spotted the empty seat between Lauren and Luna, half way up the table, and made my way towards it.

The rips in my blue jeans were only made more painfully obvious by the tattoos shining colourfully beneath them. Not to mention the utter loudness of my oversized mustard sweater, frayed and worn as it was.

I took my seat as boldly as I could, smiling obliviously at those closest to me. I was probably pushing my luck a bit too much when I dramatically pushed back the huge, hanging sleeves of the sweater to reach for some toast.

Still, everyone continued to stare, and the air grew thick with tension.

The sound of my knife scraping butter onto the toast might as well have been gunfire. I fought back a choked laugh, but I couldn't wrestle my grin into submission.

After a long, stifling moment, Prince Asher took a very deliberate, very loud slurp from his teacup, and turned back to reading a letter he was holding.

His dismissal of my outfit seemed to break the strange trance that had held everyone in place, and breakfast resumed. Though there was smatterings of conversation now where there hand't been before, feverish whispers that hissed over the platters of food and jugs of juice.

My grin stayed firmly fixed in place.

"You might have been arrested for that." Lauren muttered out of the corner of her mouth, dark eyes fixed on the Royals. The King and Queen were talking quietly to one another.

"Could have been sent home for it, too." I replied.

"Idiot." She turned to talk to the girl next to her, set on ignoring me, it seemed.

"Don't be angry with her," Luna whispered at my shoulder. She was chewing on mouthfuls of chocolate cereal. I'd never had cereal before, not that I could remember, anyway. "She's just worried about you getting in trouble."

I understood, really. If it was one of them walking the razor edge of a Prince's patience, I'd be snapping too, watching such stupidity unfold.

But I had a goal to achieve. My family needed me. Jax had threatened them. They needed my protection from him. As much as I'd come to like Luna and Lauren in the short time I'd known them, if going home meant that they'd be angry at me, it was the price I had to pay.

Luna wasn't angry though, and seemed happy to talk to me all throughout breakfast. In fact, no one else made an effort to talk to us, but plenty of girls leaned over to talk to Lauren.

The girl on Luna's other side went as far to lean around the both of us to get her attention, which was actually rather rude.

"I can probably think of a reason that they don't like me," I murmured, "But why hasn't anybody tried to make friends with you?"

Her round cheeks brightened to scarlet. She looked lovely today, actually, with some of her long blonde hair pinned back, wearing a knee length, off the shoulder peach dress. It looked great on her bigger frame, and fit her curves perfectly.

"They've ruled me out of the competition." She whispered, staring at her plate. She was having an awfully smaller helping than she had yesterday at the ball and on our plane.

"What?" I blinked, "Why?"

"Because..." She glanced around, whole face flushed pink with embarrassment, "They've decided that the Prince won't fall in love with a fat girl."

I was so shocked I dropped my heavy silver knife right onto my china plate. Thankfully, it didn't shatter, but it made a loud peal of noise, which brought attention round to me again.

"You're supposed to apologise for the disruption," sneered a brunette opposite.

I frowned, "Why? It didn't hit you."

The girl on the other side of her giggled, quickly silenced as the brunette glared.

I turned back to Luna. "You're not being serious?"

"It's been in all the magazines," She shrugged, "Articles about every single girl, her strengths and weaknesses, predictions on how far she'll go and how likely it is that the Prince will fall in love with her. Based on all the other women he's rumoured to have had affairs with, they've decided that I'm not good enough for him."

"They just don't know you, Luna." I said fiercely, "Don't you dare listen to them."

"You don't... Agree?" She peaked sideways at me.

"Agree?" I spluttered, "Are you having a laugh? If you walked down the street in Fames, people would worship at your feet. Every single person is skin and bones where I'm from. Being fat is a sign that you're wealthy enough to eat. Everyone aspires to be curvy, and the curvy women don't stay unmarried for long."

She giggled, and blushed a bright shade of cherry. "Honest?"

"Honest. In fact, my best friend Patch would probably be so besotted he'd propose to you on the spot."

Luna laughed properly this time, and the sound echoed. She apologised when people glanced over.

When breakfast was finished, I waited outside the Dining Hall. Luna asked me if I was coming on the tour scheduled with Nala right now, but I told her I had better things to do. With a laugh, she carried on with the rest of the Selection women.

Just as they turned the corner, Amber came out of the doors.

She spotted me immediately, and though I'd thought that she might not be as desperate for a friend this morning as she had been last night, I needn't have worried. She skipped right up to me, exclaiming my name as she hugged me tightly around the hips.

"Hey, meine Süße." I smoothed back her mane of strawberry blonde hair. "I wondered if you could possibly do me a very big favour?"

Her eyes widened with curiosity. "What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could give me a tour? I got lost three whole times on the way down to breakfast, and I figured; who better to show me around than someone who has lived here like forever?"

Her whole body swelled with importance, and she was so ecstatic that she grabbed my hand right then, babbling at a million miles a minute as she dragged me off.


"Ha! Found you!"

She shrieked and scrambled out from under the fountain, trying to dart around me. Too slow, I caught her with my arms around her waist and swung her round in tight circles. The cackles that escaped her surprised me, and by the time I was dizzy enough to put her down, we were both laughing loudly.

Sprawling on the stone slabs, we rested for a moment, half hidden under the rim of the water fountain.

The sun hadn't won the fight against the clouds today. They covered the entire expanse of the sky, concealing the soft blue behind pearly white, and in some spots concrete grey.

Amber had soon gotten tired of the tour. It was all new to me, and every corridor had been exciting, but she couldn't conjure the same enthusiasm. She'd seen it all a hundred times, of course, and didn't much care for the towering ceilings, ginormous paintings, or twisting passageways.

So eventually, she'd suggested the gardens. A huge expanse of land, a couple of miles wide at least, enclosed entirely by a high, marble wall that attached itself to the back of the palace, as an extra safety precaution against rebels and the like.

I wasn't sure where we were currently, we'd passed a few stone courtyards as we'd torn through rose gardens and around high hedges and passed towering trees. I hadn't stopped to look at much, too busy chasing Amber down.

"I'm bored of hide and seek." She rolled over onto her belly to lean over me, her long hair in my face.

Brushing it out of my eyes, I smiled up at her. "What'll be then, liebling?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means 'darling', in German." I explained patiently.

"You speak German?" She blinked, I nodded. "But... You're a Seven!"

She didn't mean to insult me, and she was simply repeating what she'd been taught, but it stung just the same.

"I was taught when I was young." I told her, looking back towards the sky. It resembled freshly washed linens, draped across every inch of the sky. Some of them white, some grey, depending on their age. "I remember some of the language, but not all of it."

"Oh." She nodded, then brightened. "Could we play another game, please?"

"Of course," I smiled, "What kind of game?"

In the end, it was a chasing game, a more elaborate version of hide and seek. She was a brave knight, and I was a fearsome dragon, and it was my job to eat her and her job to kill me.

"Where is she?" I growled, prowling through a flower garden, pretending to sniff loudly at the air. "Where is that meddling knight? I want to gobble her up!"

With so many brothers and sisters, I'd long ago perfected my monster voice, and I'd discovered a particular talent for finding even the most sneaky children. Thankfully, Amber wasn't so sneaky.

"Has the knight outrun me?" I wondered, stalking forward. The grass softened my footsteps. "Perhaps I'm too late. Perhaps she's rescued her Prince." I stifled a laugh as I spotted Amber, her round bottom protruding, quite obviously, from behind a small hedge. "Or perhaps..." She giggled, oblivious to me sliding closer. "She's hiding!" I exclaimed right by her head.

I frightened her so much she toppled backwards onto her bottom. Before I could worry if she'd hurt herself, she was on her feet, hollering a battle cry as she threw herself at me.

I was a little surprised as she tackled me, and the force and weight of her sent me sprawling backwards onto my own behind.

We grappled in the grass, wrestling with one another as she yelled about her knightly honour and I roared my dragon fury.

Finally, I managed to pin her under me and went to the task of tickling her sides and armpits. She was laughing a high, keening giggle which echoed loudly, and soon there was tears in her eyes as she rolled around, trying to escape.

"Do you cry mercy?" I asked her in my growl.

"Never!" She hollered, defiant.

"Well, the knight has no sword to kill me with!" I declared.

She wiggled out from under me, shoved me back, and snatched for the nearest stick. As I lunged after her, she spun, and with a final cry, she stabbed it up and into my armpit.

Howling, I dramatically threw myself to the floor, gasping my dying breaths as I declared her the victor. She threw her hands up into the air, bowing to an invisible crowd, thanking them for watching.

Movement caught my attention, and I flicked my gaze over. Only to be served an upside down image of the King, Queen and Prince Asher.

Rolling over, I saw better their expressions of absolute shock and noted the absolute primness of their clothes. Unlike me, sprawled in the grass with leaves and twigs in my hair and smudges of dirt all over my clothes.

I pushed up onto my knees and spun Amber around by her wrist, at the sight of her family, she froze. Dropping the stick, her arms and her smile, she straightened her posture to imitate theirs. She could barely look up from the floor, clearly afraid that she might be in trouble.

At her discomfort, I stood. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders seemed like the most natural thing to do, and she seemed grateful for it as her parents continued to stare.

"We've been..." I swallowed, "Playing."

"In a pigsty?" Her mother demanded, shaking off her mute surprise. The Queen looked impeccable, hair scraped back into a neat bun, an ivory white dress that pulled in at the waist and flared out from there, all the way to her calves. "Look at your dress, Amber!"

"I'm sorry, mother." She mumbled, looking at the floor and shifting guiltily.

"We had fun." I said, more firm. A child wasn't to be punished for being a child. It's not like they couldn't afford to have the dress cleaned, or buy a new one. As if she didn't already have a thousand.

"We did!" Amber said quickly, "We explored the whole gardens and found all the best hiding places, and then Eris was a dragon and I slayed her!"

"Sounds... Fun." Asher commented, smirking behind his parents' backs.

"It was." I assured him, gaze frosty.

"The pretty Princess, were you?" King Maxon asked his daughter, trying hard not to frown.

"No," She scoffed, "I was the brave Knight!"

I smiled, smoothing back her sweaty hair. Her mother made a choked noise in the back of her throat.

"Well, it's time for you to be a Princess again," She held out her hand, "Come on, dear. Lets get you bathed and ready for lunch, shall we?"

Amber stared at her mother's hand, and then turned a trembling lip up at me.

"I can't stay with you?"

"I'll see you at dinner later, okay? And we'll play again tomorrow, right after your schooling."

"Do you promise?" How could I deny those big, sorrowful hazel eyes?

"Of course."

Satisfied, she hugged me around the hips and walked willingly towards her mother, who ushered her away. With a small, grudging nod my way, the King followed his wife and child.

Immediately, I turned away.

"Nothing to say to me?" Asher called.

"I don't want to speak to you." I threw back.

Laughing, he caught up easily. "You know, you shouldn't tell me those things. It just tempts me too much to irritate you."

"You're tempting me to punch you in the nose." I told him, frowning as I stomped away.

"Oh, don't be a grouch." He elbowed me. Whirling, I gave him my absolute best glare. He wilted for a mere moment before he grinned wide. "Scary." He snorted.

"What do you want?"

"I'm guessing Amber didn't actually give you a tour?"

"So?"

"Well, you missed the one with the rest of the girls. So I was wondering if you wanted to know your way around."

"Nah, I won't be here for long anyway." Shrugging, I turned again. He caught my wrist and drew me back, his grip gentler than I'd expected it would be.

"Do you want to spend your time wondering around looking like an idiot?" he asked, blue eyes looking just a little bit sincere. "Come on, just a half hour with me could benefit you a lot."

"Is that what you say to all the girls?" I smirked.

He snorted, "They're with me for a lot longer than half an hour."

"You really are charming, aren't you?"

"Straight from a fairy tale, right?" he chuckled and shrugged when I didn't take his elbow, but I did follow him as he moved a sigh, I resigned myself to his company, if only for a little while. He was right; I didn't want to spend my time here wondering round and asking everyone for help.

As I fell in step beside him, I wondered if he was less the Prince and more a dragon in disguise.


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