Chapter 12! So I hope you enjoy, and I apologize for how long it took me, I keep saying I'll be better and quicker, but it just hasn't happened yet. Maybe some time, though. This chapter has a bit of violence, it just mentions blood, because I'm really bad at describing it. I finally hit 500 reviews! Yay! Thank you Dream Plane for the reviews and for any of my new readers, (and all readers) it seriously makes my day when you review, even just a good chapter or something super vague would make me really happy, so keep reviewing! Thanks for reading!

I woke up the next morning to Charles, who had his hand out trying to hand me a piece of bread.

"Is bread your very favorite food?" I asked. I was nibbling on the corner of the grainy meal.

"What would you rather have, my queen." He stood up and gave me a deep bow.

"It's alright." I stood up and curtsied. "Bread is lovely." He snickered. "Bread is lovely. I'd never thought about it that way."

"You were the one that wanted to play royalty." I glared. He started laughing and I soon joined in. For the first time since leaving I actually felt happy.

My happiness lasted for about two seconds. The sun was beating down on us and I was pretty sure I had already drunk all of Charles' water, although he seemed fine.

"How much longer do we have until we reach the castle?" I asked. I was soaked in sweat, and I couldn't remember when it had gotten so hot.

"I don't know for sure. Probably a few more hours. Now, when we get to the kingdom there are a few things you need to remember about our grandmother."

"She hunts her grandchildren down for sport? I had almost forgotten."

"You're hilarious." He said. "Wait. What was that?" His horse stopped and I heard a twig snap close by. I didn't even have time to process what was happening. When I saw the arrow coming right towards my face, I barely had time to breath. Before I knew it I was on the ground, but I wasn't hurt. My face was fine. Every part of me was fine, but our horses had run off.

"What just happened!" I looked around wildly for Charles and I heard panting around a tree trunk that was right in front of me. No. I crawled around it and there he was. An arrow sticking out of his arm. There was red soaking his white cloth shirt sleeve. "Tell me you didn't just take that arrow for me." I whispered.

"Of course I took the arrow for you!" It was his turn to roll his eyes. "It was coming right for your face!"

"What part of no help do you not understand!?" I Shouted. Panic was rising in my throat because I didn't know how to help him.

"Don't panic. We'll figure something out." He said.

There were more twigs snapping and our heads whipped around. It was getting closer. Charles reached for his boot with his good hand and pulled out a jagged piece of metal. It was a dagger. It wasn't the smoothest, but it was definitely the prettiest I had ever seen. There were metal leaves and vines that wrapped around the handle, and the hilt was a shiny gold.

"I don't know how to use a dagger!" I whisper-shouted.

"Figure it out, Rose! I'll just sit over here and bleed out while you think through your options." He said. I huffed and stood up. Best to make it quick. I couldn't tell where the snapping had come from, but there was a large grove of trees a few yards away from us. I sprinted into the middle of it and looked around. No one.

I was walking in a circle, clutching the vines of the golden dagger until my knuckles turned white.

"Hello?" no answer. I cleared my throat. "I think you may have shot my brother with an arrow. By accident."

By accident? The only person I'm intimidating is myself.

I raised my head, still walking inside of the trees. Charles' time was running out.

And then I felt something sharp prick the back of my neck.

"You're right, it was an accident." I didn't dare move my head. "I meant to hit you." My breath caught in my throat. It was a woman whose voice didn't sound familiar. I reared my heel back onto her toes and could feel her jump back, the sharp item no longer on my neck. I dropped into a squat right as an arrow flew over my head and hit a tree in front of me. I looked behind me and saw the swish of a plum coat behind one of the trees. And then there was a knife pressed to my throat. How did she move so fast?

"Do I know you?" I asked. My voice came out shakier than I had wanted it to.

"Not that I know of." She responded. "You seem scared." It was like I could hear her smiling.

"Unfortunately for you, random stranger girls that try to kill people don't scare me." I said. She pressed it harder into my neck and I felt the blade's sting.

"That is rather unfortunate." She agreed. I was scanning my brain for anything that I knew about fighting. I knew nothing. But I had remembered something from a book I had read once. My hand moved, and grabbed her small wrist with the knife in it. I twisted it and flew underneath the window of her arm. Pinning her arm to her back, I grabbed the dagger from her hand and put it to her neck. It was charles' dagger. I hadn't even realized it was missing.

"Where did you get the dagger?" I asked. She pressed her lips together as if to say that her lips were sealed. I pressed the knife closer to her throat. I didn't like hurting people, but she had shot Charles. She finally opened her mouth.

"I picked it right out of your hand. I'm not surprised that you didn't notice, you didn't see the arrow coming at your face either."

"Why did you aim for me?" I asked, ignoring her insult.

"You're from Mangrail. I heard your accent. You have some nerve showing up in my territory." She scoffed.

"Well you have some nerve trying to shoot me in the face with an arrow, but here we are."

"So if I didn't hit you, what did I hit?" She asked, annoyance clear in her voice.

"The prince of Achillea." I said slowly. I thought that if I dragged it out it would have the dramatic effect that I desired. It did the job perfectly. She gasped, almost like she was in pain.

"Is he alive?" She asked.

"I am alive and thriving, Scarlett. I had almost forgotten how good of a shot you were, too. That would have been a shame." Charles said. He came walking through the grove of trees, clutching his left arm in his shirt. It was soaked with red and his face was as white as a ghost. I had no idea how he was still conscious. "Let her go, Rose. She's a friend. I doubt she meant to hurt either one of us. Right?" He raised his eyebrows toward the girl named Scarlett.

"I would never try to hurt anyone, you know that."

"She's lying!" I exclaimed. My mouth was wide open. What did he know?

"Stop that. Let her go, her neck is bleeding." Charles demanded. He looked at me with narrowed eyes. I hadn't even realized her neck was bleeding until I saw the red running down to the hilt of the knife. I stopped clenching the knife so hard and pulled it slightly away from her throat. "Drop the knife." Despite losing so much blood, his voice was strong and unwavering.

"No. She's going to come at me again."

"Trust me." Charles said. Scarlett was smiling.

"You should trust him. It's starting to sting."

"Fine." I went to pull the knife away from her neck and she spun out of my grasp. I could finally get a good look at her. Scarletts hair was pulled into a long caramel braid cascading down her shoulder. Her skin was a light brown, and her eyes were mesmerizing. Literally.

"Rose, I wouldn't look her in the eye if I were you." Charles said, but it was too late. I heard a ringing in my ears and it felt like my brain was disconnected. I wanted to look away from her eyes but they wouldn't let me. I didn't even notice the crown on her head. She was a princess. It was a deep purple, just like her eyes. I had never seen purple eyes before and it looked unnatural. Like she was possessed, but at the same time, doing it all by herself. And then I came out of the fog that was consuming me. She was still staring at me intently, like she was trying to stare into my soul and find out my secrets.

"What did you just do?" I asked. She snapped her head to the side and blinked a few times.

"Charles. Why isn't it working?" Scarlett asked.

"Why isn't what working? What are you trying to do?" I asked. Scarlett gasped and ran over to Charles, who was lying on the ground.. He was white as a piece of parchment and the movement of his chest was the only indication that he was still alive. I ran over to him too and shook him.

"Wake up!"

"I'm taking him back to my castle." Scarlett said. I opened my mouth to argue with her, but she kept talking. "He needs help and you're still a few hours away from the Achillean castle. I'm not sure why you're going and I'm not going to ask, because Charles is going to die if we waste any more time. But I'm going to tell you right now, whatever relation you have to him, it's not worth it. Let him deal with the crown, because you're not royalty. I doubt a crown would even fit on your head, and I'm also not sure why Charles is refusing the crown. His grandmother will kill anyone who gets in her way.

Charles is too stubborn to give up but I've already told him my opinion. Go back to Mangrail. I don't like to ask questions, but I'm trying to help you. I can tell him that you got scared, or that you changed your mind." I stared at her, and she raised her eyebrows, confident in her offer.

"No." I didn't like the idea of her taking Charles away from me, especially knowing that he could die. He was propped up limply on Scarlett's broad shoulder and that sealed the deal.

"You have to help him, though." I said. I made a promise to him, and I had to keep it. "I've left too much behind for this."

"But you'd rather go back than die, wouldn't you?"

"I'd honestly rather die than go back. If I go back to Mangrail the queen's going to kill me anyway." I said.

"I'll help him, I promise." She said. "Don't say I didn't warn you, though."

"I won't." I glanced at Charles one last time. It was one of those glances where you hoped that they could feel the weight of what you were going to do, just by feeling your gaze. I was going to do this, and show Scarlett that a crown would fit on my head quite well.