Max was going to murder a child today.

He'd just finished up grabbing some essentials that Gwen had asked him to pick up in town. When she'd made the request, Lizzie had demanded to be allowed to go with him, which he'd reluctantly agreed to. Nikki and Neil had gone off with David and Jaspar to learn a few essentials of survival, Gwen had to work on her writing, and nobody knew or cared where Campbell had gone off to. So it was up to Max to keep an eye on Lizzie.

And she'd wandered off right after he'd finished the shopping.

"Lizzie!" he called. "Come back! It's time to go home."

He walked through the crowd, keeping his eye out for his sister's distinctive red hair and the tell-tale garb of the child dealers. All around him, people were going about their day-to-day business and nobody would've been paying attention to a small, red-headed girl running through the market. At last, he caught sight of the little girl, playing with a stray kitten she'd found.

"Liz," he sighed. "We've got to go home now."

"Okay." She stood up and dusted off her skirt before taking his hand. The two began walking towards the gates, Max keeping a careful grip on her to keep her from running away. They got a few looks; after all, they didn't look alike in any way, shape, or form, so that was normal for the two of them.

"Excuse me, young man," a woman said haughtily. She had a face of disgust. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm taking my sister home," he replied, not having time for her bullshit.

"Your sister?" The woman looked Lizzie up and down. "There's no way she's your sister. She's too young and you don't look anything alike."

"It's called 'adoption'. Her parents adopted me when I was little, and she's only four. Now, if you'll excuse me, we have to get home."

He tried to sidestep her, but she wasn't letting it go.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I have no patience for child dealers."

In unison, Max and Lizzie raised their right hands and flipped the lady off. She let out an 'ugh!' and walked away, very clearly offended.

But neither of them gave a fuck.

The siblings headed out of town and back to the campsite, where Gwen was finishing up her latest piece. She looked up to see Max with an annoyed expression—one that was matched by Lizzie.

"Some lady say you're not siblings because you don't look alike?" she asked.

"Yep," they replied simultaneously.

"People are so stupid about this. Just because the kids don't look alike doesn't mean they're not siblings."

"She called Max a child dealer!" Lizzie piped up.

"Of course she did. What did she look like? Mommy's going to go slap her."

"But Daddy says violence never solves anything!"

"That's because your daddy is a peaceful person. Mommy is not."

"Gwen, hate to say it, but we kinda flipped her off at the same time," Max stated.

"Oh, good! Lizzie's learning how to deal with stupid people without causing a scene."

"Says the woman who was about to go slap somebody."

"Eh. Fair enough."

"We're back!"

Nikki entered the campsite with a happy expression and a spring in her step. David, Jaspar, and Neil weren't far behind her. She'd settled into living with the group after a month on the road.

"How was survival training?" Gwen inquired.

"It went great!" David replied cheerfully.

"Except none of us can fight and Nikki needs to know how to defend herself," Jaspar added. "I was hoping you or Max could teach her."

"Why not Campbell?" Neil wondered aloud.

"There's no way in hell we're leaving him alone with a sixteen-year-old girl," Gwen bluntly pointed out. "It's me or Max, and I'm leaning more towards him."

"Yeah! Pick Max, Nik-Nik!" cheered Lizzie.

"Hey, who said I'll do it?" Max spoke up.

"It's either teach her to defend herself or watch her be killed or worse," Gwen sighed. "Which is your choice?"

"Fine." Max took a swig from his canteen. "We start bright and early tomorrow. I'll bring what you need. Be prepared to work out."

"Yes, sir." Nikki gave him a mock salute and he chuckled.

"We'll start with basic punching and kicking."

Nikki let out a yawn.

I didn't think he meant 'as soon as there was visible sunlight' when he said, 'bright and early'.

"Nikki, are you paying attention?"

Max's voice snapped her back to reality.

"Yeah! I am! I was just… sleepy."

"You and me both, but this early is the best time to do this shit. There's not a ton of light in your eyes or heat to melt your bones. Now, focus." He showed her the proper stance. "Try and hit me."

"What?!"

"Hit me."

She swung her fist and he blocked it with ease.

"Try not to be predictable in your movements. The element of surprise is your best friend in a fight. Go again."

Nikki swung her right fist towards Max's face, but then kicked him in the torso with her left foot. He managed to block the punch but not the kick, which sent him to the ground.

"Oh, God! Sorry, Max!"

"No, that was good," he coughed, sitting up. "You've got a lot of strength in your legs."

"Years of wearing heels, I guess. Really builds the calf muscles."

"I'm tempted to agree. Let's work on blocking."

Nikki nodded. For the next hour, they worked on punching, kicking, and blocking—all of which Nikki picked up on quickly. Once that was done, Max handed her two small objects. One was slightly bigger than the other.

"What's this?"

"A knife and a dagger. Keep them on you. I put the dagger on my belt, but I keep my knife in my boot in case I need it. They're handy."

"Thank you for everything, Max."

"No problem. I took you away from everything you've ever known. It's only fair I help you protect yourself."

Nikki giggled and tucked her new knife into her boot. Max turned on his heel, heading back towards the campsite. Quickly, she caught up with him.

"So, what's the deal with the arranged marriage, if you don't mind me asking? Last time you talked about it, you were drunk, so I don't know much about the circumstances."

"It was put together on my sixth birthday, when my dad invited the king of Woodland to visit us for a while. He had a son, and Mom and Dad had me, so Mom suggested to the king that they make an arrangement. I'd marry Prince Edward on my sixteenth birthday, and in return, our kingdoms would help each other out—financially and militarily. And, you know, when I was six, I was all about the fairy tales. Princes, princesses, witches, talking animals… back then I was all for it. It meant I'd live happily ever after without having to go under some curse or being kidnapped. But then, I started getting older. Suddenly, everything I did was unladylike and reprehensible in the eyes of both my mother and every one of my tutors. It got even worse when I was ten and my dad died."

"You seemed pretty damn ladylike whenever we saw you in public back in Lilac."

"After my dad died, my mom sent me to Miss Priss's School for Young Ladies to learn how to be a proper princess. I passed with flying colors and went home, but I wasn't sold on the idea of a wedding anymore. I tried anything within my power to get it cancelled, but nothing worked. My sixteenth birthday arrived and I was in a wedding dress, about to marry a guy with red hair, buck teeth, and a ton of zits. And whose first look at me was at my chest."

"Okay, pervert. Not a good start to a marriage."

"Campbell crashed the wedding and I used it as an opportunity to escape." She shrugged. "You know the rest."

"Yeah, I do. Thanks for telling me. Now I know what you were running from."

"I'd never even met him before."

"Now, you see, that, to me, is the most fucked-up part of the whole 'arranged marriage' thing. For people who marry for love, it's 'the groom isn't allowed to see the bride on their wedding day until the ceremony'. For everyone else, it's 'you aren't allowed to see each other your entire lives until the ceremony'."

"What was David and Gwen's wedding like?"

"Small but classy. It was me, Campbell, Jaspar, them, and a priest."

"I bet Gwen was glad she got a daughter."

"The second David told her, 'it's a girl', she started crying tears of joy. But I think it was more relief that it was over."

"My tutors told me I was supposed to be a boy so I could inherit the throne. Now I'm supposed to hand it over to my husband and hope that I have a son."

"Again, that's fucked up. You're the only kid they had. Why can't you rule?"

"Because I'm a girl. My mom's only allowed to be queen because she had a husband first."

"I think you'd be a great queen, for what it's worth. Especially with this trip under your belt."

"Thanks." She gave him a smile and he gave her one right back.

Her heart was pounding and she didn't know why.

There weren't a lot of people Neil trusted—a side effect of growing up in the court of Lilac, which was riddled with spies and deceit. Until recently, he'd only trusted Nikki to keep his secrets and always have his back. Now there was a group of people he was growing to trust. Max was, ironically enough, the most trustworthy of them all. David was too happy for Neil's taste, Gwen was focused on raising her daughter, Jaspar seemed like a ghost, and Campbell… well, nobody trusted him, so Neil doing so would be considered odd. And of course, Lizzie was a child, so he didn't know if she actually understood the nuances of trust.

His life's work was about secrecy and experimentation.

This new life he was leading was testing both.

"How many kingdoms have you guys visited?" he inquired of Jaspar.

"We've visited at least a dozen," Jaspar replied. "We'll be avoiding Woodland on this trip, for safety reasons, but one of our next stops is the kingdom of Flora."

"Oh, no."

"What's wrong?"

"One of Princess Sasha's maids is infatuated with me. She's the reason I almost didn't attend Nikki's wedding."

"Well, then you stay at the camp, you big goof. You don't have to leave if you don't want to."

"Hey, we're back," Max called. He had a bruise forming on his cheek, which he was subtly trying to hide.

"I see Nikki's doing well with her training," Gwen commented.

"She just needed a little direction, that's all." Neil noticed Nikki was blushing.

Nikki never blushes.

"Max is a good teacher," she told Gwen. "He just tossed me in without any explanation."

"I'm a little nervous about him teaching Lizzie in the future, then."

"Is that you, Bella?" they heard Campbell slur behind the single-man wagon.

"Who's Bella?" Neil asked Gwen.

"I actually have no idea. Campbell only talks about her when he's too drunk to remember what he's saying. Which means he's too drunk to remember what he's saying right now." She face-palmed.

"Should I get the bucket?" Max asked.

"Yes, get the bucket. And fill it with stream water."

"Got it." Max walked off.

Neil was beginning to realize that everybody had something they weren't quite proud of in the past. And maybe it wasn't all crime, too.

"…and then… BAM!" Lizzie threw her hands in the air. "The stupid prince fell on his butt. The princess then ran off with the thief and they lived happily ever after!"

Max smiled at his sister's antics. She'd insisted that while she was too old to be told bedtime stories anymore, she was plenty old enough to tell them to Max. He didn't see her logic, but he had no room to argue. Lizzie loved making up fairy tales.

"So, when do you think you'll go to sleep?"

"When Nikki gets here."

"Nikki's feeling sore right now. We had a pretty tough session today."

"Aw…" Lizzie pouted and puffed out her cheeks.

"Tell you what—you go to sleep and I'll have Nikki wake you up tomorrow before our session. That way, you can eat breakfast with her. Deal?"

"Deal!" Lizzie laid down immediately and curled up under her blanket. Max sighed and headed out to the fire, where Nikki was lying on her back.

"Hey, Nikki."

"Max, I'm dying."

"You are?"

"Yep. That's why I'm in so much pain."

"It's called a workout, princess. You're stretching muscles you've never really stretched before."

"Oh."

"Besides, you've got to wake Lizzie up tomorrow before we eat breakfast. It's the only way I could get her to sleep."

"Speaking of Lizzie, where are David and Gwen?"

"They're off with Jaspar, scouting ahead for when we leave in a couple days."

"Uh-huh." The tone of her voice said, 'I'm not Lizzie. I know they snuck off for some alone time.'

"Okay, yeah, they went off to fuck."

"That's better."

"You know, if you're that sore, I can get you some wet cloth for your muscles."

"Yes, please." He laughed and went to get what she needed. He spotted Campbell lying on the ground, passed out.

"Hey, Campbell," he sighed, kicking the guy in the leg. "Get up and sleep in the fucking wagon."

"Bella?" Campbell mumbled. "How are the twins?"

"They're fine. Now get up and get in the wagon."

"That's good." Campbell got up. "I'm gonna leave, Bella. I'm not good for you or Rosie or Joey."

"That's right, you stupid drunk."

"I'll see you again one day. When they're all grown up."

Does Campbell… have a fucking family?

Max shook that thought from his head and got the cloths Nikki needed. He went back and laid them on her arms and legs in the places where he knew she was hurting the most and she let out a hiss.

"That… feels weird. Like it's better, but worse at the same time."

"Get some sleep. We have training first thing tomorrow."

Nikki laid awake in her bed, staring at the ceiling of the wagon. Lizzie, Gwen, and David had all gone to sleep already, but she found herself feeling restless. And it wasn't just the fact that her body was sore from training, either; she had a lot on her mind lately.

It had been a solid month since she'd run from her wedding, and in that time, she'd had a lot of time to think about her status as a princess. True to her word, she'd sent her wedding dress and tiara home to her mother and given the jewelry to the rest of the caravan. They'd been endlessly grateful for her contribution. Still, whenever she saw a family begging on the street or a young child sleeping in a gutter, her heart would break a little bit.

If I were queen, I could help them.

But if I were queen, I never would've known about them.

Quite the conundrum. To top it off, she couldn't go home now. If she went back now, she'd be forced to marry Prince Edward and give up the freedom she had.

And then there was Max and his family.

Oh, boy.

She felt happy with them. She felt safe and free. But, at the same time, she knew staying with them was just making them a target for the guard if they were found. Especially Max, since the kingdom more than likely saw him as her kidnapper, rather than her running away of her own free will and running into him by pure chance.

Lizzie was the sweetest person she'd ever met. David was nothing but a ray of sunshine in a cloudy world. Gwen was the mom she'd always wanted, rather than the one she had. Jaspar and Campbell were all right, and Campbell was the reason she'd been able to escape in the first place. Neil was practically her brother in all but blood and title, and having him around reminded her where she'd come from. And Max…

Putting into words how he made her feel was difficult. She felt drawn to him, like metal to a magnet, and he made her stomach feel fluttery. He never talked down to her or made her feel insignificant. If he had an idea for a scheme involving her, he'd run it by her before actually performing the scheme. But it was more than that. He was the first person from outside of Lilac that she'd ever met and had an actual conversation with. He'd introduced her to alcohol and the dangers of accepting drinks from people you didn't know. He wanted her to be able to fight, to defend herself. In his eyes, she was a human being—not a delicate princess or a possible bargaining chip, but a person with feelings and worth.

If you ever get caught, he'll be thrown in the dungeon and executed the next morning—right after you get married.

The image of Max on the gallows entered her mind and made her want to cry.

That settles it. I'm finding a way out of this stupid marriage, like it or not, Mom.