Chapter 12

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I let the green curtain go and stood up.

"That's ingenious, wasteful but ingenious." I said, with my hands on my hips.

The prince smiled and I immediately looked away from him.

The greenhouse was a wide room with four rows of a variety of plants. Some plants hung from the roof but most of them were towards the end, where there were two wide blocks, one was full of rich dark dirt and the other had lush green leafs sprouting. The floor was mostly a jagged pattern of grey stones but there were patches of open dirt near the corners of the rows.

"Who came up with the idea of putting coal underneath to keep the plants warm?" I asked, turning from the Prince and towards the rows of plants.

The treacherous Thomas had been called away by Janson and the insufferable Minho had decided the Greenhouse was too boring.

The ordeal almost felt planned.

"It was my great Grandmother. The Isaac line has always been fond of Flora." Newt said and took a step closer towards the plants I was examining.

I nodded my head comprehensively "How lovely. I wish I could say something of the sort for my family."

Our castle was extremely boring compared to the others. It was architecturally superior but there wasn't much to do.

The prince put his hands on the wood that encased the dirt. It was worryingly close to my right hand. Closer than on the boat. He needed a lesson on boundaries. I wondered where his copy of the etiquette book had gone.

Anyone else and I wouldn't have minded but he wasn't just anyone else.

I slowly recoiled and headed towards the back of the Greenhouse.

"I'm sure there must be something" He said as he followed "You are famed for your winter games."

I missed his tight-lipped attitude from before; He was making it harder to be nice to him.

"Oh those. Well I guess you could say that. Although, I've suspected for a long time that everyone just lets us win because we're in charge." I said and leaned over to inspect the square with the plants.

Newt laughed lightly. It made me shiver. It was so human.

"That makes sense but I recall you being rather good at Ice Puck." He said.

He needed to stop talking. It was driving me crazy.

I stood and crossed my arms. I had to somehow get away from him without being rude.

Pity we had only spent ten minutes together.

I swiveled again and looked at the empty patch.

"What's growing there?" I asked and pointed.

I could see him stiffen from the corner of my eye.

"The tradition is that when we marry, we'll come down here and plant something of our choice to signify…our fertility and the prosperity of Britannica."

Wonderful.

I took it back; now I was grateful my family didn't have traditions.

I needed to get this nuisance to stop talking. I couldn't exactly get rid of him but if he would just shut up this would be more bearable.

"You know as fascinating as this all is, I would love if you could take me to the library."

It was an utter failure.

"Impossible. Under no circumstance did that happen. "Newt said as he flagged a servant down.

I scoffed and shooed the servant away. Newt opened his mouth in protest and shock but I stopped him before he could say anything.

"Actually, yes it did. There are records that there was a Deadland tribe that cracked if before you. They just happened to disappeared right before any official governments were set up."

Newt crossed his arms and shook his head in disbelief. "How convenient."

We were sat across from each other. He had them clear the library which I'm certain bugged people and defeated my purpose.

The bruise on my nose was really working against me.

We were looking at some maps of the Maze when I remembered something Mother had told me.

Newt didn't take it kindly to know that Britannica wasn't exactly the first to figure out the Maze.

We had been arguing for quite a bit and contradicting him made it much easier to bear his presence.

"Fine. Then explain why my mother would lie to me?"

Newt rolled his eyes. "I can't possibly explain that and there is no proof that this Deadland tribe even existed."

I narrowed my eyes and stood "All right then, I'm just going to go find a book that proves it."

The library was simply tagged and with the help of the servant I had shooed away, we found the book I needed.

I slammed it down on the nearest table and I flipped through the pages.

For some reason, Newt decided to hover over my shoulder instead of standing to the side like a normal individual.

He was getting comfortable with me. That was unacceptable.

I was going to abandon him.

As soon as I proved my point.

I ran my finger down the names of tribes until I found what I was looking for.

"Right there" I slammed my finger down on the page " The Rhine Tribe was a group of hunters and gathers. Mostly Nomadic. Very little is known about this tribe but there are considerable amounts of evidence that indicate that they were the first to cross the Maze and therefore the first to decipher the code ."

I smiled smugly and shut the book.

"I would like to see that evidence." Newt said and stepped aside so I could hand the book back to the servant.

"No one likes a sore loser Newt." I said and held my hands behind my back.

"I think that was just Hiberian propaganda. I expected better from you Roan but then I guess not everyone can see past the klunk as well as me."

I scoffed " I can see past the klunk just as well as you, if not better."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really? Well it seems to me that, that isn't the case with this whole Rhine tribe."

"No, you just don't want to admit that Britannica wasn't the first to figure out the Maze but that's okay I understand. It must be a real struggle to hear that you're not the best"

Newt scoffed and crossed his arms "You can't contest that Britannica is the most superior nation. Our assets clearly back that up."

I narrowed my eyes. "I think Hiberia begs to differ. Their military power is far more powerful than yours."

"Perhaps but once again, we control the maze," He paused "See we've come to a full circle and everything indicates to our superiority."

I rolled my eyes "That kind of thinking is going to really tank this marriage."

Newt laughed and I tried my best not to.

I didn't want him to like me.

Before anything else was said Minho came in.

At first I was grateful but that wore off rather quickly.

"You two are so boring. From the greenhouse you came here?" He put his hand on his hips and looked us over "Before you two settle down and get all fat because all you do is rule, we should go do something fun."

Newt crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows "Like what?"

I wanted no part in this.

"Well it hasn't snowed yet and over in the Brighton woods its warmer and they have that fair in the forest with the fire and the tribal hand readers. " Minho said, smiling smugly, as if what he just said was not complete gibberish.

There was no way they would let us go so close to the wedding, especially after the whole assassination attempt.

"You know that might not be a terrible idea. I doubt we'll have any recreation time after the wedding. I'll take it up with mother.

Bloody Maze Guard.

"Her skin color is far too dark for your usual courtesan. I wonder why that is."

Well, I do live in the mountains that's closer to the sun and despite the long winters we have plenty of windows. That and I sneaked out constantly when I was supposed to be sewing tapestries.

I wasn't that dark. I was darker in the summer. I was verging on an olive skin color but during the summer my skin was almost like a caramel. Mother always resented me for that. She said it wasn't lady like. Too bad, horse riding was just too much fun.

"Well, I'm sure if you use a white that's almost ivory it can lessen the contrast of her skin against the white."

I was surrounded by a quartet of ladies. They were my dressmakers. Each one had made a quip about what was wrong with my body.

"Your highness, are your eyes always this dark or are they more brown? Both pose a problem."

"Your grace, is there anyway we could get you to reconsider your black hair?"

"Your majesty, you are a great deal more…your frame is…its rather formed. As if you were a farm hand. Is there any way for you to lose the muscle from your arms? It would complement the prince's slight frame much better that way.

As if I could change any of those things.

And I didn't not have big arms, Newt was just too skinny.

I finally got to step off the pedestal when they were done measuring me and putting different cloths to my skin.

I had told them to design the dress as they saw fit.

One of the perks of being royalty was the ability to delegate annoying tasks.

Antonietta had a lot to say on the subject.

Once I got them to lessen the volume of the skirt I stopped caring.

I excited the room rather pleased with my lack of involvement.

Before I had seen the ladies, Agnes applied white powder to hide the bruise. Usually I would have protested, like I had this morning, but I didn't want to spend unnecessary time with Newt again.

It had been terrible.

I hated that he was almost likeable. My plant to despise him forever would really cave if that kept up.

My arms swung rather widely as I walked through the hallway.

The passage ways were lonely. There was a poetry reading or something going. Teresa had gone, she was rather pleased to be able to go where she wished now.

It was terribly uncanny the fear she had of Isabelle Winchester.

All I saw was a flouncy pastel-wearing nuisance.

Only the stars could know what Newt saw in her.

Oh well that was not my problem. My problem was getting rid of her.