Mae 

Mae felt as if Jameson had to been out of his damn mind to have hired her for this task. She stuck out like a sore thumb. She was one of two humans to sit in the row of royal guests. The only other human was a duchess from Amethysia. The rest of the stands were filled with blessed, and Mae couldn't even begin to guess why she was tasked with killing the princess and not another blessed part of the court.

Ben sat in the seat behind her, as did all of the other guest's advisors. Beside her, the small Amethysian duchess sat quietly. She wore a long purple gown, and her brown hair was tied up on her head with a pretty purple ribbon. Comparably, Mae wore a simple black dress and felt like she stuck out even worse with her attire.

She had a bad feeling about this show, though, and she didn't want to be wearing something that would put her in even more harms way if she needed to protect herself.

"What do you think they'll be showing us?" The duchess squinted as she looked into the arena. 

Mae shrugged. "I'm sure whatever it is, the king has something spectacular planned." She was revolted by her own words and had to stop herself from throwing up in the stands. Her skin crawled as she waited for the event to start. With what had happened the night before, she was worried there was worse in store. "What do you think, your grace?"

Did the duchess know what horrible things happened to the unblessed that lived here? Did she know of the murder that had only happened down the hall from where she slept? 

It didn't matter. Mae wasn't here to stop the squabbles of royals or to save them. She was here to kill one.

The duchess blushed, a pretty pink color covering her already rosy cheeks. In other circumstances, Mae might have tried flirting with her. She didn't plan on being here a long time, and Amethysia was a long ways away from Azure. "Please, your highness, call me Jessie. We're all friends here."

Mae smiled. "As long as you will call me Runea."

She nodded. "Runea, then. We're all friends here, no need for such formal titles."

Friends. Mae stopped herself from giggling. Friends didn't kill each other and conquer their territories. She didn't know much of where Jessie was from, except they were compliant enough with the king's rule to become a gem nation. 

Trumpets sounded as the king and his entourage entered the stands, and everyone rose as he did. Once he was seated, everyone took theirs again and the show started.

Mae's eyes narrowed as she leaned into her seat. People dressed extravagantly in gem nation attire entered the arena, performing different dances and rituals from their countries. All of it was stolen, of course. The gem nations were only a decade old. There was nothing original about them, not even the bloodshed.

The people from Damiandis came out. A chill settled against her bones. Did anyone suspect her to be a fake? She lifted her chin and applauded as the performers from her nation bowed toward her. She rose to her feet and gave them a small nod of approval as the other visitors had done when their performers came out into the arena.

Her gaze met the princess'. Robin smiled at her across the stands, and Mae gave a small nod. She wondered what the princess was thinking of today or what her thoughts were of the performance. Even more, she wanted to know what else happened in the corridor once she had gotten further ahead.

She kept thinking of the news she'd gathered last night. A death of an unblessed in the castle wasn't something unheard of, but during the time of a celebration was a bit iffy. And why was the princess the first one they'd gone to?

Something wasn't right about any of it.

Mae turned her gaze back toward the arena as the new performers lifted their bows. There was a glint on the silver as the sunlight casted long shadows against them. Silver. The performers shouldn't be using real weapons!

Sparks started behind them as their arrows lit. Everything moved slowly as Mae put the pieces together. Just let them kill her, then you won't have to. She couldn't convince herself, though.

She cursed herself a thousand times over as she met Robin's gaze again. How long had the princess been staring at her? Mae yelled across the arena, her voice drowned out by the crowd. "Get down!"

Robin didn't hesitate as she ducked, and a volley of arrows sent the entire arena into flames.

Smoke filled Mae's lungs, and the only thing she could think of was getting to the princess before anyone else could.