I tore through my closet, looking for anything that wasn’t covered in frills, lace, or sparkles. So far, I had been unsuccessful.
Someone knocked at my door, but I was too busy being devoured by ruffles to answer. “It’s open!” I yelled, and heard the door squeak.
“Liliad? Are you in their somewhere?”
my eyes widened. It was Marcus.
“yeah- uh…” I closed my eyes and let out a silent groan. My hair was probably a mess. I quickly pulled a hair and off my wrist and pulled my hair back. “Just- uh- give me a second!” I called.
I could hear him shuffling his feet nervously. “That’s okay, i just wanted to um… apologize, I guess.” more shuffling. “For um… you know.”
I grabbed a plain blue dress- the one i’d worn when we arrived. “For when you kissed me? You can say it, i don’t care.”
He chuckled. “You wouldn’t.”
“If you knew that, why come up here? It isn’t even breakfast yet.”
“I wanted to make sure”
I started wading to the door of the closet. “Well, it’s fine.” I announced as I hopped out. “Things don’t have to get awkward. I mean, we’re just friends, right? I’ve only been here a month.”
“Yeah. okay.” his face broke into another dopey grin. It was kinda cute, in a puppy-dog way. “Could we maybe just walk in the gardens this afternoon? After tea?”
I rolled my eyes. “Ugh, tea. Don’t tell me everyone does that in the city.”
“Well… kind of, yeah.”
I huffed and tossed the dress onto my bed. “Alright then. About two?” Marcus nodded, then turned to leave.”
“Hold up.” I said. “I never said you could leave, Thorne. I have a couple questions for you.”
He stopped and turned to me. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. when we first met, you said you were supposed to teach me to dance.”
Marcus snorted. “When we first met, you acted like you wear going to smash my head in with a book.” he reminded me. “Can you blame me for trying to calm you down?” I blushed. “Okay… yeah, that does sound like me. But why were you supposed to teach us?”
He shrugged. “Sir Abdalah said you guys wouldn’t know.”
I furrowed my brow. “What’s his deal, anyways? He didn’t hear the hell shrieking in the kitchen at one in the morning, or he just decided to ignore it?”
“He usually keeps to himself.”
“That’s one way to put it, sure.”
“Okay, moving on.” I huffed. “When Cass said they needed a distraction ... was that just the first the first thing that came to mind, or…?”
Now he was blushing. “I don’t know. It was just kind of a moment of panic.” I nodded. “And when i got mad at you last week, you said you wanted me to win this twisted tournament.”
“I just meant-”
“Nevermind, i don’t want to know.” I interrupted. He smirked. “Alright, fine. Can i ask you some questions now?”
“Sure.”
“Why do you like those flowers?” Marcus asked, pointing to the bunch on my nightstand. By now they had started to droop and turn brown. I sighed. “Long story.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I never said I would answer.”
“That is so not fair.”
“Fine.” I snipped. “All the women in my family have been named after flowers, since before my great-grandmother was born. She was Daisy, then my grandmother was Rose and my mother was Lilac. The story goes that they dream about flowers the night before they give birth, and whichever flowers they dream about is the one they name their daughter after. But if we went by that logic, no doubt someone would be named dragon snap and that would be ridiculous.”
Marcus laughed, so i continued.
“My mother used to always take me to see them, because they only grow on the cliffside and it was too dangerous on my own. She said the flowers had a spirit as beautiful as mine- that’s why she named me after them. Because all through her pregnancy she had nightmares, nothing about flowers. They were always so special to her and she kept asking to be taken to see them when she was sick. So I like to see them whenever I can.” I crossed my arms and flopped onto the bed. “Plus you can make wishes on them.”
Marcus sat next to me. “That was… long-winded.”
I shrugged. “You wanted an answer.”
He just laughed. “See you at breakfast, Princess.”
I glared at him. “Get out of my room.”
***
I caught Gwen on the stairwell, her red-brown hair falling over her shoulders in two long plaits. I tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, Guinever, what’s up with you? You’re usually all smiles.”
Gwen pouted. “Whatever happened to our pact? The one about not getting married?”
I furrowed my brow. “What? I’m not getting married. I don’t even like anyone.”
Lies
Gwen huffed. “Tell that to the prince.”
My face went red. “You think I’m marrying Marcus?” I stopped in my tracks. “Gwen, are you high?”
“No! Olivia told me! She said he proposed last night, after we all went to bed!”
I stared at her. “And how, pray tell, would Olivia know anything about my private life?”
Gwen thought for a moment, then burst out laughing. “Oh my gods, i’m so stupid!” I giggled. “Honestly, Guinevere, you know me. You really think I would marry a prince? He’s just a friend!”
Gwen smirked. “Isn’t that how it usually starts?”
“Well by the same logic, either of us could marry Kai.”
“Ew, no!”
“Gwen, don’t be rude!”
We stood there, giggling. I pulled up my skirt a bit and twisted the slack fabric around my fingers.
“That’s a cute little habit, but you’re going to wrinkle your dress.” Marcus said from behind me, making me jump. “Why do you always have to sneak up on me like that?” I whined. He laughed, and I realized how good his laugh felt- it was deep like his voice, and I could almost feel it resonate through the floor as it warmed the pit of my chest, and I smiled.
“Come on, lets go get some food.” Gwen announced. “I am hungry.” I let go of my skirt and followed suit. “I hope they have pancakes.”
As soon as we walked in, my eyes fell on Sir Abdalah at the head of the table. (well, first i saw the pancakes)
I casually grabbed a seat beside cass, and right next to the crabby old man.
“Hey.” I said. “So, I have a question. Did you decide that Cass chasing three demons through the castle and my going supernova three times a day was below your paygrade, or were you not even here?”
The color drained from his face and he froze, mouth full of blueberries. “The what?”
I rolled my eyes and stabbed the pancakes with my fork. “Oh, nothing.” i said, stuffing my face.
Olivia raised an eyebrow. “I think we can all go home this afternoon, can’t we? Since he found a bride?”
Gwen smacked Olivia’s arm. “No. Shut up.”
I swallowed quickly. “So, what about those trials? How fake were those?”
The 15 girls from the city all froze.
“I mean, really.” I rolled my eyes. “How necessary was it for me to break into a graveyard?”
Sir Abdullah raised an eyebrow. “Why would you break into a graveyard?”
“I dunno, you tell me.”
Gwen raised a hand. “I had to steal twenty apples from a nice old man.”
“I climbed up the side of a building.” Agatha murmured.
Edda narrowed her eyes. “I crawled into a badger den.”
“Where did you find a badger den,” Cass sighed.
“I had to jump into the harbor.” Undine squeaked.
Kayla propped her chin on her hands. “I’d love to know why I talked to Old Man Joe about his dead daughter for two hours.”
Sir Abdullah huffed. “What do you want me to say? That I set the whole thing up because I don’t approve of mountain rats trying to marry the prince?”
My face burned red. Marcus stood and slammed his fist on the table. “That is enough!” He yelled. “Sir Abdullah, you would do well to bide your tongue! It is not in your place to speak degradingly about any of these ladies.” he narrowed his eyes. “And prepare some proper trials for these young ladies.”
I crossed my arms and slumped in my seat.
Marcus stiffened, then sat down slowly. I piled my plate with pancakes and stood up. “I’ll be in the library.” i muttered, and turned to leave.
“I’ll come with you-”
“No.” i said, glaring at Marcus. “Not just yet.”
I stormed down the hallway, my skirt batting against my legs the whole time. The great oak doors creaked open a bit as I passed.
“Hello?”
I turned and gasped. “What are you doing here?”
Kai grinned. “You said you wanted me to visit, right?”
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