Rustam sat on his bed as all the adults around him argued. He couldn’t even hear what they were saying because of how loud everyone was. The only people who were quiet were Daelyniel, Ignacia, and the mysterious Nymph girl. His brothers stood next to his bed, but both were quiet.

“How come none of you got him out of there!?” Xylaurel yelled at her husband and the others. “My son was in the middle of a dragon fight!”

“What were we supposed to do, Xyla?” Padraig shot back. “None of us could do anything!”

“You had Nymph guards with you! Surely one of them could’ve flown close enough to catch him!” Xylaurel shouted angrily.

The head of the Nymph guard’s wings twitched in irritation. “Our duty is to keep Prince Lennoxir and Princess Galenova safe, Your Majesty.”

The Dwarf Queen glared at him and had to be held back by her sister. “From what I heard, your princess got to my son before any of you decided to move!”

The prince of the Nymphs stepped forward and bowed to her. “Forgive his outburst, Queen Xylaurel. But there was no possible way for us to get to him.”

“Dear, let’s not argue about this anymore,” Padraig tried to calm his wife.

Rexus glared at his youngest brother and crossed his arms. “They’re arguing because of you. Why did you do that, Rustam?”

“I-I’m sorry,” Rustam sniffled as he looked down at his wrapped hands.

“You should’ve waited!” Rexus hissed. “What were you going to do? If you had stayed hidden, none of this would be happening right now.”

"That's enough, Rexus," Rhodaph snapped and pushed him away.

Ignacia glared at the eldest prince and threw her wooden bird at him. She’d found it after Rustam passed out and cleaned it off on the way back to the castle. She didn’t think she would be using it this soon, but giggled as the bird started pecking at Rexus’ head.

“Wow. How did you get it to do that?” the Nymph princess asked.

Ignacia giggled when the bird pecked Rexus’ forehead. “There’s a crystal in it that has the soul of my great-grandmother’s hummingbird. He was known for pecking people who visited her home.”

The Nymph princess nodded. “I see. Did your great-grandmother train it to do that?”

“No, it just hated visitors,” Ignacia replied. “So after it passed away, its spirit still hung around the house and visitors would feel pecking on their heads. Grandfather put it in a crystal and made the wooden body. When we throw it at someone, it starts pecking them.”

“Mother!” Rexus whined as he tried to get away from the toy.

All of the adults stopped arguing and saw the wooden bird terrorizing the prince. Oren rushed over to his granddaughter. “Ignacia, stop that! Why would you use that on the prince?”

“He was being mean to Rustam!” Ignacia defended and whistled for the bird to come back to her.

The queen checked on her youngest son and saw him looking down. “Rustam…”

“C-Can everyone leave?” he mumbled. “Except Dael, Igy, and…” He looked over to the Nymph princess.

She squeaked and quickly bowed to the queen. “P-Princess Galenova! I-I’m sorry I didn’t properly introduce myself!”

“It’s okay,” Xylaurel assured her. She looked at her youngest son and frowned when she saw her son looking down again. “Okay, Rustam. We’ll leave. Let us know if you need anything.”

The little Dwarf nodded and bit his lower lip to keep himself from crying in front of them. Once everyone was out, he hiccuped and let a few tears fall. “I-I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be sorry!” Daelyniel comforted him. “Your brother is just stupid. That weird dragon wouldn’t have stopped if you hadn’t…”

“We’re gonna get stronger!” Ignacia shouted in bravado and stood on the bed. “I’m going to be the best court wizard ever! I’ll protect all of you!”

All of the kids laughed and Rustam looked over to the other girl. “Thank you for healing me, Princess Galenova.”

The princess blushed and looked down. “I-I didn’t do much. I could only keep you from bleeding. I’m afraid you’ll have scars…” Her dual-colored eyes looked at him with concern. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t do more.”

Ignacia jumped off the bed and walked over to her. “You did what you could! More than those dumb adults!” She dragged the other girl to the bed and jumped back on. “Don’t stand so far away! You’re our friend now!”

The other girl looked nervously at the boys and then back at the girl. A blush spread across her olive-toned cheeks.  “R-Really?” She didn’t want to admit that she didn’t have any friends. The girls back home didn’t like being around her because they assumed she was haughty since she rarely spoke. In truth, she was very shy. She was usually the only child whenever visitors came to their home and kept quiet because the adults told her so. Talking to kids around her age made her nervous since she didn’t know what to talk about. “A-Are you sure you want to be friends?”

“Why not?” Ignacia questioned. “You helped us get to Rustam faster than the grown-ups! And you kept him from bleeding out! You’re nice! Right, Rustam?”

Rustam nodded and smiled at her. “She’s right. Also, this is Ignacia and this is my cousin, Daelyniel.”

Galenova looked at the Pixie and the Dwarf in confusion, making Ignacia giggle. Daelyniel gave her a friendly smile in understanding. “I’m adopted,” he revealed.

“I see. I-If you would like to be friends, I-I would like that,” Galenova said quietly.

Rustam looked at her like he was hypnotized and took in all the details while she talked to their friends. From her fluorite-reminiscent eyes to her dark cerulean that faded into turquoise at the tips. She was very pretty in his eyes. He reached over to his bedside table and pulled out his sketchbook. He looked through some of his drawings and stopped when he found the one he was looking for. “Igy! Can you give this and the black opal we found to your grandma? This is the last one!”

“Okay.” She and Daelyniel looked at the drawing and saw a circlet design on it. They looked at Galenova, who started talking to Rustam, and grinned at each other knowingly.

“Would you stop fidgeting? You’re making me nervous,” Rustam hissed at his friend.

Ignacia whined as she tugged at the long sleeves of her dress. It’d been four days since the dragon attack and today was Rexus, Rhodaph, and Rustam’s birthday. Which meant a huge celebration was happening at the castle and that meant wearing formal clothes. Ignacia kept tugging at her sleeves and the collar of her dress. She felt like she was suffocating and desperately wanted to wear her more casual clothes. “I can’t breathe in this thing! I don’t like this.”

Galenova took her hand and looked around. “If you’ll allow me…” She used the sharp nail on her index finger to cut a thin line along the thin sleeves down to the little girl’s wrist. “There. Feel better?” She checked her work and smiled when she saw that the cuts wouldn’t be noticeable unless someone looked too closely.

Ignacia moved her arms around to test it and nodded. “Better! Thank you!”

Rustam looked around nervously and saw many of the nobles circling around his father and brothers. His heart ached that he couldn’t stand with them, but his father’s council suggested that he make himself scarce so as not to draw too much attention to his wounds. Rustam was also a little scared that Rexus was still mad at him for being the cause of their parents’ argument the other day.

The Nymph princess frowned when she saw him looking at his father and brothers. “Why aren't you with them?”

“Father’s council said I should stay away since my wounds are still fresh,” Rustam replied sadly. “They don’t want it to take attention away from Rexus and Rhodaph.”

“It’s not fair,” Daelyniel quipped. “Should we sneak out?”

A Dwarf girl with black hair and brown eyes approached them and looked at Daelyniel expectantly. “Your Grace. You owe me several dances after rejecting me at other events.”

Daelyniel stiffened and grabbed Ignacia’s arm. “U-Umm, I already promised Igy I would dance with her! Come on, Igy!” He picked up his friend and took her to the dance floor for the kids. “S-Sorry about that.”

“She liiiiiiikes you,” Ignacia teased and stuck her tongue out at the other girl.

Daelyniel shuddered when he saw her glaring at them. “I-I don’t like her. She keeps trying to get me to dance with her.”

“Want me to hit her with my book?” Ignacia offered.

The Pixie boy sighed as he dodged the lime charm swinging around. “No! Don’t do that. Save it for another time.”

The little blonde girl pouted. “Fiiiiiine. Also, I’m going to slap you for dragging me to the dance floor.”

“And that’s why we’re not gonna stop dancing until we can sneak out.”

Galenova watched the girl walk to the other princes, and one of them agreed to dance with her. Another girl approached the other one and he nodded, walking to the dance floor with her. She looked at Rustam, who looked a little sad. “Aren’t you going to dance? There are some Dwarven girls who aren’t dancing. I'm sure one of them will say yes.”

He shook his head. “No. None of the girls ever wants to dance with me. They like my brothers more since they’re better dancers. And my arm is broken.” Even as much as he practiced, he had a hard time keeping up because of his shorter height. A lot of the Dwarvish dances required being able to move fast, especially during the group dances.

“Well, how about we dance together?” Galenova asked. “It’s your tenth birthday. You should celebrate like your brothers.” She grabbed his hand and led him to the dance floor next to their friends.

“About time you two joined,” Ignacia muttered.

Rustam blushed when he felt Galenova gently put her hand on his shoulder and grabbed his other hand. The two of them started swaying slowly. He looked up at her in concern. “A-Are you sure you’re okay dancing with me?”

The Nymph princess nodded and smiled at him reassuringly. “Yes. You shouldn’t spend your birthday hiding. Let’s have fun!”

The little Dwarf looked to his friends who nodded in agreement. Rustam nodded back to all three of them. “Okay. Let’s dance!”

Xylaurel smiled and waved as she walked away from a group of noblewomen. Her smile turned into a grimace as she walked to her sister. “By the gods, save me. If I have to hear more ambitious mothers telling me how great their daughters would be as wives for Rexus and Rhodaph, I’m going to fling myself off the castle balcony.”

Melita laughed as she took a sip of her wine. “Then come stand with me and watch our boys dance. The little Nymph princess got Rustam on the dance floor, and Dael and Igy are using each other to ward off others again.”

The queen shook her head and sipped her own wine. “It’s insulting that very few nobles acknowledge Rustam’s existence. All because he’s the third prince.”

“It’s to be expected, unfortunately,” Melita said bitterly. “My dear husband told me that some on the council are expecting us to adopt a Dwarven child. Said that a Fey can’t become the next duke and be part of the council.”

“I see…” Xylaurel smiled when she saw Rustam laughing and dancing with Princess Galenova. She was afraid that having a celebration so soon after his ordeal would be too much, but it’d been far too late to cancel. And it seemed he was having fun with his friends. They were careful not to move him around too fast and paid careful attention to not bump into his broken arm. “If only we could celebrate with just the family and not all these pesky guests…”

“Presenting, Prince Drefan Scale-Singer!”

Everyone went silent and still as the guards slowly opened the doors. Xylaurel looked at her husband, who looked just as surprised as she felt and cursed under her breath. The last person she wanted to see was her husband's dreadful brother. “Not that family.”

Need something to read while waiting for the next chapter? Check out these other Tapas AF Tourney novels! Links down below! <3