Coming back into the light of the ballroom was like stepping out of a dream, or waking up from a nightmare, I should say. As I left the shadows, my pounding heart began to calm itself. Inspecting my gloved arms, I was surprised those vines left no marks on me.

Nazam didn't really escort me back in. He kept a step behind me as if blocking any attempt to go back outside. Then once I was properly attended to amidst the fancy folk, he slipped back into the sea of faces. I was relieved though to not suffer his company.

The rest of the ball was flying by so fast, and it looks as though Tallis Grey had made his appearance and retired without exchanging a single word with me. I made a conscious effort not to let that bother me. There was still lots of dancing left to do and it was just what I needed to get rid of the feeling that lingered from my little scare out in the maze.

I was also feeling quite troubled by the conversations from earlier in the night.

Dancing the remaining sets with a different partner, the opportunity to ask one of my sisters about Queen Charna or about what Reginald had alluded to was waning. When I was about to lose all hope of finding answers to my questions, Sir Arthur appeared asking for the last dance of the night.

Sir Arthur and I have never been particularly close but as I have mentioned before, he has always been kind. He indulged my behavior on several occasions throughout the years. Sometimes it was his words that made Father show mercy. The incident with Tallis Grey was the only time I felt myself at odds with the acclaimed knight. And he apologized most sincerely for that.

Graciously, I allowed him to lead me through the music determined to pry some answers from the man. I should be tactful.

"How old are you, Sir?" I asked.

"What brought this about, Princess?" He laughed. "I am forty-two years. This is my twenty-fourth year in service to the crown."

"Ruby will be twenty-five years come mid-winter," I said almost to myself.

"Yes. There seems to be a question for me poised on your lips, little Enna. Don't be shy. I have no secrets from you."

I wondered if I should lead with the question he would be more willing to answer...

He was present during the marriage between Father and Queen Charna.

His powers of deduction were uncanny when he added to the silence, "ah, more than one thing is on your mind? I should have known."

Losing courage to ask the more forbidden topic, I retreated to the more present troubles.

"Is it true? Is Reginald going to be King? And is Ruby to be his wife?"

"Yes." The simple word hung in the air then he cleared his throat. "It is the most appeasing solution to the predicament your sister has found herself in. All parties are satisfied."

"I'm not! And surely Ruby isn't! He is utterly deplor---"

"I must advise you not to speak ill of the future King, for your own sake." Then he added in a hushed whisper, "Besides, they would only give him the crown if your father dies. The king is in perfect health; he has many more years to come. And according to his living will, the crown would skip over all you girls and your distant cousin in favor of a legitimate direct male descendant."

"But there is none--"

"Yet, Princess. Yet. Whichever one of you and your sisters give birth to a son first, he would be the rightful heir to the throne."

"Any of us?"

"Indeed. Ruby may be the eldest but, in these matters, you all carry the same amount of First King Blood... and are the daughters of legitimate marriages. That is why there is so much discussion surrounding your marriages. Except for Princess Indigo, of course."

"Wait, why not Indigo?"

"There are questionable circumstances around your little sister's birth. She would have a hard time claiming legitimacy. I am surprised you didn't already know this." His eyebrows pulled together.

"No, of course not... why would I?"

Indigo has never been treated differently from the rest of the sisters. I mean, her skin was darker than the rest of the sisters, even more so than the eldest three. And her hair texture and nature was strange now that I thought about it. All my sisters had variation in our looks due to us having different mothers, skin color was just another feature that was a bit unique for some. I was a bit envious of Indigo's dark skin; she hardly ever gets scorned by the sun.

"I am sorry, Princess. I seem to have upset you. But you are old enough now to know these details."

I was making a face reminiscing about my last sunscorn.

"Yes... I am. So, Indigo's mother...." I tried to remember her but couldn't.

Father's first bride was the mysterious Queen Charna. She gave him four daughters: Ruby, Cerise, Carmine, and Saffron. Father's second wife was the mother of the twins Jade and Olive, Queen Delalei. Her portrait showed her to have the same blonde hair as her daughters. Olive has her blue eyes while Jade has Father's green eyes. I know she was known as very sweet having spent much time doing charity work and projects to help the poor. Their marriage was short-lived. She died during childbirth.

Father's third wife was Queen Malaya .... I memorized every curve of my mother's painting. The curve of her smile promised mischief. Rose was her spitting image apart from the green eyes we both inherited from Father.

After my mother, Father married Queen Rosemary. She gave him his third set of twins: Violet and Lavender. When Queen Rosemary became ill, she was sent out to the countryside. The illness was deemed too contagious to live at court. I have memories of her though, before she was sent away. She was the closest thing I had to a mother. She passed when I was seven years old. I vaguely remember crying when we read the letter of her passing.

Lavender and Violet were only three years old and had not a single clue of what they lost, similar to my own experience with my birth mother. Then not long after, there was a new baby in the nursery. She was so dark, but we were told she was our new little sister, Indigo. I never met her mother. Father must have loved out of marriage. The thought was so strange to me. Father had always been the paramount of respectability.

Focus, Sienna. I still have questions about the first queen!

"So, may I ask you to tell me about Queen Charna?"

"That tale will have to be saved for another time, I'm afraid. The set seems to be coming to an end."

"Aw! Come on!"

After bowing, he offered his elbow. My hand curled onto his sleeve and he patted it. "Another time, I promise, Your Highness."

~~♡~~

A servant tentatively tapped on my shoulder the next morning. In my half-asleep state, I swatted away the nuisance.

"Go away," I groaned.

"Princess, we must get you ready for the championship joust."

Whose bright idea is it to have the championship joust the morning after a ball?

I sat up abruptly and surveyed my sisters through sleep crusted eyes. Their movements were sluggish, and they hid their yawns. All except Indigo who was bouncing off the walls asking for details on the ball. Without Lavender and Violet here, Indigo and Amber were the only ones who were not permitted to attend.

"Indigo, please sit still so Lottie can pin your hair," Ruby ordered.

Indigo's hair naturally stuck straight out and up. She regularly had it pinned down in braids that hugged the crown of her head. I found myself watching her get ready as the servants pulled my nightgown over my head. Usually, I swatted them away when they tried to dress me like a child but I was too tired to care.

They dressed me in a purple gown, its style like what my eldest sisters regularly wore: slim and regal with fancy stitching. They did pull my hair up again but this time they left a couple of strands lose framing my face. A thin braid wrapped around and down into where the bulk of my hair was gathered low in a croissant-shaped bun. Then the servants slid a tiara onto the top of my head encrusted with small amethyst gems.

"You looked radiant in your ball gown, Sienna. But today, you look so mature," Ruby complimented me as I looked in a mirror, her hands covered my shoulders giving a tight squeeze.

"Really?"

"Yes. Your mother would have been proud."

I cast my eyes down wondering if that was true. Would my mother really be proud of me? I couldn't think of much for her to be proud of. I was not as accomplished as I should be.

"I wish Rose was here," I sighed, feeling a loneliness carve out a hole in my chest.

"We do, too. I'm sure she is beside herself for missing it all." She had leaned down to kiss the top of my head. "Now remember, you have to sit for a portrait after the joust, so don't run off."

I made a gargoyle face that had her tutting with disapproval. Did she mean anything she just said or was she buttering me up about being 'mature', so that she can give me an order to do something I loathe?

I grabbed my spyglass from my chest and wedged it between my cotton stockings and my lace-drawn knickers. Perhaps I can have the artist paint me with it in my hands instead of the usual flower or harp.

After we were dressed, I was brought up to the stands with my sisters. There was no other jousts or fights going on. All attention was centered on the championship joust between Sir Wilhelm of Calistro and Prince Jareth of Valence. It was sure to be a match. Even Jade had no idea who would win.

I found myself still feeling tired and began to wonder if it was because I wasn't used to the late hours of a ball or was it due to the strange feeling of being watched that still made me shiver in the warmth of day? I did not like it. I have trampled through Blackvine Woods alone many times and I have never felt fearful. Was it something that came from beyond Blackvine Valley?

I slapped at my cheeks to wake myself up from this, earning a look of censure from my stepmother. I gave her the same gargoyle face. A frosty glare froze her face, but before she could reprimand me, Amber tugged on her mother's sleeve with a cute grunting sound. The Queen's face instantly melted; her eyes shined with maternal warmth. I had to swallow a huge lump in my throat.

"Now, my little love, you know you must use your big girl words," Amelia cooed at her little princess.

Have you ever had an emotion spread through you so fast that you visibly shake? And then you want to just curl up into a ball until it either goes away or consumes you whole? Well, I never know which comes first. I just push it out with another emotion.

I rolled my eyes and turned away from the perfect mother-daughter pair. Amber would be better off without her, I thought vehemently. My stepmother would turn sweet Amber into an exact replica of herself: a sharp-tongued, snooty infuriating lady.

The trumpets blared and the joust began. The match was so even that they were down to their last lances with similar injuries.

"Do you yield, Sir?" Prince Jareth breathed out, blood dripping out of his mouth like a ribbon.

"Nah. But you are welcomed to, Your Majesty. I'd hate to beat you in front of your newly betrothed, but I wouldn't hate it too much," Sir Wilhelm hollered back, sitting up straighter on his horse though I'm sure the effort was strenuous.

The prince straightened his own posture in response.

Men! They are going to kill each other over pride!

I looked over to Father hoping he would have enough sense to call it. But he was leaned forward in his seat, eyes set on the match with a great intensity as men will do when their focus is captivated by sport.

Can I call it off? It is technically still for my birthday. But they only have one lance left.... one lance could be difference between life and death though.

Before my thoughts could settle on a course of action, they were charging. I wanted to cover my eyes with my hands, so I gripped the edges of my seat to restrain that urge. Both Wilhelm and Jareth struck each other at full force square in the chest. Both horses continued their pace whilst their riders were flung to the ground which caused all of us to gasp and Cerise to give out a small cry. It was hard to tell who hit the ground first.

They both staggered to their feet. For some reason, Wilhelm threw off his helmet. Being the honorable prince he was, Jareth threw his off as well to even the odds. Whilst attendants scurried onto the field to remove the barricades that separated the jousters, the audience started screaming and cheering at large volumes. The prince and knight circled one another, drawing their swords.

"The match will now be decided by steel," Sir Arthur was commentating for Indigo.

A surge of restlessness accosted me. I didn't care for this match after the second draw honestly. I wanted it to end. I did not care who won. The thought of sneaking away tempted me and would not leave me be. I had no choice but to try.

I leaned over to my father king.

"Father, I must be excused to go to the privy," I whispered.

His eyes still focused on the fight as the sound of swords clanging together in a deathly dance sang through the air, he merely waved a dismissal towards me. I smiled and got out of the stands as fast as I could. I looked over my shoulder to find two guards shadowing my footsteps.

Ugh... no matter, I thought, I know how to lose anyone.

I casually strolled along stopping at a couple of food stands and merchant tables that were set up on the route. As I pondered, the guards who tried to act like they were not following me paused at another table adjacent from mine. Perhaps they were wondering if they should call out to their princess and question the delay. But given our destination, they wouldn't dare approach that subject.

I continued on, turning a corner in a unconcerned manner. I had about five seconds of unobserved time to make my escape. Flipping up into a wagon full of hay, I pressed myself down. The sound of chainmail passed by and I waited for a moment of silence to elapse before I got out of the wagon and back on my feet.

Snickering I made my way to Tallis Grey's workshop. I have not seen him this morning and he has to answer for his early departure last night.

I knocked on his door but there was no response. Is he still asleep?

I was fully aware it would be scandalous to go into his room if he were still in bed. But a quick peek wouldn't hurt. I wouldn't even step into the room to just open the door and look. I stood there in a moral dilemma for a few seconds, staring down the door like it was a sphinx that had just given me an impossible riddle. Taking a deep breathe, I turned the knob only to find it locked.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

"What are you doing?"

I squealed and spun around to Tallis who stood behind me with a raised eyebrow. He carried a small crate in his arms.

"Divines! You scared me."

"Not my intention, Princess. If you'll excuse me." He stepped around me to unlock his door, balancing the crate under his arm.

"Do you need any help?"

"Don't you have a jousting match to be at?" He managed to unlock the door and push it open with his foot.

"It's almost over. Why didn't you come to speak to me at the ball?" I asked following him inside.

"You seemed busy. I apologize if I offended you." He placed the crate on the table and began clearing space.

"Why are you acting so formal? Why will not you look--- wow," I whispered in awe, distracted. He had flung back a curtain letting light in to reveal his cluttered room. The walls were flooded with drawings, or schematics, I should say. There were small to medium sized instruments and gadgets lying about. Their function a mystery to me just like the music box. "What is all this?"

"Just small projects. Tinkerings, really."

"Thanks, that really cleared things up. This," I said picking up a metal frame, "it looks almost like a hand."

"Prosthetic hand. That's a half-baked idea... still working out how to make it more functional." He sat down in his chair and grabbed one of his bulky eyes, except this pair had many circular glass pieces attached to it. He pulled different ones down until he was satisfied then focused on using a set of pliers to bend a thin coil of metal, twisting it into shape.

"Is that for the hand?"

"No. This is for your sister, Princess Olive."

"You're making something for Olive?"

It's not like it is her birthday...

"Yes. If my theory is correct, this should fix your sister's coordination."

"How?"

"She can't see."

"She can't see?" I laughed. "But of course, she can see."

"Not well, I meant. I told you I do not have the gift of words."

The idea was preposterous, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. "And that is supposed to help her see?"

"Well, technically this is supposed to help her see." He reached into the crate and removed a small circular piece of glass. "I blew this glass into a concave shape to help her see objects far away. Same concept used for a magnifying glass. The thickness and depth of the glass is dependent on her eyes, so I made different variations. But all are cut to fit in this frame, which will hang on her ears. You can be of use. I can use your face as a template for some adjustments." He stood up and fitted the frames on my face, perching them on the bridge of my nose. His proximity warmed my cheeks, and his breath fanned my face. His fingers brushed my ears lightly then tickled my hair as he half-whispered, "You know you have hay in your hair, right?"

VOTE if you're enjoying the story please :)