AS WE returned to Kavan, the caravan was deafeningly silent. Queen Aria sat radiating fury from her carriage. The only thing she had said since the incident was "We're going home, now!" The subsequent silence was so oppressive that I couldn't help but squirm in my saddle, which is not a good thing to do when you're riding astride in a dress with a very high slit. My leg was getting cold. I channeled my nervous energy into scanning our surroundings. Leland seemed to be doing the same, but his face was cherry red and his ears were so flushed it seemed like they might bruise.

After I knocked Juniper to the floor, the fight in the Ecrin ballroom ended quickly. The ballroom was bathed in a smattering of blood and the adrenaline slowly washed away as reality came back to us. The ballroom was void of people except for the fallen soldiers on the floor and the fighters. Tables were overturned and food and glass littered the floor. I felt my syndicate fall into place behind me.

"What are we going to do with this?" Blakely-Rose asked, her voice dripping with disgust as she poked the sole of Juniper's boot with her toe.

"He's coming back to Aberystwyth with me. I'll see to it that Father takes care of him properly." Willow assured his little sister with a hand on her arm. Juniper let out a groan as he tried to raise his head and flopped it back down on the floor. Willow turned to him and pulled him roughly to his feet. A pair of armed guards relieved Willow of his load and carried Juniper off to face the music.

Gasps and murmurs of shock flooded the ballroom as the partygoers began to trickle back in. One pair of footsteps rang above the rest and stormed in our direction. Queen Aria, sporting a look of fury that could melt steel.

I surveyed the ballroom and my comrades to ensure no fatal damage was done. The worst thing I saw was some broken vases and flatware and a crack in the plaster where one of Blakely-Rose's stars had lodged itself.

I strided over to the man at the base of the stairs who had the misfortune of catching my dagger. He stood hunched over in pain, trying not to bend the knee that had received the blow. I placed my palm firmly against the back of his thigh and used my other hand to swiftly remove my blade from his joint.

"It won't kill you. At worst you'll lose your leg." I assured him as he bellowed in surprise and anguish. I stood him upright, grasped his sleeve at the shoulder and pulled the cotton piece from his shirt with a satisfying rent. Using the shirtsleeve I wiped the blood from my blade. I then used the fabric to fashion a crude bandage around the gash my blade had left. It definitely wasn't adequate, but it would last him until someone with better equipment arrived. He collapsed to the floor.

I heard footsteps behind me that drew my attention away from the groaning man. Turning around, I made eye contact with a familiar pair of green eyes. Leland stood in front of me, looking disheveled. His white hair was partly plastered to his face and partly sticking out in all directions, his emerald eyes looked tired, but bright with adrenaline.

He lifted his left arm up and hanging from his hand was my sword, the one I had dropped earlier. I reached out and removed it from his grip. My fingers brushed against his and I felt shivers dance down my spine.

Looking back into Lelands eyes, I saw that the small interaction had affected him too. "Thank you." I said, my voice coming out in hushed tones.

"My pleasure." His voice came out about three octaves higher than it should have, causing him to jump and me to snort as I stifled the laughter that was threatening to escape my lungs. He cleared his throat, his voice returning to normal, "My pleasure." He repeated, flushing pink.

Ignoring him and still stifling laughter, I turned and propped my foot up on the groveling soldier's back, causing the slit in my dress to fall open around my leg. The sound of my dagger sliding into its sheath high against my thigh was muted by the sound of coughing beside me.

I stole a glance at Leland out of the corner of my eye. His pale face had darkened from cherry blossom pink to a deep cherry red. It became even harder to stifle the laughter threatening to force itself free at any moment.

"I hate to break up the party, but we should get going. The Queen seemed very dissatisfied with our actions, to put it politely." Arius called up from the foot of the stairs sheepishly.

Now we were making our way along the road through the dusk. I pulled the caravan to a halt. It wouldn't be safe to travel after night fell.

My team began to set up camp as the Kavan soldiers helped the royals disengage from their carriages. We got the tents set up as quickly as we could so the ladies could change their clothes.

Traveling was incredibly uncomfortable in a ballgown and I was sure my girls were as eager to change their clothes as I was.

A campfire was burning inside the ring of tents. Leland and I would take the first watch, but the rest of the crew seemed reluctant to hit the hay. Instead we gathered around the fire.

"Well that was an eventful evening." August chuckled nervously, rolling a large leaf between his fingers.

"Eventful? You do realize that between the 17 individuals that participated in that battle we represented 6 different kingdoms. We just caused a huge international incident!" Evander snapped.

"Yeah well at least you didn't have to do it in a dress." I grumbled, pulling the black fabric closed over my knee for the umpteeth time since we had sat down. "These should be illegal. It's incredibly impractical."

"Is that seriously what you're upset about? Being in a dress?" Evander fumed.

"I'd like to see you fight four men with swords at once with only a dagger while trying to maneuver around heels and ruffles." Mèabh scoffed. Evander shut his mouth and stared into the fire, pouting.

I grunted in agreement, stood up and propped my foot on the stup I had been sitting on, "It really is-" I yanked the two daggers off my exposed leg and switched feet. I threw them at the tree next to us. The two blades landed in the wood with a satisfying thunk. They were followed by the two from my other leg."-difficult." I punctuated my final word with the thunk of the final blade sinking into the tree, falling perfectly in line with the other three. I went over to my horse and removed my sword from the saddle, not willing to be completely unarmed, and returned to my seat in a huff. Kingsley looked at me with amusement in her eyes.

"What are you looking at?" I snarked at her. "You were in pants."

This must have broken the tension in the air because the whole group let loose a fit of laughter that rang through the air and echoed off the trees.

"Well I don't know about you all, but I'm beat." Grey piped up when the laughter had died down and the song of the crickets had filled the silence. "I personally would like to be well rested to face my mother when she breaks her silence and chews us all out tomorrow."

Blakely-Rose giggled as Grey stood and started off for the tent. One by one the rest of the group followed until Leland and I were left alone with the fire and the crickets. I felt my leg bouncing, trying to expend all my pent up energy. I hated keeping watch. All that sitting and waiting and silence wore my nerves raw.

I felt Leland rest a reassuring hand on my leg, halfway between my knee and my hip. The gesture was appreciated. However, just as he made this incredibly kind gesture, the slit of my dress fell open, yet again, and Leland's hand landed right on my cold, bare leg.

As soon as he realized he was holding flesh and not fabric, his emerald eyes went as wide as the crown jewels and his face went back to being cherry red. He pulled his hand away so quickly you would think he had rested it on a hot stove.

"That's it!" I exclaimed. "I'm suffocating! No more parties! No more events! No more dresses! No more anything that isn't directly involved in finding King Kole!" I snapped, standing up. Leland leaned away from me, his eyes widening further at my outburst.

I pulled my sword from its sheath and stabbed it into the ground in front of the tree that was holding my knives, stormed over to my horse, yanked my saddle bag from its place, and high-tailed it for the woods. "Whoever invented corsets and garters and heels and dresses should be hung by their hands and left to bake in the desert sun as punishment. How are you supposed to get anything done when you can't even breathe properly, let alone move the lower half of your body without getting tangled in yards of fabric? He was in the wrong business. He could have made a fortune developing torture mehods for monarchs." I spouted off to myself as I moved deeper into the trees.

I needed a change of clothes and I needed to calm down. I walked away from the temporary camp until I reached the river.

By the light of the moon reflecting on the slow-moving water, I unlaced the bodice of my dress and let my lungs fully expand for the first time in what felt like days but was really only a few hours.

I dipped my cupped hands in the cool water and brought it up to my face. I poured it over my head, letting it run down my face and through my hair, washing away the paint from the party. I felt the water drip on the back of my neck, a reminder of what I had thrown away earlier that day when I had cut my hair. I told Zion it was time for a change, but the truth was, it was time to let go of the past and let new things fill the void that I had left empty for so many ears. It was time for growth.

Sliding off the fabric, my black dress fell to the floor. Piece by piece, I removed my clothing till I was bare to the world.

I descend into the chilling water, letting it consume my body. For the first time in a while, I relaxed. My distress seemed to wash away with the flowing currant.

I dropped down into the water, fully submerged. The flowing water was comforting as it hugged my body, removing all my worries. I lifted my head out of the water slowly. I let my gaze rest on the moon in the sky, and I couldn't help but think of my siblings.

My young sister Ayah, my younger brother Alistair and my older sister Soleil.

Ayah loved the ocean, Alistair loved the stars, and Soleil loved the plants. As I looked around me, all I saw was reminders of them.

If only they were here with me now.

I quickly finished bathing so I could continue the first watch with Leland and not leave him hanging.

Once I got out, I quickly changed back into my new armor, which proved very comfortable to travel in, a pair of fitted pants, and flat-heeled boots. I ran my fingers through my damp hair as I picked my way through the trees and back to the campfire, picking up firewood as I went. Leland sat exactly where I left him, staring into the flames with a blank expression. He turned to me as I approached and plunked the wood down by my seat. I saw his ears tint pink again.

"Why do you insist on wearing that?" He asked exasperated. I looked down at what I was wearing. He must have meant his shirt.

"You forfeited all rights to it when you left it with me that night on the boat. If you didn't want me to wear it, you shouldn't have given it to me." I said to him over my shoulder as I began prying daggers out of the tree. Leland looked around panicked, ensuring we were alone.

"Besides, it's comfortable." I continued, returning to my seat. "And it looks better on me than it did on you." I whispered in his ear. "I think it's right where it's supposed to be."

"You know your two little busybodies have figured out that it's not your shirt." Leland leaned over and said softly. He was still afraid of the others hearing us. "I think they know it was my shirt!" he whispered in a half-panic. I laughed under my breath.

"Those two are worse gossips than all the neighborhood aunties in the realm combined. Nobody pays attention to anything they say." I laughed as he stared back at me in dismay.

"It's not like they're spreading lies. What are you scared of?" I asked, leaning into his gaze. Leland cleared his throat and turned his head back to gaze into the fire.

"So we just sit here until something happens or we get relieved." Leland said with a sigh. I could tell he felt the same way I did about keeping watch.

"Pretty much. It's better than getting chewed out about what happened earlier though. Queen Aria can't really do anything to me, but I worry about everyone who is actually under her reign. In all the years I have known her, I have never seen her so angry." I replied.

"I guess I have something to look forward to then." Leland concluded. Silence fell as we gazed into the fire. The crickets and the crackling of the flames filled the void around us as the night slowly ticked by.

×××××××××××××

Author Note!

IM A YEAR OLDER TODAY partyyy

Hi everyone, Guess who posted!??

why can't i be consistent anymore!? like it's not a thing for me anymore idk man

Well i plan for it to go back to normal because I have 10 chapter left in part two but i'm so lazy *eye roll*

also Was it just me that forgot that I made a playlist for Aislin?!? I mean dang

Thoughts >

Random >

How is your day today? Was it bad? Good? In between?

QOTD: What's your style?

I personally am have more of a Skatergirl but with a hint of smokiness (emo lol).

A friend of mine just posted her first book on wattpad, please go check it out!

katelynmarie_918 and her book is Within The Mirror!



Love you all thank you for reading! Xoxox 💋💋

- Mickey ✨