Chapter 1

There was a knock on the door, and a young woman stirred amongst many blankets and pillows. 

“Princess, the Queen requests your presence.” There was a long moment where there was no response as the young woman sat up in bed and blinked blearily. A few breaths later, she responded, 

“What was that?” To her, the words had melded into her dream. She had, in fact, heard ‘Careful Princess, take this Queen and request your rose bushes.’ Of course, this was not the first time that this had happened, for either the Guard or the Princess. Therefore, she knew automatically to ask again. 

“May I enter, Princess Cassandra?” With the Guard now knowing Cassandra was not awake, even though it was an hour past sunrise, he knew he must push her to get up if they were to make it before noon. He also knew that if they were too late, Guard Captain Roscoe would certainly chew him out. If he was particularly unlucky, the Queen would as well. Werewolves have never been known for their forgiving nature. After a few seconds, she called out a bleary “Sure” and the guard entered. 

The room was tall, and had a roof that sloped towards a full length covered window on the far side of the room. On the left wall, there was a large armoire, a wardrobe and a large mirror. On the right side of the room, was an enormous four-post bed, which Princess Cassandra sat atop. When viewed, one would consider this room more fitting for a giant than an Avian. Though, if one knew this was a room of a Royal, it would seem shockingly dull. If Princess Cassandra was in the state of mind to consider it, she would be rather pleased with this fact.

Said Princess was currently sitting slouched over in her bed with her eyes closed, showing little of the expected grace of royalty. The Guard known as Asher only managed to suppress a sigh from having seen her do this much before.

“Princess Cassandra, the Queen requests your presence at breakfast.” Asher’s words reached Cassandra’s mind slowly, and she hummed lazily.

“But it is midnight. Sleepy time.” This time, Asher did sigh softly and shook his head as he walked to the window. With a swift motion, he pulled the heavy curtain to the side and began to tie it back with the attached rope. Behind him, Cassandra hissed in a way not unlike the Eastern Werecats. In her fastest reaction yet, she flopped herself onto her side and covered her face with a sky blue wing. Asher turned and spoke again.

“Princess Cassandra, it is time to get up.” She made sounds as if she were imitating being seven years old again, instead of the almost adult she is. Asher rolled his eyes and strolled around to the other side of the bed. Once there, he pulled the pillow she had been tightly clutching out from under her. Said task was harder than someone would originally think, since Cassandra stubbornly held on for dear life (or as one might say, dear sleep) with a surprising amount of strength. That stubbornness, however, led to her gracelessly falling onto the floor.

“Ow! Fine, fine! I am getting up!” Cassandra grumbled and climbed to her feet, fluffing up her feathers in the process. Asher smartly moved in between her and her bed. She grumbled some more when she saw this, not wanting to admit to the necessity. Cassandra shuffled over to her armoire to get dressed. In turn, Asher dutifully walked over to the door and stood with his back facing her.

“The Queen is waiting for you in the Garden. I am to escort you there.” Cassandra scrunched up her face, but made no comment as she removed her lavender colored nightclothes. After humming in contemplation, she chose a warm grey colored dress in the normal halter-top style that was traditional for the Avian race, along with a ruby encrusted belt to accentuate her hair. After fastening it all in place, she called to Asher,

“I am decent.” Though she was clothed, Cassandra’s hair and feathers were still quite bedraggled. First, she took her specially designed brush and went about the laborious task of brushing out her thin feathers. After taking care in smoothing out all parts of her wings, she moved to her strawberry hair. She combed it out to where it curled just below her chin. As usual, Cassandra decided to forgo the face powders that her little sister so enjoyed. Even if it had an artistic beauty to it, it is not worth smelling like chalk and crushed beetles for the rest of the day.

Finally, the last thing she did before leaving her room was to slip on her matching grey shoes, wrapping the ribbon around her ankles and up her shins a few times before tying it in a bow.

“Alright Asher, I am ready.” The Guard, who had been watching to make sure she did not fall back asleep, nodded in response and stood aside to let her lead the way.

“Let us be off then, Princess.” She nodded curtly and gilded her way down the hallway, their footsteps hardly making a sound. 

The layout of the castle was that of an impregnable fortress, and one walking up would think so. It resided on the edge of the Snake King’s Gorge, a dungeon of the last Nagas. As such, from the East any invaders would be left facing a sheer cliff. From the North, one would be met with the Wailing Woodlands, home to the reclusive Dryads. Due to a centuries old pact, they never bothered the city, and no one ever went into their woods. Those who did… well, that was their own fault. From the South and West was a different story, though. Both were downhill slopes covered in grassy fields of flowers. Any sensible person would see this and think, “where are all the farms?”, but they would be written off as ignorant of the Vireo family ways. The sloping hills are dotted with many family homes of those who didn't want to live in the city, but still want to be close enough for protection. Several little hamlets had popped up over the centuries, but were still too close to the capital to be given a name of their own. Most of the land, however, was quartered off for the military. Training camps and guard posts, the military made up almost half of the population. As such, the culture of the city was more based on ability than race or looks.

Except Nagas. They hate Nagas.

The city itself was a general hexagon shape. With eight sky-scraping black pillars marking the border, they had no need for a wall. “What about being attacked? You would need a wall then.” you may say. To that, the Vireo family would just laugh. The resident Magician is responsible for keeping the ages old enchantments in perfect working order at all times. At a moment's notice, the pillars will activate and create a force field that only those with a bound passport can cross. An ingenious design. The roads around the city were a spiderweb connecting everything within. The Royal Family’s ‘house’ is in the center ring, taking up a third of the whole city. It uses this much space because of the five greenhouses in its area. Each one had a reinforced glass dome with a different level of light that got through. This allowed them to grow fields of crops that required shade, or full sun. It was to the center, and biggest, of these domes that Princess Cassandra now walked.

Aurora must be changing the winter crops to spring now. It’s a shame we never get any snow in the gardens, it would be beautiful. I should convince my sisters to go on a vacation to the mountains again, that was fun.

Cassandra’s thoughts were decidedly sadistic, seeing as last time she visited the skiing resort, she watched her older sister snowball down the mountain, and laughed.

They also served some of the best beef stew, I wonder if the spiceberries are blooming yet... 

Just as her thoughts inevitably drifted to food, she reached the Gardens that resided in the center of the castle. The Royal Gardener, Aurora, kept the Gardens producing all of  the needed food for the city and its guests, and still had room to line the paths with beautiful and fragrant flowers and trees. It was known to be quite scenic. Pale green stained glass let light stream in and paint the flora in a relaxing light. Thin cherry blossom branches sent small shadows over the well traveled path. Soft breezes made by enchanted fans swept through the grasses and other small plants, as well as ruffling the feathers of Cassandra and Asher. After around ten minutes of walking the winding trails, they reached the designated meeting place.

In the center of a large clearing, a group of four waited for the Princess to arrive. The one in the Queen’s chair was an elegant Avian woman with midnight black wings and a dark red dress in the classic halter style, with the only difference from Cassandra’s dress being the long sleeves that ended in a V shaped flare. Just behind her stood Guard Captain Roscoe, wearing full plate armor as well as bladed wing armor (impractical as it is), proclaiming him as head of the Queen’s guard. 

On the other side of the Queen sat Princess Sarah, who was Princess Cassandra’s younger sister. She wore a white dress with a black belt that complimented her wings expertly. Her feathers were a blue so deep it looked black and had white fibers scattered throughout that made them look like shooting stars amongst the night sky.   

Across from them, unnoticed by Cassandra, was a Human man, who was politely conversing with the Royalty until Cassandra appeared. 

Just like the rest of the Vireo family, Cassandra had pale skin with a hint of a tan. What set her apart from her sisters was her short strawberry blonde hair and eye catching sky blue wings. She had her rounded features set in a neutral expression.

“Hello sister, and what new chicken recipe is so important to need me here for a royal tasting?” Sarah laughed, while the Queen, Whitney, rolled her eyes.

“If you had the discipline to remember, Cassandra, you would know I called you here to meet our new Magician.” Queen Whitney gestured to the Human sitting across from her. As her eyes shifted to him, she finally registered his presence. He had chestnut skin, chocolate colored hair, and forest green eyes. In response to the not so formal introduction, the Magician rose and bowed to Cassandra.

“It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Princess.” After hearing that line for what felt like the thousandth time, Cassandra scoffed instead of giving the expected ‘Likewise!’ 

“I am sure it is.” She responded sarcastically. Her older sister rolled her eyes. 

“Cassandra, be nice. I know you are grumpy at having to be awake this early, but at least put a little effort into acting like a Princess.” Cassandra glared at Whitney, and raised an eyebrow.

“Act like a Princess? Fine.” She turned back to William and took on a more haughty expression and tone. 

“My apologies good sir. Really, I am honored to meet you on this fine morning. Thank you, my Queen, for rousing me from my slumber so I could see this glorious face. What might your name be, my new magical friend?” While listening to her sister’s rather excessive dialogue, Whitney began rubbing her temples.

“I am sorry for her, she is always aggravating if we wake her before noon.” Rather than be offended at Cassandra’s borderline aggressive introduction, he smiled in amusement.

“No worries, my name is William, Princess Cassandra.” Several seconds of silence passed as William and Cassandra had a bit of a stare off. For her part, Cassandra didn’t quite know what to make of this. One who knew her well would see it as her stubbornness and pride battling with her practicality over how to view this situation. 

For one, she should be grateful that she didn’t make an enemy of a future important mage. For another, he completely disregarded her expertly crafted sarcasm.

William was inwardly not as conflicted as Cassandra. He had an instinctive need to be offensive to no one ever. Quite the flaw, as when working with the Vireo sisters, many people are going to get offended.

Unnoticed by the two, Sarah leaned over to the Queen and whispered quietly. 

“I so ship it.” Only the Queen and her guard heard these whispered words, due to their Werewolf abilities. Whitney snickered in response to Sarah’s comment, and the noise broke William and Cassy out of their stupor.

Acting as though nothing happened, Cassandra walked and sat down next to the Queen at the round table. Asher, who had been dutifully standing just behind Princess Cassandra up until now, took that as his cue to stand behind the Queen. Though, as he started to move, Guard Captain Roscoe made eye contact with him and glared. Asher paused in his steps, then wisely decided it would be better for his health to take his leave, rather than deal with a jealous Werewolf.

Once Cassandra was seated, Whitney clapped once.

“Well, now that we are all here, breakfast can finally begin. Roscoe, would you kindly…?” He nodded.

“As you wish, my Queen.” The winged guard signaled through the window of a building nestled at the edge of the clearing. The servants waiting inside rushed in motion, bringing out plates of food and trays topped with appetizers. The smell wafted from the steaming piles of food, reaching the noses of all present. 

When the plate with stacks of fried chicken was placed in front of the Queen, she allowed her polite and graceful demeanor to drop slightly. Normally, fried chicken would not be served at breakfast, but Roscoe had specially requested it to be put on the menu. A half smile played on his lips when he saw her tail begin to wag excitedly.

Whitney, who was too enamored with the crispy fried chicken, didn’t notice as her sisters shared a smirk and winked at Roscoe. The Guard Captain turned his head and coughed, pretending to look for threats beyond the trees. 

Cassandra gazed among the platters of hot food, searching for her favorites. Suddenly, before the servants were even finished placing the platters, Cassandra spotted the spiceberry pie residing at the center of the table.

“MINE!” Without warning, to the surprise of exactly one person, Cassandra lept from her chair and yanked the pie off the table.

“Yeah yeah, you keep your sweet and spicy pastries. Gimme those bread rolls!” Sarah stretched out her arms and made a grabbing motion. One of the servants obliged her childish demands by placing the platter directly in front of her. Queen Whitney acted with a bit more restraint, by taking a ladle placed next to the gravy bowl and scooping the chicken onto her plate by the pound.

“Where’s the blackberry tarts…” The Queen mumbled to herself, leaning up to analyze the table in front of her. Roscoe didn’t hesitate to lean down and whisper in her ear.

“On your left, my Queen.” Cassandra watched as her sister turned to face her guard. Their noses were barely a hands width apart. Guard Captain Roscoe’s eyes widened just a smidge before he leaned away from the Queen.

“Thank you.” The Queen placed a few blackberry tarts onto her plate and slipped a few in her dress pockets. Cassandra, Sarah, and Roscoe pretended not to notice. William, for his part, was extremely bewildered, and expectedly so. Up until now, the correspondence between him and the Vireo Royal Family had been the traditional interactions he had come to expect from his time in the Earl Nöb Mage Academy. However, now that food was on the table, the only one with even a pretense of what he expected left was the Guard Captain. Roscoe noticed his reaction, and made eye contact with him.

“You’ll get used to it buddy.” he said quietly.

Queen Whitney overheard this, and saw William’s predicament.

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“Cassandra, Sarah, are we sure our guest had a chance to pick his food before we grabbed all of it?” William’s wide eyes looked up to the Queen’s amused face, and back down to the somewhat now empty table. Of course it was only empty from the decidedly ‘better’ foods, in the Royal Family’s biased opinion. There still was a vast amount of food left, but to the Vireo standards, they weren’t top tier.

“Oh, no that’s alright…” William said instinctively. Whitney bunched her lips to the side in thought.

“No, this is simply not ‘alright’. We can not leave our new Magician with just the mediocre foods on the first day he is here.” To the trained eye, one could see  how her expression changed to show a much more mischievous glint. “Cassandra, would you be a dear and share some of your pie with William?” Cassandra, who had been barely managing to force herself to use utensils, took a moment to pause and fix her sister with the most incredulous look imaginable.

“Whitney, would you be a dear and share some of your chicken with William?” The smirk fell from the Queen’s face, leading to a moment of silent stillness at the table. Whitney’s eyes narrowed, and she spoke slowly,

“Touche…” It was but a heartbeat more before all three sisters devolved into a fit of giggles.

At this point, William was in fact feeling quite lost and excluded. With being made the butt of the most recent bout of jokes and the completely unexpected behavior of the Royal Family, he didn’t quite know what to do. If he had known the sisters any better, it would be apparent that they were just partaking in their usual banter. They do not intend to be mean, but they always tend to use the situations of other people to put each other on the spot and out of their comfort zone. Cassandra, understood this aspect of their relationship, and noticed William looking particularly rattled. Her empathy winning her over, much to her inner annoyance, Cassandra sighed and grabbed a blackberry tart.

“Here, try this. It is not as good as the spiceberry stuff, but it is still a Vireo specialty. Take anything you want, we normally eat buffet style.” William took the pastry from the Princess and smiled with relief.

“Thank you, Princess Cassandra.” Still with a little hesitation, and decisively not as fast as the three sisters, he began to fill his plate with the assortment of fresh foods. Sarah laughed lightly and butted into the conversation.

“Do not worry about it. Tiny portions and rigid social structure is for those pompous, insecure assholes in the other kingdoms.” William smiled.

"I am afraid I have to agree with the pompous assessment, Princess." Cassandra snorted in an unladylike manner.

"Count yourself lucky you did not get assigned to what's-his-face." If William expected an explanation of who exactly "what's-his-face" was, he would never get one. All three sisters had finely tuned conversation cues, and knew exactly who Princess Cassandra was talking about. He was considering asking for her to elaborate, but before he made up his mind, the conversation surged ahead.

“I expect him to be present at your upcoming birthday party, Sarah.” Whitney said with a grave sigh. Sarah made a face.

“Can we not just ban him from attending?” In the past, “what’s-his-face” had gained a reputation of a so-called “joy-killer” in the sisters’ eyes. All of them would rather he be… indisposed, instead of going to the party. However, Cassandra spoke up against Sarah’s question, if a bit unwillingly.

“Even we can not ban the bachelor to a prominent family. That would just be making unnecessary enemies. You know that their familial lines cross with ours a few centuries back, and they have been good allies to us since then. A few bad seeds in their lineage should not cause a break in that.” Queen Whitney nodded in agreement, silently doubting she could have said it better herself. Sarah, however, just pouted. If their mother had been there, she would have made a mention of birds landing on her lip and pooping in her mouth, but thankfully her sense of humor was no longer in the castle.

“But still.” Her eyebrows then lowered. “Wait, does that mean we are related to him? Gross!” Queen Whitney then waved a silver fork in Sarah’s direction, her tone one of a scolding caretaker.

“It is unseemly of a Princess to talk of such disturbing things at the table.” Cassandra raised a hand to her mouth as she giggled. Sarah didn’t bother, and just chortled. William also chuckled, able to appreciate the jokes. Although he couldn't help feeling bad for whatever poor soul gained the distaste of the three sisters. If he had known this mysterious stranger, he would most definitely not be of that opinion.

“On to more pleasant topics,” The Queen started, “I need to speak with you alone after breakfast please, Cassandra.” Said Princess raised her eyebrows, covered her mouth politely, taking a moment to finish chewing before she spoke. Her mother would be proud.

“Whatever about?” Whitney scoffed in response. 

“If I told you at the table, it would not be private, now would it?” Most around the table smiled in amusement. Sarah, the resident snowflake, instead slammed her hands on the table. The almost unused silverware and plates rattled, some more than others. If one were to pay attention, they might think that it was an interesting sound. The deeper tone of the platters and plates all melding to a percussion. The utensils acted like a chorus of soprano rocks. However, no one at this table was that interesting. 

“YOU ARE PREGNANT!” Sarah yelled, pointing at her sister accusingly.

“What?” William blurted out, bewildered. He watched everyone, trying to find out if this was another joke. However, when all but the Queen looked at the Guard captain, it dawned on him that allegations of pregnancy to an unmarried Queen wouldn’t be made into a joke. William’s thoughts were quite incorrect though. The Vireo family would most definitely turn the Queen being pregnant into a joke. There is an eighty percent chance it would become the favorite joke of the week. Of course, if he heard this, William would ask if the sisters really kept a favorite joke of the week. They would say no, but the whole truth is that the servants do it. For scientific reasons, obviously.

Roscoe, at this point, was under the scrutiny of most of the present Royal family, a Mage, and a plethora of hopeful servants. He could face down any manner of monsters, but one of this variety threatened to cause him to faint. He would claim this is an exaggeration, but who cares about his opinion. Queen Whitney, on the other hand, wistfully leaned forward and rested her head on a palm. 

“Goddesses above, I wish.” At her words, many of the servants shook their heads and returned to work. A few of them glowered accusingly at Roscoe. No, don't feel bad for him. He deserves it.

“Damn. You got my hopes up.” Cassandra muttered, disappointed.

“Me too.” Sarah said as well. William, the poor dear, looked between them, now extremely confounded. Many would agree that that being thrown into the deep end of this crazy family is bad for his health. Sadly, they do have a doctor on call at all times(in case another chandelier accident occurs), so no getting out of here for him. 

“Um… Excuse me?” He asked. Really what he meant was for them to explain their behavior, if anyone even could. Though it looks like the poor dear has gotten a case of the Vireo Willies (Ashton came up with it as a joke during a rather… interesting meeting, but it stuck anyway, much to his embarrassment). He is looking rather dizzy, maybe they should call that doctor. 

Luckily (or unluckily, depending) for him, his rather pitiful cry for help had caught the attention of the three sisters. The empathy and unusual amount of self awareness this caused led to them understanding the effect they were having on the poor Mage. Sarah and Whitney glanced at each other, grinned, then looked directly at Cassandra.

She who was just about fed up with her emotions for the day, met both their gazes with annoyance. She saw where this was going. She knew the looks on their faces well, as she has seen them before. At her last birthday ball, at that decadence filled wedding, even at the annual guard picking ceremony. 

They were attempting matchmaking. Well, Cassandra knew how to play this game well. She gave her sweetest smile to them, then turned it on William. She leaned forward, after putting down her silverware, and placed her chin on a dainty hand. Her blue eyes bore into William, causing the young man to receive quite the blush.

"I am so terribly sorry William, but it seems we have been brash. We have many inside jokes, and I am certain we are nothing like you were trained to expect. I am sure with some much needed help, you will become accustomed to our ways, though it will doubtlessly take a long while." William, for his part, was feeling quite the emotional whiplash. With Princess Cassandra's possible flirting (the poor oblivious child) and the near disastrous breakfast, he had quite the need to go back to his room and… sleep. Despite this urge, he more strongly felt the instinct to run when the suddenly terrifying g\Guard Captain fixed his gaze on him, paired with a smugly smiling Queen. With that final push, William abruptly stood from the table.

"I-if you will excuse me your Highnesses, I… um… have some mage work to do." However, this didn't quite alleviate his situation, as he was now standing at the perfect angle to see down Princess Cassandra's dress. Quite the bad decision on his part. If Roscoe had been protective before… oh boy. Smartly, he decided it would be better for him to run away and deal with the fallout later.

"Uh, bye." With that, and a flourish of magic, he was gone, flying away on a shimmering platform. It only took a few seconds for Queen Whitney and Princess Sarah to burst into hooting laughter. Princess Cassandra just rolled her eyes and resumed eating her beloved spiceberry pie.

"Goddesses above Cassy, I did not think you had it in you!" Sarah said between laughing breaths. Cassandra swallowed her food and responded. Such elegant manners.

"You should know that I do have the capability for unwise decisions, even though I do not partake in them very often." At this, the ever silent Roscoe actually scoffed. He, being the one responsible for dealing with much of the fallout of their “unwise decisions”, knew that they happened more often than not. The fact that he hasn't had to replace the ceremonial armor at the top of the grand staircase in three weeks in a miracle in and of itself.

"I believe we will have to disagree on that point, Princess." Cassandra, not having had time to stuff her face more, tilted her head curiously. Playing ignorant always came easy to her.

"I do not know what you are talking about, I do not make poor decisions, I make fun decisions." Roscoe scowled with a hint of a haunted look in his eyes.

"If it ends with me either having to save you or to scold you, it’s a poor decision." Cassandra waved a flippant fork in the air. 

"Bah, I am the Princess. I can decide what is and is not a bad decision. Right Whitney?" Both pairs of eyes turned to the chicken-eating Werewolf-Avian hybrid. She took a few moments to look between Cassandra's innocently batting eyelashes and Roscoe's disapproving scowl.

"I am tempted to say 'of course', but out of anticipa- fear of Roscoe scolding me later, I should probably say no." The guard captain squinted his eyes at her suspiciously.

"Did you just-" but before he could finish his question, The Queen flared out her wings to silence him. Clearly, she was not quite immune to the pompousness that other Royalty displayed.

“Do not worry dear, it was merely a slip of the tongue.” Roscoe recoiled at the ‘dear’ part. He shouldn’t be surprised though, at this point many of the staff just thought him to be incompetent in the ways of romance. The Queen had been clearly flirting with him since he became the head of the Queen’s Guard. They have been making bets on how he would finally give up the rigid tradition like the rest of the Royal Court.

“But my Queen-” he cut off when Whitney held up a hand.

“If you truly wish to know, you may ask me after sundown. In my bedchambers.” It is a special talent of the Vireo sisters (all the women in the family, really) to make any man around them decidedly uncomfortable. Of course in Roscoe’s case, that was an actual attempt to get him in her bedroom. Not that he would understand that or anything, fucking boys...

“I suppose, ignorance is bliss.”  The moron replied. Really, how hard can it be to understand that she wants you?

“Oh but it would be such bliss if you would come.” Seriously, she is being so obvious there is no way anyone, even a socially inept person, would not get the hint. But Roscoe just stood there and looked away, ignoring her comment with a blush.

“Sister, stop tormenting your poor Guard and let us go. You have some secrets to discuss with me, do you not?” Cassandra butted in in a way that took pity on him. In reality, this was mere coincidence, she gave no sympathy intentionally.

“But tormenting is so much fun… Very well, I assume you finished your breakfast?” Cassandra had, in fact, finished her oh so well balanced breakfast a while ago. The past few minutes she had dedicated to making easy work of the clean up. That is what she would say, in reality she just wanted to eat every single crumb.

“Why else would I be talking?” Sarcasm, her first language, came as easily as the tide.

“There might have been a bee swarm behind me.” The Queen waved a hand in the air.

“If you think I would warn you about that, then you don't know me at all, Sister.” Cassandra said as she stood gracefully.

“I would say it is hard to take you seriously with all those crumbs on your chin if I had not seen you go about an entire day with no one daring to say anything.” Whitney said with a hint of amusement. It was quite the ball, that one. Hosted by the Vireo castle, all the sisters were unmarried. Sarah and Whitney had quite the laugh when boys still flirted with Cassandra, even though her face was covered in spiceberry pie filling. Of course, those were only the people that she would have refused anyway, so no harm done.

“At least I can always count on you to do your best to embarrass me.” She replied sarcastically. Her pink stained cheeks hid her mild blush very well. She wiped her face with the unused napkin by her side, instead of with her dress. Her mother must be stirring in her grave with how not like a barbarian Cassandra is acting today. If this keeps up, they may have a zombie walking through the castle saying “huuuggsss” over and over.

“And I you.” Whitney said lovingly. She stood out of her seat, ruffling Sarah’s hair as she did so, who up until this point had just been observing the sarcastic banter with amusement. Being the littlest sister, she barely even grumbled at the act.

“Go have your talk already, I have some painting to go do.” Whitney and Cassandra’s smiles became fixed, and started backing away slowly. Whenever Sarah painted, things got… messy.

“Just make sure you change into your painting dress first. And warn Persephone.” The one who she spoke of was in fact the head of the servants. She was a deaf Avian with the rare pink colored wings. Sweet girl, she could kill someone by giving them a toothache. Impressive, really.

“Do I not always?” Sarah asked with a dreamy tone.

“No. No you do not.” Whitney responded. To end their conversation there, she turned to Roscoe. “We are heading out now darling, do not follow us, would you?” Roscoe ignored the ‘darling’ comment and dutifully got stubborn about doing his job. It would be sweet, if he wasn't an idiotic, blind in the ways of love, hot guy.

“I need to stay with you to guard you, my Queen.” Whitney clasped her hands together and leaned right up to his face, causing him to take a fearful step back.

“Stay with me? Would you?” Whitney tilted her head and smiled. “At all hours of the day?”

“I- it is my job to guard you, my Queen…” Whitney gasped happily, then draped herself over his shoulders.

“Oh, then Roscoe! I am expecting an assassin to try and kill me at exactly ten o’clock tonight! It is just horrible!” Roscoe, who had now completely frozen in terror, just stared ahead hoping for someone to save him. No, we said don’t feel sorry for him. He deserves this. Whitney moved her face so it was just inches from his. Quite the feat, since she was seven whole inches shorter, but she had a talent for climbing. “You will protect me, yes?”

“You can clearly protect yourself just by flirting with the assassin.” Sarah interrupted, reminding them that they were in a public setting and not a secluded hot spring. Whitney pouted, then slid off of him. Cassandra, who was fed up with standing still, walked forward and grabbed her sister's hand. She continued walking without looking back.

“If you are not a complete masochist, you will not follow, Roscoe.” Unseen by her, he nodded. With both of the males that were at breakfast sufficiently shell shocked, the sister’s jobs were done here. Whitney gracefully transitioned back to normal and walked down the path with Cassandra.

The only remaining Princess turned on the only remaining guard. Roscoe, the six foot four inch tall guard, felt intimidated by being left alone with the youngest and shortest of the Princesses. How he didn’t feel more intimidated being around three of them, he couldn't tell you.

“Why do you not just respond to Whitney’s advances already?”  Sarah asked him.

“It is improper for a Guard captain to…” He waved his hands around, as if  wafting the air toward him, trying to see if he can scent the word from somewhere in the universe. Of course, since he was wafting said air to his nose region instead of his ears, there is no way it would work. Luckily for him, Sarah has much practice in the art of projecting her voice to others, even when it is unwanted.

“Have fun?” She supplied for him. Sassy child, but she does have a point. Going along with the Queen’s antics would be… fun. Roscoe frowned.

“Respond to meaningless flirting.” Sarah’s face twisted and she opened her mouth to verbally berate him, but stopped and just sighed.

“Nope. Not gonna even try.” She said as she stood to her full five foot four inch height. “Well, I will leave you to do whatever you do when not following the Queen like a lost puppy.” Sarah curtsied to the Guard, something any other Royal would balk at doing, and left.

Roscoe was left standing in the clearing as servants came out and scurried around, cleaning the table. After a long minute, he sat down in one of the vacated chairs and sighed.

“Why did I agree to this job…”

“You didn't. The Queen picked you, so you’re stuck with it.” A black haired servant signed to the Guard. “It would be so much easier for you if you stopped being so traditional-”

“Oh shut up Megan.”

Spoiler: Spoiler

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/689880795544158354/703070442725834862/ewgrht_royal_au_ref_1.png]

Queen Whitney and Princess Cassandra are not drawn with there wings in this one.

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/689880795544158354/691077657345130596/B.png]

Drawn by my Co-author Radiara

Special thanks to my annoying beta reader Capricorn.