“Very well then, enjoy life as a peasant.” Todd huffed dramatically before he stormed off into the cave without another word.
I turned back to the crowd with a bright smile, my eyes locking on the only man in the crowd that I truly wanted to see. Killian’s contented laugh reached me from across the entire cave and my own joy surged with excitement. I grabbed Aurelia’s hand once more and thrust it up into the air in victory. “People of Sybettal, today you stand witness to the discovery of a girl’s true identity. My name is Nixie Greene, and I amnotyour princess.”
chapter twenty-three
A madhouse ensued after that. As happy as I was to be proven a common citizen, the rest of the cave’s residents didn’t entirely share my excitement. Each of the rebels began jabbering in panic now that their plans for reestablishing the kingdom had failed. The previous order completely unraveled as the rebels clamored to the front of the room. Crowds swamped Aurelia, Sir Baggio, and me, littering us with questions we could barely hear, let alone answer.
“If you’re not the princess, then who is?”
“How are we supposed to free the Sybettian recruits now?”
“Will the Ashbourne prince have us all killed!?”
The rush of terrified questions left my mind buzzing. I opened my mouth to formulate a single reply, but my voice was instantly lost in the noise. The amount of people clustering around us was suffocating, and I reached out for Aurelia’s hand and latched onto it anxiously. This wasn’t good... They were going to trample us if we couldn’t get out of here. I tried to shout again, but a hard bump into my side knocked the air out of me. They weren’t going to listen to anyone in this state. We needed to get out until things settled down. As the rebels surrounded us to shout out their demands, my ears pricked up to a single voice amongst the chaos.
“Nixie, over here!” Killian called from behind a squabbling couple.There, an opening!I ducked through the mass of bodies and pulled Aurelia behind me with ease. It was nice being able to guide someone through a crowd who was as small and nimble as I was. When we reached Killian, he grabbed my free hand and dragged us both through the cave. Our slippery disappearing act left the flustered crowd in a daze for a brief moment. Most of the rebels were content to redirect their attention to Sir Baggio, and Killian was able to successfully separate us from the chaos and let us go at the mouth of the entrance. The shouts died down as we broke off from the furious crowd. I gave Killian a grateful smile for pulling us free from the mess, and he wiped a stressful droplet from his brow.
“Why don’t you two go take a little walk?” he said a little breathlessly. “I’ll try to do a little crowd control, but for right now, I think it’s best for you two to be out of their sight. Right now, they’re angry, and they want someone to blame. Let’s let them cool off before we give them an opportunity to express their frustrations through more violent means.”
I glanced back over my shoulder at the disordered ruckus and instantly nodded in agreement. “Alright, we’ll stay out of sight for bit, but be careful. A lot of those people would still like to see you dead, so try not to escalate anything. We’ll stay close to the entrance, so come get us if you get things calmed down.”
“Or if things get worse!” Aurelia chirped in.
Killian chuckled. “Will do. I’m hoping that once I clarify that I have no intentions of murdering them with the Ashbourne army, they’ll be a bit more reasonable.” He met my eyes for a brief moment, allowing his gaze to linger before pecking a quick kiss on my cheek. “For the record, you’ll always be a princess to me,” he breathed into my ear then turned back and disappeared into the shadows of the cave.
I pressed a hand to my cheek, a small smile and light blush hidden beneath my touch. I would have been happy to remain lost in that one moment, but my new little sister cleared her throat. “Ahem, I think you and I need to have a littlesisterly chatabout that man.”
I arched my brow and folded my arms. “Oh, do we now?” I chuckled.
“Yes, yes, we do, but I suggest we have the conversation outside. I simply despise cramped spaces. Let’s get out of this stuffy cave.” She spun on her heel to lead us both outside.
I couldn’t agree more about her sentiment toward confined areas, so I followed her without complaint. When we stepped outside, the fresh air was nearly intoxicating, and I felt my entire body grow lighter as I sucked in a clean breath. The sky was still downcast and producing a light sprinkle, but the mist was refreshing after being stuffed in a hot, suffocating cave.
Aurelia found a seat on a flat boulder and motioned for me to sit alongside her. I did so gladly, and together, we stared out into the clouds. “I’ve always loved watching the sky,” Aurelia said blissfully. “It always felt freeing to watch the clouds blow by. They aren’t tied down by anything or held back by false promises.” She turned her big blue eyes toward me. They weren’t icy like Minerva’s had been; instead, they were calm, like the clear blue skies she’d dreamed about. “I’m worried that you’ve been given a false promise by a certain prince...”
Ah, so that’s what this is all about...
I actually had to stifle a small laugh, but her serious expression showed me that she didn’t share the same humor. “Aurelia, Killian isn’t like the other Ashbournians. Well, he was at first, but he’s different now. He saved my life a multitude of times, and he even set off to find you when he could have married me himself and added Sybettal to his father’s kingdom.” I took her hand into mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “He’s different.”
The blonde’s face contorted in a mixture of perplexed shock. She opened her mouth a few times to speak, but it took her a few attempts to actually vocalize her thoughts. “That doesn’t make any sense. He’s Ashbourne royalty. He really saved you? But his brothers... Prince Miron tried to murder my best friend.”
This time my jaw dropped. “Really? How did that happen?”
“Well, we didn’t piece together that it was Miron until after we uncovered a racketeering scheme from Elias’s adoptive family, and then the attack on Drancos helped fill in the rest of the blanks.” She shrugged casually.
I blinked at her for a moment. “You get out way too much.”
“Not until recently!” She laughed. “I was almost forced into a marriage too, you know. This stuffy lord wanted to marry into my name for the family business.”
I couldn’t stop myself from bursting out in laughter. “It must run in the family. How did we get solucky?” I rolled my eyes with a dramatic flourish.
“It’s a curse being so desirable,” she said with flick of her curls.
We both continued to laugh and share our adventures with ridiculous betrothals when a familiar pair of footsteps approached. Killian smiled warmly at us both when he recognized our joyous reunion, but Aurelia still gave him a bitter glare.
Before Killian had even reached us, Aurelia stood from her seat and stomped over to the man, snatching him by the collar. Killian’s eyes widened and he raised his hands in defense as Aurelia stared him up and down. “Listen up, Ashbournian,” she growled ferociously. “I’ve heard plenty about the trouble your brothers have caused around the realm, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about an Ashbourne prince pining over my new big sister. She seems to think you’re a decent man, but I want you to know that I’ll be keeping a close eye on you in the meantime. I may look like a dainty little lady, but I’ll have you know that I’ve faced far scarier scoundrels than you. I own a dog that’s big enough to eat pretty little faces like yours... Oh, and if I ever see your sleazy little brother Miron, just know that I’m punching him in the nose.”
She released his collar with a final huff, and Killian gave her a slight smirk. “You’ll have to get in line. I’ve owed that snake a blow for too many years to count.”