"Not now, Zoey, dad's really busy!" the man in the green coat yelled nervously while flipping through a big stack of yellowish sheets of paper. Then he stopped. He took his glasses off and gently stroked his kid's blond head. "Go ask your mother, she knows about this kind of stuff"The little girl turned on her heels and ran straight to the misty entrance of the burrow. The slim...

Distant rumor and some light struggling awoke the seemingly asleep man. He left his scarlet velvety throne and roared from the top of the stairs to the guards "What's going on there?" The two men at the entrance had crossed their pikes and more showed up quickly and surrounded the man hiding inside a long and heavy dark cloak. One of them, who seemed to possess a relatively higher g...

Asta turns to me and nods. I stand up, grab my bags, and walk to her. She takes my arm and guides me to the door. She bends down to grab her bag, roughly the same size as mine, and puts on her coat. Delicately, she buttons it up and pulls up her hood. I pull my own hood close to my face. She pulls open her door and cold morning air brushes our faces. Asta leans in and whispers to me, “Pull...

What is taking Penelope so long? What if Queen Darya found out that she told me to flee? What if she killed Penelope for telling me? I cannot control my frantic thoughts. To busy my mind, I button up my winter coat Rasha made me the previous year. The forest green velvet is trimmed with silver thread. Reminiscing, I finger the soft hood and almost completely forget what is happening. The...

A quiet and mundane breakroom. Tiled floors with standard wood-varnished cabinets. A simple place that lets anyone in to rest -- at least, employees only. And even then, it's simplicity alienates me. I can't rest here. I can only cease my labor. Distress and monotony. Just some quiet from the storm of a thousand steel presses operating at maximum speed. Thick, tinted windows surround this room. T...

I listen past the deafening heartbeats in my ears. I cannot talk for the heartbeats in my throat are choking me. My anxious tears are blinding me. I listen to Penelope silently. Penelope takes the face of her mother. Her hands neatly folded on her lap, thumbs rubbing the back of her hands to keep calm. She slowly speaks. “It all started when Queen Darya and King Rian were married. They wer...

“What?” I stand up, trying not to believe what just came out of her mouth. I start pacing the room, calming my racing thoughts. “Queen Darya wants to kill you,” she repeats. “Why does she want to kill me? I know she is fuming whenever she is around me, that is why I was beaten when I was younger, but to actually kill me…” I cannot continue. Penelope clos...

“Lia, my mother would like to speak to you now,” Penelope calmly states with tears staining her brown eyes. A month has passed since Rasha’s coughing has started and it has taken a turn for the worse. Yuri takes Penelope and holds her tight. Her tears make Yuri’s black hair even darker. The ruby still lies on her neck. I take stand and enter the room where Rasha is lying. ...

Open, close. Open, close. My eyes have been repeating this for the past five minutes, trying to focus. It has been two days since the incident at the market, but I am still recuperating. Penelope is hovering above my face. Her warm breath seeps into my pores. I open my eyes and Penelope smiles contently. “Wake up sleepy head; I have a secret to tell you.” Penelope gets off my bed and...

I didn't know who or what I was pushing against but my god were they strong! My hands were already bleeding after the glass incident, as a last attempt to shut them out, I thumped my shoulder hard against the metal door. Thankfully it did the trick, and gave a metallic groan as I securely did the lock. I knew they were still out there, the sound of their hot breath rattling out of them was stil...