***Marigold Constallion***

Poppy would be jealous of me. She read about Soranian constellations and always bragged about how she would see them for herself one day, but she never got closer than the pictures in her books. They were pretty on paper, but it wasn't anything like having a Soranian Prince point them out for you in the sky.

"And you see - that one is name D'jaskarra," says the Prince, pointing to a jumble of stars. "Ancient legend hero except, well, he is missing eye and fingers because Arthronian skies are terrible."

I kick him in the ankle.

"Tch!" Prince Nierxes says, rubbing his foot. "Arthronian hospitality - very rude."

"You're rude," I say, rolling my eyes.

"I'm truth," he says, shrugging.

"Truthful."

"Whatever."

I stare into the sky and try to picture all the legends and battle scenes Nierxes described to me in his crappy Arthronian, but none of it really sticks except for the three stars in a row that're supposed to be a huge severed dick.

"Where's Cal?" I ask him, wondering if the whole dick constellation was true or if he was just messing with me.

"Hm?" He pauses, then answers, "She is resting."

"Oh." I look back at the sky. "Is she sick?"

"Sometimes."

"Is it contagious?" I ask, replaying the memory of her blood seeping into the carpet.

"What?"

"Cal's sickness. Is it something that can get other people sick?"

"No," answers the Prince. "Let's talk about other things."

"Wait," I tell him, before the opportunity to ask slips away. "I remember one night there were green lights coming from your room. Was that to heal Cal?"

"I do not know what you are talking about," the Prince lies with a shrug, staring into the sky.

"Was that magic?" I ask.

"No."

"Fine," I reply, getting annoyed. "I'll ask you about something else and if you answer it honestly then you're allowed to skip that question." For now.

"I think that is... ah... a shit deal."

"Okay, so," I begin, ignoring him, "why do you keep her around?"

The Prince doesn't say anything for a moment. "What do you mean?" he asks.

"You know what I mean," I tell him, rolling my eyes. I hate it when people make you spell out things for them. "Cal. Why do you care so much about her? I mean, she's only a -"

"Bastard?" Nierxes interrupts, voice flat. The way he finishes my sentence makes it sound wrong, ugly. "I know you think that," he scoffs, "Cal is right. You people are the same no matter where you go."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"People like you," he says, slow and scathing. "Spoiled. Too much money and power. Can't see the worth of something without money. It is sad and it is ugly."

Then, without saying anything else, the Prince stands up and starts walking away from me.

It feels like just dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. I blink hard and swallow the lump in my throat. I don't get it. I thought we were starting to be friends.

I push myself up.

"Don't you fucking walk away from me," I snap. I sound angry. Mean.

Good.

"We had a deal - you ask question, I give answer. Deal done," Nierxes says, not even bothering to turn around.

"No," I snarl. "It's done when I say so. You get to leave when I say so."

The Prince whirls around. "Or what?" he sneers. "You go cry to mommy? Ask her to lock me in a dungeon while you go boo-hoo?"

Words begin spewing out of my mouth, hot and ugly.

"Oh, I'll do better than that. I'll tell her that you were doing magic - dark magic - in the castle. In our home. Maybe you forgot, but in this kingdom that's illegal. Mother would have to keep you locked up in solitary confinement - Oh, you probably don't know what that means, do you? Solitary. Confinement." I say the words nice and slow, so they stick in his thick head. "That's a fancy way of saying that you'll be locked away from your precious little pet bastard. There we go! That got your attention, didn't it? Good. Because in this castle, in this kingdom, in the world, you're the only person that gives two shits about her."

I only hear what I'm saying when the words fall out of my mouth. I don't know where they're coming from or why I'm saying them anymore, but I can tell that he's listening, straining to understand, and that's enough.

"And if she gets sick again? You'll be locked up. You won't know. You won't be able to help her. And then she'll die."

I blink. When I open my eyes the prince is standing right before me.

It doesn't make sense. He can't move that fast. It has to be magic.

He pulls his fist back and suddenly, out of nowhere, a clothed hand grabs his wrist, shackling it in place.

Nierxes opens his mouth, but it takes a moment for his voice to work.

"Evici?" he whispers.

A pair of eyes blink, glowing gold even in the darkness. It's the closest thing I've seen to a response from the freaks in the Silence.

She doesn't say anything, of course. Just holds on, looking at him. Then as suddenly as she appeared, she slips away. In a few heartbeats it's like no one was ever there.

"I think that's enough excitement for one evening," another voice whispers from behind me. Goosebumps race down my arms and I refuse to turn around.

"Cal?" Nierxes blurts. Then he shoots off in rapid fire Zefaric.

Cal responds and they go back and forth in hushed tones. Suddenly the Prince breaks out in an explosive whisper and whips his hand to gesture at me like I was the one who was about to attack him. I cross my arms and turn my head away.

Cal manages to calm him down. Without another word he stalks away. It takes a while for his footsteps to fade and for it to feel like I'm alone with the bastard.

Suddenly I feel weird inside. I can't look her in the eyes.

"How much did you hear?" I ask, keeping my head turned away.

"Enough," she answers.

I keep my arms crossed.

"It's not like I actually meant any of it. So I'm not going to apologize."

"I know."

That I didn't mean it or that I'm not going to apologize?"

"Both."

"So why are you wasting my time?" I snap.

"I would like to apologize for the Prince's conduct."

"He almost attacked me," I accuse. "He's a self-righteous shithead and I don't care about the apologies or the excuses you're going to make for him. He can do that himself."

"His brothers passed away recently, at this very place. It is a sensitive time for him."

I manage to fight the urge to slap her, just barely.

"Oh, well I'm so sorry he had to go through such a traumatic experience," I say putting a hand on my chest. "Two siblings gone forever? Here? I can't imagine what that must fucking feel like."

That finally shuts her up. I wait for the automatic empty condolences or a blank, apathetic reply, but I get neither. Just silence.

"I didn't consider your side of the situation," the bastard finally says, meaning it. "I'm sorry."

And then suddenly I wish she'd said something fake, something stupid and pointless and obviously insincere. Having someone be nice when you're not expecting it is like having your legs kicked out from underneath you. I hate being caught off guard.

"It's not fair," I hear myself telling her. "It's not fucking fair. No one cares. I thought they did, but they really didn't."

The words finally stop and I have a chance to catch my breath and regret opening my mouth.

"I... didn't either," the bastard says, hesitating for the first time. "Have anyone, that is. For a very long time."

"How long?" I ask, rubbing at my eyes. Shit, am I crying again?

"Thirteen years."

"Why?"

"It was written in the stars."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I was born under bad omens."

"But what does that mean?" I insist. I don't know why I cared. Maybe I just wanted to hear about someone being more miserable than me.

"I was born under a new moon on a cloudy night," Cal answers. "That is a bad omen. Dark skies, dark future."

"Well, yeah, but that can't be it. I mean there are probably plenty of Soranian babies born under a new moon," I point out. "You're a bastard. That probably has something more to do with it, right?"

Cal chuckles. "You're blunt for a princess."

"Well, why shouldn't I be?"

"It's refreshing."

It actually feels a little good to hear that, but I shrug it off. "You still didn't tell me what happened to you."

"I met the prince."

"You know what I mean," I tell her. "Before you met him. What was it like?"

"Bad."

"Bad how?"

"Forgive me, Princess," Cal says, "I would be grateful if we could avoid that topic."

"I could make you talk about it, though, if I wanted to," I remind her, frowning.

"You could," she agrees.

"But I won't," I decide.

"Thank you."

Suddenly I feel weird looking at her again so I look away.

"I didn't know that the Silence were allowed to do that," I say, changing the subject. "You know, intervene."

"They aren't," Cal replies.

"So why did that happen?"

"I don't know," she answers honestly.

I study Cal. My eyesight in the dark still isn't great, but it's getting better. I can tell when the outline of her jaw ends, the lines that make up her nose, and her eyes. The purple irises are drowned by the night - they almost look black, like the Prince's.

What he said rings in my ears again, about not being able to see something's worth without money. It makes me want to knock him down a peg or two. I mean, what makes him think he's so much better than me? That he's any different?

"You must be a really good liar," I tell Cal.

"What makes you say that?" she asks.

"You can say all the nice things people want to hear no matter how nasty they are to you."

"I've had a lot of practice."

"Why do people hate you?"

"Because they can."

I bite my lip and look down. "That's not a very good reason," I say because I can't think of anything else.

"It's enough for most people."

"I'm not going to be like that," I tell Cal, looking up at her. "I'll be nice to you."

"That's very kind of you, Princess."

It sounds like the sort of thing she's had to say hundreds of times before, not because she means it but because she has to.

"You're lying. You don't think I'm nice at all." The back of my eyes start to sting. "I can be mean sometimes but I don't really mean it. I'm really good to the people I care about, but I don't have any right now and it's not my fault."

Cal stays quiet.

"I can be a nice person, Cal."

"I believe you," she replies.

Liar.