Bit short; bit of a filler. Sorry.

♕♥ ♕♥ ♕

I quickly learned that my sweet little kitten, Toro, was up to no good. Half of the time I found him roaming the halls, an innocent look plastered on his face. All the other times, he was nowhere to be seen. I set the twins on the job to figure out what Toro was up to, and knowing them, they'd probably hire a private investigator to follow the cat around. They did not, and instead they skipped out on practice to complete the job.

The results were rather interesting. Toro, each day, snuck into the palace kitchens and ate whatever he could get his claws on. I had wondered about why there had been hair in my breakfast but passed it off as my own, since my hair was a similar colour.

But not. This little wild thing had been cheeky in getting twice as many meals by hunting for food himself. No surprise though, he ate something he shouldn't have and now there was a beautiful vomit mark on the silk curtain. That would be hard to get out, I'm sure.

But I decided that I wasn't going to go through the pain alone, and instead dragged Sarina along with me to the vet. It would've been nice company if not for the kitten that got sick on my lap every few minutes. When we finally got to the vet, I wanted to praise the deities.

"What do you think he ate?" Sarina asked as we sat in the waiting room, Toro shaking as if he was freezing. I wondered for a second.

"Probably something raw,"

"What about rotten?"

"Not in the palace, there's no way," Toro fell into a nap and seemed to have nothing more to cough up, which I was thankful of. The amount of bathing I would have to do after this would be unpleasant.

"Maybe chocolate?"

"Might be," but the vet concluded that it was indeed raw meat. The vet was absolutely shocked when she first saw Toro, completely sure it was a wild animal at first. When Toro began to scratch his head against her hand, she thought a bit differently. At the end of the examination we were given medication for Toro and a strict order to keep him from the kitchen. I would have to inform the staff.

"Poor little baby," Sarina cooed, petting Toro gently on the way back to the palace. We stopped by the café to get smoothies to go, and I held both of them in the car.

"Little sly thing," I commented, thinking of ways to get Toro to behave a little more. Was there training for cats?

"Basically your brothers," I huffed at her comment.

"Basically," I sighed, sitting back against the leather seat. "They're very nervous, you know?"

"About the Performance?" I nodded. "We all are. If you stayed at ballet, you might be feeling this nervousness as well. It's one thing to perform in front of s judge or a few people, but this is royalty and the entire world will be watching," I scoffed at her wording.

"But you know us, so what's the problem?" I retorted slyly, and she rolled her eyes at me.

"Yeah, but like I don't know the entire Royal Family. Will they be there?" I nodded my head slowly.

"Yeah, that side of the family will be there. Mother Queen will also be there," Sarina's eyes widened and she looked at me in question.

"Mother Queen? Is she like your alien overlord?" I chuckled at her, and even Ian stifled a laugh.

"Uhm, no. She's my grandmother, my mother's mother. She was the previous ruler," Sarina hummed in though before shuddering.

"Gosh! That's a bit scary. I mean like, she ruled when times weren't as modern as now... no offense," she commented, holding her violet locks between her fingers. I nodded slowly.

"Don't worry about that, though. She was fine when my hair was coloured," it was true. When my grandmother saw me for the first time with violet hair, she said nothing about it and treated me absolutely normal. She even gave me a complement about it later.

It infuriated my father.

But my father married into the family, previously being a duke. His word was beneath only my mother and grandmother.

But the family on my father's side was a bit more... reserved. They didn't like that he became the King, and much less that they were being pulled into the royal heritage. Of course they were the lesser family, because they carried no royal blood. Blue blood, yes. But unlike Matilda, they had no problem in being left out. I respected them.

They were much nobler than Princess Alice's family, being more elegant and feared.

But they were intimidating.

"How big is the Royal Family?" curious at her question, I began to do the math in my head.

"There's fourteen of us," I concluded.

"Good gracious I'm going to die," she groaned, shaking her head. I only laughed at her reaction.

"Don't worry about it. They're not monsters. I mean, you've met my parents," she only rolled her eyes at me.

"Yeah... what's her name?"

"Who's?"

"The alien queen," I chuckled at her.

"She is formally known as Her Royal Majesty, Colonel of the Thirty-Second Regiment, Mother Queen Annabelle Darlington the Third," Sarina shook her head in shock.

"Is that where you 'forth' comes from?" I nodded in affirmation. "But your surname is also Darlington?"

"My mother is the prime ruler. There's no way she'd give up her surname, and neither will I," Darlington was going to stay with me for the rest of my life.

"I pity your future spouse," I only chuckled at her, taking note at how she didn't specially say wife or husband.

♕♥ ♕♥ ♕

We put Toro to sleep after giving him his medicine. He had a rough day, and I prayed for him to make a full recovery. Sarina was lounging on my bed whilst I did some self-study. Although, I couldn't focus one bit knowing she was in my room, watching me. I became flustered at the idea and tried to decipher the Latin words. Yeah, no. I couldn't understand a single thing that stood on the page before me. Eventually I threw a fit and tossed my book to the other side of the room, Sarina peering at me curiously.

I took the book of sheet music I got from Caleb and moved to my harp, determined to get something productive done. I strung the notes slowly as I read the notes, eventually getting the rhythm of the first song. I played it seven times in total before I could start to look away from the sheet music, making sure my fingers were well protected. If I cut my finger now, right after Cornelius cut his, I would call it a bad omen.

Sarina listened with focus, enjoying the gentle sounds the harp produced. Eventually she had enough of watching and stood from my bed. She headed towards my side, my eyes trained on her as she neared.

"Can I try?" I nodded and gave her room on the little bench, watching her as she hesitantly placed her fingers of the snares. She fingered them, testing out the sounds before attempting to stroke them. It was a bit screechy so I leaned over and rested my hands over hers, guiding them gently. I could tell her face was completely flustered as my chest was pushed into her back, not able to focus on the sounds anymore. Eventually she decided it was enough and spun around in the bench, grabbing my face and bringing it down towards hers.

I kissed her back just as eagerly, cupping her face and lowering myself towards the bench. She grabbed my waist and brought me closer, pulling me until I sat on her lap. Her hands remained on my waist, twiddling with the ends of my blouse while I went to play with the ends of her hair. She smiled into the kiss with contempt, slowing the pace before quickening it. I followed her changes in pace, not willing to be left behind.

"By the deities, get a room!" I suddenly heard and pulled away from Sarina in an instant, my eyes fixated on the two foxes who stood with sly grins at the door. I furrowed my brows, glaring deep at them.

"This is my room! Bloody hell, be gone!" I said with ferocity, and the twins found it eligible to laugh loudly.

"Chill out, sister dear! We heard you playing again and came to inspect," Bartholomew chuckled, his hand hiding his smirking smile.

"But it seems you have something else to attend to," Cornelius retorted, rolling his eyes to the side.

"We will leave you to it," Bartholomew announced, pushing his brother out before moved to close the doors.

"Wait!" he peered his head back it. "Remember the jet!" he laughed nervously before nodding, moving to leave us alone. Sarina looked at me with utter confusion.

"Jet?"

"You know when my father's jet was vandalised?" she nodded in confirmation. "Guess who the little twerps behind it were," her jaw fell open.

"You're kidding..." I shook my head. "Shut up! No way!" she found it very amusing, chuckling loud as he pulled my body closer, resting her head on my chest. I blushed a deep scarlet, rounding my arms around her shoulders. She breathed deeply and calmed down, taking in my scent apparently. "You smell good,"

"Well, I do bathe," I commented, chuckling lightly. She smiled and tightened her hold on my lips.

"What are your plans for this Saturday?" I hummed in though.

"Nothing. Why, what are we doing?" she pulled away to look into my eyes. She looked so determined.

"Going on a date, because I really need to make this official," she announced before leaning in for another kiss.