"Are you alright, Rose?" Amber, the head maid, asked. Rose didn't respond, gazing at herself in the mirror as Amber brushed Rose's blonde waves. "Rose?" Amber prompted again.

Rose snapped out of her daze, meeting Amber's brown eyes in the mirror. "I'm fine," Rose replied tersely.

Amber didn't look convinced. "Lily told me that you didn't even flinch when you watched Raymond Henessey burn. It's only been a day."

Rose closed her eyes, sighing, "You can tell Lily to stop worrying. Raymond Henessey deserved to die. He was just a rebel who managed to kill my father."

"Rose," Amber said, setting the hairbrush down, "We've been friends for many years. I can tell you're troubled. Raymond is dead. Your father has been avenged. Cheer up! Tomorrow is a special day."

Rose smiled lightly, running her fingers through her hair as she stood up. "Really, Amber, I'm fine. I'll see you at dinner."

--

Queen Flora was the only person sitting in the dining room. The kitchen staff was working nonstop. Queen Flora recently started to want more food for dinner. Even though she executed Raymond Henessey, she still felt unsatisfied, and she always demanded food when she was unsatisfied.

Flora reached for her glass from the table, spinning it in her hands.

Basil was journeying to the Saffron Kingdom. If I wasn't so busy here, I could have stopped him from getting killed. If I had went with him, he would still be here. My poor children no longer have a father. If I had gone with him he would... he would still... no, if I had gone I might have died too. This wasn't my fault. Flora rested her forehead against the glass for a moment. These are moments when I wish Jeffrey were here.

Jeffrey was Basil's advisor, but in a way, he was also generally just the Azalea advisor. He was an elder, but he held a lot of wisdom and advice within him. If she had a problem, she could always speak her mind to Jeffrey. However, Jeffrey had to take a leave of absence due to a family emergency, leaving Flora to run the kingdom alone. She had Amaryllis and Marguerite, her two sister-in-laws, but there were times where she really valued Jeffrey's advice.

Flora glanced at the clock. The rest of her family would be here in about five minutes. She brought the glass to her lips and took a small sip of water.

She widened her eyes and slammed the glass down, causing some water to splash out onto her hand and the pure white table cloth.

The water... it's...

Flora then heard a dark laugh from her left. She sharply stood up to see the red curtains being pushed back to reveal a boy with brown hair wearing a tight black shirt and pants. She narrowed her eyes when she saw that a small black crow mask was fitted over the boy's face.

"Guards!" Flora called, shifting towards the door.

The boy was already in front of her when the words left her lips. She felt a hand close around her throat. "No one is coming to help you, Queen Flora."

Flora gritted her teeth. She couldn't use her fire. Her attacker made sure of that when he spiked the water with salt.

Flora narrowed her eyes. She said in a strained voice, "Who sent you? Who are you?"

A scoff from the boy, "My name is Crow. Indeed, I was sent by someone, but you put a target on your back when you killed my family."

No... it can't be. "Nissisa," Flora rasped out, still choking. Even though she couldn't use her fire, she knew her eyes held a fiery spark within them.

"Yes," Crow confirmed.

"B-But how?" Flora strained, spluttering in disbelief.

"It doesn't matter. You failed to kill me, that's all there is to it." Crow's flat voice rang in her ears.

Flora narrowed her eyes, still frustrated that she couldn't use her fire to burn the last of the Nissisa family.

Flora's eyes returned to their normal size as she looked at Crow with daring eyes. "What are you waiting for?"

Crow realized that his fingers were still wrapped around Flora's throat. Flora didn't notice, but if she took the time to look she would have realized that Crow's hand was shaking slightly.

What's wrong with me? Flora's fire can't kill me like it killed my family. All I have to do is flash my claws out, Crow thought to himself, gritting his teeth.

"Why did you kill my family? We had no quarrel with you," Crow found himself demanding.

Flora closed her eyes as she grinned in triumph. She no longer struggled against him. It was as though she had accepted that she was going to die.

"Tell me," Crow said, his voice almost coming off as a hiss.

Crow clenched his teeth when Flora still refused to answer. He was about to demand an answer again when he suddenly heard footsteps coming closer to the dining room. Accepting that he wasn't going to get anything from Flora in time, he flashed his nails into claws, slashing Flora's throat as he let go.

Flora widened her eyes before her downfall. She collapsed on the ground, her blood staining the light red carpet and her crown falling from her head.

Chase could only stare at Flora's dead body with disdain. He had just avenged his family and Reese's father, but he still felt empty. Relief soon washed over him, however, to know that Flora could never hurt anyone else ever again.

His enhanced hearing picked up on the nearing footsteps again. Sighing, Chase opened a window and leaped out. When his targets died he would normally feel some pity for them, but he felt none for Flora. He didn't know why Flora decided to kill his family, and unfortunately Flora decided that she had nothing to lose by taking her secret to the grave.

Chase jumped through trees, making sure he wasn't spotted by anyone as he escaped to the forest.

--

"I'm so hungry," Ivy said to herself as she walked towards the dining room. "I wonder what's for dinner."

She froze when she saw the knocked out guards. Huh? Why are all the guards on the floor?

Slowly, Ivy opened the door to the dining room and gasped when she saw her mother on the floor.

"Mother!" Ivy rushed over and bent down, believing that her mother simply had fainted. She put her hands on the carpet as she examined Flora. "Mother! Can you hear me?"

That was when she saw the slash marks on Flora's throat. Ivy's emerald eyes glazed over from shock. "M-Mother," she started. She brought her hands up from the carpet to see that they was stained with Flora's blood.

Ivy's terrifying scream was heard throughout the entire castle. The birds that were sitting on a branch near the open window flew away from the sudden outcry.

Moments later, Amaryllis and Marguerite rushed in. They both gasped in horror when they saw Flora dead on the floor and Ivy hovering over her with trembling, bloodstained hands. Amaryllis froze where she stood while Marguerite hurriedly ushered Ivy out of the room.

Ivy was in a state of shock but let Marguerite pull her outside. Amaryllis said to Marguerite, "Don't let her come back in."

Marguerite nodded and stood outside of the dining room as the guards groaned from pain. Ivy still had her mouth open from the gruesome sight.

"M-Mother is..."

"Shhhh," Marguerite hugged her.

Rose, Lily, Violet, and Acacia all appeared from the corner. Seeing Ivy's distraught face, Lily asked softly, "Ivy, what's wrong? We heard you scream."

Marguerite looked up to see Violet about to go in. Marguerite ordered, "Don't go inside!"

Violet asked, "Why? What's wrong?"

Acacia then noticed Ivy's hands before Ivy frantically tried to wipe the blood away on her green dress. Mistaking it for dirt, she asked, "Why are your hands dirty, Ivy?"

"Mother is dead!" Ivy suddenly sobbed.

Time froze for the remaining four Azalea sisters. All of their eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Rose was the first to snap out of her thoughts, pushing past Marguerite and barging into the dining room, Lily and Violet right behind her. Acacia attempted to go in as well, but Marguerite stopped her.

Acacia cannot see her mother dead, not after her father was killed. She's only eleven. She won't be able to handle it, Marguerite thought.

Rose, Lily, and Violet all saw Amaryllis standing over Flora's body. Amaryllis looked at the three of them and merely shook her head.

Violet sunk to her knees and sobbed. Tears started to stream down Lily's face as she brought a hand to her mouth in horror. Lily glanced at Rose, who was looking at her own mother with pain and grief. No tears escaped Rose's eyes, but she was trembling from shock.

Lily took Rose's hand, which immediately caused Rose to calm down.

"We need to take Flora to Saige," Amaryllis said. "Guards!" This time, a wave of guards rushed into the room. "Take Queen Flora to the Court Physician to have her cleaned up."

"Yes, your Highness," one of the guards spoke.

They moved to help carry Flora, but then Rose snapped, "You didn't protect her." The guards looked to see Rose clench her fists. "You should be ashamed of yourselves. You should have protected my mother."

The guards didn't know what to say, but averted their eyes to the ground in shame as they proceeded to take Flora. What could they say? It was the truth.

"Rose," Lily murmured. "It's not their fault."

Rose gritted her teeth in frustration as the guards walked past her with Flora's body. Rose then asked Amaryllis, "What happened?"

Amaryllis frowned, "Marguerite and I came down for dinner to see Ivy over Flora's body. The window is open, so Flora must have been killed just before we all came down."

Rose didn't say anything for a moment, but then, "Help Ivy get cleaned up, and tell Aunt Marguerite to keep Acacia company. I will speak with Saige later, but we need to protect Ivy and Acacia from all of this. Ivy is only thirteen and Acacia is eleven. They'll need your help, especially Ivy. I can't imagine the pain she's going through."

Amaryllis nodded and said, "We'll speak later." She then disappeared outside.

--

"This was the Red Phoenixes," Violet said, her voice broken but angry. "Who else would it be?"

"I agree," Lily added. "Raymond died yesterday. The timing couldn't be any more coincidental."

Rose shook her head, "A Red Phoenix member couldn't have just infiltrated the castle, yet alone knock out all of the guards."

"Did you ever consider there could have been more than one Red Phoenix member?" Violet snapped back, frustrated.

Before Rose could respond, they heard a knock at the door before it opened. It was Saige, the Court Physician.

"I'm so sorry to hear what happened," Saige said apologetically. "I finished cleaning up Queen Flora. I'm sorry it has taken me so long. It's almost midnight; you all must be exhausted."

Rose bowed her head curtly, "It's quite alright. Thank you very much, Saige."

Saige pressed her lips together before saying, "I examined her as well. The slash marks on her neck were very deep, but they were clean and precise."

"Do you think a Red Phoenix would be able to do this?" Lily asked.

"From what I have seen with the wounds Raymond inflicted on Basil, I would say no. An untrained killer wouldn't be able to make marks this clean," Saige clarified. "Perhaps an assassin?" She suggested.

Rose frowned. "It's to my current knowledge that the only family of assassins that lived in the Azalea kingdom is dead. I don't see why an assassin from the Saffron kingdom would want Mother killed." Saige merely shrugged, not sure what else to say. Rose finally nodded and said, "Thank you, Saige. You may go."

Saige nodded before leaving. Saige was Amber's identical twin sister. Amber was the maid, and Saige was the physician. They were really close with the Azalea princesses, seeing that they have been in their service for many years.

To fill the silence, Lily said, "I still think the Red Phoenixes were involved, assassin or no assassin."

Violet sighed, "I'm going to go to bed. I just need to be alone."

Violet didn't wave goodnight and merely brushed past her sisters to leave.

"You should go too," Rose said to Lily. "I need to talk to Aunt Amaryllis."

Lily forced a small smile before walking past Rose as well. "Goodnight, Rose," Lily called, yawning.

"Goodnight," Rose called back, but Lily was already closing Rose's bedroom door behind her.

--

Rose pushed the throne room doors open, seeing Amaryllis standing before a silver altar. "Aunt Amaryllis," Rose acknowledged, entering the throne room.

Amaryllis looked up. Her eyes softened when she saw Rose. Amaryllis greeted, "Rose, thanks for coming to meet me." Rose's eyes finally rested on Flora's body that was laying on the altar. The corner of her eye twitched as she looked back up to Amaryllis uncomfortably. Amaryllis added, "Saige brought Flora here to prepare for Flora's funeral tomorrow."

Rose nodded and then asked, "Why did you want to see me?"

Amaryllis replied, "Flora usually runs the executions and the funerals. She burns the body." Rose didn't say anything yet. "Now that she's gone, someone needs to run her funeral tomorrow."

Rose noted how Amaryllis didn't seem the least bit sad. Amaryllis had definitely seemed shocked at first when her mother was killed, but it appeared she was trying to move on by pretending Flora wasn't important to her. Rose finally answered in understanding, "You want me to do it."

"I think Flora would want to be honored by her daughter, not her sister-in-law," Amaryllis added. "I know this is all very sudden, so I can do it if you feel uncomfortable."

Rose shook her head, "No, I understand. I will run the funeral tomorrow."

Amaryllis bowed her head, "Thank you, Rose." The castle clock then chimed midnight. "I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

Rose forced a smile and said, "I'm going to stay with my mother for another ten minutes."

"Very well. Goodnight, Rose," Amaryllis said.

"Goodnight, Aunt Amaryllis," Rose called.

Amaryllis started to leave, but stopped about midway. "I just remembered. I know the timing couldn't be any worse, but I'll say this now while I'm here."

Rose looked confused at the moment, not knowing what Amaryllis meant.

Amaryllis finally said, "Happy 21st Birthday, Rose."

Rose widened her eyes, realizing that it was past midnight and that it was technically a new day. Amaryllis smiled sadly before leaving.

Rose looked back at Flora, and before she realized it tears started streaming down her face.