It's going to take about an hour to reach house Dahlia. What do you talk about with hot bratty mages?

"Do you intend to return home?"

I open my mouth to reply, but I'm not too sure what to say. I kind of want to but not really? I don't think I can either way.

Every time I think about my lack of free will I can see Eve's childlike smile as bright as day. I think about her so often it's like she's a spoiled wife I have to come home to. Well played, witch.

"Maybe."

"If you want to, I know a way. I know what would get Rowan to break off the engagement."

Ah yes, and the prince. Totally forgot about him. Eye roll.

"I don't want that."

Luca's eyes widen. "You... don't want the engagement to end?"

I shake my head. "I err, like it in the castle. That's why I came in the first place. There's many flowers... and..." my eyes travel far left. "Many... food."

The mage looks even more confused, cocking his head sideways and looking at me like a bird. "Riselle Astor, you are strange. Bad luck follows you though."

"What do you mean by that?"

Luca shrugs. He pulls out a skinny hand that was resting in the sleeve of his long, flamed coat, and a thin red bracelet materializes out of thin air. He grabs my wrist and slips the bracelet through, and it tightens itself perfectly. "This will ward away the bad luck. But depending how bad your luck is, it may not last too long. When it slips off come to me for a new one."

Does he sense Eve's magic? If this will keep her away, who knows for how long. I still won't be taking any risks.

"So what's your favorite flower, Riselle?"

"Me? Hmm. I find corpse flowers most interesting, the one that smells like rotting flesh. Also chamomile, it makes wonderful tea-"

"Your favorite Riselle. Not for what it is and what it does."

"Hmm..." I pause to think. As a kid, before we moved into house Dahlia, my mom would grow sunflowers in front of our house. We lived in a small, simple home by a riverbank, and the sunflowers would stand tall and face where the sun would rest. "Sunflowers, probably."

"Good choice. I'll make sure we get seeds to plant some."

"Yeah... now that you mention it, I haven't seen any in the castle."

"The prince doesn't like yellow."

I scowl. There are no sunflowers because he doesn't like yellow!?? "And I'm wearing yellow dresses all the fucking time. No wonder he's so mean. Oh my god!"

The mage chuckles. We continue rambling on about flowers, I've never met someone else who cared so much about them. I bet he gives people the prettiest bouquets.

Before we knew it, we arrived.

Nerves shot up and I stumbled out of the carriage, falling flat onto my stomach, scraping my palms against the ground.

"Miss Astor, has grace departed alongside your brain!?"

"Greetings, Mx. Selly..." I pick myself up off the ground, dusting my dress.

"And who is this?"

"Luca Donovan, the castle's one and only mage." Luca greets with charm. Our headmaster looks pleased.

"What a beautiful man. Come inside! I'm afraid everyone has been a whack job as of late and the house is a mess, nor have we anticipated company of your honor." Our headmaster leads us inside. It looks like a mess.

The children are running around with paint brushes, parents running after them with hushed yelling, there's paper flying, curtains on the ground. Paint days usually go this way.

That's something I could never quite get into, and my skill in the visual arts has always been mediocre at best. I could paint decent flowers? I have a few framed in my room, if my room still exists and my stuff wasn't tossed out.

"Mr and mrs Astooooorrr!!!" Mx. Selly yells in a sort of belting manner. They have a habit of yelling in song.

I see my parents burst out of their room and come running my way. I brace my ass for impact.

Thud!

"Riseelleeee we missed youuu!!" They cry out in harmony after tackling me onto the floor. My arms flail alongside them hoping they'd give me room to breathe. "I can't believe you just abandoned us like that!"

"I didn't really mean to abandon you two..."

"I know! You're angry at us for telling you to grab the prince's attention. We'll never do that again so please come home!" My mom holds my face in her hands.

"Now sweetheart I need to hear it from you. Why did you get engaged to the prince's butler!?" The headmaster butts in, pushing my parents aside and helping me up. I instinctively dust myself off once again.

"The prince kind of forced us..."

They shake their head. "Ok. So it was that boy being a..." Selly glances at Luca, probably being careful with their words. "I will talk to the council and we will have the engagement cancelled. The prince has no power over a decision the full council agrees upon, because the king will say yes."

"But Mx. Selly... I don't want to cancel the engagement."

All three of them stare at me with ghastly looks.
"You what!?"

"I said the same thing." Luca sighs.

"But sweetheart you're part of house Dahlia! You're one of our stars, we need you." Headmaster holds my hand. The wrinkles by their mouth deepen.

"I will still practice, and perform. I won't neglect my duties, but I need to stay at the castle."

"Riselle you're being foolish." Their tone darkens. I show them my ring.

"If you can't accept these terms then I will accept being kicked out of house Dahlia."

My parents look mortified. They both glance at me, and to the headmaster.

"Fine. I will be sending you mail regularly regarding your upcoming performances. Be sure to look at them. If you miss a single one there will be consequences."

"Yay! Thank you so much mx. Selly!" I hug them, and then my parents. "I will be sure to visit more often too."

"My baby is all grown up now." My mom sniffles.

"I've been pretty grown up for a while now mom."

"Eighteen is still a baby." My dad adds. Oh shush, this baby has been sent to the dungeon and is wearing an engagement ring, and was even offered a silvershroom.

"Oh and sweetheart your room is still the same way it is when you left. Your parents have been in it a few times to clean though."

"Perfect! I can grab my flower paintings!"

And just like the headmaster said, everything was arranged the way it was before this whirlwind of an adventure. My paintings decorated the walls, I had my custom instruments sitting in different corners of the room, all my dresses sat neatly arranged by hues of yellow in my dresser.

I start pulling out a bunch of things to bring back to the castle. Without having to ask, Luca helps me carry them into the carriage.

My parents, still tearful, watch me depart. The headmaster returned to overseeing the painting lessons, and me and Luca had a lot more to talk about on the way back.