"Come on, Zin. Please wake up."

It was the same voice, but it didn't sound the same. No, maybe it did sound the same.

"Give her some room. She's not dead. She'll wake up when she's ready."

Dead? Were they worried I'd be dead? Well, I was worried I'd die, so I couldn't blame them if they did think so too. Either way, I couldn't help but feel as if I should give them some indication of my conscious state, so I opened my eyes.

"Zin! You're awake!"

Not long after that voice announced my awakened state I felt a body on top of mine and winced in pain.

"Get off her you idiot!" The boy was immediately pulled off of me. "She's still recovering, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," he whispered sadly as he stood up from where he'd been thrown. "Sorry, Zin."

C, but not Cynthia. Cam.

"And seriously, Zinnia? Just a wince? You should be in enough pain to make you at least scream if not want to punch him in the face," the girl said... The girl. Tiria.

"I'm fine," I somehow managed. "Where's Cynthia?"

There was no answer, just an exchange of saddened glances. Then I remembered...

***

Cynthia! I thought her name, but the words didn't actually escape my mouth. I was in too much shock. I watched as a soldier plunged his sword through her chest and pulled it out again. As I saw her body fall to the ground lifelessly, my mind clouded over and I could no longer think rationally.

This was supposed to be an amicable meeting. Both sides were supposed to come together and find a middle ground, something we could agree upon so that the fighting could end before it even began. The animosity between our kingdoms had reached a high point; a few citizens from each side had died mysteriously and we blamed each other. The leaders of both sides, the Human kingdom of Terrova and the Avian kingdom of Avis, were supposed to come together to find an agreement that would appease both sides. We'd kept our end of the deal, to not bring an army, to bring no more than two guards. They hadn't.

My body moved on its own accord as I flew toward Cynthia, slaying any and everyone in my path. Cynthia wasn't just our future leader, she was my best friend, my sister. I'd have given my own life if it meant never having seen her die in front of my very eyes, especially at the hands of a coward who could only hope to win by betraying their word.

As I slayed my tenth or eleventh soldier and neared the man I hoped to kill, I felt someone's sword make contact with my left side, but the amount of pain I should have felt simply didn't register. I turned and made eye contact with the soldier for a split second before our eye contact was broken entirely and he fell to the ground.

***

"She's gone..." I whispered. I never did make it to the man who'd killed Cynthia. I wasn't fast enough or strong enough. Eventually I'd been surrounded by six men and I'd already been wounded. I knew I wasn't going to win and should have simply flown away, but I was too stubborn.

"Look, Zinnia, we're lucky Mia found you or else we'd have lost both of the two possible future leaders we have. You should have never put yourself in that type of danger," Tiria said.

"I wasn't-"

"I know where you were found and I know where you should have been." Tiria motioned over her shoulder to where Mia was. I'd somehow managed to not notice her.

"Thanks for nothing, Mia," I sighed as I attempted to get up only to have Tiria practically force me back down.

"Zinnia, mark my words, if you get out of this bed at any time within the next two days, the war will be the least of your worries," Tiria warned, her eyes darkening. I usually ignored her warnings because she always over exaggerated and forced anyone who got injured to any degree to rest for what usually felt like forever, but the look in her eye all but dared me to disobey and I didn't want to know what she'd do if I got up. Besides, I could still feel the weight of my injuries.

I relaxed back into the bed and sighed. "How bad?" I asked, though I already knew most of the answer.

"Usually, I'd say the worst was the hole through your stomach that caused such massive blood loss that I thought you were probably already dead; the one that meant we had to get two people to donate blood, but the cut to your right side was so deep it actually sliced through muscle."

"Wow..."

"But the one that'll probably hurt the longest is probably the blow to alula. I think whoever hit you might have taken a piece of your wing off in the process."

"What?!" I screamed as I shot up, immediately regretting it afterwards. The quick movement, one which I probably shouldn't have made in the first place, sent a wave a pain up from my stomach, to my right side, down my right arm, then back up my back to my right wing. I'd already been in pain just lying there and that pain multiplied four or five times once I moved and continued to intensify for several seconds before it finally began to die down.

Tiria laughed as she helped me ease back down into a lying position in bed. "At least I'm sure you won't be getting up anytime soon. I mean, just imagine the added pain if you'd have tried to stand on your left leg. There's a gash the length of my forearm there."

"You're evil," I grumbled. "You could have stopped me."

"But then you wouldn't have learned your lesson. And yes, there's a small chunk of your right wing missing. It'll heal, but you shouldn't fly for a while if you want it to heal correctly," she said.

I saw Mia open her mouth as if to speak, but she never got a word out. There was a loud, commanding knock on the door and I knew it was my father at the door. Yes, I've grown to know my father by his knock. I also know his growl, his footsteps, and his sigh. I know his voice as well, but that's a given since I've been hearing it since birth.

"Tiria, how's..." Father came in and stopped when he saw that I was awake. I'd never seen him at a loss for words, but there he was struggling to figure out what to say. In fact, he was doing several things I never thought I'd see him do all at once. He was at a loss for words, he was shaking, and he was crying all at once.

"Father...?"

"Zinnia?" he questioned as if he didn't believe I was there or awake. He walked over to me, sat in the chair by my bed, and touched my cheek cautiously.

"Yes, father, I'm alive-"

"I know!" he choked as he pulled me into a hug, clearly no longer trying to hold back his tears. The movement caused the pain to shoot up from my stomach all over again, but this time I ignored it. I'd never seen father so broken and it broke me too. All of a sudden it all hit me.

Cynthia, my sister, best friend, and the future ruler of our kingdom, was dead. She'd been murdered and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Then, selfishly, I went in to get revenge and almost left my father with no family. Mother had been gone for years, so with Cynthia gone, I was his only daughter and all of his family.

"I'm so sorry, father," I whispered as I felt the tears begin to fall down my face.

"Zinnia, there's no reason for you to apologize," he said as he pulled away from me. That time I winced. The movement was a little too fast and unexpected. "Oh no, I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I just--"

"No, I was so overwhelmed with emotion I didn't think logically about how much pain you were probably in." He helped me lie back down and I suddenly noticed that we were the only two in the room.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked.

Father looked around, apparently also only recently noticing the fairly empty room. "They must have realized that we needed some alone time." He looked back at me and I would've sworn he was about to cry all over again. "I'm glad you're OK, Zinnia."

"I know. I'm sorry. What I did was reckless and-"

"Zinnia, stop apologizing. I may have done something similar had I seen someone kill my daughter. I'm regretting sending you two. I should have had you and Cynthia lead the ceremony while I went."

"Then you'd be dead, father. I still need you. The kingdom still needs you."

He sighed and leaned back into his chair. He ran his hand down his face the way he always does when he's deep in thought and doesn't want to say something. He stared at me silently for some time and I simply waited for him to speak. Over the years I'd learned that rushing him only made him take longer to speak, but waiting lead to him getting to the point within two minutes.

He sighed once more before moving his chair closer to me and taking my hand. "Cynthia's funeral is... in three days. We hoped you'd be up and able to walk by then."

"Tiria said I'll only need to stay in bed for two days, so I should just make it," I responded.

"Well, there's no way we'd move on without you being able to attend. We'd just push it back if you couldn't." He stopped talking and broke eye contact for a few moments. When he looked back up, I watched the tears return to his eyes though they didn't fall. His grip on my hand tightened and I suddenly lost all patience for finding out what he needed to tell me. "I can't lose you too."

"Father, what are you trying not to tell me?"

He took a deep breath and looked away once more. "I, um... I tried to fight the council on this, but I can't argue... It's a good idea, Zinnia."

"Father!"

"They suggested you go to the prince's Coronation Ball. He's not yet engaged and-"

"He'd be thrilled to be engaged to an Avian?"

Father gave me a look that told me not to argue this, so I quieted down. "He's not yet engaged and since a war is brewing with no heir on the horizon, they're inviting ladies of the court to his Coronation Ball.  Twelve of those ladies will be chosen to stay at the castle for two weeks, at the end of which one will be chosen to marry the prince.  The council wants you to go to the ball, get him alone-"

"You want me to kill him?"

"They wanted you to kill him," Father corrected.

"But he wasn't the one killed Cynthia. What would be the point?"

"The council wants him killed because there is no one else in line for the throne."

"But what will that accomplish?" I asked. "They'll simply find someone else to lead and the problem will continue. If it was for revenge, I'd have no complaints, but this makes no sense."

"It would send them into some amount of disarray, maybe even show them that we won't take this type of deceit lightly-"

"But he doesn't deserve-"

"I know, Zinnia. I know.  That is why convinced them that instead of posing as a lady of the court for just one day and killing the prince, we could do something more permanent."

"You... want me to try to become queen."

Father nodded, but didn't say anything for a long time.  When he finally did speak, I didn't quite like what he said.  "If it's not you, it'll be someone else, but instead of trying to become queen they'll be trying to kill him."

I sighed, upset but ultimately knowing father was right. The king and queen have the most say in our kingdom, but the council holds the trust of the people as well. They have influence, even if individually it's not as much as the rulers. But they weren't always right and I didn't want there to be another unnecessary death.

I looked over to my father, a plan forming in my mind. "What if I'm chosen, then what?  I assume I'm to hide my wings since they'd never let an Avian into the ball at all, so there's no way they'd let one become queen.  So let's assume I hide my wings until after we're married.  What happens next? I can't hide them forever."

"You wouldn't need to.  The marriage and coronation for the queen would be on the same day, likely all as one ceremony if it's the same as when your mother still lived in that kingdom."

"But they won't just change things because their queen is Avian.  More likely I'd be assassinated once it's revealed.  I don't think this'll work."

"What's your plan?"

"I don't know.  I'll go, of course, but I'll just try to convince the new king to end the war before it starts.  If I can't do that within two weeks, I'll go through with the council's original plan."

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can convince him, but I'll be queen here now that..." I took a deep breath.  "I'll be queen now that Cynthia's gone.  I'll do what I have to for my people."

"You're maturing."

"Thanks."

"I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that."

I sighed. "Me either. I liked not really having any responsibilities."

"You had responsibilities, Zinnia, you simply ignored them."

"Anyways... do I get to choose guards or maids to bring with me to help me while I'm pretending to be someone else?  Because I was thinking about bringing two amazing maids who I'd trust with my life, two of the best guards in the kingdom, and our spy prodigy."

"I'll ask the council about Ben, but the other four I can approve of now.  They're technically your employees anyway.  Talk to them and bring them if they're up for living a covert life for two weeks."