Game of Prythian

Chapter Thirty

They blocked both exits. The male who called out earlier came toward us. His grin was horribly crooked. "If you wanted to play it rough I could have done that."

"We're already late for a meeting, kindly, get the hell out of the way." I snapped. The males growled, Mari ducked behind me. Another male gripped her arm, "You're small for a female, I'll show you the ropes flo-"

My leg swung out kicking the bastard in the face, while pulling Mari away from him. The talker rushed toward us, pulling his fist above his head. Shoving Mari away, I blocked his blow quickly, before hooking him in the jaw.

He swung again, a distraction. Before I could process the third guy hoooked my jaw. Hissing, I jabbed him in the stomach, shoving him away. Punching the Talker he stumbled back.

The guy who was attempting to get off the floor, I kicked him in the head just to keep him down.

Talker snarled, "Come on now, we're just trying to have a little fun." He spat blood onto the ground, Mari hid behind me again. The three stalked toward us, I readied myself, shielding Mari.

I murmured, "I wonder what will happen when I tell him how unsafe his streets are." One male paused, "You know the king-"

I punched him so hard in the face teeth went flying. Talker lunged for Mari, I brought my foot up kicking his feet from under him. He hit the street with a crack, the third male looked at his fallen brothers, and bolted.

"Kana what the hell." Falcon snapped. Mari murmured, "It's not our fault they refused to take no for an answer."

He snorted softly, "Some guy ran down the street blabbering about some female badass." Mari cupped my hands on her own. Knuckled broken open, I spat blood to the ground. Falcon checked my chin when the guy punched me.

Falcon sighed, "Some males really need to learn proper edicate." Mari nodded before Falcon led us back up to the castle. He murmured, "You could have asked one of your brothers to take you out."

"Their company wasn't and still isn't appealing." I retorted. Falcon sighed again before stating, "The King won't be happy."

"Please," I snorted. "The bruises and knuckles will be healed by dinner." The busted skin was already stitching itself back together. Falcon shot me a glance, glaring right back at him, he turned around.

"Darwyn said you were in your room." Falcon said. Remaining silent, I'd prefer not to give up my ghosts yet. One of the ghosts nudged my shoulder, the spoke, "Your brothers are beginning to be suspicious."

Sighing, the bones around me rattled. The entire city was built on a graveyard of bones. "Is there a founding story to the city?" I ask no one in particular. Falcon shook his head, "Not that I am aware of."

Mari murmured, "There used to be an old folktale, but I doubt it's true." I nodded, "Thank you." Mari glanced at me and added, "Your bruise is gone."

My knuckles had just finished patching themselves up. Mari used a cloth from her pocket to clean the blood off my hands, and anywhere else where it had splattered. I murmured, "If you would mind, I'd like this to stay our little secret."

Mari nodded, "Kennedy might ask what we were doing."

"Just the fighting part." I added swiftly. Falcon snorted, "We'll have to if you ever want to leave the castle without a body guard again."

Mari murmured, "One more thing, I forgot to tell you earlier but your Father is hosting a ball the day after tomorrow. Apparently he's going to introduce you to the kingdom there."

I grumbled as Falcon opened the door through a side entrance. He waved us on in before following behind us. Falcon said, "The other advisor's and all their children will be there, along with countless Lords and Ladies I can't be bothered to remember."

"You mean it's a giant party where all the attendants, excluding a few, are full of themselves bastards trying to compete for a Princess's hand in marriage." I hissed, Mari and Falcon both nodded.

Falcon ran over the list of some of the more important people that would be at the party. Mari walked silently beside me, quietly adding a few things she'd heard, and confirmed, as a servant of the castle.

Theo, Xer, and Darwyn were camped outside the door to my room. I asked before they could notice us, "Did somebody die in my room?"

Theo's head jerked up to us, Falcon was snickering quietly. Darwyn blinked, and Xer inquired. "Where were you?"

"Mari took me around town." She nodded quickly, showing her respects to the royalty. Theo frowned, "We could have taken you."

"You could have, but I wanted Mari to go with me." I waved my hand in the air and I budged open my door. Distraction. Keep going, walking, moving. Theo glanced to Falcon and back to me, before letting himself into my room.

"You need a dress for the party, Falcon clearly already warned you." Xer spoke. The three males entered my room like it was a common area. I pulled Mari in with me, she glared daggers at me as the door clicked shut.

"Mari showed me a nice dress shop in town today, I was thinking of going to look there." I decided before Theo could recommend someone.I spread out on my bed pulling Mari down with me.

I muttered to my brother, "I understand Mari was one of your servant's but she's mine now, thanks." Theo snorted and said, "Mother was planning on getting you a Lady in Waiting anyways, you seem to get along great anyways."

Mari whispered, "More like she drags me into situations I don't want to be in." Xer and Darwyn chuckled, while Mari blushed. They weren't supposed to hear her apparently.

"Sister, how rude of you." Xer cooed. I hummed, "Perhaps."

We chatted for a while before Mari excused herself about needing to go check in with her superior. Falcon left as well, claiming he had paperwork to catch up on. Xer flopped down beside me as the door clicked shut. He spoke, "You told me to ask later, so what happened?"

Ah, damn things coming back to bite you in the ass. I murmured, "I don' t want to talk about this." My hands covered my eyes slightly, removing them slightly, Theo sat near my feet and Darwyn laid down on the other side of me.

Theo set a hand on my ankle, his fingers working at the laces of the boots. "I'm sorry the trip went so badly."

Your crown is heavier than others. My face heated adn I covered my eyes again. Damn people who cared, it was so much harder to survive when they were around. You could just survive with them, no they dragged you down the road of the living.

Darwyn pried my hands away from my face. While Xer added, "If Rhysand wasn't Feyre's mate I would have hit your sister, she shouldn't have said those things."

I hiccuped and Theo finally pulled my boots off, he chucked them to the side. I murmured, "I hate you all."

Darwyn hummed, "I'm sure you do little sis." Little sis. No, I was the elder, I had to be the elder, I had to protect them.

Them. My sisters, sisters who didn't want me around, or need my protection anymore. My breathing came in soft gasps, they hated me. The only family I'd ever known had finally cast me out, I'd done it.

I was cast out of the game, I was a dead girl walking. I knew my sisters would hate me, yet I never expected to live to carry the weight. Xer and Darwyn hugged me close and Theo kept my feet in his lap.

Darwyn whispered, "It's okay Kana, it'll be okay." I whimpered and they continued murmuring sweet nothings. All was not fine.

My sisters hated me, and I was slowly cracking under the weight.