anything and everything

Scene: the first attempt

MissAvarice

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Cherry continued to quickly read the words on the page of her novel. How the thief fleeing town guards bumped into an adventurous princess out of town.

How dare the princess leave the palace.

How dare the handsome man take advantage of that panic to steal from the king.

Enemies to lovers were her favorite stories. It was a new book that Maelle had brought home for her that day and Cherry intended to finish it in one night. 

Cherry was 20 now. She could only dream of her selection to come in five years. She wanted to marry a basic but loving man. She'd marry a farmer and run away from the palace. Or a tradesman who could take her on adventures.

Cherry heard footsteps approaching her room. She wasn't supposed to be up this late reading.
Cherry quickly put out the light in her room.

She placed the book open on her chest under the covers to keep her place and closed her eyes to pretend she was asleep.

The footsteps continued to get closer and she heard her door open. Maelle was probably coming to make sure she wasn't still awake with her book. Even now as an adult she was treated like a child sometimes.

Admittedly after pulling an all nighter to read she was very tired for her lessons in the day but she didn't see a problem with that. She was already far behind in her queen training anyways.

Soft footsteps entered Cherrys room but she kept her eyes closed tight. She'd take slept many times but it was strange that Maelle was going so far to make sure she was actually sleeping. She usually would open the door then leave.

The footsteps made their way to Cherrys side of the bed where she was pretending to sleep then stopped.

Cherry was starting to doubt that this was Maelle.

Her suspicions were confirmed when something came down on her chest with a hard force.

Cherrys eyes snapped open. She gazed up at Ellie.

Ellie tore away the blanket to see the book on Cherrys chest that had stopped the wooden stake in her grip from piercing her heart.

"Ellie!" Cherry started to get out of bed.

Ellie drew her hand back before attempting to stab Cherry again.

She hadn't realized there was a book there!

Cherry grabbed Ellie's wrist before she could hit her. Cherry was stronger than all of her siblings.

"Ellie what are you doing? Stop!" Cherry forced Ellie off, shoving her back with a bit of extra force that made her fall. Cherry got out of her bed and moved across the room from Ellie. Her heart was pounding.

Had Ellie really just tried to kill her?

Ellie was 14. They'd learned that Cherry would be taking over as queen two years ago. Ellie had constantly argued that the title should go to her but... She'd never done something like this before.

"Just die!" Ellie got back to her feet and ran at Cherry. Cherry may be stronger but Ellie was faster. She just had to out maneuver Cherry.

Ellie managed to get behind cherry and tried to strike her again.  Cherry spun to face her but was not fast enough. The stake lodged itself in her arm.

Ellie tried to pull it out but Cherry gripped the stake and shattered it in a clenched fist.

"Ellie, why?" Cherry asked, panting a bit from the fight and adrenaline.

Ellie glared at her sister but said nothing. They could both heard footsteps rushing to Cherrys bedroom. The guards had been alerted by the shouting.

Cherry tried to grab Ellie but she slipped out of the room before Cherry could get a grip. Ellie was long gone before Maelle and some extra guards arrived.

"Cherry, what happened?" Maelle asked, seeing Cherry holding her bleeding arm.

"I-" Cherry looked at Maelle. "I don't know. Someone was in my room."

Maelle looked at the splinters of the shattered stake on the floor before back to the guards. "Take her to the infirmary, to Ahri."

The guards nodded and guided Cherry to Ahri so she could be healed while Maelle searched for clues.

Ahri carefully removed any wood from her arm and hand before healing the princess. Ahri liked very tired but did not ask any questions when she was woken and told to do her job.

Maelle came to see Cherry once she'd examined the room.

"I can't find any scents that don't belong to the family in your room. Not even fresh staff scents. Did you see who did this?" Maelle asked.

"No. I didn't get a good look. It was really dark." Cherry said.

"They might have used a potion or spell to mask their scent." Maelle muttered. She assigned two guards to stay with Cherry while she left to search the palace yard in hopes to catch their intruder.

"You should stay here for a little while. Just incase there was poison, princess Cherry." Ahri said quietly.

"Yeah. Thanks Ahri." Cherry said. She leaned her head against the wall behind her.

She wouldn't tell anyone it was Ellie...

She was Ellie's big sister. She had promised to protect her. Whatever their problem was, they could figure it out together.

~~~'~'
Lol not the funny scene I had promised but probably important all the same.