The Princess, The Thief and The Servant

Chapter 4-The Blue Iris

Evelyn silently slipped through the barely opened door into the room she knew to be lined with vaults. After a few moments, she spotted the vault she was looking for.

"Bingo," She whispered softly as she made her way over to it. Punching in the code she had stolen three days before, the door opened with ease and she slipped her hand inside.

Alarms blared. Evelyn cursed as the footsteps of guards running grew closer. She had just done the one thing she could never do in her line of work. She had made a mistake.
~~~

Three months had past since Henry discovered them and things had been going really well. He was very kind and always made sure to give them time alone along with keeping up the pretense that he was attracted to his betrothed.

A little over 9 weeks ago, Henry had returned home with the excuse of visiting his brother although in reality he wished to see Marcus again and ask him if he wanted a position in what was soon to be King Henry's castle as a stable boy. Some people owed Julia favors for reasons she would not explain, but they would allow her to get him across the border and give him the position with very few questions asked.

It was a relatively relaxing morning, similar to any other, and Lily and Julia were discussing last nights attempted break in. Thieves and assassins attempted to break into the palace every now and then and it had happened enough times for everyone to be relatively relaxed about it. What peaked everyone's interest in this particular case senecio was who had broken in.

It was the so called greatest thief in the world, The Silent Raven, named for the fact that they were never heard and never caught and the most that had ever been seen of them was an obscured black figure. They had made it closer to successfully stealing from the palace vaults then anyone else in history, or so the guards had said. They had been caught though, which was truly an incredible feat. The guards would not stop bragging about it.

That particular morning though, as she stayed silently by her princess's side, Julia was painfully reminded that she had another job to do. One that Lily didn't know about. And one that she would never be allowed to take a break from.

"Let me go!" A child's cry rang through the halls of the palace. Lily decided to check it out with Julia hot on her heels. They found themselves in the thrown room, where a child was being held by various guards. They had strawberry blond hair that barely grazed their shoulders and bruises on their pale face and arms.

"What's going on?" Lily had asked no one particular.

"This one is a witch, Princess," One of the guards holding the child explained. The kid looked so small and scared surrounded by those guards. The child screamed again and it took willpower Julia didn't even know she had to keep herself from lunging for the kid. Instead, she twisted her blue iris ring and tried not to let her hands shake.

"Servant," The King spoke, addressing Julia, "Lead them to the dungeon where the witch will await its burning."

The child screamed and cried, struggling to escape. Julia took a shaky breath, trying not to flinch at the way the King called the child 'it' and nodded, pivoting and leading the way to the dungeons. A little ways down the hallway one of the guards cried out.

"What's happening to it?!" The guard shouted. Julia looked back to see the kid looked unfocused and gasping fir air. Panic attack.

"Allow me," Julia said, stepping forward and fighting off any expression of sympathy or concern, "Step away."

The guards backed up hesitantly, creating a ring around Julia and the child.

"Can you here me?" She asked the child softly. They nodded slowly.

"Good," She said, "I know this is really scary, but I'm going to you need to breathe for me, okay? Can I touch you?"

They struggled to take a breath, and hesitated before nodding again. Julia gently rubbed the kid's arms in an attempt to ground them as she continued to murmur small comforts.

"You are so so brave," She praised, "It'll be okay, kid. I'm going to get you out of this."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Julia stood up straight and gently held the hand of the terrified kid beside her, giving them the chance to pull away. When they didn't, she carefully surveyed the guards around them. She never broke a promise.
~~~

Lily was worried, not that she'd ever admit it. She didn't like that Julia wasn't with her, it put her on edge. Not only that, but Julia was with a witch and headed to the dungeons. What if the witch lost control and hurt her? What if one of the prisoners tried to escape and Julia got caught in the crossfire?

She tried to take a deep breath and calm herself down as she sat alone in her room. She gently ran her hand over the gardenia pin, feeling every little ridge. Julia will be okay, she reminded herself. She was almost convinced, until the alarms began to blare throughout the castle. Lily bolted up and was out of the door before she could think. Julia.
~~~

Julia, the child, and the hoard of guards soon arrived at the dungeons, Julia having never let go of the child's hand. She knew there would only be one person down in the dungeons, The Silent Raven, and she was honestly excited to finally catch a glimpse of the thief. Whatever she had been expecting, however it wasn't this.

Short, dark brown hair and a skin tight black outfit that had been torn in some places, revealing golden brown skin. They were beautiful.

"Hey cutie," They greeted with a charming smirk, as if they weren't locked up in a cell, "What's a sweet little thing like you doing in a dirty little place like this?"

Julia bit her tongue and tried to keep her face from growing red and their shameless flirting.

"Evelyn. She/her," They—she introduced herself, grinning at Julia's blush, "Say, maybe when I get out of here we could grab a bite sometime?"

Julia's face grew redder as Evelyn winked at her. "Quiet!" One of the guards shouted.

"See you around, Sweetheart!" Evelyn called, waving as Julia led the group deeper into the dungeon.

As the guards were unlocking the cell that the child would be placed into a wall of vines caught Julia's eye. On it, was a single blue iris, although Julia knew it shouldn't really have been able to grow there at all. She picked it gently and tucked it into the little kids hair.

"Trust the people wearing this flower," She whispered in their ear when the guards weren't looking. The kid looked up at her confused, but Julia was already looking away, staring at the small window in the cell wall where she could see a little robin chirping. Gripping the kids hand tighter, she backed up to the opposite wall never taking her eyes off the window. The kid was confused, but followed her lead none the less.

"Got it!" Exclaimed the guard who had finally found the right key to unlock the empty cell. Then the window exploded.