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Chapter Five

Courtney's POV

"What is the name of the territory in the north, Miss Baxter?" Mrs Wong looks at me with an eyebrow raised.

I put down my pencil and close my notebook, hiding my sketches. They help me concentrate, but nobody but Jordan understands that. "Um, Newglade," I reply, smiling gently.

"Which is where you'll be in about a month, getting it on with the prince," Isla whispers, a smirk on her face as she elbows me. I slap her arm, sending her a glare.

"No fighting, ladies!" Isla's tutor snaps at us.

I roll my eyes. "How are you not fed up with her already? You've had her for, what, five years?"

"She's Piper's mom. I have to be nice to her." She gives me a sympathetic look before turning back to Mrs Wong.

"...and after the War, the world was divided into nine different provinces that occupy eight different regions, the north, south, east, west, northeast, etcetera. Many people were killed in the War, and quite a few members of royalty too, such as Princess Luna Ashten of Nyxfield, the Grand Duke Reginald of Everfair, and King Matthew Baxter of Foxien."

My eyes look down into my lap at the mention of my father. He'd died in the War when I was three. Back then, we had the government and presidents and all that shit, and my father was the president of the "USA", whatever that is. And after the War, we did divide the world, which we now call Terram, into nine different sectors, and now we have kings, queens etcetera. The people with the most political power were chosen to become royalty, so that meant my mother and I.

"Miss Baxter, would you care to answer my question instead of daydream?" My head shoots straight up to see that both Isla and Ms Wong are staring at me.

"Um..." I chew on my upper lip nervously. "I don't know."

Ms Wong sighs. "Miss Fairchild?"

"Almost one billion," Isla replies perkily, sending me a sideways smirk.

"Correct." The tutor turns back to the whiteboard and writes, Nearly one billion people were killed in the War, underlining it twice.

I let out a loud huff, slouching in my seat. This is going to be a long lesson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner is silent, as usual, the only sounds being the clinking of cutlery and Archer's occasional burps.

"Remind me why so many girls like you again?" I snap irritably at him, shooting him what I believe to be a half-glare, half-smirk.

"I'm too hot," he grins, ignoring my rude comment. "But it's a shame that nobody has a crush on you."

I wink at him knowingly before taking another bite of my food.

"Since we're on the topic of romance, Courtney, I've noticed that Mister Jordan seems to be.. infatuated.. with you." My mother raises an eyebrow at me.

I manage to prevent myself from looking suspicious. "Really?" I ask, tilting my head in fake surprise.

My mother looks at my stepfather before turning back to me, nodding slowly. "We've both seen it. If he tries anything, please let us know, darling." Her eyes scan mine with concern, and my eyes widen.

"O-Oh you're serious?" I let out a quiet laugh. "No, he'd never!"

She nods slowly. "Fine, bu-"

"In other news," my stepfather interrupts, "the annual Assembly is coming up next week. Isla and Courtney, you will not be allowed to attend."

"Wha- Why?" Isla looks pointedly at her father.

"Well, it's only for those over the legal age of eighteen. But don't worry, you can still come along. Just not inside the Assembly room itself."

Isla and I sigh. "Fine."

My mother stands up and motions for me to do the same. "Come on, Courtney," she instructs.

Without giving the others a second glance, I follow her outside the palace. Evelyn is already outside, waiting.

"We just need to find a way to sneak you inside," I murmur, looking around. There are no guards here, at the back of the palace. But security is still extremely tight.

After thinking for a bit, my mother removes her cloak and drapes it over Evelyn, putting up the hood. "There we go. We can just say you're a girl who got lost," she proposes, and Evelyn nods slowly.

I wrap my arm around her as we make our way to the front entrance of the palace, her warmth making me smile a little. "Halt! Who goes there?" the guard demands, he and his colleague stepping in front of the gates.

My mother holds her head high and passes over a slip of paper, which I recognize as her Identity Form. One guard looks over it whilst the other asks, "And who is travelling with you, Your Majesty?"

"My daughter and a girl we've found, stumbling around like a lost puppy," she responds. "We will see to it that she is taken care of and departs safely by tomorrow."

Nodding, the guards let us through, and I can't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"Up to your room, darling," my mother murmurs, and the three of us head there. I close the door and lock it behind me, removing the cloak from Evelyn. 

"We have exactly six hours to make sure you two know about everything. Especially you, Courtney. Evelyn will have me around the palace to help her, but you'll be on your own."

"You've only got a week of school, though," Evelyn pipes up. "Then it'll be a week-long break. But you'll need to find a place to stay."

"I could stay with Jordan. I mean, he's in Maize, right next to Emerald and the closest casteland to Amethyst. It'll be safe too, he'll take care of me."

"Are you sure you want to stay with him? Don't you remember the discussion we had before," my mother says sternly.

"It's alright. If anything happens, I'll come straight to you. And besides, he's a sweet guy. I'd trust him with my life if it ever comes to that."

My mother opens her mouth to say something again, but Evelyn interrupts "Like you said, six hours. Let's make the most out of it."