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Chapter Twenty One

Courtney's POV

"Ready?" Evelyn whispers, looking in my direction.

I nod and kick open the door, pointing the Ring Gun in front of me. I know, childish name, but it's pretty cool. It's a piece of innovated weaponry which allows firearms to be easily concealed, in this case, on your finger. It's only available to the royal family and our guards at the moment, but we should be able to get it out to the army soon.

"Who is it?" yells one of our captors from inside, and I hear someone shush them, whispering "Dumb fuck!" Any noise they would have made, we would have heard it anyway, because it is a quiet and echoey cabin.

"Come out! All nine of you!" One by one, the Falconrosers walk out from all sorts of places. Noah stands in front, hands up, and I detect a hint of a smirk behind his facade.

"Are you going to shoot me, little girl? I know what those are, and I know what you are. You're not even eighteen yet, what makes you think you're capable of murder?" He takes a step closer, and I back down on instinct. He chuckles. "Go ahead. Do it."

He's right. I can't do it, but I keep my mask of confidence on. "Tell us where the Topaz is," Evelyn orders.

"The Topaz? I gave it to the woman. She should be on her way back to Falconrose now." The absence of the glint in his eyes lets me know that he's being genuine.

Evelyn and I exchange looks, and I gulp down my fear before glaring once more. "We're going to have to bring you nine to prison."

"Or what? You'll bring out your unicorns and blast me with glitter powder?" They all laugh at what Noah said.

"No but, this is probably more effective." Evelyn kicks at the wooden wall twice, and ten or so members of the Royal Guard come through the broken doorway.

I hear Noah and the rest growl in defeat, giving me my chance to smirk. "Hope you enjoy prison food."

The guards take them by their wrists and cuff them, then take them out of the cabin. Evelyn and I follow them, breathing out sighs of relief.

"Do you think he was telling the truth? Would Nia really do that to us?" she asks, folding her arms.

I shrug. "All we know is that it's gone, and that we're probably never going to see it again."

"Well, there go our attempts." She rolls her eyes.

"At least we brought them to justice. Now we can both go home."

Evelyn lets out a quiet sigh, smiling gently. "Well, it's been nice meeting you. I suppose it was fun, pretending to be a princess and all."

A sudden pang attacks at my heart. We probably won't see each other again. "Yeah, I agree. Your life is pretty fun too."

She smiles again and gets onto a horse. "Come on, princess, let's get you back to your family and lover." She extends a hand to help me up, and I take it.

Soon enough, we're riding towards the palace. Every step closer brings me a new surge of happiness. It has been a while.

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

Jordan and my mother stand at the entrance, both smiling from ear to ear. Jumping off the horse, my eyes cloud with tears of happiness as I rush towards them.

First, I envelope my mother with my arms. She's crying now, the tears dripping on my bare shoulder, but I don't care. I'm just so glad I'm with my family once again.

"I sent Isla after you and Evelyn, and when you didn't return with her, I was so worried," she whispers hoarsely, and all I can do is smile gently.

"I chose to go off. The assassins are with the Royal Guard, but we lost one. She has the Topaz an-"

"Shhh. It doesn't matter at all." She pulls away and wipes my tears with her thumbs, smiling lovingly. "What matters is that you're safe. Now, why don't you go say hello to Professor Hastings?"

I nod quickly and rush over to Jordan, hugging him tightly.

"I thought you were dead." He lifts me off my feet and tightens his grip on me.

"No, Evelyn and I just needed to take care of a few things. We're fine though." I look behind me, where she and Archer are embracing each other. I hold back a little laugh.

"I'm so glad you're alive. I don't know what I'd do without you." And with that, Jordan plants his lips on mine, hard. Not caring what my mother will say, I kiss him back.

When it dies down, I flicker my eyes towards my mother, who is shaking her head slowly, although I can see a hint of a smile. She and Isla, who'd probably stepped out with Archer, return inside.

"Court?" I turn to look at him. He stands there with his hands in his pockets. "I lo-"

"Okay well there's a buffet in the dining hall and I'm starving so let's get going." Archer grabs my wrist and pulls me away from Jordan. I roll my eyes and smile at him apologetically before walking away with my stepbrother.

A/N

So, yayyyy happy ending for this chapter :D Ish. More stuff to come, obviously.

We suck at updating so from now on we're going to do some bits of the next chapter every day. We're also working on stories in the background so look out for those :)

AND OMG SIX HUNDRED READS THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH

~ Zalie :3