The Last Princess

Chapter 86

"Hi!" Poppy said as we came in.

"Here, for you." Leilani said, passing me something. It was fabric. I unfurled it to see a soft, simple nightgown. It was light blue. Maple looked up. Hers was lavender. "You did this?" She asked in shock. Tansy nodded. "Yeah, we noticed you didn't have anything to wear at night, so we made them for you!"

I smiled. "That's really nice! Thank you!" Maple said, echoing my thoughts exactly. Sakura shook her head. "It was no problem. Now come on, let's eat, and then we'll sleep. Hopefully before Mrs. Anise can give us a lecture on something else." She shuddered jokingly. "Wait, where's Vanilla?" Jessamine asked. Maple explained about her accident. All the girls were sorry for her, and for us, because we would have more work, but Linnea suggested that we should eat, because there was no point worrying.

We did just that, and soon I fell asleep, peacefully. And someone started shaking me. I swiftly opened my eyes an found myself looking into a pair of minty green eyes. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Aiden? But he shook his head and put a finger to his lips.

I sat up to see Maple just getting out of bed, Arden looking at Aiden. I slid out from under the covers. Aiden grabbed my hand and silently, the four of us crept out of the room, used the same passageway we had on our first night, and sneaked into the room where we could meet.

It was risky, but we made it, though my stomach was twisting nervously. Aiden let go of my hand to go light a torch. He did, and the brothers held a torch to their faces, lighting them up creepily. "What is it?" Maple whispered urgently. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling cold in the thin nightgown.

"We had to tell you something. We found something important." Arden whispered back. "What?" I asked. Aiden glanced at his brother, then looked at me. "I think we know when the rebels are attacking." Maple and I gasped in unison. What?

Aiden pressed his lips tightly together. "When we were at the camp, I...happened to be outside a meeting tent one day, and I heard my father talking with the Leaders. They were saying something about how, when they attacked, they'd have only six minutes of darkness to kill the Queen and takeover. It didn't make sense to me then, but now it does."

Maple and I glanced at each other, and I saw the confusion on my face mirrored on hers. "What do you mean?" She asked. Arden answered. "Five days from now, there's going to be a solar eclipse." I knew what that meant, but the pieces didn't fit together in my mind.

Aiden saw. He explained, "It means the Moon will block out the Sun, however briefly. So we snuck into the library before coming here, and found some scrolls. There's going to be a solar eclipse in five days, and the Moon will block out the Sun for exactly six minutes. Which means, most likely, that's when the rebels will attack."

Now I exchanged a worried glance with Maple. "What do you think we should do, then?" I asked. Arden took a breath. "The Queen is too well-protected for us to come anywhere near her before the attack. Let the rebels attack on that day, occupying most of the guards. We're here. We'll sneak up and...kill the Queen. We have to wait."

"Also, we've been thinking." Aiden added. "The rebels must have expected that they might not be able to break in to get to the Queen. So. They must have placed some rebels in here, to assassinate her. Keep your eyes open. Maybe we can find out who."

I looked at him. It was a lot to take in. Yesterday, we'd been walking around, with no idea of all this. And today we knew when the rebels were attacking, and we knew when we were going to make our move. "How will we even get to the Queen, on that day?" Maple asked.

"She'll probably be going to fight. We intercept her right outside her room." Aiden said. Then a horrible thought occurred to me. "What about the others? The other maids and servants? How do we protect them?"