The things we do for hate

A Parent, Poisons and Plots

The two girls in blue and green watched with ill-disguised glee as the last part of the trio had danced with the Prince, from their perch near the desserts table, practically hi-fiving as they stuffed their faces with cookies and goodies.

“Am I good, or am I good?” The sapphire-clad girl asked her younger sibling with an air of self-satisfaction. The younger girl nodded profusely though momentarily distracted by her attempt to perfectly coat a straw berry in the chocolate fountain, tiptoeing and reaching as far as her hand could take it, though coming short. Rolling her eyes, the elder sibling grabbed the skewer from her sister’s hand, coating the fruit herself, before placing it onto her plate. “Don’t dirty your dress, or Dad’s going to get mad.”

“Thank you,” the blond replied, though a bit sourly, wanting to do it herself. “Dad’s already mad because she hasn’t tried to talk to him. And your little plan is gonna make him even madder-“

“Where is the other one?”  A low commanding voice alerted them to their father’s presence. The two both jumped out of their skins, however hid their shock as their sibling taught them to.  These were the first words that he had spoken to either girl, especially since he picked them up on the outskirts of the kingdom to escort them in the royal carriage. The dark haired girl sighed, knowing it would take a lot of time before their father forgave any of them from running away, the eldest especially, for being the catalyst for the two of them coming after. She didn’t regret it in the slightest, nor does she regret the fact that the youngest, wouldn’t let her leave without her. Unconsciously she grasped the smaller girl’s hand, knowing that if she didn’t have to worry for her so much on the journey to Acerbus, she herself wouldn’t have been aware of all the dangers they encountered. No matter how much she may tease her sister and make her life a living hell, she would die before she let anything happen to her. The one they came after would do the same for them both. “You three are to perform after this set, your instruments have been provided for, so you have no excuse. Do not under any circumstances make any errors.”

“We missed you too, Daddy,” the younger girl risked whispering, only for the man in the lion’s mask to spin to her almost incredulously.

“If you did, none of you would have left.”

They both knew the King well enough to know that he missed them too, even if he felt a bit betrayed. Afterall, the palace seemed dead without the leader of the trio, and nothing have changed it. They could only imagine how it must have felt being there alone and pretending that everything was fine and dandy.

Izzy slipped out of Nicolette’s grasp to hug her father around the waist, not caring for the attention that it attracted. It was a few seconds more before the girl in blue joined her and a few more before the king wrappedhis arms around them both.

It was under this guise that Nikki took the opportunity to whisper into her father’s ear, “We made the Prince’s birthday cake and the advisor poisoned it to kill him and frame us. The Prince wouldn’t believe us so we need to expose it while exposing the advisor.”

The Prince was Reino’s interest as was the Acerbian kingdom, so there was no way that he would allow some upstart ass-kisser to get in the way of it. “So Kit is trying to convince Derek otherwise?”

Izzy nodded, “So we need to find out what kind of poison is in it. Any ideas?” The King was almost shocked as to the transformation his youngest had undergone, from the sweet, crybaby to a fearless young girl. What had they gone through during the past half-year?

“Do you have a vial of the icing?” From just looking at the cake, he knew that Nikki had enchanted, as always, she takes a sample of whatever she makes.

“A before, and after one.” She produced two clear vials both identical in colour albeit, one with a silver cap and the other a gold. “The silver one is the one I made, the gold is the one we got a couple minutes ago.” The king’s cloak acted as the perfect cover against any nosy individuals and thus, Nikki was able to discreetly uncap each, placing the first under her father’s mask and nose so he could smell it and following with the other.

After a few seconds of deliberation, the King answered with assurance, “Athanasia, assured death within a few seconds. Usually found in the deserts, undetectable in taste, but it has one incredible attribute, remember how your mother discovered it before I drank my tea?”

Both girls wracked their mind for the memory, vaguely remembering one of their nightly tea parties where each would practice some magic. A maid had brought in some tea for the king and as he was about to drink it, Kit’s hand swept for, extinguishing every candle in the room, given them the darkness to see the tea glow a fluorescent purple. The Queen slapped the cup quickly out of her husband’s hand and demanded the maid be found and executed.

Wrapping the cloak even more securely around his daughters, he gave them the blanket of darkness needed to see for themselves the luminescent characteristic of the icing.

“Have you two got a plan now?”

“No, but we know someone who will,” They all turned to the direction of the red-clad girl, just fininshing her dance with the man in black.

·                                                                            *                                                                     *

After hearing all that transpired near the desserts table as they finished their promised set of songs, the leader of the trio, pulled on her invisible moustache before expanding on their devious plan, “After this song, I’m going to need you two to be as close to the walls as possible and subtly extinguish all the lights, then I’ll take it from there.”

Nikki couldn’t believe her ears, “And then what are we supposed to do? Just cower in fear while you take on the entire corps by yourself? I don’t think so. You’re still injured from escaping them last night, we’re not going to leave you alone.”

Izzy agreed, clenching her fists tightly, “We will never let you put yourself in so much danger when we could help.”

The girl in red smiled somberly, “And I won’t allow you guys to put yourself in danger for me. This is my problem and I will solve that. Besides, the King can afford to lose one of us, but he can’t handle all three. Please,” she clasped on each of their hands tightly, “Don’t let him have to.”

With that, she schooled her expression and made her way back to Prince Derek.

“She’s such an idiot.” Nikki mused.

“The biggest,” Izzy agreed.

“I’ve never heard you two agree so much before,” King Reino appeared behind them again, “And you both play better as well. Seems like you girls should run away more often.”

“When you’re pitted against the world, you learn to become each other’s best friends, especially since Derek keeps taking ours.” Izzy supplied idly, spinning around in her dress, proving even more how she had matured.

“You sound jealous.”

Nikki laughed, joining her sister, “Not so much jealous as we are waiting for the floor to cave underneath them both. And boy, can I not wait for that.”

Katarina returned to the dance floor, though without the prince, a few minutes later, leaving the three of them to share knowing looks.  They each headed to their posts; Nikki and Izzy to opposite walls and the King front and center to watch the show.