Lonna With my hood thrown back to show my face, and my dark skin and red hair proudly on dispy, I stomped out of the clothing shop and back into the streets, letting my irritation show for anyone who dared to look.

  Behind me walked a confused Melissa, currently being driven forward by three armed men and one brown furred rabbit Sapphi, who’d apparently been keeping watch out front. The silver krakens on blue indicated their fealty to the Countess of Koleff. That, combined with the quality of their pte, said they probably served the Countess’s manor directly rather than the city as a whole. It was likely they had each had detailed pedigrees, dating back through generations of service - and knights sworn to them, who they'd bring to Koleff's defense in war.

  None of that meant anything to me, though. Not these days. Their blood would run red as any others’, if anyone dared touch so much as a clod of Talith’s cy.

  “Lonna?” Melissa called out to me, voice hesitant, eyes wide. “Why did he call you a princess?” The same question she’d asked me before, in the store.

  Just as before, I ignored it.

  The people around us were less inclined to do so, though. Already, I could hear the whispers spreading through the popuce. Snippets of conversation, including “Princess Lonna?” and “The runaway?”

  It made me want to grind my teeth to dust.

  At least the civilians were all smart enough to get out of my way. In fact, they were all but rushing to clear the streets, pressing themselves up against the store fronts just so that I could stomp my way forward.

  Not the guards. Me.In fact, Melissa and the guards had to practically hug my ass to keep from being separated, because the second I passed an area the cityfolk would sm into the space I’d occupied, and begin to whisper among themselves.

  Too bad I had no idea where I was going. I’d never actually visited the Countess’s manor, as a princess - or if I had, I must have been too young to remember it. Sorissa had occasionally taken me out of the tower, though, if only for curated events.

  The rest of the time I’d been kept behind walls. Innocent - or maybe more like ignorant - of everything Sorissa was up to outside the pace.

  Not that I could tell Melissa that. It wasn’t as if Melissa would understand, or even care. All she’d hear was that I was Sorissa’s daughter. That I was Sorissa’s heir. Just like everyone else did.

  There were only three people who’d ever accepted me for myself: my dead mother, my captive brother, and…

  Well, Vellos was probably fine, but still.

  “Lonna?” Melissa repeated, yet again. “Please. I can’t understand if you don’t talk to me.”

  “There’s nothing to understand,” I snapped back, finally turning to gre at her. For some reason, Melissa’s tall and muscur visage looked blurry to me. I just had to blink my eyes a few times, though, and things seemed to clear.

  “There’s nothing to understand,” I repeated. “I’m the princess. The queen’s daughter. The rightful heir. The Runaway Princess, just like you heard! The tree-forsaken daughter of a dragon and the tyrant queen, the epitome of all that is wicked and rotten in this world! Everything you, the Heroine, are meant to destroy - all right here, in one tiny little package! Maybe after you take on Sorissa, you can have me for your damn dessert!”

  I don’t know exactly when my feet started moving. I only knew that I was suddenly standing directly in front of Melissa, gring up at her. My vision was blurry again, for some damn reason, and my cheeks were wet.

  “Lonna… You’re crying?”

  I stared up at the heroine, mouth opening and closing, trying to come up with an appropriate response. Failing to find words, I eventually snapped my jaw shut, wiped the tears from my eyes, and turned to gre at the guards.

  “Well!? You were ordered to take me to the Countess, weren’t you? Do so!”

  The four guards exchanged gnces. Only one stepped forward; the rabbit Sapphi. She bowed her head to me, briefly, and then turned to lead the way forward.

  I followed, a silent Melissa in tow.

  ***

  Melissa***

  I stood, shifting nervously from foot to foot, in front of a rge desk.

  On said desk was a small, polished, wooden box, a sheaf of papers, a writing quill, and an inkwell.

  Sitting behind the desk, meanwhile, was a woman. Her short blonde hair was cut right at the nape of her neck; she had deep green eyes. A sword, hilted with a rge squid with tentacles for quillons, was sheathed and belted to her waist. Her eyes shifted continuously between Lonna and I, studying us with the intensity of a bird of prey eyeing its dinner.

  Lonna, meanwhile, was staring not at the sitting countess, but at the brunette maid standing behind her. I wasn’t sure if it was some sort of power py, or what, but the maid was clearly nervous from the attention. She kept fidgeting and the smile on her face was under growing strain.

  “If you have something to say to my maid,” the Countess decred at st, “perhaps you’d like to discuss it aloud? That way we can all be privy to the conversation.” The woman smiled sweetly as she spoke, but her gaze was hard.

  “I have nothing to say to her,” Lonna replied, finally shifting her gaze to the noblewoman.

  There was a squeak from the maid, at that, which caused the Countess to lift an eyebrow. “I admit that when Tabitha said she knew the Runaway Princess, I had my doubts. And when she insisted you’d definitely be the one accompanying our 'Heroine…' Well. I’m ashamed to say I might have questioned her sanity.”

  The Countess chuckled, faintly, to herself. “I’ll have to make it up to her, ter.”

  “I’m sure you will.” Lonna scowled as she spoke, her gaze still almost boring a hole through Tabitha.

  “Of course, I assume you do have proof that you’re the true princess?” The Countess lifted an eyebrow as she spoke.

  “Why should I prove anything to you?” Lonna demanded, turning her glower to the Countess. “I’m not doing a tree-forsaken thing until I know my brother is safe.”

  “Your brother. The Lapsi, you mean?” The Countess frowned for a moment, then shook her head. “He is well and good, I assure you; you will be free to join him shortly. But first, I really must insist that you prove yourself to me.

  “Otherwise, I fear I will have no choice but to dispose of the seditious ‘Heroine,’ and the imposter princess. I will promise not to hurt the Lapsi, though, if it’ll make you more cooperative. He’s of no use or worth to me, regardless.”

  Lonna gred at the Countess for a moment longer. Then, slowly, she reached a hand up to her head, and undid the twine from one of her hair buns.

  Beneath the frizzy red hair was a small horn - a small, brown protrusion, smooth at the base but broken and jagged at the tip.

  “Satisfied?” Lonna snapped, quickly tying her hair back into a bun.

  “...A dragon’s antlers are usually gold. Yet yours are as dark as a dryad’s tree. You truly are the child of those monsters, aren’t you?” The Countess smiled as she spoke, but it didn't reach her stony green eyes, and her voice was cold enough to send chills down my spine.

  Which made it all the more shocking when the Countess stood, and bowed stiffly at the waist.

  “I am Liliath, the Countess of Koleff. Loyal servant to the queendom of Resperan.” Straightening with those words, she turned her cold gaze to me. “Now tell me, Princess: what in the world are you doing with the Heroine?”

  “...Sorissa always told me, as a child, that she’d be with me until the Heroine herself took her away from me. So I summoned the Heroine to do just that.” Lonna jutted her chin out as she spoke, as if daring the Countess to speak against her.

  Liliath smiled in response, eyes still lingering on me even as she spoke to Lonna. “A loyal subject would bring you to your mother and have your royal behind spanked for such comments about our Queen. After seeing to the Heroine’s death, that is.”

  I swallowed, hard.

  Lonna gred at the Countess. “Are you a loyal subject, then?”

  “I am loyal to the queendom of Resperan,” Liliath responded, smoothly. “Long has it stood, and long may it stand yet.”

  “And the queen who rules Resperan?” Lonna pressed, pcing her hands on the desk and leaning forward.

  Liliath gnced at the small hands on her desk, and smiled faintly. “The queen’s word is meant to represent the queendom.”

  “You know it doesn’t…” Lonna snarled back. “Unless you think it was the will of the queendom for your brother to die?”

  Liliath’s hand darted to her sword, a clear threat. Smoke was curling from Lonna’s lips.

  “May I say something?” I asked, my voice soft, and a little scared, but trying to keep firm.

  “No.” Lonna’s eyes snapped to me with that word.

  The Countess, however, took a step back from the desk and removed her hand from her sword.

  “Speak,” Liliath commanded. “I would hear what the Heroine has to say before condemning her to death.”

  “...I’m no Heroine…” I said, voice quiet. I kept my eyes on the table, as I spoke, not daring to look at either woman. That didn’t keep me from imagining their reactions, though - Liliath, eyes wide and staring. Lonna, gring with all her might.

  “I’m really not the Heroine,” I repeated, all the same. “I’m not… I’m not even really a girl. My real name’s... I mean… I was born male, and. I just…”

  I sighed.

  “I got summoned into this world, in this body. So. I went along with it? I asked everyone to call me Melissa, made them all use she and her pronouns. Pyed at the idea that I could actually rescue people… But I’m not the Heroine.

  “I’m not even a girl. I’m just… I’m just a guy, trying to get home. I’m only even trying to defeat Sorissa, so I can use her library to find a spell that’ll take me back. And give me my proper body.

  “I just…” Taking a deep breath, I finally lifted my eyes to meet Liliath’s steely gaze. “I’m just a guy. Not the Heroine.”

  “Why would you reveal this to me?” Liliath asked, voice soft, gaze hard.

  “Because if I’m honest about this… Maybe you’ll believe I’m being honest about something else: That from what I’ve seen, your Queen isn’t representing this nd at all. From what I’ve seen, the queendom would be better off without her. From what I’ve seen… I think you all could do better.”

  “I see…” Liliath murmured, a dark chuckle rising from her throat. “Tell me, my self-procimed good man. What does it feel like, being in that body? Compared to your old one, I mean.”

  “It’s… Lighter?” I offered, blinking in confusion. “I mean, I’m a lot stronger, so. Everything feels… lighter. And smoother. And soft, and nice? Like… Like it’s… I don’t know. Like it’s right. Even though it isn’t.”

  “I see,” the Countess repeated, a small smile on her features. “Guards!”

  The moment she called, the door opened, revealing the rabbit Sapphi that had guarded them earlier.

  The Countess smiled, sweetly. “Please, take the heroine to her guest chambers. And get her properly dressed.

  “We’ll be dining together, tonight. Tell me, Melissa. Have you ever had goose?”

  “I… I don’t think so…” I admitted, a little confused.

  “Then let tonight be the first time. Now, if you’d please go with my bannerlords? I have a few things to discuss with my Princess.”

  I shot Lonna a look, but her eyes were only for the Countess.

  After a moment of uncertainty, I nodded her head, and then headed out with the Sapphi guard.

  ***

  Lonna***

  I stared into the Countess’s eyes, fully aware that my own were burning with resentment. Resentment over Talith. Resentment over Melissa’s refusal to accept the role of Heroine.

  Resentment that the tree-forsaken Countess was still standing, too. My neck was starting to ache from the efforts of keeping my gaze focused up and towards a woman who towered over me. Not that I’d ever let a little thing like that stop me when it came to Melissa or Talith. As for the Countess? I’d let roots take me before I let go of a staring match against someone only a hand and two fingers taller than I was!

  “You seem to be taking this as a personal grudge…” Liliath murmured, shaking her head, breaking eye contact. She dropped back down in her chair.

  “Tabitha. Bring Princess Lonna a chair, would you?”

  Tabitha bowed, and scurried out of the room, leaving the two of us to stare at each other once again.

  Once again, it was the Countess who broke the silence.

  “If the Queen of Resperan falls, the queendom will fall into the same chaos as the rest of Auroris. What are your pns to prevent that?”

  “E-Excuse me?” I demanded, taken aback by the sudden line of questioning. “I… The people will-”

  “Without a proper line of succession, the queendom will fall to infighting among nobles. From there, it’s only a matter of time before the outws outside our border try and worm their way in for a slice of the apple.

  “Sorissa has made the border towns dependent on the warm bodies she provides - loyal to her, and no one else. They keep the chaos at bay for her alone. Who will they listen to when Sorissa is gone? Who can keep them untied?”

  “I… I don’t know…” I whispered, finally looking away from the Countess. “I don’t know.”

  “Even Sorissa is better than chaos,” Liliath decred, her voice ft and hard as steel. “But there is a third option.”

  “A… What?” I asked, my attention now raptly focused on the Countess.

  “Despite being known as ‘the Runaway Princess,’ you are still Sorissa’s one and only heir. The only child born of a handfasting between the Dragon Princess and the false Queen.”

  “The dragon princess had no more right to rule than Sorissa, though,” I pointed out.

  “Does any queen? Sorissa founded her rule on Arasitelle’s right to all of Auroris. It was Arasitelle who officially annexed Resperan, and gave it to Sorissa, for all that she had already conquered it herself.

  “You are their child. You are their heir. A decision Sorissa has not, to this day, undone. Every house that is pledged to Sorissa will wfully and rightfully pass to you. By ws Sorissa legisted.

  “Which means those who respect her w will in turn respect your cim. Not that you won’t have to work to keep it, of course - we’ll have a lot of work ahead of us, even after Sorissa’s gone, if we want to keep ahead of things.”

  “But…” I felt like I’d dunked my head into a stream and come up dry. Nothing was making sense. “The people. The people will never accept me! Not after everything Sorissa’s done!”

  “No?” Liliath chuckled. “Maybe not. But they will accept the Heroine."

  Lonna’s eyes widened in shock. “The… The Heroine?”

  "The one who deposed Sorissa. If she were to wed you, and the two of you ruled together as Queen and Consort, then the people and the nobles both would bend a knee.”

  “Melissa would never agree to that,” I protested. “She wants to go back home. She doesn’t even believe she’s the Heroine. She…”

  I sighed, looking down at the floor. “She isn’t even a girl.”

  “Yet you still call her one in your head, do you not?” Liliath asked.

  “She asked me to use she and her, so…” I frowned, suddenly unsure of myself. “I mean, you can be one thing and call yourself another, I do that all the time, so…”

  “...As you say, dear.”

  Liliath was still smirking when the door opened, and Tabitha came in carrying a cushioned chair. She deposited it quickly behind me, and attempted to scurry back to her position behind Liliath, only for Liliath to raise her hand.

  “Take Lonna to her bedroom, would you dear? Her brother is waiting there. I’m sure they’ll want to be reunited, while I have my dinner with Melissa.”

  “...Yes, my Countess,” Tabitha said, tugging her skirts up. “If you’ll follow me please.”

  Without so much as daring to meet my gaze, she walked toward the hallway.

  I spared the Countess a frown, but quickly followed after Tabitha, catching up just in time to see her turning down a hallway.

  “Hey! What the hell are you trying to do, here?” I compined, rushing after her. “Get me lost?”

  “I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem if you got lost, Princess,” Tabitha responded, her voice pitched low enough that no maids they passed might hear them. “You’d simply have to find another servant to guide you.”

  “Well, maybe I don’t want another servant to guide me,” I replied, picking up my pace to try and keep up with Tabitha’s longer stride. “Maybe I want to have a little conversation with this maid.”

  “And what conversation would that be?” Tabitha asked, voice dripping with all the sweetness of poisoned honey.

  “Oh, you know. About how the guards knew I’d be with the Heroine? Because it’s funny - back in Ife, Melissa’s poster didn't mention me.”

  Lonna picked up her pace until she was side by side with the maid. “You’re the only outsider I told about my pns, Tabitha. The only one I kept in contact with after leaving for Ife.”

  “I…” Tabitha’s footsteps faltered, though only for a moment. “Fine, it was me. Is that what you wish to hear? The Countess has been… The Countess has been very kind to me, offering me a job here despite my inexperience... and I saw a chance to prove myself.”

  “You saw a chance to prove yourself?” my voice broke a little, mid sentence, drawing the gaze of an errant blonde maid as Tabitha and I walked through the hallway. “After everything we went through? I thought we had something-”

  “Shhhhhhhh!” whispered Tabitha, desperately, gesturing with her hands for me to lower her voice. “You know how maids talk…”

  “...Are you ashamed of me?”

  Tabitha came to a dead stop, before turning around with a quizzical expression on her face.

  “Well. Yes. I thought that was obvious. I mean, Lonna - you’re the Runaway Dragon Princess. Even if nobody dares to say the middle part aloud. Who wouldn’t be ashamed of having slept with you?”

  I stared into Tabitha’s eyes for a long moment.

  Everything made sense again. Everything was exactly the way I’d always known it to be.

  “...Your room’s here,” Tabitha said, pushing the door open.

  I nodded, without a word, and walked right in.

  EmilieEmber