i just might love you (a hosie royalty au)

Part 18: "I'm not evil."

A/n: we're getting closer and closer to what I've been planning for... two years?? Fuck that's a long time.
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Penelope stifled a snort as Josie locked eyes with Hope, and promptly stumbled nearly knocking a server over. Though Hope was more reserved, the raven-haired knight knew her friend well. Others might be able to say her smile seemed more bright, but Penelope watched her posture change; becoming more comfortable instantly as her shoulders rolled back, the hand twisting the many rings on her other finger stopped fidgeting, and she drifted closer to the brunette.

"Josie, hi." Hope said softly, still shy in the presence of all the spectators around them. Penelope then turned her attention on Josie, who looked beautiful in a pastel red grown, and studied her face. Josie was looking at Hope with such fondness that it made Penelope's own heart ache. They both seemed to think the same thing as Josie's eyes flickered to hers for a moment, a forlorn look crossing Josie's eyes as they remembered the other day.

"You never scored a point?" Penelope had asked. She had been unable to attend the event due to the siege, and had not received a detailed enough report on the goings on from the tournament. Clearly she would have to find better spies in the court, especially when Hope would need to rely on her more in the future. If only there were some magical spell she could use to know everyone's deep inner thoughts. But this magic had long since been lost, if it ever existed at all.

"I'm not a fighter," Josie had said, sitting down on the top step of the grand staircase. "Not like Hope, not like MG or Kaleb. Even Dana did better than I did."

For once Penelope didn't have a response, instead choosing to remain silent as she sat beside the brunette. For a moment the two of them sat there. Penelope processed the implications for Hope, and Josie felt her insecurity creep up her back like a dark shadow.

"You're going home?"

"Once my sister is fit to travel." She scoffed then, a stubborn tear trying to escape her eye before she brushed it away. "At least the King isn't heartless."

Penelope coughed in an attempt to hide the dark laugh attempting to escape her throat, only partially succeeding. She abruptly stood up, straightening her clothes and then held out a hand to Josie.

"Well if you're staying for awhile yet, perhaps you can accompany me to the suitors ball."

"What?" Josie exclaimed.

"Hope, it's been awhile." Josie replied, curtsying primly, then blushing as Hope simply stared at her. Was she checking her out?

"Don't go stealing my date now, Mikaelson." Penelope said, knocking her elbow into Hope's arm. That seemed to stir her friend out of whatever trance she had been ensnared in.

"Your date?" Hope masked herself then, an unreadable expression on her face as she looked between her friend and Josie. "But that's..." Penelope watched the gears in Hope's head turn, remembering the unopened envelope detailing the wins and losses of the previous "round of courting". Hope was far too busy as of late to read Lord Vardemus's reports, even if she was barred from leaving the castle. The assassination attempt had taken up more space in her mind for more reasons than one.

"I was eliminated." Josie stated simply. "Penelope is just being kind."

Hope raised an eyebrow at that, giving her friend a playful glare. "Penelope, kind? Be careful, I'm sure she has some ulterior motive hidden up her sleeve."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." She responds, jokingly punching the auburn haired royal in the shoulder. "I'm not evil."

Josie watches the silent movement of guards flitting closer to them, eyes on the raven haired girl. Josie cannot discern the look in their eyes, but only for a moment. She recognizes it as fear and mistrust. Even though there clearly were plots abound to end the lives of both Mikaelsons, surely it wouldn't come from the princesses best friend? Something else must be going on, and with a closer analysis of Penelope after those last few words, it's clear there is. It's a flicker, only the most missable of moments, but it's a familiar pain. A look of loss? She's seen it in her father, in nights he's been too drunk to walk on his own, the last moments where she pulls the covers over him and he mistakes her for her mother. Oh what it is to parent a parent, to carry their aching sobs with you through a sleepless night. Does Hope know what her friend carries?