Stars, Spades, and Aces

Fifteen

Peony tried to keep a straight face as she broke the news to her step-aunt, trying to hide her discomfort. But Linh Pearl only nodded politely as she rambled on.

"I'm very sorry about what happened but she is safe. I didn't hurt her at all. And her location was already sent to your port."

"No, my mother was always a bit... odd. But thank you for letting me know," Pearl replied calmly.

"Of course! I just thought it was your right to know about it so you can go help her or something. I doubt my parents would let me." Peony smiled in relief.

"I doubt I would either," Pearl sniffed. "But I'll let the authorities know. Thank you again for stopping by, Peony. It was a real pleasure to meet you."

Peony. Not princess. Not Your Highness. Peony. "T-the pleasure was all mine," Peony stuttered. She gave her one last encouraging smile before shutting the door. But from the corner of her eye, Peony spotted a little girl, about Rikan's age, peeking out from behind the banister. She gave a squeak when they made eye contact but disappeared as soon as she had come.

Peony stared at the closed door for a moment and headed back to the invisible hover which was hiding inconspicuously under a tree. Peony climbed in where Sage was dozing off already. She gently nudged him, and when he didn't respond, pushed him towards the other side of the bench and veered upwards. Sage jolted awake immediately and jumped at the sight of Peony taking the wheel.

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THAT?!" he exclaimed.

Peony looked at him thoughtfully. "Well that depends. What do you mean when you say that?"

Sage motioned to her arms. "That. You're not allowed to fly the plane, remember?"

"Clearly you don't remember who you're talking to. I'm a rule breaker, not a follower."

"I don't care! This is about my safety—and yours too!"

"'This is about my safety and yours too'" she mocked. "As if you're any better than me. Remember that one time when someone decided to take over the Rampion? And someone almost crashed it? Hmm? Remember that?"

Sage looked away and grumbled. "Shut up, Peony."

Peony cackled at her victory. "And the princess lands on top again!"

Sage looked ready to return with a snarky comment but got distracted by the view. "Look, the palace!"

Peony squinted into the distance and smiled to herself. Finally. Her few weeks away felt like a lifetime. "I'm going down."

"What? It's too far away. Don't you have a landing pad or something?"

Peony shrugged. "Maybe. Probably." They did have a landing pad, she just wanted to surprise them at the main entrance.

"No, if we want to surprise them, we have to plan it out carefully. Land on the palace, then we can disguise ourselves and sneak in."

"Your mom will see right through the glamour," she pointed out. "She'd give us away before we could do anything."

"True... Fine, what's your plan?"

Peony grinned. She'd been plotting for their return for quite some time now. "We park in front of the gate and lure them out by thinking there's a witness. When they come out, we sneak inside the gates to surprise them when they come back inside."

"That does sound more planned out," he admitted. "Sure, we'll do yours."

"In that case..." Peony flashed him a sly smile. "Hold on." she charged downwards with the sound of screaming in her ears. The impact was harder than she'd expected but they didn't seem to have wrecked anything. They were still panting by the time the hover skidded to a stop.