A Kingdom of Tales (Kingdom of Avenlea #1)

Chapter 28

"She doesn't belong here." I hear a voice yell as I try to blink the grogginess away.

"She's our sister, Kyo."

"It doesn't mean she's not an outsider."

"I'll deal with you later. She's waking up."

I push my body up onto my elbows to look at the people speaking. It's very apparent that the two people that were speaking were Princess Kyoshi and Princess Yuri; they're the only women in the room.

The guards that were standing outside the door are also in the room, speaking to the emperor. Yuri walks to me while Kyoshi stays rooted in her place.

"How are you feeling?" Yuri asks.

"I just have a pounding headache." I groan. I rub a hand over my head, trying to relieve the pain. Hopefully the fast healing thing does its work. "What happened?"

"You tell me; you screamed bloody murder." This is when I realise what she's wearing. Kyoshi is in a simple blue nightgown, but Yuri is in all black. My eyebrows furrow as I try to come up with an explanation for her outfit. They look like fighting clothes, if I've seen any.

She notices that I've gone quiet and looks down on her body as if noticing her clothes as well. When she offers no explanation, my eyes narrow. She seemed nice enough earlier, but what if her father's actions actually annoyed her enough for her to plant the knife?

My mind is moving fast, trying to come up with theories for who could've planted that knife. I can only come up with one person who could hate my presence here that much. What if she'd entered my room while I was bathing?

"Nice to meet you, Princess Jasmine. I'm Kyoshi." She gives a proper curtsy. I go utterly still; it's the first time anyone has called me that. Not even the emperor himself had. "I'm sorry for leaving so quickly during dinner. I should've introduced myself properly then, but I had an urgent matter to attend to."

It's easy to see why she's the court's darling when she acts like this. The two guards that were talking to the emperor looked over when she spoke. They're practically giving her heart eyes.

I bow my head to her to acknowledge her words. "Nice to meet you too, princess. But I would much rather you not call me that."

"Nonsense, daughter. You are a princess as much as Yuri and Kyoshi, if not more." The emperor deigns to join us by walking nearer to the bed. I grit my teeth against the reply on my tongue. It wouldn't be smart to challenge him on a matter as trivial as this.

"Of course, your imperial majesty." The words are heavy on my tongue. I don't want to address this man at all, much less with his imperial title. I bow my head again.

I start to get out of this damn bed when my gaze falls on my naked thighs. I should've found something more modest. Even now, the guards look at me with hungry eyes, completely at odds with how they looked at Kyoshi.

Their gaze makes me feel naked, like I'm on display for the whole world to see. I cover my body with the blanket again, trying to preserve even a shred of my dignity.

The emperor's eyes catch on to my movement, and his gaze narrows on the nightgown as if he has a memory of it. I shudder. I'll have to convince someone, anyone, to get me new night clothes.

"Father, I'll take it from here." Yuri says, breaking me out of my disgusting thoughts. "Soldiers, please make your way back to the barracks. You're off duty tonight."

She orders the men with ease. I suppose she does this often. The emperor and the guards take their leave. It's interesting how the emperor didn't put up a fight. I'd thought he'd at least tell Yuri off for commanding him as she did the guards.

Now alone with both princesses, I leave the bed and walk to the closet, rummaging frantically for literally any piece of clothing that covers more of my body.

"I'll arrange for more modest clothing to be brought to your rooms." I hear Yuri's voice behind me. Perhaps my panic had shown on my face, and that's why she'd all but kicked out the three men.

I can still feel their leering gaze on my body, but when she speaks, my body sags in relief against the clothes, my forehead resting on one of the shelves.

"You get used to it. How the only thing they see when they look at you is your body. You learn to command respect in different ways. I can show you how." I hear her footsteps coming up behind me. "I tried helping Kyoshi, but she learned to do that all on her own. She uses her face instead."

I twist my body quickly when I feel her coming closer. I wish I could trust her. I've put her on a pedestal my entire life. "Did you put that knife under my pillow?"

Her face morphs into genuine looking confusion. Either she's surprised that I was blunt enough to ask her that or she hadn't expected me to know.

"Certainly not. Why would I ever do such a thing?" Her features contort to ones of anger instead of the initial confusion. "If anything, it was Kyo."

She starts pulling something from her pocket, making me brace my body for whatever she's going to do. My eyes move behind her back, out of the closet, and into the bedroom, looking for the other princess. It looks like she left too.

She left me with the most powerful woman on the continent. She left me alone with a woman I know all about and yet nothing at all.