Two weeks had gone by in a blur. No one but those who had witnessed the confrontation knew who Rosalie really was, and she liked it like that. Even still, she got a reputation in all her classes for being prodigy, despite being far from the truth. She worked harder than she should've, but she wasn't one to quit.
Ro spent most of her time learning more than was required, training more than was required, and not sleeping as much as required. After she had fallen asleep standing in the middle of Swordplay, Lilith had to stage an intervention.
"Girl, you need to chill out," said Lilith, going so far as to confiscate her schoolbooks. "You're starting to worry me, and that's a hard feat."
"Lil, I'm fine, I promise," Ro said, or she would had she not fallen asleep the second she sat down. She was snapped out of it. "Come on, Lilith. Really. It's the weekend, and I have a test in Demon Studies 1 on monday."
"And you already know so much that you could ace a test for Demon Studies 4," her roommate chided. "Don't make me take away your blades, too."
Ro gasped. "You wouldn't!"
"Watch me! I'll even get your boyfriend in on it," she snapped back. "He's so worried about you that he actually talked to me earlier."
Rubbing her eyes, Ro stood up. "He's not my boyfriend, and you know it."
"That's not what's important."
"Ugh, I'm too tired to deal with this," Ro wearied.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about," Lilith hissed, folding her arms against her chest. "Now you are going to lay on that bed and sleep all weekend, even if I have to sit on you the entire time. I might not look it, but all of my chubbiness is muscle."
Groaning, Ro fell back on her bed. "You don't understand," she whispered. "I have so much to live up to. I have so many people to protect and serve, and one slip up could end up in lives lost."
Lilith sat laid on her back next to Ro. "Girl, you have no idea. Just please, take it easy. You still have four more years to get through after this, and you'll learn everything you need," she said. "If you won't sleep for most of it, at least rest. Don't train or study. Go for a walk. Hang out with your boyfriend. Make some friends other than me. Try something annnnnd she's asleep." Lilith sighed and got up.
She moved Rosalie into bed better, making sure to take off her roommate's glasses and cover her up. "Night, loser," she whispered, turning out the lights.
ε
Rosalie woke up more refreshed than she ever felt before. Maybe I should listen to Lilith more often. She looked over to where she expected to see a snoring Lilith, but was greeted by the sight of an empty bed. Glancing at the clock, she knew she slept later than she would've liked, but nine-thirty on a weekend wasn't that bad.
She groaned and sat up. The morning sunlight filtered through the thin cover Lilith put up over the window, basking the room in a warm glow. "What should I do today?" she said to an empty room. Getting dressed is a good idea. Jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers were the choice for today. She knew she'd get strange looks, but it wasn't like she wasn't used to it by then. Ro got up to leave the room, but had a gut feeling that she should bring her swords today.
Just in case, she thought, not being one to ignore her instincts. Strapping on her blades and making sure the chain with her room key was secured around her neck, she left the dorm. It was a nice day for a walk, but she wanted to see Corvin. It had been a few days since they last got a chance to hang out.
Walking over to the ranker dorm, she felt something coming up behind her. Working on instinct alone, she grabbed one of her blades and turned, holding it to the neck of whoever tried to sneak up on her.
"Corvin!" she cried out, moving her blade away from his neck. "By the gods, I could've killed you!"
He laughed. "It's alright, that was my fault for sneaking up on you," he said. "Were you coming to see me anyway?"
"Yea, actually," she replied, falling into step as they headed towards the building. "Lilith threatened to confiscate my blades if I didn't rest this weekend. She already took my books."
"Well, you have been working yourself too hard lately," he said. "I was starting to get worried, too."
She smiled, nudging him with her shoulder. "At least I realized before I worked myself to death," she chuckled.
"Hey, do you want to come up? I have a few things my parents wanted to give you," he said. "I forgot to give them to you last time you came up." Ro nodded, wondering if something was wrong. This is...wrong, she thought. He's not telling me something, I know it.
They made their way up the stairs, Corvin taking her hand and leading her up. He doesn't need to lead me up, does he? He pushed open the door, holding it open for her and locking it behind them. He never locks the door. Something is wrong. All of her instincts were screaming at her to run. "Come on, they're back here," he said, walking to his bedroom. "Go ahead and sit, if you want."
He wouldn't look her in the face her. He kept muttering under his breath, just low enough that she couldn't make out the words. Corvin sighed and ran a hand through his hair, turning. "I'm sorry, Ro, but I lied." She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "I don't have anything for you."
"What do you mean-" He held a hand up and walked to the edge of the bed, taking her hands in his. "Corvin, what's going on?"
"I-" he sighed. "Why must this be so hard?" He looked into her eyes, making her heart flutter. "Rosalie, I...I love you."
"What?" she said weakly. Her mouth was suddenly very dry. "Corvin, I don't think this is a good idea," she saw his face fall, "but the feeling is mutual. But we're just teenagers, for christ's sake! I'm trying to focus on being a good queen for our world and having a relationshi-"
She was cut off by lips pressed to her own. All she could see was Corvin's eyelids as he kissed. This is wrong, was all she could think. At that moment, the door swung open.
"What the hell?!" Corvin was standing in the doorway, looking at himself kissing Rosalie. Ro panicked and pushed the imposter off her, drawing her blades and pointing them at the one on the floor. A hurt and confused expression was on his face. "Ro! Are you okay?" said the real Corvin.
"Yea, I'm perfectly fine. Not at all freaked out about how there are two of you," she hissed, not taking her eyes off the one on the floor. She pointed a sword at both of them. "But even though I have a very strong suspicion of who the imposter is, I still need to be sure." Ro looked to the one on the floor. "What did I say I'd do to you when you taught me how to dance?"
"You said you'd step on my feet since you didn't know how," he said calmly. The one standing smirked.
"Wrong answer," Ro said. His face twisted into a sneer. "Good, you've decided keeping up the charade was pointless. And as you might have noticed," she said, digging the tip of her blade into his skin, "my blades are anything but pointless."
The imposter laughed. "I might end up dead, but so will you in the end," he jeered. "You've got a pretty price on your head, little princess, and everyone in the realm wants it. Someone is pissed that you're alive." He turned to Corvin. "You should've see how she let herself believe whatever I said. It was almost too easy. Did you know that she loves you? She told me hersel-" Rosalie flicked her sword enough to score a cut on his jaw. It bled black.
Ro growled. "Tell me why I shouldn't gut you right here."
"You'll ruin the carpet," the imposter derided. Seething with rage, she picked him up in her cast. Opening the window, she threw him out onto the yard, making sure to pin him down with a dark purple glow once he landed.
She turned to Corvin. "Come down to the yard," she growled, jumping out after the imposter. Catching herself in her cast before landing was tricky, but she managed to roll to the ground and bounce back up with her momentum. Thinking back, she realized that must've look super awesome. There were some people milling about in the yard, but all looked up from what they were doing once Ro hit the ground. She picked up the bloody and broken imposter.
Once people saw what they thought to be Corvin get thrown out a five story building, many jumped up to drag him away from the enraged woman. Ro deflected them with a simple shield cast. "Drop the glamour," she growled, holding the imposter off the ground by his collar. He laughed and spit on the ground. Yelling in frustration, she threw him to the ground and pressed her blade into his shoulder. "Drop it, and maybe I'll kill you instead of turning you over to the knights. At least then you won't have to rot in a prison."
He scoffed and let the illusion fall. It left a man with pale skin and hair, his eyes completely black. "Sorry if I've offended you, your highness," he said mockingly.
"Who the hell is after me?" He glared at her in silence. She sighed and dug her blade deeper, making him scream. She didn't care; he would do the same in a heartbeat. "Who. Is. After me? It's all I ask, then I'll put you out of your misery."
"GAH I DON'T KNOW," he screamed. "THEY GUY WOULDN'T SHOW THEIR FACE, I SWEAR!" Corvin finally made it to the yard.
"Took you long enough," she commented, slowly putting more pressure into the imposter's wound. "Everyone thought I was murdering you."
Corvin narrowed his eyes at the man trying to squirm away. He pointed at a random person. "You. Go get one of the knights." They ran off without a second thought. Corvin put a hand on Ro's shoulder, calming her down. "Come on, Ro. You can relax for now," he soothed.
"No, I can't, Corvin," she whispered. "Not yet, probably not ever. But just to make me feel a little better..."
The imposter was flipped over with her cast, showing his back. Ro cut her blade across the backs of his knees, making him cry out in pain. "Now I feel a little better," she whispered without emotion. "He can't run away." She fell to the ground a few paces away, tucking her face in between her knees and sobbing loudly. Her swords were still clutched tightly in both hands and covered in black blood.
Corvin sat down next to her, knowing there were enough people around them that the man wouldn't get away. A hand rubbed her back. Dropping her blades in the grass, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, crying into his chest.
"Come on, Ro," he said quietly. "It's gonna be alright. I'm here." He rested his face against the top of her head, letting her cry.
"He kissed me, Corvin," she sobbed. "It felt so..so wrong." At that point, a man had walked up. He was dressed in a full suit of armor and carried a huge greatsword strapped across his back.
"Is this the changeling?" he said in a gruff voice. Corvin nodded. "Can you tell me what happened here?" Ro reluctantly pulled herself away from Corvin and wiped her face with the back of her hand. The knight had a look of awe on his face. "Your highness!" He kneeled down, bowing his head in respect.
"This isn't the time or place, sir," Ro said, taking on her royal voice, one she used when acting as a princess. The change in her demeanor was somewhat frightening. "That thing tried to impersonate Lord Corvin so it could kill me. He said something about a price being on my head, and that he didn't know exactly who ordered it. I took matters into my own hands, and I would gladly kill him right now if not for the knowledge he might have."
The knight nodded, standing again. "There are a few other knights on their way," he said. "They had to be called in from the outer edges of the campus, and I was closest. We'll take care of the bastard, your highness, you can count on it." With that, he used a light blue cast to put up a temporary shield to act as a jail around the changeling.
Ro sighed and let the facade drop. She picked up her blades and wiped them on the grass, placing them back into their sheaths clean. Looking up at Corvin, she had the face of an emotionally exhausted woman. "This was supposed to be the weekend I take off of my training," she said wryly. "Now that I think about it, you were supposed to go to Aera this weekend. What happened to that?"
"The warp crystal is having maintenance this weekend and no one told me," he shrugged. "Now come on. You can rest in my room." She nodded and let herself be led to the dorm.
They were stopped by a young girl who looked no older than fourteen. "Um, are you the princess?" she said shyly. Corvin opened his mouth to answer, but Ro cut him off.
"Yea, I am," she said, giving her a smile. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, cause, uh, I didn't think royalty was allowed to cry," she said quietly, acting embarrassed by the statement.
Ro laughed. "No, we're allowed to cry, just normally not in public like that," Rosalie replied. "I was just tricked by that guy over there, and, between you and me, I wanted to cry the entire time."
The girl looked at her in awe. "But you were so brave! How could you want to cry when doing something so brave?!"
"Sometimes to be brave, you have to realize you're scared," she said wisely. "You can't be brave unless you know what you're about to do is scary." The girl nodded and walked away after waving a simple farewell, looking like she had a lot to think about.
They continued into the dorm building and up the stairs without a word. Once they got back into his room, her heart started beating faster. It was too similar.
"Corvin," she whispered, her throat feeling as though it was closing up. "Can we...can we move something? A table or a chair, something to make it different? It's too much like what happened." He nodded and picked up the chairs in his cast and moved them to the other side of the room. "Thank you," she said quietly, sitting on the couch.
She kicked off her sneakers, placed her glasses on the table, and curled her knees up. Corvin sat down next to her and reached his arm around her, letting her lean her head on his shoulder. "I was so scared," she whispered. "I knew something was wrong when he snuck up behind me. You wouldn't sneak up like that. He said your parents had given you something for me and he forgot about it, and you wouldn't forget about something so easily." She shuddered. "Then he locked the door behind us. You told me once that you never lock your door. It just made you uncomfortable, and that's when I knew for sure something was wrong. But I went with it.
"I don't know why I did. Then he...he..." she choked on her words. "He said I could sit on the bed. That was the thing that broke it. The thought of inviting a woman to sit on your bed, that's not something you'd do. But I thought he...I thought that it was just you being nervous about something. He said...you said...that you loved me and I..." Ro started crying again, shoving her face into his chest, "I believed it. There were so many things not adding up, but I...I believed him, Corvin."
He let her cry, rubbing her back gently. "Ro," he said softly. "It's over now. He won't come here again, and they aren't going to try anything like that again." She looked up at him with a tear streaked face. "Whoever is after you, they aren't going to make the same mistake. And they won't be able to get close to you, not now that they've been uncovered." He used a finger to lift her chin, resting his forehead against hers. She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes. "I won't let them."
She laughed, not knowing what was so funny. "Thank you, Corvin," she said, sniffling. "I mean it." Violet eyes stared into blue and green ones. "Corvin, can I kiss you?" He responded with gentle lips pressed against her own. It wasn't as needy as the other one. This one was right. She slipped her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his wavy hair. His arms were wrapped around her waist, content just to hold her.
Just then, her stomach growled. They broke apart laughing. "Curse my mortal hunger pains," she joked. "The perfect way to ruin a perfect moment." They untangled their limbs from each other, Corvin helping her stand up once she got her shoes and glasses back on.
"Maybe we should get something to eat," he said. "It sounds like you haven't had breakfast, and it's been a pretty exciting day so far."
"Only if we can come up here afterwards and read the rest of the day away, and not study material, either," she countered.
"Deal."
A/N: That last scene wasn't at all how I wanted it to go. I had something completely different, but the moment felt too perfect. Anything else I tried to write instead never felt like it fit, so I gave up and let the scene write itself.