At times like these, I wish my divine powers could have been something more useful. How would healing cuts and slashes in the skin help me in times where I needed to disappear? The power of teleportation would have been nice, or to trigger invisibility. You know, powers that could save my life where injuries were not involved.

"Mama, I really did misspeak," I explained calmly, yet defensively. "I was just narrating the life experience of a friend. Haha." Alright, that 'Haha' at the end was extremely unnecessary.

Mama still wasn't buying it. Somehow.

"Mmm...." she said, looking at me with suspicious eyes. "Are you sure? Because that would seem highly unlikely given the situation earlier. You clearly said 'Since I've lived most of my life in similar poor conditions, I was able to act despite the terror.' And you were pretty serious about it, too. I'd appreciate honesty at times like these, princess. Tell me, has your life really been the way you described it to be? But you lived at the palace!"

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "So how can I ever be saying something like that about myself when my whole life has been nothing but luxury." It did hurt me to lie to her, though, when she had so genuinely asked for honesty. But it's not that she's always been honest about herself with me, except when caught.

She never told me she was the priestess's descendant by herself, but spilled all about it when I said that I knew it already. In a way, that was dishonesty right there.

Mama must've bought my words because she leaned back and closed her eyes.

"There are times..." she started to say, then sighed. "There are times I wonder if you even are from this world."

W.T.F.

"You act so, so unlike a princess. You're like an ordinary person unlike anything you were a few years ago. Your way of speaking differs immensely from the time you addressed the public. You walk differently, you carry yourself differently. I've noticed your huge dislike for heavy ball gowns. You don't flinch in disgust when asked to do normal-people chores like cooking or cleaning. Other royalty would, y'know? So it makes me wonder: Who are you?"

I sat there, speechless. She was right. It would strike anybody as strange, royalty cleaning the attic or making pizza. She was on to something. I gripped my cup so hard I thought it would break.

"Well, I-" I began but cut short. I didn't know what to say. "I realized that there's much more to life than…than jewels and dresses." That was half true.

She closed her eyes. "Is that so?"

I nodded.

For a brief moment that felt like ages, everything was calm. The grandfather clock ticked on it's own pace, whisker's raspy breaths rasped in the corner, and our humming breaths matched rhythmically… The only sounds in the room before the door burst open.

Both of us turned our heads around in unison to a surprised Sven.

"What happened?" I said slowly. Either he was surprised to see us both together, or maybe there was something else going on.

"They-They're here!" he hissed, terrified. "The assassins! Sidmund and- and- and-"

"Wait, sonnie, hold on," Mama stopped him as she pushed herself off her armchair. "Sidmund's here? Again?"

He nodded, his face drenched in a cold sweat. "He's not alone. His pals are here, too. Well, half of them know that they are."

"What?"

He shook his head. "You better go see yourself."

Mama and I exchanged confused glances before both of us headed to the door.

Outside, the atmosphere was cold and a pungent smell wafted in through the front door.

I scrunched up my nose. "What is that?"

Nobody answered.

Mama threw open the door, and the sight we beheld… It was horrifying.

Sidmund stood in front of us, holding his arm in pain. My eyes trailed down to his hand, not before I had noticed that it wasn't even there to begin with. "Bloody hell," Mama whispered beside me, her eyes wide. Indeed, 'bloody' is right. His whole lower arm was- It was gone. Instead there was a weak waterfall of blood that dirtied the pavement, flowing from the pace where his lower arm would have connected his biceps: The elbow.

So that was what the smell had been, blood. As Sidmund held his bicep with his left hand to stop the blood from flowing, his rest of his body wasn't uninjured either. One of his eyes had been- I gagged- It had been gouged out. Instead there was a red, meaty hole in place that I couldn't even look at.

I had been so concerned with his state that I hadn't even noticed his pals. They leaned against one another in similar states, their bodies injured and their legs leaving behind trails of blood. Three of the men were missing, and I noticed that the two that stood had a body each hanging folded over their shoulders. One of them wasn't here. I counted them by their faces… There were only 5 of them here, and Ben was missing.

"Where the hell..." Mama muttered as she stood back. "Come inside."

In utter agony, all of them limped inside. Mama didn't care that they brought in blood with them. She most likely knew what had happened, but she stayed tight-lipped.

"Sven, bring the seats."

Sven nodded and ran upstairs to bring down the crates. Sidmund flopped down on one, unable to speak. His pals, Klyn and another guy called Hector threw the bodies off of their shoulders against a wall and sat down on crates themselves,

"What about them?" Mama asked Sidmund, pointing towards the two bodies. "Shouldn't we get them to the nearest health centre?"

Sidmund shook his head, but didn't say anything. From that one action, we knew they were dead. Sven, unable to stand the sight and smell of blood, retreated to his room after telling us to call him if needed. I wanted to go upstairs as well, away from all this horror, but I also didn't want Mama to be alone with them.

"Shall I," I tried not to gag, "bring you some water?"

They didn't respond.

Ignoring me, Mama asked the men, "Tell me what happened."

Sidmund, still unable to speak for some reason, glanced at Hector who nodded and opened his mouth to answer.

"Uh, we got attacked."

Mama scoffed. "Well, I can see that. Where's Ben?"

"They took his body with them."

"Who did?"

Nobody answered.

"Look, boys, I know you were commissioned to take down Lucan Huxley's son. So talk freely."

There was a surprised exchange of glances between the three live men. I knew what they were probably thinking. 'How did she know?' I didn't want them to find out that it had been through me. Pursing my lips, I stood behind Mama, waiting for them to go on.

"Erm, okay, uhhh..." Hector mumbled as he looked at Klyn, who didn't say anything. "Well, yes, you're right. We were after him. The Marquess, I mean. But it was all for the greater good! You see-"

"I know," Mama cut in curtly. "I know why he's wanted dead. I just want to know why you're in the states you are in."

Hector shuffled uncomfortably in his seat.

"We saw his carriage drive up to this inn, so we lay in wait for it to pass by where we decided to ambush it. But our plan didn't go as expected. We had only seen two guards emerge from the carriage, so we had thought that they were all there were. But when we ambushed, a whole swarm of guards attacked in offense and we became victims to their swords. Even our hand guns did no damage to their armor. In between that confusion, we had to flee while Ben was taken away by them."

Sidmund hung his head low. So that's what had happened. I stared in horror at the two dead bodies against the wall. They had been killed by Marquess Huxley's guards. I shivered at the thought that the two men who stood at my door just a while ago had such potential.

"And what are you going to do about these wounds, then?" Mama asked with hands on her hips. She was being stand-offish on purpose right now, as if she wanted them to leave as soon as possible.

Sidmund exchanged a look with Hector.

"We can't go to public places in such states," Hector admitted. "We're sure that the duke's men must be looking for us already."

I looked at Mama as she clenched her jaw.

"And you came here, thinking I wouldn't turn you in?" she asked angrily.

"Yes, Mama," Hector muttered, bowing his head. "We beg of you to not do so, considering we're still coming to terms with the death of our three companions."

Mama sighed, folding her arms. "And what of your injuries?"

Hector hesitated. "Would it be possible, um, if one of your children fetched us some first aid supplies from the nearest store...?"

I interlaced my fingers and squeezed them, afraid. I didn't want to be caught up in this situation. I just wanted to go away!

"I have a better idea," Mama said and then tugged at my arm. I looked at her, confused. "Give us a second."

With that parting statement, Mama pulled me away to her room, closing the door behind her.

"What?" I said, eyes wide.

"I want them out as soon as possible," she replied, taking my hands. "And you'll help me with that."

I frowned. "Huh?"

She squeezed my hands. "You said you have healing powers, didn't you?"

I didn't reply for a while, trying to process what she meant. It took me a while to connect the dots together, and I did not like the picture it created.

"Oh no," I hissed, pulling my hands out of hers. "No way. No, no, no, no."

"But yes!"

"You don't mean-"

"Yes!"

I groaned, "Mama..."

"But you can heal them!" Mama said excitedly. "It'll be much quicker than first aid. Then we can get them out of here."

I sighed. "Mama, we don't know how they'll react to my powers. We can't trust them with that big of a secret."

"Hush! We won't let them know."

I frowned. "How?"

She smiled. "We'll pretend it's some magic medicine. Since they're so broken, they'll believe it. Trust me."

"Are you sure?" I asked as I held my ponytail. This was crazy.

"Yep. Just follow my lead."