Akelarre walked one way, then the other, then back again. Cinder followed all of the Princess’ movements with her eyes, head resting on a balled fist as she watched. “You’re going to wrinkle your dress,” she finally said.

The Princess paused and looked down at her dress, a pretty enough thing made of a silky white material over a tighter black cocktail dress. The layered look gave it something of a classical appearance, like the princesses and regents in the textbooks.

Also, Cinder suspected Akelarre was hiding her own weight’s worth of bugs in the folds.

“Are you really that nervous?” Cinder asked. She leaned back into the couch and brought her arms up to drape over the back of it. “It’s merely a dance with a girl child you happen to like in the middle of an enemy stronghold.”

Akelarre puffed her cheeks out. “You’re not helping,” she muttered.

Cinder rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. With the number of available hostages there they would be fools to try anything. And it’s near a forest of sorts. I’m sure you can sneak a Grimm or two over to keep watch.”

“I have,” she confirmed. “It doesn’t help any.”

Cinder had had enough. She was already going to this event without truly wanting to just for a chance at sneaking into the CCT tower, she didn’t want to have to deal with the Princess of the Grimm’s... puberty issues on top of it all.

Love was a thing you made others feel for you so that they would be more loyal. That was the end all be all of the emotion as far as she was concerned. So she stood up, adjusted the skirt of her own red dress and shifted her feet in her heels to make sure they were snug. “Come along. We might as well get there early and end this whole charade.”

“It’s hardly a charade,” Akelarre said. Still, she didn’t protest and followed dutifully after Cinder as she walked out of the living room and towards the Bullhead landing pads.

They met Emerald halfway there.

Cinder’s green-haired mook was attired in a long evening gown that was vaguely similar to Cinder’s own, but done in a deep green with false jewels sewn into the fabric. “What are you wearing?” Cinder asked as she took in her subordonate.

“Ah, hello Cinder, Princess Akelarre,” Emerald said. “I just... well, I’m piloting the Bullhead back, but I thought, maybe, if your date didn’t show up. I, uh, could stand in?”

Her face was flaming red, which was only proper. Her plan was foolhardy to the extreme. “And if we need to fight, can you do it in that getup?” she asked before shaking her head. “Nevermind, at least you’ll fit in with the other hopeless teenagers with rented dresses.”

“Yes ma’am,” Emerald whispered. She trailed after Cinder, head down in obeisance and lips set in an unbecoming pout. Cinder had more important things to deal with than her subordonate’s patheticness. At least Emerald was trying to predict Cinder’s needs. She might have to reward the girl later. Maybe some time spent away from her and the stresses of the job would help?

They reached the Bullhead and found it already spinning up, Mercury in the pilot’s seat in a far more sensible outfit and the back of the ship stuffed with what had to be a metric ton of squirming, writhing Grimmsects.

She paused, hand on the door’s handle to inspect the wiggling mass before she turned around, moved her hair out of her face, and locked eyes with Akelarre.

The Princess shrugged. “They might come in handy?”

Cinder sighed and pushed Emerald into the Bullhead before her. “If they so much as land on me we’re going to be having words.”

Akelarre nodded. “That’s fine. Not a single one of the insects within the Bullhead before you enter it will land on you.”

She sat down and began to strap herself in when she paused. “That was oddly specific,” she said. The sheepish smile on Akelarre’s face left a sinking pit in her stomach. “How many insects are already on me?”

“Technically, most of the Grimmsects I put on people aren’t actually insects at all. Insects only have six legs which is a good number, but is woefully under-equipped for the kinds of things I want my Grimmsects to be able to do.”

Cinder glared. “Bugs, off.”

Akelarre sighed and slumped in her seat. “Come on, how else will I keep track of you?”

“I could show you a few tricks,” Emerald said. She clamped up when Cinder looked her way. “I mean, tricks I use to mark targets. Targets that Cinder gives me.” She tried to smile but it was weak and wobbly. Was the girl trying to ingratiate herself with the Princess? Maybe join her thrice-damned harem while she was at it.

“You won’t have any difficulty tracking me tonight because, except for my little plan to the side, I will be by your side all the time.”

“What?” both Akelarre and Emerald said at the same time.

Cinder nodded. “Indeed. Our Majesty has tasked me with keeping an eye on you. Something about keeping you from working your wiles on more girls. She thinks that three people is the perfect number of members for a harem and that more would just be trouble.”

“But you’re dancing with Neo,” Akelarre said. “She’s going to be really annoyed if you don’t pay her attention. Like, murderously annoyed.”

“Oh please, I can handle the little girl. And besides, I doubt she would mind staying close to you during the night. She’s also a member of your group of deviants, after all”

Akelarre glared at her, then huffed. “Fine, but I still expect you to treat her well. You need to dance with her, and do small talk, and give her ice cream and snacks to keep her happy.”

“Is she your girlfriend or a poodle?”

“Hey, Neo is the least... well okay, she’s kind of poodle-like, but you can’t treat her like that. Or think of her like that. Or say anything even remotely similar to that out loud where she might hear you. I don’t want to have to explain to Mom why you ended up in a ditch somewhere.”

Mercury popped his head into the compartment. “We’re two minutes out,” he said. “I’m about to call in for landing permission. Hang on.”

The Bullhead shifted, then moved sideways while its engine nassels turned so that it could come to a hover over the landing area next to Beacon.

The school had gone all out with the decorations, lights strung out across pathways, flowers arranged in neat rows and in baskets near every lamppost, and brightly coloured confetti hung from here and there, masking the more utilitarian buildings in festive colours.

“Pretty,” Akelarre said as she stepped out of the Bullhead.

Cinder agreed, but she wasn’t about to admit it aloud. Instead she jumped out next to her and stared at the hand Emerald was holding out, as if she expected Cinder to help her down. She huffed and walked to the Princess’ side. “Well, are we going to stand here all night?” she asked.

“No, I was just hoping that Ruby would be here. Neo’s already here so I thought maybe she’d show up too.”

“And where is your littlest friend?” Cinder asked. “Is she hidden behind someone else? It wouldn’t be hard with her stature.”

“No, she’s right next to you, actually.”

Cinder felt a frisson of cold running down her back and turned to her side to find her date for the night looking up at her, smile locked in place. Neo was in a tight little dress with a band of pink flowers running around her waist and over an opening that exposed her abs and belly button.

“Ah, hello Neo,” Cinder said. Years of keeper her cool around the occasionally temperamental Salem served her well as the tiny assassin’s smile refused to budge. “Your dress is quite pretty. You’d almost think you had reached adulthood.”

Neo tilted her head to one side.

“She said, ‘do you really want to play that game?’” Akelarre translated.

“It would hardly be fair,” Cinder said. “I don’t play games with children.”

Neo quirked an eyebrow.

Cinder didn’t wait for the Princess’ translation. “Look, Neo, neither of us need to like each other, we merely have to live with each other. I’m here to keep an eye on the Princess, same as you. We do that, avoid any suitors, dance exactly once together and then the evening is done. I won’t step on your toes if you avoid mine.”

Neo’s expressive eyes disappeared as she closed them and tapped on her chin with one short, manicured finger. She nodded after a moment had passed.

“Very well then,” Cinder said. She turned to make sure that the Bullhead would be cared for, found Mercury awkwardly patting a crying Emerald on the back, and told herself that if it wasn’t there when she returned she was resourceful enough to find some other way home.

“Let’s go find Ruby and the others!” Akelarre said, one fist rising into the air as if she was ready to lead a cavalry charge. Judging by the number of small, inconspicuous insects that shot past her and towards the school, that was exactly what was happening.

They had taken a dozen steps when Cinder heard something that made her heart shudder.

“Oh oh.”

***

Coco stood in the Princess of the Grimm’s path like a bulwark ready to withstand a siege.

The Princess, filthy best-friend-stealing, bunny-ear-petting bitch that she was, blinked back with a complete lack of comprehension that had Coco grinding her teeth.

“We need to talk,” she said before crossing her arms and setting her legs in a wide, defensive stance.

“Alone?” Akelarre asked. She looked past Coco and towards the cafeteria which had been converted into a ballroom for the night. It was still far enough away that they probably didn’t stand out much from the others heading towards the building.

“Yes,” Coco said.

“No,” the woman next to Akelarre said.

Coco snapped her attention onto her, then looked her up and down. She was standing there the same way a lioness would be standing near a herd of injured gazelles, as if she was merely humouring Coco by not attacking already.

“The Princess is under my protection tonight. I’m afraid that I can’t let her out of my sight so easily, especially not under such suspicious circumstances.”

“Aww, c’mon Cinder, I doubt Coco could hurt me.”

Coco clenched her jaw at that. Was the bitch underestimating her?

“Is she not the one that killed you?” Cinder asked. “Your mother would be most upset if you died and ruined your dress on your big night out.”

Now they were doing it on purpose. “Fine, you can come too,” Coco said. “This isn’t some sort of ambush.”

She nodded off to the side where there was a path between two buildings. It was well lit and open, but at least it wouldn’t be as visible as standing in the middle of the main thoroughfare.

Akelarre and her friends followed. The short one planted herself by the side of the building and started bobbing to the beat of the ball’s distant music. The other one just stood as if the rod up her backside was particularly stiff.

“So, what’s up?” Akelarre asked. “Is this about my harem?”

Coco set her shoulders. “No this is abo--” Coco’s mind ground to a halt and it took a second for her to comprehend what she’d just said. “What harem?”

“Nevermind,” Akelarre said too quickly.

“Wait, are you saying that you’re too much of a woman for one woman to handle?” Coco seethed. “And to think that Velvet thought that she was dating you.”

“She... is?” Akelarre said. “Just not tonight. Wait, is that why you’re here? Is she upset?”

Coco’s anger boiled over. “Of course she’s upset!” she said. “You didn’t ask her out to the ball and now you’re going to dance with that little red strumpet.”

“I thought she liked Ruby?” Akelarre asked.

“She does!” Coco said. “That’s the problem, the two of them get along and Velvet, being the clueless, too-kind idiot she is, wants to give Ruby a chance. But now she has no one to dance with.”

“Oh,” Akelarre said. She looked genuinely disappointed. Coco would have given her points for that if she wasn’t a BFF-stealing hoe. “Well, do you have a date?”

“What?” Coco asked, the non-sequitur catching her off guard.

“Do you have a date?”

Coco snorted. “No, I’m too cool to just go with some nobody.” She flicked her hair out behind her and tried to look casual about it.

The short one snorted and tall-dark-and-murdery rolled her eyes.

“Okay then,” Akelarre said. “That means there’s an easy solution. Velvet dating me shouldn’t mean that she loses her friends. I would never ask that of her. So if you ask Velvet out, as a friend, then you can be there for her all night. I’m her sorta-maybe-girlfriend, not her best friend. That’s you, I think.”

Coco felt her cheeks warming up. “That’s... that’s not how it works?”

Akelarre shook her head. “Of course it is. Velvet has a Coco-shaped hole in her best friend slot and you would fit in it just fine. I know we never really got along, what with you killing me and my pet and then trying to get me arrested, but I can put that aside for Velvet’s sake.”

“I...” Coco paused and glared at Akelarre. It had about the same effect as throwing a leaf at a Beowolf. “You’re a real pain in the ass,” she said.

The Princess blinked at that. “Huh?”

She threw her arms up and stomped away. “Fine!” she said. “You win. Also, your dress isn’t so bad.”

“Uh, thanks?” Akelarre said. She could feel the Princess’ eyes on her back as she moved away. It didn’t matter, she had a bunny girl to find and a friendship that still needed some mending.