Several years later....

A high-pitched howl sent a shiver down my spine. I rolled off my bed and ran down the hall. “Etana!”

“Look at how fancy it is this time!”

“There’s even gold in the wax seal!” Sage gushed.

I burst into the foyer. “Don’t open it!”

Etana smirked. “Or what?”

“I’ll break your fingers.”

Etana scoffed. “Not being three levels below me you won’t. You’ll be lucky to get a hit with that agility stat of yours.”

“Oh yeah?” I began casting the agility buff spell.

Etana rolled her eyes. “Only cheaters use magick buffs.” She held the letter out. “Real power is in training.”

Whatever. She was just jealous she didn’t have enough magick power to create buffs. Plus, the only buff I knew put me on par with the only stat she excelled in. I snatched the envelope from her and left.

Soft footsteps followed me. I turned around and put a hand on my hip. “Excuse me?”

“You’re not opening it alone,” Sage said.

“It’s addressed to me, not you!”

“And?” Etana shoved me forward. “Go on.”

I turned and dashed down the hall, opening the door and slamming it behind me.

Etana and Sage caught the door before it could click into the jamb.

“Let us in!” Etana grunted.

“Get lost!” I put all my body weight against the door.

Sage growled, “I’m going to spread word about your secret affair with the prince if you don’t!”

“No one would believe you!”

“Not when I show them the letters!”

“You can’t get past the locks on my secret box!”

“But I know someone at the academy who can!”

“It’s addressed to me! Only me!”

The door began to open on my side. If only I knew a strength buff! I tried reasserting my stance, but my feet continued to slide on the stone floor.

Etana grunted, “Family protects family!”

“Bull! You threatened to kill me the other day over a donut!”

“Because you’re a thief!”

“You didn’t want it!”

“Right then! I was saving it for later!”

“Give it a couple of hours and it’ll come out again.”

The violet eyes of Etana’s narrowed to thin slits. “You nasty little—”

“Shut up!” a deep voice boomed. “How the hell can I take a nap with all this noise?”

My stomach dropped. Aaron.

“Aar, you have to help us!” Sage called. “Lucina received a special letter from the prince and she won’t let us see!”

The door easily swung open. I tumbled backward onto my butt. Aaron stood at the door, arm up as though he casually pushed it open. Well, he probably did. His strength stat was insane!

“What’d you get?” Aaron held out his hand to help me back up.

I grabbed his hand. “I don’t know yet. Probably nothing big.”After dusting myself off, I sat on the bed.

Sage and Etana flanked me while Aaron stood in front of me.

The wax seal cracked as I ripped the envelope open. A single card was inside. Though the ink was blue, it had a golden shimmer to it when I tilted the card back and forth. On the back of the card was a simple painting of a mask in black and gold ink.

“You are cordially invited to the celebration of the fifteenth year of Prince Alexious de Evoa of Oranhail. It will be held on the evening of the ninth day of the second eclipse of the silver star. Conceal your identity from all. None will be admitted without a mask.”

Sage gasped. “You’re invited to his birthday celebration!”

I tossed the invitation aside.

Etana grabbed it. “Are you going?”

“No.”

Sage grasped my shoulders. Her bright golden eyes shimmered. “Why not?”

“Mom will let you go,” Aaron said. “All you need to do is ask.”

“Right!” Sage agreed. “And then you should take us too!”

“What?” I shrieked. “No!”

“We can’t let you go alone. What if something were to happen?”

“If Prince Alexious is there, I’m certain there will be plenty of guards. You have nothing to worry about.” They clearly just wanted to go to gawk at the ball and not out of any actual concern for me. “Besides, do you know any etiquette? They’re nuts about the stuff. What if you drank the fingerbowl?”

Aaron wrinkled his nose. “What the heck is a fingerbowl?”

I sighed. “Exactly. Stupid things like that are a noble’s bread and butter. They make up insane rules just to follow. You’re missing nothing. In fact, you’ll be bored out of your wits.”

“I still don’t know what a fingerbowl is,” Aaron replied.

I feel like if I explained it was a decorative bowl of water on a table meant for dipping fingertips in, he would be even more baffled at its existence. I didn’t know why it was a thing either. It just was.

“That’s for me to decide!” Sage grabbed my hand. “Besides, isn’t Prince Alexious your dear friend? How could you not go?”

“He’ll have more than enough friends at this gala, trust me.” I groaned. “In fact, I bet even if I did go there’d be no way I could even get close enough to say hi.”

“Well, alone, maybe, but not if we’re there.” Etana’s brows wiggled. “Who could say no with three gorgeous ladies like us barging through?”

The key word of that was barge, not gorgeous, by the way. Etana somehow muscled her way past Aaron and he was a carbon copy of Percival!

“I’ll just write an apology. He’ll understand.”

Sage tapped her cheekbone. “I don’t think so. I think he would be extremely disappointed.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

She took the invitation from Etana and held it up with a self-satisfied smirk. Her round green eyes twinkled. “It says right here in the fine print! You will be required to conceal your identity.”

“And? It’s a masquerade.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s the point.”

Sage rubbed her temple. “You’re such an idiot when you want to be. Read between the lines! It’s a masquerade because he’s inviting you to go! No one will know you’re not a noble!”

My brows furrowed. “You’re saying he themed his entire celebration behind getting me to go? That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

Sage’s bottom lip jutted out. “You think so too, right, Aar?”

Aaron frowned. “Well, I mean, if I liked a girl enough, yeah, I guess.”

She beamed. “See! Even Aar thinks so!”

“Aar always agrees with you.” Fat chance at the twins ever choosing to not back each other up in an argument that wasn’t between themselves. I still say a vote should count as one between the both of them! It’s only fair that way! I pushed Sage’s shoulder, making her rock to the side.

Etana shook her head. “It does make sense that he would want identities concealed if he wished to invite people who are not normally admitted to these events.”

“But for me?”

Etana shrugged. “Why not? It’s not like you don’t get a fat envelope every month.”

“That’s because he sends me a lot of notes about training.”

Etana’s lips pursed as her brows arched upward. “Mmmhmm. Training.”

Aaron smirked and added, “In bed.”

I grabbed my pillow and slammed it against his stomach. “Pervert!”

He grabbed Etana’s pillow from the bed behind him and threw it into my chest, sending me onto my back. That little--! I grabbed the pillow and threw it into his face, using the momentum from rolling back up to deliver an extra-strong throw.

He grabbed it and slammed it over my head.

“Oh, is that how you’re going to play?” I grabbed the pillow, jumped on top of my bed, and swung it down as hard as I could on top of his head.

The three of them looked at each other and then at me.

My chest tightened. “Guys…”

Sage covered her hand over her mouth in mock innocence. “Oh dear, whatever will we do? Little Lucina won’t simply allow herself to go.”

“I guess we have to convince her,” Aaron continued, cracking his knuckles.

The sounds sent shivers down my spine. “Now, listen, we don’t have to— AAHHH!"

Aaron pushed me down to the bed.

Etana and Sage grabbed my arms.

Aaron started tickling my sides.

Ah! I can’t stand it! Ripples of itchy tingles washed over my body. “Stop!” I howled between trills of laughter.

“Say you’ll go!” Sage taunted.

“Nooooo! I can’t gooooo!”

“Yes, you will! And you’re taking us!” Etana commanded.

“But-but!” I could barely get out words now.

“We’ll stop if you say we’re going,” Aaron goaded in a sing-song tone.

“Nooooo!”

“Aar, turn it up!” Sage commanded.

I squealed as Aaron grasped my foot and started tickling the underside. I tried kicking him but nothing compared to his beefy strength! I sucked in short breaths, trying to breathe through my laughter.

“We’re going?” Sage asked.

I couldn’t even get a retort out.

“She’s about to crack,” Etana replied. “Keep going!”

I was certainly not going to crack! “No!”

Sage yelled, “Say it!”

"No!" My body shook and my sides began to cramp up from the laughter. Oh, by the Mother, those side stitches are the worst! “We’ll go!” I shrieked. “We’ll go!”

The tickling stopped.

Freedom!

I stared at the beams of wood on the ceiling. The sounds of my siblings celebrating their victory dulled to the sound of my heaving breaths.

Was the cost of freedom worth it?

We took our usual places at the dinner table. Now that Oswald and Barnett lived in the capital city, our dinner table felt awfully empty. The seating arrangement stayed the same. Adira and Percival sat at the head of the table next to each other. We sat in order of age, so because of this, I usually got the last pick of the dishes. Not that I would trade my family for anything. But just once, I’d like to get the plate passed to me right after Adira and Percival for the choice cuts!

Tonight, Adira made her grilled specialties – a mixture of porc flanks, porc sausage, porc belly, and every vegetable imaginable. She also had cheese rolls and several sauces on the table that were similar to hot sauces back in my old world.

That was another thing different about this place. We ate everything super spicy! It took me years to build my stomach up to handling the extreme spice! I should be immune to burn side effect by now because not only did the spice not phase me, I craved it.

“Now, you’ll need some vegetables with that meat,” Adira scolded, taking several sausages off of Percival’s plate. “You’ll be spending a long time on the toilet otherwise!”

He snorted out through his nose. “You’re right, you’re right.”

“You too, Aaron. I expect to see at least one of every vegetable on your plate. I don’t want to hear your sisters complaining that you’re taking too long.”

He groaned. “Fine, fine.”

By time the plate got to me, only one piece of porc belly and flanks were left. No sausages whatsoever. There were, however, plenty of vegetables. Thankfully, the grilled eggplant was my favorite. I took several large slices and smothered them with a dark brown sauce. That one had a hint of sweetness that went with the smoky spices that was just perfect! Staying here really drove in that the mixture of spicy-sweet was the best combination around!

Sage turned to me and whispered, “Are you going to tell Mama and Papa?”

I glared and shoved a roll into my mouth to keep from responding.

Etana kicked my foot. She jerked her head towards our parents.

I clicked my tongue. Couldn’t it wait until after I ate? Not asking would lead to a flurry of nudges and kicks while I tried to eat, though. I put on my best fake puppy-dog smile that usually ended up with me getting what I wanted. “Mama Adira, I got an invitation from Prince Alexious today.”

Her pink brows rose and her cheeks seemed to pale. “What sort of invitation?”

“He’s having a masquerade ball for his birthday next month.”

“I see. Well, I suppose it would be okay if you went…” She quickly added, “He didn’t invite the family, did he?”

"He invited only--"

"He invited us sisters!" Sage cut in. "But I bet Aaron can go too."

Percival's mustache scrunched up. "My beautiful daughters in a sea of wolves..."

“Oh, Papa, we don’t need an escort!” Sage interrupted. “We’re old enough to go ourselves!”

“You’re still far from being of age,” Adira replied. “But I think it would be okay if you all went together.”

“Yes!” Sage squealed.

Percival stroked his beard. “You’ll need dresses for those noble functions.” He sighed. “Three dresses are a small fortune.”

Adira leaned over and whispered something into his ear.

His brows furrowed. He whispered something back.

They continued for a moment while the rest of us strained our ears trying to figure out what they were saying.

Percival spoke, “We’ll have enough for the three of you if you rent a dress rather than purchase. But that means you must be extremely careful with it at the ball because they will not be afraid to charge us for every stray thread they can upon return. Aaron, you should be able to fit into one of my suits.”

“When can we go to the capital for the dresses?” Etana asked in a rush. “We can go visit Oswald and Barnett too!”

“Tomorrow is when Cleric Kajille comes to do an assessment. You can go after that.”

Sage smirked. “Gaining a level and trying on dresses on the same day! It’ll be great!”

I mock laughed. “Like you’re gaining a level. You were slacking all week!”

“Was not!”

“Yeah, you were,” Aaron added. “You’re going to be short.”

She huffed. "You'll see."

“Now, now, we all have our off weeks. So long as it doesn’t become a habit, a slow week won’t impede progress,” Adira said. “But not eating your vegetables will.” She pointed a finger at Aaron. “I don’t see any bite marks in any of those vegetables.

Aaron grunted and shoved an entire eggplant steak into his mouth. “Happy?” he said through a full mouth.

I hope there’s not a dinner at this masquerade ball. Masks or no, those table manners would shock the nobles straight to the Mother!