“Huh? Your fiancé is the Marquis of Blood?”

Scarlett visualised the eye-patched man with his arm around the small girl and shuddered. The idea wasn’t exactly what she’d call appealing. Istar nodded.

“That’s what they call him. I’ve never actually seen him doing anything with blood though.”

“Probably just baseless rumour,” Scarlett replied.

The Lunar Knight had come to find herself meeting with the princess every afternoon. She enjoyed listening to the girl talk. Istar was far witter than Scarlett herself had ever been at that age, though she supposed that she had always been more focussed on the physical side of things.

“Scarlett,” Istar began.

“Hmm?”

“What do you think love is?”

Scarlett was stumped for a moment.

“I –”

Istar smiled mischievously. Scarlett frowned.

“You have me there.”

“I’m not sure if I love Gobryas.”

“Your engagement was arranged?”

She nodded. “It’s my duty, but I don’t know, I always thought I’d feel something, even if it was political.”

“But you don’t?”

“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.”

“I feel as though I should recognise that.”

“You should, though the point stands that my feelings for him are… turbulent?”

“It existed, and then it was altered?”

“More like it exists in a permanent state of constant alteration.”

“I’m not sure that can be called love.”

“You yourself couldn’t define love in the first place.”

“Hmm, well, I don’t know if it’s something you can explain. Or else I’m not capable.”

“What an abject excuse.”

“I don’t know that that’s right.”

“In the strange anomaly of my existence, feelings with me had never been of the heart, and my passions always were of the mind.”

“You like to read, I see.”

Istar nodded. “I do. I suppose that’s a good summation.”

“Of your own feelings you mean?”

“Or lack thereof. Perhaps I’m the problem and not him.”

“He doesn’t strike me as especially attentive, not that I know him altogether well.”

“In any case, you have experienced love, no?”

Istar looked up at her intently, making Scarlett feel pressured to deliver a satisfactory response.

“When I was with Agis, I just, knew.” She reddened. “When I looked at him, I felt something.”

“How girlish of you.”

“What am I then?”

“A knight, as you yourself said.”

“Can I not be two things simultaneously?”

“I’d say your state of being would rather shift between them.”

“What are we, Jekyll and Hyde?”

“Not quite so iniquitous. A harmonious duality.”

“And you do not experience such duality?”

“Well I am not a knight.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

“You mean in love? As I said I don’t feel for him much as I would like to.”

“How long have you been engaged?”

“Hmm, about a year. Before that the Jupiterian priests were trying to set me up with another lord, someone who had their support. When Gobryas took power as unofficial regent he arranged a marriage with me. I don’t mind but…”

“Does he treat you well?”

“He buys me gifts.”

“That isn’t the same thing.”

“The value of a gift lies in the perception of the recipient.”

“That is to say, if you want, he should provide?”

“Not should, but I won’t say no.”

“Your title is showing.”

“Am I not a princess as you are a knight?”

“So I have been lead to believe.”

“If you prick a princess, do we not bleed?”

“I think you missed the point of that speech.”

Their discussions always went around in circles like this. Scarlett enjoyed the challenge of it. When she compared it to Sander… well, she supposed she shouldn’t be too harsh on her companion; he bled too, after all. Just then, Istar rubbed at her neck. Scarlett was again reminded of what she’d caught a glimpse of some days before. Her eyes narrowed.

“He doesn’t hurt you, does he?”

Istar paled. “No,” she said. “Of course not.”

“Hmm. Do you see much of your father?”

Istar shook her head. “He’s usually in the gardens. He prefers the company of plants, I’m told.”

Her voice was indifferent. Scarlett supposed the girl was resigned to this fact.

“And your mothe –”

“Gone.” She flicked her hair with an irritated expression. That might not have been the best question to ask the girl. “I suppose that’s when he started to change. He still has the final say but he hardly runs anything these days. Gobryas isn’t the face of the empire, but he’s pulling its strings.”

“Something about it just –”

“Istar!”

The pair went silence as the voice came across the courtyard. Scarlett noticed that the princess tensed up when she heard it. The Lunar Knight searched for the source of the sound and her eyes fell upon the eyepatch-wearing figure of Gobryas, standing in one of the courtyard entryways. His single good eye settled on his fiancée, but his expression remained stern.

“Come, now is not the time to be playing,” he said.

Istar got hurriedly to her feet and started towards him, but Scarlett grabbed her by the wrist – halting her. She pulled the girl into an embrace.

“Stay safe, ok?”

Istar nodded, and the Lunar Knight heard a faint sniffle.

“I’ll see you again, I’m sure.”

When she let go the princess gave her a smile before rushing off. She caught a glimpse of Gobryas’s suspicious glare before the Marquis of Blood turned and left, Istar chasing behind him.

***

Scarlett didn’t get much sleep. She was troubled deeply by her parting moments with Istar. Coming from a background where traditional values had all but been discarded, she was more than frustrated by the treatment of the princess.

I wouldn’t even have stood for Agis speaking to me like that.

The following morning, she realised she hadn’t seen Sander the whole of the previous day. It was past nine and she hadn’t heard him rouse yet through the wall between their rooms. She knocked on the interleading door and it creaked open. Peering inside, she saw his bed by the mid-morning light that fell in the window, revealing the white covers pulled up over an ill-defined form. She approached.

“Sander?” she said in a low voice.

She wasn’t sure why she was whispering when her intention was to wake him but somehow speaking loudly felt inappropriate. She froze as she heard something. It was out of place. It left her confused. A girl’s voice, softly yawning.

Scarlett frowned. Reaching over she pulled aside the bed covers and leapt back in surprise at what she discovered.

“What the hell is this bitch doing here?”

The Lunar Knight’s gaze met the dozy face of Neptilia, who was rubbing at her eyes as she sat up in the bed. The fiery-haired girl turned and jostled Sander’s bare shoulder until he rolled over to face her.

“Huh?” he said in a groggy voice.

Scarlett spent a few moments trying to comprehend the situation before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind her.