Cecily Earnheart was anything but unimpressed with the modern palace. Each wall was a silicon white, most had a touch screen or a fingerprint scan. The doors slid open by themselves and didn't require a loud buzzing that sent fear into the hearts of everyone who heard it.

"Like what you see?" Reiko asked, a mocking tone in his voice. "It's better than that prison, huh? Probably better than anywhere you ever lived before."

"It is."

Knocked down. That's what she's done with that little insult. She took a hammer to it and knocked it down like it never existed.

"Ever been to Royale before?" He tried, taking a new approach."

"My trial was here."

"Alright, but before that?"

She tipped her head back. Had she?

Yes, she remembered. She's been to the city plenty of times to sell her wares. Though the first time she ever went she was with her mothe-

"No."

"Maybe I could give you a tour, if you like. Give Zephyr the day to convince the assassin and the Saint to join up with us."

"Assassin and Saint?"

"Yeah, I don't remember their names, but I know that's what Zeph wanted."

A Saint. How strange.

"So how about that tour of the city? I'd be happy to take you."

"So long as this thing is strapped to my neck, I will not be going in public without legitimate purpose."

"Right, of course. We can go to the common room for now. I think Zephyr and assassin boy are already there."

Not really caring where she had to be, she simply nodded at him before going back to examine the modernized palace.

The newest thing to her was the people. Even before the prisons, she lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone. Here, there were hundreds of people just going on with her lives.

Cecile lifted her hands, moving her hair to cover as much of her neck as she could.

Just as she did, a small man gave her a suspicious look. She tried to ignore it, going back to thinking of something else.

For instance, what the man looked like. In the prison, everyone she saw cowered in fear when she caught sight of them. Or tried to taunt her like the stupid wolf who thought he could steal from her.

The man that passed them was short, old, and remarkably pale.

She turned the other way, her eyes catching on Reiko.

He was fairly good looking, more so than the prince at least. He had carmel skin and black hair. His eyes, upon close inspection were a dark shade of brown, nearly black. He was tall, maybe six foot four, give or take a few inches.

"Like what you see?" He asked, catching her examine gaze.

"Not particularly," she replied, no joking in her voice. "Just curious."

"About what? You can ask me anything, you know."

"Hmm. Where's your family from?"

"My family? We're from the Northern Isles."

"With the snow?"

He nodded. "My great grand parents came over during the war, lookin' for somewhere safe to stay, but..."

Slaves, she thought. That was the word he was looking for. After the Free Man act, which the current king set in place about forty years ago, slaves were illegal. However, during the last war, it wasn't. The chance of any human without Free Man papers getting taken, no matter skin color, was increasingly high.

Every checkpoint you could possibly go through would check your online identification. If they didn't see Free Man papers, you'd be taken and sold. It wasn't as barbaric as thousands of years ago where you could beat and kill slaves without facing prison or the prison, but if you got caught, there was nearly no chance of getting free.

Cecily's hand dance across her collar for less than a second before dropping.

No, she reminded herself. Emotions mean weakness and weakness means pain. No sympathy. Not outwardly at least.

"What about you?" Reiko asked. "Any interesting background in your family?"

The criminal shrugged. "My great grandpa was a pirate. Does that count as interesting?"

"Yeah it does! That's awesome."

She nodded. Cecily actually had a fairly interesting family on her dad's side.

Her great great grandma participated in the Succession Games as the Kings mercenary. Her great grandpa became a pirate that defied the King. Her grandpa sold the ship and bought a farm before starting a rebellion and getting himself killed. Her dad... Her dad was a story of its own.

So yeah, Cecily's family had a fairly strange background. She was just one of the tree. Well, her dad's half at least.

"Cecily?" A voice asked, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Cecily? We're here."

The criminal blinked to find herself facing a silicon door with a finger scanner on the side.

"Go ahead and open it."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't give me that face. We already entered all the contestants data in the scanner. It knows you."

Cecily slid the leather glove off her good hand before placing the skin of her thumb on the scanner.

There was a moment of silence before the door slid open.

---

Orion heard the door slide open and peeked back from his conversation with the prince to see who was coming.

The assassin felt his hands naturally found the blades that were tucked away in the layers of his casual clothing. Only to find that they weren't there.

It was proper, of course, not to bring weapons when speaking to the prince. But now that he told the assassin that he could be casual around him, he regretted the decision.

A man and a woman came through the door.

The man was tall, taller than Orion by a small margin. He looked well muscled, probably strong in a fight. The way he carried himself, with proud wide steps, Orion could've guessed he was a soldier of some sort, even if the prince hadn't told him.

The woman was a different story, the dangerous sort. She took small, calculated steps. Even under the long sleeved clothes, he could see the muscles in her arms and legs. She was a seasoned and tried fighter. Her eyes quickly examined every corner of the room, stopping on nothing, before finally turning on him.

He instantly felt the weight of her gaze, strong and calculated, deciding if she could best him in a fight.

Too bad for her, the assassin thought, I'm stronger than I look.

He had a feeling she was too, which was saying a lot considering she looked hella strong.

The prince stood up, drawing Orion's gaze back to him. On instinct, he stood up as well.

"Orion, meet Cecily and Reiko. My criminal and my guard. Reiko, Cecily, meet Orion. My assassin."

Reiko, the guard, strutted over before extending a hand, which Orion took.

"Good to have you."

The assassin nodded before letting go and turning to the criminal.

It took everything he had to extend a hand to the bloody murder, and everything else to pretend to not notice the collar tied around her neck. The two unpleasantries balanced out so evenly, he nearly didn't notice when she took his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Nice to know at least one person has manners around here," she said, her voice loud enough for the other two to hear.

He blinked once, then twice. Honestly, Orion didn't expect the girl to be...polite? Was that a good word to describe it?

"I'm sorry," Reiko said, "but I wasn't aware that a criminal was so interested in manners."

She turned an eye to him, not even bothering with turning her head. "And I wasn't aware that I had to remind a member of the royal guard that I am a human."

The guard rolled his eyes before turning to the prince. "What about the Saint girl? What was her name?"

"Alma Reebank, and she's undecided. I gave her a while to think and I have a replacement set up if it doesn't work out, but I'm hoping it does. So, for now, we're free to relax, plan, do whatever we feel like." He turned to Cecily. "Feel like taking a comfortable nap? You've barely been out of the prison."

She stared at the prince for a second, and Orion had no idea what was going through her mind until she nodded.

"Through that door, there's a bed. It's my bed, sorry, but we don't have many options right now, especially since-"

"-you don't trust me. I understand."

She turned around, wavy autumn hair whistling behind her.

When the door clicked, the prince sat back down, and Orion followed suit.

"So, what do you think of her?"

The guard gave a scoff. "You know she can probably hear us, right?"

"I know, but since I am the prince, I can at least pretend to be polite." Zeph smirked. "Unlike you."

"Oh, shut up!"

Zephyr gave a quick laugh. "So?"

"She's...different than I expected," Reiko said, through a sigh. "And she hasn't made any move to slaughter us all, so I guess that's a plus."

"Oh, so you actually kind of like her, huh?"

"She's a cold blooded killer who murders for the heck of it, but, against my better judgement, I can't see her as a bad person. Until she kills someone. I'm sure I'll hate her then."

"Orion? What about you?"

He glanced at Zephyr. "If I saw her in the street, murderer wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind." She was far too perfected to be a common murderer.

He nodded.