Making her way between the guards, Nenah knew that this man was going to kill her for the second time.
The second prince reminded her that deception against the crown was a serious crime.
"I know," she said. She only wished that he would look at her one last time.
In town, a woman was screaming for someone to catch a thief. Nenah ran as fast as she could, hopping over a ledge and dropping down to Saji, the boy she called her brother. Together they lost the man chasing after her and made it back to their home, where Colin was waiting for them.
The two of them had to do what they could for Colin, because he was weak, and today they had scored big. The three of them lived hand to mouth, stealing valuables from the wealthy now and then to scrape by. There had been a plague five years ago that claimed a great many lives. After losing their families, they did whatever was necessary to survive. Saji and Colin had each other at first, and then Nenah had completed their little group.
Digging through the spoils, Colin presented a bracelet set with a lapis lazuli gem, a beautiful blue, just like Nenah's eyes, much like the sky before dawn. The compliment embarrassed her badly, and it only got worse when Colin said it was a shame she had to hide her eyes all the time.
Saji called him stupid. The slavers would be after her if she didn't. You didn't see eyes like hers every day. They were so rare that a lot of rich folk would do anything to own them.
The three of them were always hungry and never had any money, but their way of life was pleasant enough for Nenah. Saji said her cooking was so bad it should be illegal, and Colin agreed happily, and she told them both to shut up. They made things work. They shared fun and laughter.
But now she only thought: silly me, for believing those days would last forever.
One day Colin's fever got so bad that Saji believed he wouldn't make it. Nenah shouted that they could still see a doctor. It wasn't over until it was over.
"Sure," Saji countered. "And where will we get the money for that?"
Nenah was taken aback. She knew the platitude was worthless. Saji knew it was over. It was all written in the stars. The poor are born under a poor star, and the rich are born under a rich star. It is all decided the moment you are born.
Nenah tried to challenge this. She believed that someday they could change things.
But Saji told her to forget someday, because Colin probably wouldn't even live to see the sun rise tomorrow. He shouted that she could only talk about someday because she wasn't family. She was an outsider.
Nenah shook. Hurt by his words, she shouted back defiantly that she'd figure something out, and then she stormed out.
Very quickly she was caught and beaten for the theft she'd committed earlier, and she realized she was an idiot. Colin was Saji's real brother. This had to be so much harder on him than it was on her.
Afterwards, she stared at her bruised reflection in a puddle of water and thought about how no one had eyes like hers. She began to tear up, feeling truly alone. As the rain poured down, she cried, wanting to be special to at least one person in this world.
Elsewhere, Azure and Ditus had discovered that Princess Alicia's carriage had gone over a cliff and crashed. Seeing that no one had survived, Azure explained that they would keep this a secret and find a stand-in as quickly as possible.
The next day, visiting the graves of their families, Saji apologized to Nenah for yelling at her. She accepted, and for some reason she apologized too, which made him nervous. He looked away and told her there was somewhere special he wanted to take her.
They arrived at an empty house. Saji told her that he and his brother couldn't keep living like this. He wanted to get out of this dead end, and this was the only option.
Suddenly the door banged open and two cloaked men came through it. Saji apologized as he left, and Nenah's eyes widened. He'd sold her to slavers. She tried to escape their grasp, slammed into the wall, and fell over.
Azure told Ditus to be gentle with him — with Nenah. She lay on the floor crying, not understanding why Saji would do this to her. Was he angry with her? Or had she been an outsider to him this entire time? Her heart hurt so much.
Azure then pulled her hair back to check her eyes and saw the deep blue he had been looking for, while she fixed on his golden eyes and thought of the eyes of a beast.
Azure remarked that the boy's stench was awful and filthy, and commanded Ditus to take the boy's clothes off. She struggled, trying to run, until Azure accidentally ripped her clothing away, and now she was bare to the waist and blushing. The two men were stunned, wondering why she was masquerading as a boy. Ditus concluded that if slavers had known she was a girl, they definitely would have hunted her down.
But Azure decided this would work perfectly for their plans. They wouldn't need to disguise a boy. This could now be more than a temporary stopgap.
He knelt down to her level and told Nenah that today she would die, and then live as a princess.
Inside her new residence, the court ladies told Nenah to wait, and she informed them that she wasn't going to wait just because they said so — and then tripped on her new dress.
Prince Azure Seth Fortna arrived, commenting on the commotion, and as Nenah got up his mouth dropped open, shocked at how different the filthy boy they'd brought here looked now. She got to her feet and pointed at him and called him Mr. Golden Eyes. He sighed. Even in lovely clothes, this girl was still the same on the inside.
She kept shouting at him, so he laid his blade on her shoulder and told her to kneel. She was not permitted to talk back. From this moment on, her new identity was Alicia Seth Fortna, this country's priestess princess, the very heart of their proud nation, who possessed eyes of lapis lazuli, like the god of the stars. For the next three months she would learn to act like a princess and to dress the part. After that, she would marry the crown prince set to ascend the throne of Galatada. That was all. This deception must never be discovered.
Nenah kicked the sword out of Azure's hand, caught it, and pointed it in the prince's direction. There was no point in being afraid. She had nothing left to lose. She told him not to forget that he was the one asking her for a favor.
He wondered aloud why she was pointing the hilt at him.
Glossing over the silly position she'd put herself in, she told him to fix his attitude and reveal his identity, and otherwise she was out of here. He sneered a little and asked whether a peasant like her had a home to return to — but he saw that she had made a fair point, and he begged her to forgive his prior rudeness. That was certainly a surprise for her.
Azure then rephrased what he had said earlier. For the next three months he would be her tutor, and she could think of him as her master in training. This was when he introduced himself as the second prince of the kingdom of Fortna.
Later he set about teaching her how to speak properly, trying to correct her country mannerisms. She got annoyed, having to repeat the same things over and over all morning. He asked her to explain her annoyed expression, and she responded that she couldn't learn all of these things at once, especially given that she also couldn't read or write.
Azure knew that. It was exactly why he was having her practice through repetition. And they needed to hurry, because in three days' time she would have an audience with the king.