A week passed since Avery last seen him. At first, Avery thought it would feel like relief. No sharp voice cutting through her thoughts, no cold eyes watching every mistake, no presence lingering just behind her like a shadow she couldn't escape. She expected the tension to fade, the memory of that moment to dull into something distant. It didn't. If anything, it settled deeper. Quieter. More dangerous.
Avery stood at the long wooden table in the preparation room, her sleeves rolled slightly as she carefully polished the last of the glass vases. The morning light filtered faintly through the high windows, catching against the crystal surfaces and scattering soft reflections across the walls. Each vase had to be perfect, no streaks, no fingerprints, no water spots.
Her movements were steady, precise, almost mechanical as she turned the vase slowly in her hands, inspecting it from every angle before setting it aside with the others. One by one, they lined the table, identical in shape but each needing the same careful attention. It was repetitive work, quiet work, the kind that should have let her mind rest.
But it didn't.
She had been like this all week.
Faster.
Sharper.
Too careful.
Every task done exactly as instructed, every movement measured, like she was still being watched even when she knew she wasn't. Or maybe she just didn't trust that he wouldn't appear again without warning, stepping into the room like he had always been there.
Avery picked up another vase, dipping the cloth into the basin before running it carefully along the glass. Her reflection warped faintly in the surface, distorted just enough to feel unfamiliar. She didn't look at it for long.
"You're going to polish a hole through it at this point."
The voice came from the doorway.
Familiar.
Too familiar.
Avery didn't turn right away, but her grip tightened slightly around the vase.
"…Kaia."
She set the vase down carefully before facing her younger sister, her expression shifting just slightly—less guarded, but not relaxed. Kaia leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, watching her with that same look she always had—like she was seeing more than she should.
She hadn't changed.
Not really.
Kaia's curls framed her face freely, dark and defined, falling over her shoulders in a way Avery no longer allowed for herself. Her amber eyes were sharp, bright with emotion, always moving, always questioning. There was something alive about her, something uncontained—and in a place like this, that stood out more than anything.
"You didn't come see me all week," Kaia said.
Avery turned back to the table, reaching for another vase. "I've been busy."
"You're always busy."
"That's kind of how this works."
Kaia rolled her eyes, pushing off the doorway and stepping into the room. "No, that's how you're making it work."
Avery didn't respond, focusing instead on the thin rim of the vase, running the cloth along it slowly.
"You're avoiding me," Kaia added.
"I'm not."
"You are."
"Kaia, enough"
"what the hell is that!"
"what the hell is what?" Avery said looking up.
Kaia stood in front of her sister. She reached out, her finger brushed lightly against Averys' cheek. She flinched, it was small, barely noticeable but it was enough. "Is that-".
"Nothing. Just a accident happened" Avery said moving her face away.
"Stop it. Quit lying to me"
"Kaia"
"Avery"
Her name landed sharper this time. More serious.
Kaia stepped in front of her, blocking her from reaching the table again, forcing her to stop moving.
"Who did that?"
"No one, I wasn't looking and a servant accidentally smacked in the face with a ladder in the stables".
"Bullshit."
"Language" Avery hissed.
"No," she cut in, her voice tightening. "Don't brush it off like that. Someone hit you."
Avery's brow furrowed.
Kaia's expression shifted, the realization settling in fast.
"…someone in the court?"
Silence.
"…a noble?"
Still nothing.
Then—
"…a current prince?
Her lips were pulled into a thin line.
Kaia let out a short, disbelieving laugh, but there was no humor in it. "You're serious." Avery didn't smile, she scowled. "It's handled".
"Handled?" Kaia repeated, her her voice rising slightly. "You got hit and you're calling it handled?".
"Lower your voice, little sister.."
"I don't give a-"
"KAIA SHUT THE HELL UP" Avery snapped and raised her voice at her. It was sharp, loud, and sudden enough that even she seemed surprised by it. Kaia grew silent, her sister never raised her voice at her like that. Neither of them moved, the air felt like tight, like something just cracked open between them.
Kaia's expression shifted from anger to shock. "...what?"
Avery's chest rose and fell unevenly, her grip tightening around the cloth in her hand. She hadn't meant to snap but now that she had, she couldn't take it back. "You can't just say whatever the hell you want here," Avery said, her voice still tense, still edged with something sharper than before. "You don't understand how dangerous that is."
Kaia's brows furrowed, her shock quickly turning into frustration. "Dangerous? For what—telling the truth? For not letting people walk all over you?"
"That's not what this is!"
"Then what is it, Avery?" Kaia shot back, stepping closer. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're just letting them treat you like shit and calling it 'surviving.'"
Avery let out a low chuckle, "you think I have a choice? "
"Yes!" Kaia snapped. "You always have a choice!"
"No, you don't!" Avery's voice rose again, louder this time, cracking slightly at the edges. "Not here!".The words echoed in the room, bouncing off the walls, too loud, too real.
Kaia stared at her, stunned. "Then what..what, you just let them do whatever they want to you? You just take it?"
Avery laughed but there was no humor in it. "You think I want this?"
"I think you're letting it happen!"
Avery stepped forward, her control slipping for the first time, her voice sharper, heavier, filled with something she had been holding in all week.
"You don't get it!" she snapped. "You haven't been here long enough to get it! This place doesn't care about you, Kaia! It doesn't care if you're right, or brave, or angry! It will crush you anyway!"
Kaia flinched slightly but didn't back down.
"I'm not scared of them," she said.
Avery's expression hardened instantly.
"You should be."
Kaia shook her head slowly. "No. I'm not going to live like that."
Avery let out a quiet, bitter breath. "Then you're not going to last here."
That landed.
Deeper than anything else.
Kaia's eyes widened slightly, hurt flashing across her face before she could hide it. "…you really think that?"
Avery didn't answer right away.
Because she did.
"…yeah," she said quietly.
Silence filled the space between them again, but this time it felt different.
Kaia swallowed. Her jaw tightened and she clenched her fists. "wow...wow". Avery looked away.
"So that's it then?" Kaia said, her voice quieter now, but sharper in a different way. "You're just going to stand here and tell me to be scared? To shut up? To turn into…" she gestured vaguely toward the room, "…this?"
Avery's grip tightened.
"You think I chose this?" she asked, her voice low now, controlled again but barely. She turned her back to her sister and continued to attend to the flowers in one of the vases.
"I think you stopped fighting."
Smash.
Avery dropped one of the vases. "Leave now..."
Kaia blinked. "…what?"
"Just leave, Kaia," Avery said, not looking at her. "Go before you say something that actually gets you hurt."
"I'm not—"
"LEAVE." Avery yelled.
Kaia looked at her sister, searching her face for something, anything. "Fine..." she said and turned, walking towards the door. Right before she stepped out, she stopped. "…I don't recognize you anymore," she said before loudly slamming the door shut.
Avery stood there, unmoving, her reflection faintly staring back at her through the polished glass of the vases. She threw a vase at the wall, it shattered against the wall and it had punctured the suffocating silence she had tried so hard to maintain. For a long moment, she didn't breathe. Her hands were shaking, the adrenaline of the scream still coursing through her veins, leaving a bitter, metallic taste in her mouth. She looked down at the floor, where a single, jagged piece of crystal lay near her boot. In it, she saw a fractured glimpse of her own eye, wide, panicked, and entirely unrecognizable.
Kaia's parting words felt heavier than the physical blow from the Prince. They were a verdict.Slowly, Avery sank to her knees, not caring as the smaller fragments bit into the fabric of her skirt. She began to pick up the pieces with numb fingers. One by one, she gathered them, her movements returning to that mechanical, practiced precision. She had to clean this up. If a servant saw, if a guard heard, if he found out she had lost control.
She stopped, a shard of glass drawing a thin line of red across her thumb. She didn't flinch. Avery closed her hand around the shards, the sharp edges pressing into her palm. She couldn't afford to be "Avery" here. Avery was weak. Avery was vulnerable. Avery was the girl who loved her sister more than her own life. To survive the court, she had to become the glass: transparent, cold, and capable of cutting anyone who tried to break her.
She stood up, her face smoothing into a mask of perfect, icy indifference. She wiped the blood from her thumb onto her apron and turned toward the door. Kaia was gone. She let her tears flow down. She had the silence to comfort her now.