Two years had passed since the sun first kissed her skin and Laurel was still sometimes struck by it. With her head in Sarah's lap, as they lounged in the gardens, she reached out as if to grasp it. A dark thought then crept up on her, 'would my mother be envious, if she could see me now?'

  Sarah cradled her and said, 'your mother would adore you.' She'd stopped adding 'my lady,' to everything she said a year or so ago.

  'She burned up in the sun but I don't even tan. I think she would hate me.' That face came back to her, one twisted in pain and anguish.

  'She could never hate you.'

  Laurel whipped up onto her knees at that. Her sudden movements had long ago lost their unnerving effect on her friend. 'They had to restrain her during the birth, you know? When she looked at me, it was a more hateful look than anyone has ever given me.'

  Sarah shook her head, 'that was the vampire. Your mother was human before, all that time you were in her belly, and she loved you. The older staff all talk about how lovely she was.'

  She tutted at that and stood up. 'Oh, you just don't understand.' She pointed to her eyes, almost poking them. 'I'm her daughter. That hateful savage monster was my mother, not my father's soft and loving wife. The blood that's in my veins has nightmares in it and that's the blood we share.' Feeling her mask of composure slip too far, she sighed. 'Sorry, you're right, sort of, I shouldn't have brought it up.'

  'That's okay,' her servant said, with a warm smile.

  'My lady,' someone called out, 'lunch has been brought to your bedroom.'

  'Coming,' she replied, as she tried to reason why. Looking out into the distance, she saw carriages driving down to the outer courtyard. 'Father's feting guests, it seems, and wants me out of the way.'

  Sarah said something then that she wouldn't have dared even a few months ago, 'Princess Charlotte is the more likely culprit.'

  Laurel smiled at that, though she didn't know how true it was. Her step-mother would've likely preferred to tell her in person, to rub it in. This felt more like her father's quiet shame than her open contempt. Regardless, her friend followed her and they shared a nice lunch, cucumber sandwiches, lime cordial and snacks, all clearly prepared for an afternoon of hobnobbing and light entertainment. Sarah barely had any duties and only ate her breakfast with the staff. It was actually on of the few things that made her grateful for her step-mother's crusade, as it was designed to ensure that she was rarely alone or unoccupied and, hence, never inclined to go looking for diversions in the parlour or any other part of the palace that had become forbidden to her.

  'The King is in very poor health, I hear,' the girl said, unprompted.

  'That will please our lady,' Laurel replied, with a tinge of venom in her tone. It was an open secret that her step-mother believed her father-in-law had lived far too long. 'I suppose I won't be attending the funeral.' The thought actually made her a little sad. She'd only met her grandfather a handful of times but he'd always been very sweet and gentle with her.

  'That would be outrageous!' Sarah shouted, startling herself. 'I mean, it's tradition for all a king's children, grandchildren, siblings, nephews and nieces to attend. It's the kind of thing people are brought out of exile for. Dreamlings are no exception.' Laurel gave no indication that she was offended by the comment but the girl still hastily added, 'not that you're a dreamling, it's just that, you know, it's not even something they could use against you.'

  'We'll see,' she returned, simply, before going back to finish her sandwich. Afterwards, with the gardens forbidden to them, they played house until dinner. The sounds of entertainment grew louder at that hour and they realised that the party had been brought inside. With the parlour closed to them, Laurel's half-brothers eventually turned up at her door.

  'Laurel,' Nathan moaned, 'we want to play.' She opened the door a crack but upon seeing Callum, the one she actually liked, she let them in.

  'Where are the girls?'

  'They're in the parlour with the adults, they actually like just sitting there and listening to them talk and play boring grown-up games.'

  'Alright, how about hide-and-seek?' Callum's eyes lit up at that but Nathan regarded her more sceptically.

  'No, you're too good at that. It's not fair.'

  It was worth a shot, she thought. 'Alright, then, what do you want to play?'

  'Blind man's bluff,' he said, 'but you have to be the blind man.'

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She agreed, successfully stifling a smirk, and they wasted no time. Sarah wrapped the blindfold tight around her eyes and Nathan insisted on checking it and then they were off. With the entire first floor of the palace to hide in, Laurel gave them plenty of time. With the noise emanating from the ground floor, she imagined it would've been very difficult for a human but Laurel's senses were so attuned that she could pick out the distinct patter of three different pairs of feet, scarpering in different directions and could even distinguish who they were. Still, she knew that it was no fun for them unless she gave them plenty of time to shift position, taunt her and try to sabotage one another, so she took things slow.

  Nathan stomped where she knew Sarah was hiding before pattering off. His footfalls were softened, meaning that he'd taken off his shoes. She pretended to fall for it and sprinted towards the spot. She felt the spot Sarah had chosen and pressed her hand against the wall. From her breathing, Laurel knew her friend had simply crouched down but she left, nonetheless. When this caused Sarah to badly stifle a giggle, however, she rounded on her and caught her. Next, she followed Nathan's trail through a door he'd tried to close without making a sound. She heard him walk slowly around her, hoping to leave, but she waited for him to get the door and snatched him up only once she heard the door creak.

  Finding Callum was unfortunately very easy because his nervous anticipation kept making him giggle. Once she'd picked him up, making him screech with laughter, Sarah removed her blindfold.

  'What are you doing?!' Her step-mother's voice boomed down the hall. 'Put him down,' she demanded and Laurel did as she was told.

  'We were playing,' Nathan said, 'but Laurel used her dreamling tricks to cheat.' If he was expecting his mother to care, he was disappointed with her response.

  'You should not be playing with her at all. Downstairs, both of you. At once.' The woman left Laurel with a dark look, as her sons scurried along.

  'Bitch,' she said, loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough for her to care. Sarah gasped at that and dragged her to her room. They occupied themselves with playing cards, though neither girl had much of a heart for it and, when no one came to call for lights out, they eventually fell asleep together, something they'd done only a handful of times before. A few hours later, the pair were startled awake by screams and shouting.

  'It's in the boys room!' she heard her step-mother cry, as she stepped out into the hall. A few palace guards came rushing down, where a small crowd of frightened onlookers had gathered around the door to the room that Nathan and Callum shared. Laurel rushed over there, just as a guard was tossed from the room. Some of the onlookers shrieked when they saw him and one of them fainted. The guard was a bloody mess and his head was missing. Laurel raced past them, quicker than they could react, and dove into the room where a dream creature was enjoying a gory feast. One bed was soaked in blood.

  The thing was twisted, all black and thorny limbs, about ten of them, extending from a face with tiny red eyes and an amorphous mouth with three rows of razor sharp teeth. As soon as she entered, it lunged for her. It torn into her, skin and clothes, even down to her bones in places, but she thought back with tooth and claw, gorging herself on its rancid thick black blood until it was dead. Before she would allow herself to feel the pain, she scanned the room and found Callum, crying and shivering in his bed, and she scooped him up, holding him tight and peppering him with kisses. He held onto her for dear life, so tight that his step-mother couldn't tear him away from her, as much as she tried.

  That night was it for Laurel. With Nathan's death, the walls closed in around her. She was not allowed to see her father from then on, except on the very rare occasion that he was home and his wife was not. Her remaining siblings were to be strictly avoided. She was to have her meals in her room or out of the palace and nowhere else. Her mother's room was stripped bare, and forbidden to her regardless. Sarah was to return to her regular duties and they were only allowed to spend time together for one hour a day in the late evening. If she broke any of those rules, even that privilege would be taken away. She suffered these things with a mask of perfect courtesy.

  A year passed her by before any of these restrictions were loosened. Specifically, Sarah was allowed to spend the weekends with her. 'The King is in very poor health, I hear,' the girl said one day.

  'You've probably forgotten,' Laurel said, picturing everything in her mind, 'but you said those exact words to me fourteen months ago, almost to the day.

  'Oh, well this time they say it is much more serious. He is bed-ridden and cannot speak coherently.'

  'That's sad,' she said, absently, as they stared across the clearing. Her eyes were fixed on the darkness and the tiny, flickering eyes, she saw inside.

  'Your father wants to organise another cull soon.'

  Laurel laughed at that, though she was unsure why.

  'Are you okay?'

  'I feel, more and more, like I'm sitting on the other side. One day, when he's hardened his heart, he'll sign my death warrant and burn my carcass with all the other creatures.'

  Sarah snapped at her, 'don't say that sort of thing.'

  'Alright,' she replied, fatly, as she began to wander off towards the woods.

  'Please don't go in there.'

  'That's not how it works, Sarah. You're my servant. I give the orders and you obey. Come with me, if you like.' She walked of, hoping that her friend had decided to follow her but not caring enough to check. She did not get far, however, before she heard a hurried footfall. When she turn to face it, Sarah launched at her, tackling her and wrestling her to the ground. The shock of it allowed the much weaker girl to knock her off her feet and she laughed. 'What are you doing?'

  'Stopping you,' her servant announced, as she tried to wrestle her.

  Bemused, Laurel simply tossed her aside. It went like that for the next few minutes, with Sarah diving for her and Laurel evading or overpowering her until she'd been sufficiently distracted and they began to play in earnest, chasing and grappling each other. 'We should sleep here tonight,' Laurel announced, hours later, with Sarah lying exhausted in her arms, 'under the stars.' She locked eyes with the girl, trying to see into her soul.

  A thousand thoughts seemed to pass through the girl's mind before she replied. 'I'd like that.'

  No one bothered to retrieve them and they slept in the long grass, sharing body heat, until the sun came up.