Back to Atlantis

then dropped a bunch of tomatoes in the basket. Grinning at her, he bounced on his toes. “We’ve done it!” Placing a hand valiantly on his chest, he bowed. “Thank you for helping me finish this hard quest, Lady Yasmin. Your name shall always remain in my heart.”
That was the last straw for Yasmin. She collapsed in a fit of giggles, doubling over in laughter.
Lucas looked at her, resisting for a moment before he joined in.
“I’ve never met anyone so funny!” Yasmin said as they walked back to the orphanage side by side.
They each carried a basket, and Yasmin hadn’t wanted to say goodbye anyway, so she had offered to help him with his baskets.
“Well, you’ve never met me,” Lucas said, smiling softly, completely relaxed.
“No, I guess not.” Yasmin caught Lucas’s eye.
He was looking at her with an expression of such softness that it caught her by surprise. She looked away, unused to the feeling that it gave her. Did Lucas like her? No, it was a stupid thought. They barely knew each other.
“Well, I have to go here,” Lucas said when they reached the gates. He sounded a bit sad.
“I guess you do.” Yasmin bit her lip. What was going on?
“Are you sure you don’t want to come in?” he asked again, looking hopeful. “I know it would be a lot of noise and all, but…” Lucas trailed off when he saw Yasmin shake her head.
“I had better get back now,” Yasmin said, looking up at the sky. “It’ll soon be dark.” The sun was getting lower in the sky with each passing minute, and Yasmin did not want to be outside the palace in the dark. “But I had a lot of fun,” she added hurriedly. “Maybe we can do this again sometime?”
Lucas smiled enthusiastically. “I would love that.”
His green eyes lit up like lamps when he smiled Yasmin noticed.
“See you again soon?” he asked.
Yasmin nodded and turned to leave. Halfway down the street, she turned back to see that Lucas hadn’t gone in and was watching her.
Blushing, she smiled as she walked back to the castle.

Chapter 13
Secrets hidden under
a crown
“Hello, Yasmin.” Violet smiled sweetly. “How are you this evening?”
Yasmin looked at Violet, feeling both amazed and amused. She was obviously a very good actress. “Wonderful. And very hungry. I need to talk with you,” she stated, grabbing Violet’s arm and leading her toward the library. “Do you know a secure place?”
Violet considered that for a moment. “Princess Amanda’s room, perhaps.”
“Great!” Yasmin turned away from the library and paused. “I get lost here really easily. Do you know the way”?
Violet snorted with amusement and led the way.
They walked past half familiar hallways decorated with tapestries and paintings. Yasmin was sure she recognized one of the stars but then decided it was probably nothing.
“So, how are you since the last ball?” Violet asked, trying to break the ice. She held her head high, proclaiming to the world who she was. As always, she seemed like a fairy, floating in a sweet white dress that stopped at her knees. Her pink hair was swept up into a braid that looked like a crown. Pearls were strung about her neck.
Yasmin sighed as she looked at her worn out sneakers compared to Violet’s heeled shoes. She still preferred her comfortable shoes. Poor rich people. They had no idea what a joy it was to be comfortable with flats.
“Umm, not bad,” Yasmin answered awkwardly. “How many people got hurt?”
Violet looked sad. “Around fifty were hurt pretty badly. This rebellion is out of control. I don’t know how they even got in.”
“Maybe someone let them in?” Yasmin suggested. It seemed perfectly reasonable.
Violet spun around, gasping. “No one in this palace would ever betray the royal family!” she protested, her face indignant.
Yasmin raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Whatever.”
“You don’t understand.” Violet rubbed her forehead as they kept walking.
“No. I don’t.”
“I love Atlantis,” Violet stated. “It’s my home.” She clenched her hands. “I protect it in secret, but I would give my life up to save it in a heartbeat. I help the rouge army as much as I can, and I do my best to stop the rebellion. I am even getting married to stop it.”
Yasmin paused. “You’re marrying David to stop a war? How will you being married to him make the beast stop attacking us?”
“My marriage to David will unify the fairies and the kingdom of Atlantis in friendship, and they will lend us their aid in stopping the rebellion.” Violet looked proud of what she was doing.
“That’s wrong.” Yasmin said the first thing that came to mind. “Don’t you love him?”
“I have been in love with him since I was seven, and he gave me purple cake for my birthday.” Violet smiled softly at the memory. “But I would marry him anyway. This marriage has nothing to do with love.”
Yasmin looked at Violet in pity. “Marriage has everything to do with love. I feel bad for you and David for having to go through with this.”
“We are not being forced,” Violet said icily. “If David had not wanted to marry me, he would have stopped this.”
Yasmin remembered what Princess Amanda had said about David not being able to say no to his mother. “It’s not exactly much of a choice, is it?” she asked, and knocked on Princess Amanda’s door.
“Who is it?” Amanda’s voice called from the other side of the door.
Yasmin rubbed her arm nervously. Even with a sweater, she was getting goose bumps.
“Yasmin,” she called back.
“Come in.” A male opened the door. Yasmin stepped back in surprise.
The man was taller than her by a head and a half, and while she craned her neck to look up at him, she noticed his unusual blood-red hair. When matched with his unnaturally bright green eyes, they gave him a striking look that could make any woman swoon. He looked delicate and fairy-like, but something in his eyes said he was not someone to be messed with.
“Brother!” Violet said in surprise,