The Liars (7 page)

Right. Your grandmother.

“But – but – I can’t!” She threw her hands into the air. “I don’t know these people.” Her eyes darted towards all the maids and waiters walking around in the halls and immediately added, “I mean, I feel like I don’t know these people. I lost my memory, you know.”

“You didn’t read up?” He asked dryly. He didn’t look surprised.

“Uh. Well. I tried to.”

“We have a problem.”

And that was how she ended up in the study area in her room with her “brother” pacing back and forth in the ungodly hours of morning.

“You won’t run into people too much, except during parties.” He told her. “Even dinners tend to be small, but for the next week until everyone leaves, they’ll be hectic.”

“Problem solved, then.” Memory rubbed her eyes. “Can I go to sleep?”

“No. You need to at least know name and the age of each person. And what your relationship with them should be.”

“Should?”

Prince Cassian sat down in front of her, hands clasped.

“Careful.” He whispered. “Even though the maids are gone, there are eyes and ears everywhere. Don
’t ask questions, since I need to be quick. Males aren’t allowed on this floor.”

“Sucks for you, then.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll give you a basic rundown.”

Memory, eager to go to sleep in that fluffy bed of hers,
nodded.

“Queen Beryl and King Ara have six children. King Darius, the eldest son, Tsavorite, Tourmaline–”

“Hold up. I thought there were five?”

He frowned. “Now you decide to think. Legally, well, in the family register, there are five. King Darius, Tsavorite, Tourmaline, Chrysander, and
Zoisite, in order from oldest to youngest. But…” He pursed his lips. “The sixth, Ruby, is a secret. She was born after Tourmaline but has severe mental disabilities.”

Memory was no longer sleepy.
Was that the woman who complimented my nose?
“So. She’s not officially part of the family?”

“No.”

That fired Memory into irritation. “Did Queen Beryl kick her out? Is that what you do? Kick out useless people? I bet Ruby is probably the sanest out of all of you.”

Prince Cassian
held up a finger, angry. “Careful with what you say, Jade.”

Right. I’m supposed to be a part of this family.
“Sorry. I just…I had a friend when I was younger.” She admitted, slightly embarrassed. “She wasn’t born normal. But who said what’s normal? She was really happy. And fun to be around. So…”

“Ruby wasn’t kicked out.”
Prince Cassian’s expression softened. “She lives here but isn’t allowed to leave the palace.”

Memory felt a deep sadness for the woman, but refused to admit. She pushed Cassian to keep talking.

“Tsavorite married early to Malden Jackson. She technically lives at the Jackson estate overseas but is visiting for a couple months. Her son, Myron, is two years older than me. He’s twenty-three.”

“Did he and Malden come for Prince Quincy’s funeral?” Memory asked, interested.
Prince Cassian nodded.

“They’re busy people, so they left immediately afterwards. Stay away from Myron.” Even at
Memory’s questioning look, he didn’t elaborate. “Tourmaline was engaged to Jace Jackson, Malden’s brother, almost fifteen years ago but refuses to marry him. She doesn’t get along very well with Tsavorite.”

“I could see that.” Memory responded with amusement, recalling the two’s constant bickering at the dinner table.

“She has many suitors. While she’s not allowed to bring them inside the palace except for formal occasions, she does anyway. As long as you don’t go near her private quarters you won’t run into them.” His cheeks reddened a bit, and Memory suspected he’d walked into his aunt and her boyfriend more than once.

I’d love to hear the story behind that.

“Ruby, as I said, is not…well. She’s nice enough but is like a child. Socially awkward. She’s usually wandering around the palace. Don’t say the word ‘pot’ around her. For some reason it causes her to, how do you commoners say it? Freak out?”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt to use common slang. He only scoffed and kept going.

“Chrysander is the one with the goatee. Twenty-eight and currently engaged to Topaz. You will meet her later.” Prince Cassian coughed. “Last is Zoisite. She’s about ten years old.”

Even bug
eyed couldn’t describe Memory as she jumped out of her seat. “That little girl with the fluffy dress?
She’s
your aunt?!”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You should know this from high school. Tell me, how exactly did you graduate?”

“Ten? TEN?”

“Queen Beryl had children into her late fifties.”

“Still.” Memory sputtered. “You have an aunt that’s eleven years younger than you. Doesn’t that worry you?”

“No. She’s quite the spitfire.” Standing up, he bid her goodbye, amused that she was still shocked and left. Memory
still stood in the study area.

“TEN!”

This time, she listened to
Prince Cassian’s orders and stayed inside the room. And there was a lot to do.

She watched all the movies she wanted,
and even picked up a book at one point. She twirled around, wondering when she’d get her crown and slept as much as she could. She didn’t join the family for dinner any longer, and no one said anything, so she stayed cooped up in the room. And quite frankly, she was happy with it.

Until Diana said that she had to resume her studies, which were online. So instead of watching the nest episode of her favorite show, she had to listen to lecture after lecture on theoretical physics and the applications of mathematics. Which made her fall asleep more than once.

So after nearly fourteen days of being a hermit, she had nothing to do but go outside her room again. Diana was nowhere to be seen so Memory left wearing the shirt and shorts she’d brought from Whecombe Pass.

The halls were quiet. Since she’d only been in the halls twice (one going to that blasted dinner, another coming back from it), confusion wasn’t a stranger. She wandered from door to door, hoping to hear anything interesting, but when there was nothing but silence she went to the next. It was
when she hit the last door at the very end of the hall–which was open–when she saw something interesting.

She knocked, but when no one answered, she pushed it open wider. It revealed a sickly woman
lying down on a bed, yelling orders at maids who were rushing around the room following them the best they could.

“You!” The old, sick woman pointed at a small girl in the corner. “Get some flowers! Ugh, this room smells horrible.”

It was then her eyes landed on Memory. And they instantly widened.

“Stop!” She cried. All the maids froze. Her sickly hand unraveled a finger towards Memory. “Come.”

Memory pointed at herself, eyebrows raised. “Me?”

“Yes, you.” The woman coughed. All that yelling couldn’t be good for her. “Your name?”

“Um. I’m Jade. Are…” Memory’s heart pounded so loud she was sure everyone could hear it. “Are you my grandmother?”

The old woman tried to smile but start coughing. One maid rushed to her, helping her sip some water, and then
curtsied to Memory as she left.

Memory didn’t ask for permission as she sat down. She’d never met her grandparents, but if she did, she was pretty sure they’d look like this.

Queen Beryl was small. Extremely small. Her hands were smaller than Memory’s fists. Her hair was nonexistent, and her eyes looked thin because of the wrinkled skin around them. Memory couldn’t spot her lips, either, just a slit where the mouth was supposed to be. And there weren’t any teeth except for a single golden canine.

She’s kinda adorable.

“How can you sit down without asking me, Jade?”

Memory shot up. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t think.”

The old woman chuckled. “You may sit down.”

That was pointless,
she thought bitterly as she sat down, watching her.

“Why did you not visit me earlier?” Queen Beryl asked in a hoarse voice. “I heard of your return. Yet you did not come.”

After moments of wracking her brain for a good excuse, she came up with just the perfect one.

“My brother wouldn’t let me. He thought I was sick from traveling so I stayed in my room.”

“I see.” She reached out and took Memory’s rough hands in hers, gripping them tightly. “You do not have the hands of a princess.”

Paling, Memory laughed nervously. “Yeah. Um.”

“That is to be expected. You did not grow up here, unfortunately.” Queen Beryl touched her face, letting her fingertips stroke her cheek. “But I do think you can recover. You were always stubborn, Jade.”

“Did you miss me?” Memory said, trying to turn the conversation around when she realized it was a question too forward to ask the king’s mother. “I mean…”

“No, it is alright. The bluntness is to be expected.” Queen Beryl croaked. “I do not miss people. It is not queenly.” She paused. “But I did yearn for your presence, yes.”

“Well, I hope my dear brothers kept you company while I was gone. They can be dull, I know.” Memory joked. “But they’re good people–”

“They are not.” Queen Beryl said firmly. “Men. Evil and power hungry, that is all they are.”

There was no way she could respond to that in a way that wouldn’t get her kicked out, so Memory just smiled.

“Yeah. They can be weird.”

Queen Beryl started coughing, and Memory lunged for the glass of water on the nightstand next to her before the maid could and helped the old woman drink every last drop. When she was done, she patted her hand gratefully.

“I must sleep. Go, Jade.”

Memory knew she was supposed to be doing something to make the queen love her, which was the point of this scheme, so in an effort to make an impression, she leaned forward and kissed Queen Beryl on the forehead. As expected, she looked horrified. Memory shrugged.

“That’s what I did to the people who took care of me every night.” She explained. “Sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“N-no.” Queen Beryl smiled although Memory knew it was out of pain. “
Leave me be.”

Nodding, Memory left, wondering if that kiss had done more harm than good.

She was on her way back to her room when Diana burst out, huffing.

“There you are!” She exclaimed, out of breath. “I thought I had lost you!”

Here we go again.
“Diana, I’m…um, well I’m going to explore the palace.”

“Nonsense! Not without me you won’t. Or a guard. Would you like to call–”

Unable to stand an additional second in her presence, Memory dashed off, running towards the elevator. Diana shouted at her but Memory waved at her with a wide smile as the doors shut.

Her room was on the second floor, while the males’ rooms were on the first. The underground levels would take her to the main building, but Diana would already suspect her to be there. And for an old woman, she was crazily athletic. She’d probably make it down the stairs and to the parlor minute
s before Memory did through the underground stairway.

First floor it is.

The first floor was exactly like the second, with wide hallways and gold and red furnishings. Except, at that moment, one of the double doors on the right opened and a half-clothed Edward walked out.

And he shrieked.

Memory whipped around, laughing.
The crown prince, shrieking? Why didn’t I come here before?

“Jade.” He started in a serious voice, pretending he hadn’t been shrieking like a little girl. “I do not know if you are aware, but females are forbidden–”

“Is there a problem–oh, Jade…”

Memory hesitantly turned around. Cassian had just come out of the adjacent room. And he was fully clothed thankfully.

He blinked, raising an eyebrow.

“Is everything alright?”

Immediately, Diana with a broomstick came to mind and Memory worriedly looked at the elevator.

“Not really. Diana’s going to kick me for skipping studies. Bye!” Memory dashed past the two brothers and exited the east wing.

The cold breeze that hit her was a reminder that she needed to wear thicker clothes. It wasn’t that it was windy, just colder than she was used to.

Instead of running towards the fountain where Diana – and anybody, by extension – could see her from inside the palace, she ran in the opposite direction towards the stables. She encountered Tourmaline, the redhead, and Zoisite sitting around small table sipping tea but paid them no heed.
Moments later, though, she heard someone run up to her and tug the sleeve of her shirt. Memory looked down.

“Why are you running like a crazy person?” The little girl asked. She wasn’t wearing frills but still sported a garish dress, complete with lace and ribbons.