Royally Screwed

The boy managed to sneak back into the palace unseen, walking down the halls in search of Sierra or any trace of where she may have been. He followed the wet footprints in the red carpet, them leading towards the spiral staircase and Kellin climbed the stairs to go up to the second floor of the palace and begin looking around for any signs of Sierra. He glanced down the hall, spotting a servant exiting the room with a small laundry basket in their hands filled with wet scarlet clothes. Sierra was wearing a scarlet dress and a shawl. . .that must be the room she was in. Kellin quickly walked over, water rolling down his face and his feet leaving wet footprints as he walked to the door.

Kellin gave a gentle knock, "Sierra?"

No response and Kellin gave a slightly louder knock, "Sierra? You left your shoes. . ." Kellin bit his lip, closing his eyes and placing a hand on the golden handle to push the door opened. He waited for a gasp as he stepped inside, a scream telling him to get out but he heard none. In fact, he didn't hear anything and he opened his eyes. The room was quiet, small and the closet door was closed. Kellin glanced around, wondering where could the girl have gone to when this room wasn't so big but his eyes landed on something on the table that made his jaw drop.

A soaked, brown wig.

S-Surely that can't be-

The closet door opened all of a sudden, Kellin head whipping to see what looked like, well, a boy, standing there in women's underwear, brown eyes widening in shock and Kellin's open mouth let out a loud scream. The boy panicked, running over and slamming hands on Kellin's mouth as his foot swung to close the door shut.

"No no! Kellin, don't scream! Shh!" the boy plead. The boy sounded exactly like. . .Sierra. How did he knew his name? Who was this guy?

Then Kellin looked into those soft and caring brown eyes, that sorry but sweet smile. . .just like Sierra's.

And everything clicked.

The hand was slowly removed from Kellin mouth, his lower lip trembling as he stared into that plain and shy face.

"Y-You're a boy."

"N-no! No, I'm not. Kellin, I'm Sierra, I'm a girl, I really am!"

"W-what? But you look like a. . .Huh?" Kellin asked, dumbfounded.

Sierra sighed, running her fingers through her short, boyish hair. "I guess you have a lot of questions now, huh?" she asked and another furious shake of the head before she turned around and grabbed a robe hanging on one of the coat hangers. She tugged it on her body, tying the belt around her waist before sitting down on the bed and patting the spot next to her. Kellin slowly moved away from the door and began to walk over to the bed, sitting down beside the girl and staring at her face still in complete shock. "Well, uh. . .I'm Sierra Kusterbeck, yeah and uh. . .I really don't want to be a consort."

". . .Uh-huh," Kellin said and Sierra gave a small smile.

"And well. . .I, uh. . .I'm not a girl, not really. Well, physically, I am but mentally, dude? Nah."

Kellin stared on through, confused. "What?"

Sierra sighed, "Alright, let's start from the beginning."

Kellin nodded and Sierra gave a polite smile and spoke on, "I should probably tell you about my family. I had a brother, his name was Beau--"

"Had?" Kellin asked, eyes wide. So that's why she was so touchy about the subject of her brother during etiquette class. The girl nodded and continued, "He used to teach me lots of things even when we were little. He taught me how to surf, how to skateboard, how to wrestle, how to hunt for animals. Stuff like that. We were very close and we did lots of stuff together. So, uh, I got into those things, I acted like a guy. I had my hair cut like this and I got it dyed plenty of times, I got tattoos, I got piercings too. I grew some muscle and I sort of had the build of a guy. Hey, I even wore a corset to keep my chest from growing."

Sierra took a deep breath, "I kept acting like a guy long after m-my brother. . .died. He was into wrestling and one of his opponents, he snapped Beau's neck and took it way too far and. . ."

She tried to choke back a sob and Kellin gave the girl a sympathetic look, "Hey, Sierra, it's alright. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. It's fine, really."

She sniffled and kept talking, "N-no. I'm going to tell you the rest of my story." She wiped the tears from her eye before they fell and continued, "S-so. . .Uh, yeah. I kept the piercings and stuff as a tribute to him, in his memory. I mean, I still wanted them but well, he's all the more reason to want to keep them. My father was okay with me acting all unladylike and shit because I wasn't supposed to become a candidate for consort to His Highness. My sister, Samantha was. But uh, Samantha ended up running away with a guy from San Isidro. I've never seen her since. So uh, my father had no choice but to push me to become consort. He had me take lessons, remove my piercings, slim down and well, I still have tattoos but they're down in my back so no one can see them. My hair hasn't grown back yet so I have to wear that wig."

Kellin nodded slowly, "So you don't love Vic?"

"No, I don't. I don't want to marry him. I don't want to marry at all. If I had it my way, I'd continue what I've been doing with my brother before he was gone. But," she sighed, "I can't have it my way."

"Why not? Tell your father what you want to do. He'll understand. You should be the one in control of your life, not him," Kellin said confidently.

"I have to at least try to marry Prince Vic. For my family's sake. We're going broke because of everything the Preciados took from us. We don't have much left. If I marry Vic, we can get our land back."

Kellin's eyes widened, "The Preciados take stuff from your family?"

Sierra nodded and frowned, "Yes, they do. They always find a way to take from us. They're closely tied to an active member of the Parliament. Whenever they want something, they twist their words, wicked creatures they are, and they take it."

Kellin froze. Preciados were bad people. So that meant Jaime wasn't really in love with Vic, all Jaime wanted was the money and fame that went with marrying a prince. Kellin shook his head, Vic didn't deserve someone as selfish as Jaime, Vic deserved better. He deserved far better.

"What if Vic finds out that this whole girly thing is just an act and you're like, mentally a guy?"

"You can't tell His Highness about this, no one about this. Please Kellin, I have to do this for my family," Sierra pleaded quietly.

"But it isn't fair to Vic to keep this from him. What if he does fall in love with you, this mask you're keeping up, and you don't really love him? You'll hurt him," Kellin said worriedly and Sierra gave him that gentle smile. And Kellin never really knew what was behind it, he just knew it was different and unlike the smiles Sierra has been giving. It was the same as the smile he gave when he and Vic were having tea, exactly the same.

"You know, I don't think I have to worry about the prince falling in love with me," Sierra said and Kellin stared before giving a small nod.

"Right, he's probably too stubborn to even pick a consort he'll settle down with," Kellin commented and Sierra laughed.

"If you say so. . .I need to be going now, before the Preciados arrive and my father gets into another scuffle."

"Why are they coming?" Kellin asked and Sierra rolled her eyes.

"I told you, they like to win. So they keep coming around the palace and Jaime just hopes he can hold Prince Vic's attention long enough to actually get through to him." She took her clothes and put them on.

Kellin bit his lip at the thought of that, Vic would probably run away again and try to find Kellin. And he wasn't up for another little quarreling banter between the marquess and how he absolutely was not a princess. Sierra took the heels, slipping them onto her feet and wobbling at first but regaining balance. She turned to look over his shoulder, giving Kellin one last little smile before taking a step forward and walking out of the bedroom door. Kellin looked around, letting out a small sigh and falling back into the soft bed.

And wondered what else crazy could possibly happen in the next 24 hours.