Lily calmly walked through the hallways, her hands clasped in front of her. She was passing by the Azalea library when all of a sudden she heard a thud on the ground, then a small groan.

Lily peeked her head in to see Rose picking a fallen book off from the ground. Rose was wearing a short sleeved pink dress.

"Rose?" Lily called.

Rose looked up, smiling when she saw Lily. "Hi, Lily."

"What are you doing?" Lily asked, strolling in and resting her hand on one of the bookcases. Rose was about to reply, but Lily's eyes noticed the cover. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are you reading about assassins?" Lily took another glance at the bookshelf to make sure, and sure enough, the row Rose was looking at contained books about assassins.

Rose exhaled softly. She finally said, "I've been doing some thinking." Lily put one hand on her waist, a little interested. Rose continued. "Crow has been fairly quiet. Reese Henessey implied that he has decided to stop killing us. I... I feel like I know why."

Lily frowned. "What?" She asked curiously.

Rose turned her gaze to look at one of the shelved books. "Can... can you keep a secret, Lily?"

Lily's eyes bulged wide. Why is Rose acting so weird? This is so unlike her. Lily then realized that Rose was waiting for her answer, and finally replied, "It depends on what the secret is."

Rose shifted uncomfortably, clenching the book she was holding a little tighter. "I don't really want Violet to know, and Ivy and Acacia are definitely too young to hear this."

Lily sighed. Finally, she said, "Okay, I will listen."

Rose rubbed her thumb against the book spine, as though trying to stall time. She finally took a deep breath and said frankly, "Mother and Aunt Amaryllis killed the Nissisa family, except Crow." She said it a little bit quickly and softly, finally admitting the truth.

Lily didn't think she could widen her eyes any further, but she was too surprised to care. "What?" Lily squeaked. "No, that can't be true."

Rose shook her head. "The Nissisa family died in a fire, didn't they?"

"Yes, but... I don't think Mother and Aunt Amaryllis would sink so low as to kill a family of assassins..." Lily trailed off worriedly. Everyone at this point knew that both Flora and Amaryllis were impulsive women, but Lily just had a hard time picturing her mother ruthlessly killing a bunch of assassins.

Rose replied, her voice confident. "Well, they did." Rose finally felt a little relieved, as though telling Lily this had lifted a bit of weight off her shoulders.

"How can you be so sure?" Lily asked stubbornly.

Rose raised her voice slightly, clearly frustrated that Lily wasn't seeing the truth. "Because Mother asked me to help her, Lily. She asked me to help her and Aunt Amaryllis kill a family of assassins."

Lily gasped, covering her mouth in horror. She was starting to feel sick. It was like most of what she knew about her mother was all a lie.

"Why did they want to kill the Nissisa family?" Lily whispered.

"I don't know. I never asked. I was too angry at the fact that Mother wanted me to use my fire to kill someone at the time," Rose clenched the book tighter.

"You said no, then?" Lily asked after a tense silence.

"Of course I said no," Rose brought her right hand to her forehead. "I just... all I'm saying is that Crow has a right to want vengeance. We killed his family..."

"No, Mother and Aunt Amaryllis did, and now they're dead." Lily corrected, her voice turning a little cold. It was so unlike Lily to sound angry, but after hearing what Rose said, she was starting to lose respect for her mother and Amaryllis.

"Aunt Marguerite knew too," Rose commented solemnly. She saw Lily's face morph in what looked like astonishment and slight terror. Rose rephrased herself. "She found out after it happened."

Lily put her hand to her heart, sighing in relief. "Aunt Marguerite couldn't hurt a fly to save her life."

Rose opened the book to the first page and read aloud, "Assassins are unique in that they are human but have additional abilities a regular person does not." Rose swallowed slowly before continuing. "All assassins are agile and have the ability to turn their fingernails into claws. They also have enhanced hearing and enhanced vision at night. They can be injured by magical or ordinary means, but their fatal weakness is fire." Rose clenched her teeth, images of a burning down home in her mind. Snapping out of her thoughts, Rose then set the book back on the shelf. "I've never really thought much about assassins until Crow killed Mother. I just wanted to know exactly what I would have been, or am still, up against."

Lily frowned in concern. "Rose?"

"If... if Crow is done with his killing, then he killed the wrong person." Rose's lower lip quivered slightly. "It should have been me," Rose said hoarsely, her hands trembling. "I should have been the one who died, not Aunt Marguerite."

"Rose, no... you can't think that," Lily shook her head, taking Rose's hand to calm her down.

That only caused Rose to flinch. "No, Aunt Marguerite was innocent. She didn't even know, and I... I wanted to stop Mother but I... I just let it happen." Rose's eyes started to shimmer with small tears. They didn't escape her eyes, but instead swam in her eyes, a last valiant effort to keep her emotions in. "If I was just more brave enough to stand up to Mother, maybe... maybe the Nissisa family would still be alive and Mother wouldn't have died. Ivy and Acacia wouldn't have been orphans at thirteen and eleven.

Before Rose could say any more, Lily threw her arms around Rose. "Rose! None of this is your fault. Please, stop blaming yourself," Lily pleaded. "Oh goodness, Rose." She wrapped her arms tighter around Rose. "I can't believe Mother put you in such a tough position."

That seemed to be the breaking point, because the next moment Rose burst into small sobs. Lily couldn't see Rose's face, but she patted Rose's back soothingly. She had always thought Rose was never fazed by anything. Out of Lily's nineteen years, she had never seen Rose cry, which was saying something seeing that Rose had finally broken down in front of her.

If Mother never asked Rose to help her kill the Nissisa family, Rose wouldn't feel the way she does now, Lily thought.

"Rose," Lily said gently. "I know how strict Mother can be. Even though you couldn't do much to stop it, I'm glad you stood up to her by saying no. If you had helped Mother kill the Nissisa family, Crow would have killed you too by now and I c-can't deal with that. I can't bear the thought of losing you, Rose."

Rose sniffled quietly, finally returning Lily's hug. "Thank you for listening, Lily. You always seem to know the right thing to say."

"Know that I'm always here for you, Rose. Always," Lily finally withdrew from the hug, clasping Rose's shoulders in sympathy.

Rose nodded, wiping away the few tears that were on her cheeks. She smiled, feeling a little better after saying her secret to Lily. She placed the brown book she was holding back onto the shelf.

Rose clasped her hands together, her face appearing content once more. "I feel a little bad for making the mood so gloomy. I'll try to lighten the mood now. Are you excited for Aster and Acacia's birthday party?"

Lily replied, surprised. "I can't believe I almost forgot. It's next week, right?" No one could blame her, though. After everything that has happened with Crow, Reese, and Ivy, Aster and Acacia's birthday party had been the last thing on her mind. "I think you're the first person who has mentioned it to me."

"Yes, it's next week." Rose nodded. "I'm sure Amber is already making preparations." She then shrugged. "I don't even know if Aster remembers. I'll remind him when he returns." Rose then walked past Lily. She called from the door. "Thanks again for listening, Lily. I have things to do now, so I'll see you later."

"Okay," Lily called back, shooting a grin. Rose lightly smiled before leaving.

Lily glanced at the bookshelf, thinking back to Rose's birthday party. She remembered meeting Chase, that handsome and friendly boy, and how warm his hand had felt when they had danced.

Maybe I'll see Chase again at Aster and Acacia's birthday party, Lily thought dreamily.

--

Aster, Thierry, and Saige returned to the palace that evening. All of them looked fairly exhausted, especially Aster, but he still had something he wanted to do that day. He retreated to the council room as the others welcomed Thierry and Saige home.

It was now almost midnight. When Rose passed by the council room, she was surprised to see Aster hunched over the table, looking at the splayed out pieces of parchment in worry. His eyes looked heavier than usual, as though he had been staring at the table for hours.

Rose furrowed her eyebrows in concern, going inside.

Aster snapped his gaze toward her. "Oh, Rose."

Rose nodded. "Hello, Aster." She picked one of the scrolls up and glanced at it. Noticing that they were part of the laws, she asked curiously, "You do know how late it is, right? Why are you looking at the laws now?"

Aster sighed, rubbing his forehead to relieve the headache he had from looking at the laws. "The laws need to be changed." When he still saw a puzzled look on Rose's face, he elaborated. "Mother changed the laws during her reign. After visiting the lower towns, I intend to change them as soon as I can."

"Well, there's always tomorrow, you know," Rose said slowly.

Aster shook his head. "I'm almost done. If I put it off until tomorrow I'm going to forget what I wanted to change."

Rose saw Aster gesture to a long scroll of parchment. She leaned over to see that it was in Aster's scripted handwriting. He had been writing his own set of laws, most likely starting from scratch and looking at his mother's laws to see which ones to keep the same and which ones to change into his own.

Aster then picked up the quill that was beside the parchment and wrote some more text down. Finally satisfied, he set the quill down and rubbed his hands together.

"I think that should be good," Aster said to himself. "I'll make sure to have Jeffrey look over them tomorrow." He then smiled at Rose halfheartedly and said, "Goodnight, Rose."

"Aster, wait," Rose called before Aster could leave. Aster tilted his head. "Is something wrong? You don't just look tired. You look... troubled."

Aster opened his mouth to protest, but then shut it, pressing his lips together in a distressed manner.

"I saw the lower towns, and I realize just how ignorant I have been since I've been king," Aster started. "I've been worrying about Reese and Crow way too much when I should have been worrying about my own people."

Rose gave a sympathetic look. "What happened?"

Aster sighed, massaging his temple in worry. "I spoke with a lot of citizens from the lower towns. I found out how bad things became after Uncle Basil died. They... they blamed Aunt Flora and Mother, especially Mother." He glanced at a chair and decided to sit down, resting his arms on the table. "I could feel their judgment, Rose. They don't see me as King Aster. They see me as Queen Amaryllis's son." His eyes darkened when he stated that part, obviously unhappy. "Looking at Mother's laws, I don't want to be seen as my mother's son. I just want to be seen as me."

Aster buried his face in his hands. Rose placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Aster..." Rose tried, not really sure what to say.

"Do you want to know what the worst part was?" Aster muttered. He put his hands down and looked Rose in the eye. "Mostly everyone told me that Aunt Flora and Mother's deaths have gave them a better king, but if I choose to execute Crow when the time comes, then I will be just as bad as the both of them." Rose opened her mouth in surprise. "They believe Crow did the right thing, killing Aunt Flora and Mother, and I... now that I look at Mother's laws. I... I think they're right, Rose." He gave an exasperated sigh. "I don't know what to do."

Rose gave a thoughtful look. "Well, I don't know if killing ever counts as 'the right thing', but Crow does have the right to want vengeance against Mother and Aunt Amaryllis. They did kill his family, after all."

Aster immediately straightened, as though struck by lightning. "What?" he exclaimed in genuine surprise.

It was Rose's turn to be surprised, her eyes going wide. "You didn't know?"

Aster stood up from his chair, no longer looking tired. "Why would I know that? The better question is how do you know?"

Rose spluttered, obviously taken aback. "Mother wanted me to help them burn down their home, but I said no," she said for the second time that day. Honestly, it felt really weird saying that so casually. "I thought Aunt Amaryllis would have told you by now, and everyone just silently agreed never to mention it."

"No, I didn't know." Aster shook his head. He then frowned, clearly upset. "I never knew Mother killed the Nissisa family. I had assumed that Crow killed because Reese told him to, but... I didn't know this." His face turned grim. "I still can't believe Mother would really do something like that. If I execute Crow now, knowing this, that makes me the bad guy."

Rose clasped her hands together. "Are you thinking of pardoning him?" She asked warily, trying to read Aster's expression. "Reese told you that an Azalea killed his mother, but you decided to execute him." In that moment, Aster genuinely looked like he had no clue what he should do.

"Reese is different. Reese wants all of us killed for the actions of one Azalea. Crow, if what you say is true, only wanted Aunt Flora and Mother dead. I don't know why he killed Aunt Marguerite too, but at least he's been quiet." Aster sighed. "I honestly don't know," Aster admitted. "If I pardon Crow, that may give people the wrong idea that it's okay to commit regicide. Pardoning him would also be a dishonor on Aunt Marguerite, too. On the other hand, I know that if I was in his place, I would want to avenge my family too." He then threw his hands up dismissively. "I'll think about it more over the days. Right now, I just want to sleep."

Rose gave a curt nod. Her eyes then snapped a little more alert, remembering something. "Oh, I almost forgot. Are you excited for your birthday next week?"

Aster laughed, almost scoffing. "I'm surprised you remember. I'm actually a little more worried than excited, to be honest."

Rose cracked a small smile at Aster's comment. "You're turning nineteen. Acacia is turning twelve. Why are you so worried?"

"The lunar eclipse is next week too, the day after to be exact." Aster reminded her.

"Oh right," Rose sighed. She then said in a reassuring manner. "We should be fine, Aster."

"I really hope so," Aster nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, I'm sure we're both tired. I'll see you tomorrow, Rose. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Aster," Rose smiled, her eyes twinkling.

Aster gave another nod. They both left the council room together before parting in opposite directions to their bedrooms.