Selene was not sure where the others had run off to, but as one of the few party members who actually knew their way around a castle, she found her way to one of the rooms where nobody normally went.
Once she was out of sight, she rolled up her sleeve and canceled her skill before her last three mutation points faded.
Her arm grew and changed, returning to its purple and black color.
Selene took a moment to stare at it.
She had done that so many times over the years, always with the same silent question on her face.
Why?
She walked over to a nearby seat and sat down.
When she was ten, twelve, or even fourteen, the arm had been a hindrance, but not actively in the way.
Even as she traveled, it had led to complications and tense explanations, but nothing truly terrible had come of it.
However, whether it was traveling with a group for a while or even just the recent dance lessons, Selene had been forced to confront a reality she hated.
She was stuck with this arm for life.
She could not get married.
Could not have children.
All of it was out of reach as long as this thing was attached to her.
She continued to stare as the thought she had started having weeks ago resurfaced.
Mutation could regrow limbs.
So what was stopping her from losing the arm for a little while and just growing it back?
It was a curse with benefits, sure.
But it was still a curse.
Selene tried to push the thought back, but images of dancing kept replaying in her mind.
The dress.
The careful movements.
The effort it took to hide one part of herself so everyone else could pretend not to see it.
Her arm always returned to this.
"Hey, have you all seen Selene?" Liora's voice came from the hallway. "Jax was asking everyone to meet up in the garden, and he's acting weird, so I was wondering if you saw her come this way."
Selene snapped back to reality.
There was a handkerchief in her mouth.
Sweat ran down her face.
Her right hand was clamped around her left shoulder, fingers aching from pressing into the rough, jagged material of her mutated skin.
Her left shoulder throbbed.
She had been trying to rip her arm off.
Selene stared down at her hands for a moment.
Then Liora opened the door.
"Selene, are you in—oh, there you are. Jax wanted us in the courtyard."
Selene looked up at her and quickly stood.
"S-Sorry. I didn't know you all were looking for me. L-Let's go."
Her usual stutter made her sound more anxious than she intended.
All because of this stupid body of hers.
A part of her wished she had been born with something el—
"Hey, Sal," Liora said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She pressed the back of her other hand against Selene's forehead. "You okay?"
"Fine, fine," Selene said, trying to brush it off before Liora could start worrying. "Just… always thinking."
She started toward the door, and Liora followed.
"Yeah, I get that," Liora said. "Apparently, guys can just turn their brains off for a while. Like, no thoughts. Just silence. I mean, have you seen Jax spacing out? I swear, his eyes point in two different directions. It's so dopey."
Selene nodded along, still thinking back to what she had almost done.
When they stepped outside, she could see Kaelen, Thalia, and Jax in the garden.
Kaelen sat oddly far from the main table.
Aiden started to run over, but he paused as if surprised by Jax's face before walking the rest of the way with a worried expression.
Looking out the window themselves, Selene and Liora saw it too.
Jax's normal grin and mischievous look were gone.
In their place was a cold, simmering anger.
The kind of look someone wore when they were calmly planning a murder.
Liora and Selene exchanged a glance before opening the window.
Liora drifted down.
Selene landed with a heavy sound, her legs absorbing the impact before they both jogged over.
Jax sat there, glare fixed on Kaelen.
Kaelen refused to meet his gaze, wearing a guilty expression.
"Heeeeeeeey, Jax," Liora said carefully. "You good, dude?"
"You will want to sit down to hear this," Jax said coldly. "And I ask that you hold off on attacking Kaelen until after I finish."
Liora and Selene grabbed seats around the small table.
"Y-You say attack like you think we are going to kill him," Selene said worriedly, glancing at the others.
…..
Selene was going to kill him.
Aiden held her under the arms, his feet dragging through the dirt as he tried to pull her back.
Kaelen was already sitting in a nearby bush due to Liora's attack, and Thalia was currently suspending him in the air like a punching bag for Selene.
"Selene! Selene!" Aiden pleaded. "We are actively at his family home! There is no getting away with murder here!"
Selene had seen Aiden's reaction when Jax explained everything.
His expression had shifted from surprise to coldness as well.
It was only after Kaelen started trying to justify himself that Thalia, Liora, and Selene had sprung into action.
Jax had stayed seated, seemingly uncaring whether Kaelen lived or died.
Aiden seemed more worried about the consequences than Kaelens life.
However, the more Kaelen yelled, the less Aiden seemed to try stopping her.
"You act as if I left her at the altar out of cruelty!" Kaelen shouted. "But isn't it crueler to live a lie? To pretend love for the sake of appeasing families, nations, or court gossip?"
"What's cruel is you lying to her that you wanted the marriage when you had no intention of going through with it!" Liora yelled, jabbing a finger at Kaelen.
Selene glanced behind him.
The duchess and duke stood in the doorway.
Part of her expected them to emerge and come running out to stop the party.
Instead, they watched with tired sadness on their faces.
"I told her what she wanted to hear because everyone wanted the union to happen," Kaelen yelled. "But not one of them saw me. Not truly."
White and golden flames burned away at the strings that bound him, and he landed on the ground.
"Kaelen," Aiden said, a surprising sadness in his voice, "your family and everyone here almost died because you couldn't just tell the princess you didn't love her."
For a moment, Selene was confused.
Why did Aiden sound like that after what Kaelen had done?
Then she understood.
Kaelen had been one of Aiden's first friends.
Aiden, Kaelen, Liora, and Jax had been the original four for a while before Selene joined them.
In a way, Aiden was seeing an ugly new face on a friend he had literally risked his life for.
"She didn't love me!" Kaelen yelled. "Not really. She loved the idea of me. The priest. The noble. The ornament on her arm."
He pointed a finger at them like they were the ones responsible.
"I waited. I prayed. I begged for clarity, and Freyungen answered when everyone else acted like I should be excited. Do you know what she gave me? A blessing. Not to bind me, but to free me."
"S-So you couldn't even act the part?" Selene yelled, fury burning in her voice. "Nobles aren't always in marriages where love is there at the beginning, but you nearly got your siblings killed because you couldn't even put on an act!"
She could feel mutations trying to occur.
But she lacked the energy for them to take shape.
"True love is not a performance," Kaelen snapped. "It is divine recognition. And none of them, not a single suitor, could look through my charm, my mask, and see me. The goddess sees me. She chooses me."
He stamped his foot as if trying to pound his point into the dirt.
"So yes, I left. I left because settling would have been sacrilege."
Jax stood and walked over.
"Kaelen Therindor," he said, raising one paw, "you have betrayed the trust of myself and the rest of your party members. For that reason, I will hold a vote to expel you from this party. Those in favor, raise their hands."
"If anyone feels betrayed," Kaelen hissed, venom in his voice, "perhaps they should ask why they needed the marriage more than I did."
No one moved.
"I will not apologize for choosing truth over comfort, no matter how inconvenient it is for your sensibilities."
The words startled Selene.
But nobody backed down.
One by one, they all stood beside Jax with their hands raised.
Kaelen looked around in bewilderment and surprise, as if he could not imagine they would dare to kick him out.
"The vote is almost unanimous, Kaelen," Jax said. "You are no longer a member of our party, association, quest, or otherwise."
Aiden shook his head.
"On what grounds?" Kaelen yelled. "We all know a party member can't be kicked out unless there is a reason, and emotions aren't one of them."
He started stomping toward Aiden.
Aiden did not step back.
Instead, he stood there and stared Kaelen down.
Despite the height gap of a few inches, they seemed eye to eye.
"Cowardice," Aiden said. "Cowardice toward your family. Cowardice toward those who relied on you and co—"
Kaelen's hand whipped around and struck Aiden across the face.
Aiden's head jerked from the slap.
His glasses flew off, the left lens breaking against the cobblestones.
Aiden looked back at Kaelen.
Kaelen pointed a shaking finger at him.
"You don't get to lecture me about cowardice, Aiden. None of you can. You're all more cowardly than I ever could be!"
He gestured to all of them.
"If I recall our fight with the Blood Trent, you were so scared you stood there watching Jax bleed out!"
Aiden's face went still.
"Jax is so preoccupied with his greed and alcohol that he almost let Liora and me die! Liora is so desperate to prove herself competent, but she couldn't see through the mask either. Not that any of you could!"
Liora flushed red at the comment.
Rage and regret crossed her face.
Selene remembered the bathhouse, where Liora had confessed that she wanted to ask Kaelen out but worried that inter-party romance would only lead to trouble.
"Thalia is so stupid that she got tricked by that pompous brat Ymer and only got to join our party because I voted for her! Because I convinced all of you!"
Kaelen's gaze snapped to Selene.
"And let's not forget the freakshow over here, screaming from a dream and needing Aiden to talk her down."
Selene froze.
"I am no coward!" Kaelen yelled. "If anything, you are the cowards, and you're lucky I decided to give you the time of da—!"
Kaelen was cut off by a hand grabbing the back of his head and slamming his face into the ground.
His father and mother stood behind him, both wearing sad expressions.
Kaelen lay unconscious on the ground.
The duke turned to the party, and everyone stepped back in surprise.
Then Duke Alvin silently dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
"I wish to apologize to each of you," he said, "for the insults and lies my son has told you."
They all stared in surprise and bewilderment.
Then a single blue system announcement appeared before them.
Party member Kaelen has been expelled from your party.
Ex-party member Kaelen will no longer receive the benefits of being in a party with you.