XVI · Tara [5]

Mass release: 10/15

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Tara Chione Crowther Abdelaal

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I couldn't help grinning, sharp canines in display, when I finally understood what she knows. "Not the Mamba Court's King, no," I purred, and by their shock, they definitely did not expect me to show no resistence. "But their daughter is here," I added.

"Cleopatra," she said, and this time, the headmaster looked angry. "She's the firstborn child of the Mamba Court, isn't she?"

I couldn't help side-eying Micah, whose eyes were on mine, chaotic and burning, "Yes, Cleopatra is the Crowned Princess of the Mamba Court," then I turned to the headmaster, "not me. But I'm her half-sister. Took you long enough, uh. You know, I used to feel insecure about my acting," I finally smiled, a genuine smile, "but you got me feeling like I could ever get an Oscar. You all fell for it so easily."

"Why?" Micah hissed. "Why did you do this?"

I bit my bottom lip and turned to him, "I had no other choice, I had no way to go to my dad's people, my dad had died, I was alone and on the streets of Wales, I had to keep moving from places because," I clenched my jaw and stared up at the ceiling and back to the headmaster. "How much do you know?"

"Is Chione your name?" She asked instead.

I blinked, feeling my cheeks hot, "Gods, no."

"No?" Violetta gasped.

"No," I turned to her, then to the headmaster. "Nerin prohibited me from using my name in this... act. She is my birth mother, but I'm a bastard, and well, it's complicated. My real name is Tara," I played with my hair that's still pitch black thanks to the glamour magic I'm using, which I've been using since I was 9 years old. "I'm Tara," after a second, I leaned in and offered the headmaster my hand, "Tara Crowther."

She stared at my hand, swallowed, then took it, "Tara."

"Yes, T-A-R-A, Tara," I nodded and when she released my hand, I brought it back to my hair that's also looking shorter than it actually is, around my shoulders and straight. "Did you also learn that Chititi is the 2nd Prince of the Mamba Court?"

Sigh, "Yes. Why did they lie to us, Tara?" She asked.

I let out a sigh of relief, finally hearing someone call me by my name without an offensive tone. "To make you see Cleopatra with better eyes, as well as to enhance how everyone sees the Mamba Court. Everyone had a different view of the royal family before, my mission was to... make that worse, but in a way you would all hate and blame me for it," I side-eyed Micah, "that's why I studied all of you, I had to know what I had to do to make you all hate me, and not even consider that I had a good side," then I focused on the headmaster again. "I was 9 years old when Nerin found me, I knew she had abandoned me with my dad, so I didn't trust her."

"Why did you go then?" She frowned.

"Because I was," sealed and vulnerable, "helpless. When she offered me a roof, food, and health care, as well as education, I accepted it. It was more than I had at the time, and because of the location of the Mamba Court, nothing could reach me there," no demons. "It was safe. But I was aware of how Nerin and her husband hated me, and only took me in to save Cleopatra's image, as well as to help Chititi have a better one too. They gave me one year to learn everything a royal 9-year-old should, as well as to learn how to be a Princess, because they wanted me in here by the time I turned 10."

"In May 3rd right?" The headmaster asked.

I bit my bottom lip, "I'm actually from August 8th."

"You're from August 8th?" She frowned. "That would put you in Sophomore year, with Chian. You're the youngest in your class."

I blushed, "They couldn't have me in a different class as Cleopatra, so they faked it, if I was born in May, I would be in her year, as I am. They needed me to have the same classes as her, she was the focus, not her brother, as she's the heiress. If I had all of her classes, I would be able to," I paused, taking a deep breath, "give her all of my tests and assignments without anyone realizing she was doing mine and I was doing hers," I said it all too quickly, dropping the bomb.

A long silence stretched out between us.

"You are the top 2," she mumbled, haunted.

"Technically?" I chuckled anxiously. "I'm a genius."

"You... are a genius," she looked even more haunted.

"Well, yes, I think so," I bit my bottom lip.

Another long and agonizing silence took over.

Oh, Gods, I'm uncomfortable. I'm so uncomfortable. I'm so bloody uncomfortable, I feel like crawling out of my own skin. I don't think I've ever felt so uncomfortable in my life.

"You played me," Micah accused me.

"It was an assignment," I rolled my eyes, "and they gave me gold for it. Like, literal gold. Not that much in their eyes, but it was enough for me. Man, I would even kiss Veysal Valiyev," the ugliest guy in the academy, from senior year, a hawk shifter, "if you gave me 10 gold for it," and to my shock, Dean burst out laughing at that, probably because he's from his class. "Oh, I mean it."

"You ain't going to kiss that freak," Micah snapped.

"If nobody pays me, no, but if someone did, I would." Before he could say anything, I said, "That's how much I love gold. So, yes, I played you all for 3 reasons," I rose three of my right fingers, "I had no way out of it," I put one down, "I wanted the gold," I put another down, leaving only my middle finger up, "and it was my only chance to be in this place."

"You wanted to attend the academy?"

I giggled at the headmaster's words, "Oh? No. Sure, it's fine and useful, but I wanted to be here."

"In the academy?" She frowned confused.

"No. In this mountain," I tilted my head. "Personal interest."

"Is there something special in the mountain?" She asked.

"Who knows?" I grinned amusingly. "So, I had a role to play, and I played the best I could. But talking about how I'm not the real Crowned Princess of the Mamba Court can't be why you actually brought me here. Not when there's more pressing matters to deal with at the moment, no?"

Just drop the act and tell me how much you know of me.