𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

EIGHT.

After a lot of knives being thrown and a lot of arrows flying through the air, Ruby declared herself the clear winner. Ricky Hood had missed the last arrow while she hit her target perfectly as always. Ricky insisted that it was unfair and demanded a rematch. He claimed that the wind had picked up just as he released his arrow. Ruby hadn't cared, she just continued rubbing it in his face that she had the most accurate aim out of the two of them.

Still, Ruby had agreed on a rematch, confident that she would win again. She did. She missed once—only by a hair though—, but fortunately for her, Ricky missed twice. This time his excuse had been that he had been practising all morning and that his muscles were tired. Ruby called him a sore loser and told him that if he didn't shut up soon, her next knife would be aimed at him. That shut Ricky Hood up quick enough.

Ruby smirked, flipped her hair over her shoulder and walked back towards the castle, her dagger again strapped within her boot. As she was making her way back, she bumped into someone. Looking up and meeting green hazel eyes, Ruby couldn't help but roll her own coffee brown ones.

"You've really got to stop doing that," she grumbled. Ben chuckled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," he apologized. Ruby didn't believe him for a second, he seemed too amused. "So, how did target practice go?" Ben asked, making conversation. For once, Ruby didn't completely hate it. She grinned.

"I think Hood just brought shame to his family name. I beat him twice."

"You've got good aim if you managed that," Ben commented. Ruby hummed.

"I know."

"And I'm sure Ricky didn't like losing much, did he?" Ruby scoffed and shot him a look. Ben smiled amused. "Yeah, figured. He's a sore loser. Luckily, he doesn't lose that often."

"He will now," Ruby boasted.

"I guess so, huh? Hey, are you walking back to the dorms?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I just wanted to check up on you guys. Make sure that everything's going okay." Ruby fake gagged, making Ben look at her puzzled.

"You are nauseatingly thoughtful. It's disgusting." Ruby scrunched her nose. Instead of taking offence—which Ruby had expected—Ben laughed and swatted her arm.

"Shush, it's nice."

"It's gross."

"Maybe you should try it sometime," Ben smirked. Ruby rose an eyebrow, somewhat impressed.

"Huh. Who knew? Crown Prince Benjamin knows how to sass," she teased. Ben rolled his eyes good-heartedly.

"You really have to have the last word in everything, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ruby grinned. They had reached Ruby's dorm room and after banging her fist against the door to alert the others, Ruby barged in, not giving Ben a chance to reply.

"Hello, dearies," She greeted her friends, ignoring the look Ben was giving her. The other VKs greeted her before turning to Ben, wondering what he wanted.

"Ben?" Mal asked, prompting him to say something. She was too impatient for his hesitant silence because Evie had just mentioned something about the wand that had her head spinning with ideas.

"Hey, guys. I didn't see most of you today and I was just wondering if there were any questions or anything that you eh—needed, or..." Ben trailed off. Ruby made a gagging motion at which Ben narrowed his eyes before smiling at the other VKs again.

"Not that I know of," Mal said, looking at the others for confirmation. The others all shook their heads.

"Okay. Eh—good. That's great. If you need anything, just..."