They Made Me the Knight, But I Became My Own Princess novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Blank Card

I looked at the deck in her hand.

The plastic wrap caught the sun.

"It's new," Mom said quickly. "See? I bought it this morning. No marks. I swear."

People were streaming past us across the lawn with balloons and bouquets.

A few of them slowed down.

A few of them knew my face now.

"Just one draw," Mom said. "Princess wins. If it's you, you can have anything you want from us."

"You don't have anything left that I want."

Her face flinched.

"If it's Sadie," she went on, faster, "you drop the rest. The last of the repayment. We're short three hundred thousand. You call it even. For family."

So that was it.

Even now, it was a wish.

Sadie pushed her sunglasses up on her head.

Her eyes were dry.

"Come on, Molly. You always say yes in the end. It's the only thing you're good at."

She raised her voice for the families walking by.

"My sister's so rich now she won't even play a card game with her own mother!"

A woman with a stroller stopped and looked at us.

I reached into the pocket of my gown.

I'd carried them every day since my birthday.

Four princess cards, soft now at the edges, each with a tiny nick in the top right corner.

I held them up so Sadie could see.

Her face changed.

"The old deck's missing some cards, Mom," I said. "You didn't notice? I've had them since October."

I fanned them out.

The woman with the stroller leaned in to look.

"Every birthday since we were five," I said. "Eighteen birthdays. You dealt, and she won. Every single time."

Mom's mouth opened and closed.

"And every year," I said, "I handed over whatever she pointed at. Not this year."

I looked at my sister.

"You never won anything, Sadie. It was handed to you. There's a difference."

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