Welcome to Gaia! ::

This story is a project I am doing for Graduation. It is a full length novel consisting of 40 chapters and over 400 pages, though I still have four chapters to write and one stubborn one in the middle to finish.

Anyway, I plan on sending this story off to the publisher within the next two months, but I wanted to see if anyone out there liked what I have written. I'm looking for harsh criticism and oppnions on Characters, the Plot and anything else that should happen to concern you.





This novel does contain violence and some gore. If you have a weak stomach or do not wish to read about torture, killing and other serious matters please do not read. I do not wish to upset anyone and this story is rather brutal outside of the mind of the main character. You will see this world through her eyes and though she may not understand how dark this world is, the fact remains that it is a horrible place.



By species I was demon, by blood I was royalty and by sheer luck I was a mystery to everyone I left behind. Hopefully life would stay the way it was. Even if life wasn’t perfect it was a few grades better than being forced to marry the man who killed our parents. He was the prince of Ice, the epitome of my nightmares and the one man who ever had a hold over my heart. I spent most nights twisting in my bed crying out as my mother was bloodied and gutted before my eyes. Then, once in a blue moon, the memories of our time spent laughing under the willow whisked me away to the love I once held for him.
Me and my memories, it's like one of those love/hate relationships.

It was yet another long day for my poor feet. You would think after a year of constant standing I would learn to wear more comfortable shoes. Obviously not. Maybe some loafers would be a nice change. Then again I did do a lot of walking, and in rain loafers didn’t fare so well. Maybe my wedges would get more comfy as I broke them in. Maybe not. I was on my way home anyway.

I was a misuse during the wee hours of the day working at the Gene Juarez salon in down town San Jose. It’s a nice job, pays well and gives good tips. Tonight was my co-worker Erica’s 21st birthday party at Vandez’s place on 3rd. It was a club built strictly on the grounds of people being wasted upon leaving. I had managed to get in with the massive group of girls, ID-check free. Don’t ask me how, I was only 20, but it worked. Thank God I was the designated driver. I didn’t want to get carded and kicked out because the girls wanted me to get drunk. Funny thing is they all ended up calling a cab, leaving me to walk back to my car alone and cold. Late spring still requires a jacket after dark. California is fickle like that and smart me was just sporting a pair of leather shorts and halter top, with a pair of high heeled boots of course. It wasn’t considered proper to wear anything more in the group I had gone with. I had been considered conservative in my choice of clothing by just about everyone tonight.

I glanced behind me as I continued down the sidewalk towards the parking lot containing my car. It was a quiet night and I was alone. A year ago on a night like this someone had tried to mug me. He hadn’t succeeded, seeing as how I knew Judo and a few other tricks and he hadn’t even pulled a knife on me. But I still didn’t like being alone. Just because you get mugged once doesn’t mean you can’t get mugged again. At least I wasn’t in San Francisco. I hear it’s really bad over there.

“Renee!” A voice shouted from behind me. I jumped and whirled around looking for the person who had called my name, hands up to guard my face in case something took a swing at me.

“Renee! Pick up your phone! Pick up your phone, you ninny!” I let the tension slide away as I realized it was my phone ringing. It was Erica on the other line. I had forgotten she had put a personalized ring tone for her calls. Shaking out my arms, I fished the small cell phone from my pocket and slid it open. Yep, it was Erica all right.

“Hey there, didn’t you pass out in the taxi cab?” I answered with a humorous smirk as I turned and headed for the parking lot again.

“Can you call work for me?” She slurred into the phone. I held in a laugh and shook my head. Oh, boy, was she ever wasted.

“It’s past midnight. I’m sure they aren’t open,” I answered trying to not laugh at her drunken state in the process.

“I mean in the morn’. I’m not goin’ ta work…” There was a shuffle in the speaker, then a rough thump. “In the mornin’…” I rolled my eyes as giggles bubbled up from the background. She had taken a cab with a few other people from work. I wasn’t going to name names, but let’s just say I knew who was going to be at work in the morning and who wasn’t.

“All right, you get to bed and take some aspirin.” I sighed and shook my head as I rounded the corner of the parking lot. It was a wide alley with a few parallel parking spots lining the building. In the spot at the other end of the alley my little car sat looking shiny and new like I had bought it just yesterday. You could say I did buy it yesterday. Did I forget to mention my father is a dealership owner? Well, now you know. He likes to dote on his only daughter, even if I’m adopted. Let’s just say figuratively that I was a spoiled little princess before mommy and daddy came along to spoil me some more.

“Sure thing, boss.” I sighed as the phone clicked off leaving me to the silence of the alley as I came up to my car. Turning over my cell phone I used the light from the screen to avoid the drying puddles on the ground. As painful as they may be, my boots were too cute to get dirty. Flipping the keys from my pocket, I beeped my car unlocked and quickly hopped over a puddle to the door. It was a bit of a drive to my place out in the boonies, but it was worth it. Seclusion from the world was better than having it shoved down your throat by neighbors, plus I was right next door to my little sister. Yes, you heard me, my little sister lives next door with her adoptive parents. Though technically she lives a mile away. That’s how far out in the fields I was. I had managed to keep track of her thanks to a few tricks I had learned in what I considered to be a past life. A world so different from this one that it almost seemed to be a dream that lasted twelve years, a world where the demons of the night roamed all hours of the day and lived like humans in a time frozen by their own will to preserve what peace there once was… Yeah, I was never going back there.

Twisting the key the car purred to life sending vibrations through the seat and up my back like some massage I hadn’t expected. New cars always surprised me, especially ones with big engines. I normally drove a little Mazda that my daddy bought me a few years ago. This thing, whatever it was, had a lot more kick in it. I often lurched forwards at stop signs and traffic lights and speeding was a bit of a problem. Every time I drove I prayed the cops wouldn’t be near.

Pulling out onto the main streets I headed for home. It was an empty night which made sense seeing as how it was nearly one in the morning. I only passed a few cars as I flew down the fast lane on Vine Grove highway. One o’clock was like that forbidden time of night when you knew nearly everyone was snuggled up in the sheets of his or her bed. It was also the most dangerous time of night to be out alone. Good thing my car was far enough off the ground to run someone over if I had too. Hey, I was still a girl. I didn’t want to beat people up unless I had to or if it was for a prize.

A few songs blaring out of the speakers and I was drifting across the last stretch home. I slowed down as I came to cross the driveway leading up to my little sister’s house. It was a long and dark shot back to the porch lights in the distance shadowed by trees and protected by sticker bushes. Unless you were the size of a rabbit you weren’t going to getting down to that house in any other route besides the driveway. I stared down that long passage until my eyes started to see shapes in the shadows and eased my car forward.

“Renee!” A voice shouted from outside my car.

I hit the brakes and looked around for the source of the voice. Something slammed into my side window making me half throw my body into the passenger seat. Clinging to the arm rest I gaped at the side window and nearly started laughing at myself. It was my little sister, Alli, standing there making a face against the window. Her chubby little cheek was pressed into the window making her eyes squint up and look somewhat melted. Her little hands pressed against the window as she pulled away and laughed lightly. I rolled my eyes playfully and sat back up in my seat. Pulling the emergency brake I unbuckled myself and turned to open the door. She backed away so I wouldn’t hit her and I stepped out into the night air. This road wasn’t widely used, so I wasn’t too worried about someone coming up behind me.

“What are you doing out at this late hour?” I asked as I knelt down to her eye level. She laughed that adorable laugh I loved and twisted back and fourth on her heels.

“Exploring. Mommy is playing poker with Daddy again.” I almost shook my head and sighed, but held my breath and smiled. This happened all too often. She was still too young to know what actual poker was, so I had told her poker was a shouting game. Her adoptive parents were having a fight. Again. It was the second time this week.

“Do you want to sleep over at my place tonight? I’m sure Mommy would be okay with that,” I suggested as I offered my hands to her. Truthfully, I often took her home with me. I always came home late and about two or three times a week I would find her sitting on my porch like a bundle of mail. It was no way for a child to live her life, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I was too young to adopt her and I wasn’t really qualified for child care, being single and all. Child Care Services frown upon single twenty year-olds taking care of children. It’s against their code or something. In the meantime, I could play parent while her adoptive ones spat over something stupid.

“Really?” Her voice squeaked as a large grin plastered itself over her face. I nodded and scooped her up in my arms. A high pitched giggle came from her as I tickled her belly and walked with her in my arms to the other side of the car. She laughed the entire way until I stopped to open the car door. Turning her around, I bent over and placed her in the seat. She was still giggling as I closed the door leaving her to buckle up while I went back to the driver side door. She was too short for a normal seat belt, but I didn’t have a booster seat so this would have to do.

Quickly sliding into my seat I also buckled in and closed the door. I glanced over to Alli as she draped herself over the arm rest and clicked the buttons on the dash to change the song on the CD. I usually drove in silence, made it easier to hear the purr of the engine, but Alli liked noise. She loved to sing just like our mother did. I on the other hand had no talent to speak of in the realm of music. I could dance, but other than that I was terrible. Letting the emergency break down I gently started on the gas and we lurched forward. Alli jerked with the motion then laughed and sat back in her seat.

“Do it again!” She laughed and gripped the seat belt in her hands, waiting for me to let the car lurch again. I shook my head and pressed down on the gas again. The car jumped and Alli squeaked with excitement as we flew down the empty road towards the house I had only recently learned to call home.

My house wasn’t all it seemed to be from the outside, due to my lack of being home to take care of the plants every weekend, but it really was worth every penny my dad put into it. I was a very spoiled child. My mom was a big time lawyer working in the next state over while my dad owned a dealership over here and lived over there. They had recently moved there and bought me a new house here so I could keep my job. Their reason was that finding a new job would be too stressful, but I pretty much just made them think that that was the reason with a little bit of convincing. I really wanted to stay here for Alli. I wasn’t going to leave her alone with inattentive parents. What would I do if I ever lost track of her?

“We’re almost there, squirt,” I said as I eased the car around the turn into my driveway and let it crawl up the long stretch. My house stood out like a mountain in Texas against the trees in the background. I had left the lights on all day so every surface of the outer walls shined with white light against the dull grey paint. It was too dark to tell, but I knew the grass was too tall to look good, seeing as how I hadn’t hopped onto the lawn mower in weeks.

Reaching up to the clicker on the visor I signaled the garage door to open and slowed in front of my house waiting for it to reach the top. Alli squirmed in her seat and unbuckled herself. I didn’t tell her to put it back on, but I did check that her door was locked just in case. I couldn’t have her trying to hop out while I was pulling past the door frame.

“Chill your buns, squirt. You can get out when I pull the E-brake, remember?” I held in a chuckle as she pressed herself back into the seat crossing her arms over her chest and pouting like a stubborn little kid. She really wasn’t all that stubborn, but I knew she was tired and a little bit grumpy. Because of what we were it wasn’t in her nature to get sick or have mood swings. She was just tired. It was nice to know exactly what was wrong with someone. People were always so fickle, but not us. Oh, no, our species was much too advanced to be sick, according to some. Okay, according to most. We’re known for our big egos.

“Can I have some warm milk?”

I glanced at my sister’s small form through the corner of my eye as I pulled into the now open garage door. A light laugh passed my lips as she reared over the arm rest to press her face close to mine. It was amazing how quickly she forgot about things.

“Of course. Don’t we always?” I answered as I put the car in park and yanked on the emergency brake causing the car to jerk with the movement. Sometimes I forgot how strong I was, playing human wasn’t always easy.

Alli cheered as she hopped off her seat and bounded out of the car. I sat in my seat as she slammed the door shut and raced towards the house door. I shook my head and slid out of the car following her through the door and into the interior of my house.

My house was probably something someone would call bland, but I rather liked it. My tastes weren’t bold or frankly very colorful; if anything my tastes were bleached. White paint covered every wall in my house including the ceiling and trim like some sort of fog blinding all who walked in. The only objects that stood out were the wooden chairs and coffee tables at each side of the maroon couch and rocking chair.

Maroon, it was a color that would forever haunt me. That deep color, the stench of blood, the tears that trailed my cheeks… It wasn’t a pleasant memory, but one that I could still feel seeping through the sides of my boots every time I stepped into the shower.

I shook my head to rid my thoughts of the past and turned towards the kitchen where I could hear Alli struggling to open the refrigerator door. Passing by the granite counters lining the majority of the walls in the kitchen I walked past Alli yanking the door open so that she could grab the milk carton as I went for the mugs up in the cabinets.

It took me maybe ten minutes to get Alli up in bed with her Rainbow Bright pajamas on and a mug of warm milk sitting in her palms. Her bedroom was probably the only room in the house with a color in it that didn’t bring bad memories from my past to me. Pink coated the walls in a frilly glow while the hardwood floor shimmered with the light from the bedside lamp. Her sheets were coated in shots of the Disney princesses all looking bright and happy. I always felt completely out of place in this room, but Alli’s high pitched giggles fit in perfectly with the sheets.

“The fairy princess Gretel was loved by all,” I read from the picture book in my hands as Alli cuddled against me. We were lying across her bed, her under the sheets and me on top of them. I cradled her under my arm as I held the book out over her lap and turned pages with my one free arm. This was how we spent most nights before her bed time, reading fairytales, most of which were true in some sense, and drinking hot milk till one of us fell asleep. Usually it was Alli who fell asleep first, but I’ve been known to zonk out in the middle of a sentence.

“When does the prince come in?” Alli asked, her words slurring out of her mouth. I held back a laugh and took the mug from her lap as it started to tilt over and placed it on the night stand. She was ready to be tucked in, that much I could tell for sure.

“When the princess is saved by the prince from the evil trolls,” I answered softly as I slowly pulled my arm from behind her body and pressed her back into her pillows. She yawned and rolled over under my hands, snuggling into her blankets in the process as I gathered our mugs and waited for her to stop moving. Once she had settled, I pressed the light switch down and left the room, closing the door softly behind me. Sighing loudly, I pressed my back into the cold wood of the door and let my head hang for a moment. Reading her those fairy tales was always so difficult. If it wasn’t for him she would be living that life. Princes and princesses didn’t always interact like the perfect couple. Sometimes the prince decides to ruin it all and the princess runs off to save her little sister. Not that I didn’t do it to save myself too; that just happened to be the effect of saving someone close to me.

Shaking my head I pushed off the door and headed down the hallway. After all these years I still couldn’t get that night out of my head. You would think after eight years of therapy I’d be better at forgetting things that ruined my life. Then again those kinds of things weren’t supposed to go away.

Quickly shuffling downstairs, I dumped the mugs in the sink and headed for the French doors leading out to the backyard. Yanking open the doors I threw them wide and lightly toddled across the wood panels of the deck. From the porch the lawn looked like a small ocean with the long blades of grass waving in the wind. It was rather odd to have a windy night, but I didn’t mind too much. It was cold outside, but this part of me was always welcoming the flowing movement that never seemed to stop.

By species I was a demon, by blood I was royalty, and by sheer luck I was a mystery to everyone I left behind. Hopefully life would stay the way it was. Even if life wasn’t perfect it was a few grades better than being forced to marry the man who killed our parents. He was the prince of Ice, the epitome of my nightmares and the one man who ever had a hold over my heart. I spent most nights twisting in my bed crying out as my mother was bloodied and gutted before my eyes. Then, once in a blue moon, the memories of our time spent laughing under the willow whisked me away to the love I once held for him.

Me and my memories, it’s like one of those love-hate relationships.

“Woman,” a voice wafted through my head as my eyes blinked open to darkness. My limbs felt heavy like they were weighted down. My body ached even before I could flex my muscles. The skin felt tight over my back like blood had dried over the entirety of it and on top of it all my hands were bound behind my back by stiff bonds that cut into my wrists. I heaved in a breath and instantly regretted it. It felt like someone had jabbed a kitchen knife into my chest just below my bust. I hunched over into a ball and instantly retracted when my back lit on fire with pain. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep a shout from spilling out.

“Woman!”

I let a groan pass my lips and forced myself to roll over onto my side. Pain burst through my arms and back as I move. Something was around my neck that was so tight that it felt like it was choking me. I struggled to breathe as I was yanked up off the floor and half dragged away from where I had laid. Something clashed open and light burst through the darkness drawing tears to my eyes. I tried to pull away from the light, but a hand grasped my arm and pulled me harshly from the ground. With my feet dangling in the air, I was pinned with my back against a wall. I looked down slowly to see that the man’s forearm was the only thing holding me up.

“Walk, woman.” The man holding me against the wall was short, maybe a little taller than me, with a rich color of yellow for hair and eyes a deep muddy brown. He wore armor of yellowed steel that seemed to cling to his toned body as if its seams were stretched with the strain. Tanned pants and a shirt seemed to almost meld in color with the armor like it too was made of metal.

He dropped me to the ground leaving me to struggle against the weariness of my legs and the stabbing in my chest as I heaved in one breath after another. The collar around my neck twisted when I lifted my head to watch the man attach the end of a chain to the collar. When he pulled away the weight of the chain pulled me forward and I had to stumble after the man to keep from falling down. My back was throbbing with each step as well as the backs of my arms. What happened to me? It took a lot of force to break bones like mine and it felt like I had more than one that was broken.

“Jhona, do not injure her more than she already is.” Another voice said. I tried to glance back at the voice behind me, but the collar was too tight. His words were heavily accented with French making me feel some what soothed. French was my native tongue even if I couldn’t speak it fluently anymore. “Our prince will not be happy that she is in such a bad condition. If you injure her further he will have your head.”

Prince? He couldn’t possibly mean the prince I knew. Even if he did, injuries shouldn’t matter. He kills his prey.

“Yes, Bruno, sir,” Jhona answered quickly. I leaned forward trying to relieve the hold that the collar had on my neck. Even if my ribs were crying at me, I needed to get air though my throat before my lungs. My throat seemed to be squeezed so tightly and my chest hurt so badly that it wouldn’t have surprised me if I stopped breathing all together. A cough rasped through my throat and I could have sworn I tasted blood on my tongue.

“Hold your tongue, woman.” I blinked up at the man before me, Jhona, and then let my eyes sink into a glare. I didn’t say anything, but coughed again, though with less force just so I could piss him off and not hurt myself too badly. He yanked on the chain connected to the collar dragging me forward with a pained yelp and another fit of violent coughs.

“Jhona, give me the chain and go to your quarters,” The man behind me said his voice low and rumbling.

“But Captain, sir,” Jhona spun on his heel dragging me forward with the force. I really couldn’t stop myself from following the path he had pulled me towards and ended up lightly bumping into him. Jhona’s hand flew at my face, the chain yanking me towards his fist. The man behind me literally reached around my body and blocked Jhona’s hand inches from my face. It all happened too quickly for me to do much to defend myself, though having my hands bound behind me like some criminal wouldn’t have let me do much. I tried to pull back and away from the clash of one metal arm versus the pale and sleek skin of the one named Bruno and ended up somewhat folded against the metal plates of his armor.

“Jhona, leave. Now.” That rumbling voice was nearly in my ear when it belted out the order. Jhona flinched and let the chain fall from his hand. I fell to my knees with the extra weight, bowing my head so I wouldn’t fall flat on my face. Jhona’s boots snapped together in front of me before he turned and quickly scampered down the hallway.

“Dirty humans,” I heard him mutter as he rounded the corner a few paces away. I furrowed my eyebrows and watched the space where the man’s feet had been in front of me. Why would he call me human? Wasn’t it obvious that I was a demon to him? Even with my powers sealed away, I still possessed a demon’s body. Sure, I used charms to dye my hair and eyes because chemical dye wouldn’t hold and I really didn’t like contacts, but I was still abnormally strong and quick healing. My night vision was superb compared to humans though still rather bad compared to a demon’s. In fact, that anomaly applied to just about everything. I was dull compared to what I once was.

“Come.” I watched that pale skinned hand that had stopped Jhona from smashing my face in take hold of the chain and slowly lift it from the ground. He lifted it higher going slowly so I could follow without strangling myself. He started walking giving me no chance to see his face as he quickly passed me. His back was a solid mass of black armor from his boots all the way up to the helmet that in cased his head. The only other color than black I saw on his body was on his hands which were for some reason missing their gauntlets. I followed him closely making sure not to let the chain gain too much tension. There was writing on the back of his collar so small I had to squint and lean in. It was French that much I could tell. I wasn’t sure exactly what the first part said, something like captain or general, but the second line I knew all too well.

“Pour l’honneur de la reine, notre pere bien-aime et la fille d’espoir.” I read the words out loud.

It read for the honor of the queen, the father and the daughter of hope. Those words spoke of my parents and me back when I was their only child and heir to the throne. I slowed to a somber step and stared at those French words on his armor. Bruno glanced back at me with wide brown eyes. I stared back at him with a similar expression. I really was back in my world. At first I didn’t even consider it to be possible. That shimmering pool of water hadn’t looked like the portal I had left in. Those men that had attacked Alli and myself had to have been demons, but why would they take what they thought was human back to their world? Demons hated humans for their weakness and ignorance. Personally I liked the human race, but that was probably because I was acting like one and had been for the past eight years. I guess in the back of my head I had believed we were still in the human world in some secret prison, but I should have known better.

We stopped in the hallway and stared at each other in a tense silence. His eyes stood steadily on me while I watched him for any sign that he knew whom I was. Apparently I was just some human slave in their eyes. If he knew I was really the tail end of the Air Empire’s sworn oath I would be in deep do-do. The oath was what demons took before they entered into the service of royalty, or people such as me. My parents would have been the ones they would say it to, but because I was the next in line to step into their shoes it was me they would swear to. Daughter of hope wasn’t something I would have called myself, but that’s what I was before I fled from the palace. Maybe he just hadn’t had the old words polished out of his armor. Surely there wasn’t a chance my kingdom had survived my betrothed’s take over. Perhaps he just wore the armor for the sake of a memory. I knew people who did things like that. Carry with them pictures of the dearly departed.

“Parlez-vous francias?” Bruno’s voice popped out of the silence and I blinked at him for a moment. I couldn’t speak French fluently. If anything I could pick out a few words. After eight years of learning English I had forced the accent from my lips and discarded all traces of my past that I could. I was stuck with my body but an accent was easy enough to get rid of.

“Uh... What?” I made sure to answer in English. I couldn’t afford any mistakes like I had just made by reciting the French on his armor. Bruno’s eyes narrowed to slits as he nodded his head to look me over from head to toe. I didn’t look at all like my child self in any way. As a child I was pale with a rounded baby face and silvery hair that flowed down to my butt as well as eyes that were nearly as black as coals. It was a trait of my royalty to fade as we grew older. For some reason having a colorless element meant that we were to be colorless as well. I defeated that rule by getting a tan that made me look nearly Hispanic and by charming my hair blonde and my eyes blue. The only thing that I couldn’t change was my height. My mother was short and so was I. Demons were naturally very tall. We all looked like super models after all. Another reason we all had big egos. Except for my mother and I of course.

“French, you read the pledge.” He said almost urgently. I glanced to the side trying to think of some excuse to get me off the hook. Folding my shoulders in to look more helpless I shook my head.

“Classes in high school. I speak very little.” I stumbled over the words and casted my eyes to the ground. I wasn’t a good liar, never had been, but surely he would mistake my nervousness for some shallow human emotion.

“High school?” He seemed to ponder my excuse. I kept my eyes on the ground, but looked to his boots for any sign of movement. I heard him sigh then watched his feet turn back towards the hallway. “Come. You are wanted.” He started walking and I quickly followed.

We walked for maybe five minutes weaving through hallway after hallway and traveling up maybe two flights of stairs. Finally we came to a door at the end of a hallway sparsely lit by two sheltered torches on either side of the door. Bruno stepped forward and lifted his hand to knock at the door. He knocked twice then stepped back to wait for the door to open. I stood there watching that door as a latch clicked and the door was pulled inward. A face appeared from the darkness in the room then the rest of his body.

If my memory served me right he was a nobleman of the Fire capital. I knew that because of the color of his hair and eyes. There were only three nations that were physically affected by their elements. Mine was one and another was fire. As proof his eyes blazed in a deep lavished red while his hair was the color of the ocean. If I had to compare him to someone it would have definitely been the Cookie Monster. Except for the eyes of course, the Cookie Monster wasn’t a demon. His face was somewhat rugged with high cheek bones and a well defined jaw, but stubble dotted his chin making him look older than I was betting he was.

He glanced at me then looked to Bruno. “This is her?”

Bruno nodded and lifted the end of my chain up towards the other man. He lifted his white gloved hand and took the chain from Bruno. He looked back at me as I turned to follow my metal leash and let his eyes wander over my body. I hadn’t looked to see what remained of my clubbing outfit because of the collar that was somewhat choking me, but I could feel fabric sliding over my hips and chest so I was content. He pulled me forward and jerked the chain down. I bowed my head and yelped at the same time. “You will keep your eyes down at all times, human. You are not worthy of what you are here for.” I blinked up at him blankly for a minute while he turned away and walked into the room dragging me with him. I coughed as the collar dragged me ahead before my feet could catch up and tried to sooth my aching ribs. Bumping against the door as I was yanked in I stared into the darkness of the room. A few candles lit the room from the corners casting gloomy shadows towards the center of the room.

The man holding my chain yanked me further into the room and tossed my chain to the floor. I fell with it landing harshly on my knees and knocking the side of my face into the ground. My ribs screamed against the pressure of my breathing while my head spun causing me to see stars. Once the stars vanished I slowly pulled my face off the ground and settled back with my butt on my heels and my face hovering inches off the ground. I couldn’t lift my face any further off the ground even though my ribs were screaming at me because of the weight of the chain and the searing pain creeping along my back as it stretched to fit my hunched position.

“Gregor, what is this?” A voice said from the darkness.

I tried to turn my head towards the voice, but the collar dug into my chin keeping my head from turning. What I could see from the corners of my eyes were glowing figures from their mid-chests to the tops of their heads. It confused me as too how I was so high up and on the ground, but as one figure stood I quickly discovered that I was kneeling on a table and everyone else was sitting around it. I couldn’t help but to blush as I thought of how I must have looked with my body neatly folded on the table and waist length hair sprawled out around me like a curtain.

“She is the conquest of the most recent retaking in the wetlands. Human and untainted as far Tuner could tell.” I heard Bruno respond from the same direction this Gregor guy had spoken.

“This is the only conquest?” Another man asked.

“Yes, well, the only thing that was not rooted to the ground.” Gregor answered. There was a wafting silence in the room that drew me to try to sit up again. It felt like everyone’s eyes were trying to pierce through me and it made my skin crawl. I forced the muscles in my back to contract through the pain and sat up leaning back enough to get the chain to press against the front of my body so I wouldn’t be tempted to fall forward again. The bottom of the collar dug into my neck causing my breathing to make noise as my lungs contracted. I coughed a few times tasting blood again and looked at the people around me. There were nine people in my line of sight, each one outlined in a colored glow. Orange, green, blue, brown there were more but I didn’t have time to look at them all as someone reached around from behind me and yanked my chin upwards. My eyes closed and I bit my tongue to silence a yelp when the collar dug into the back of my neck. It felt like the hand on my chin was nearly bruising my skin as it held my face still.

“Damn it, that hurts!” I growled opening my eyes to glare upwards. Lilac eyes peered down at me searching my face like he was examining my skin. I froze and stared up into those haunting eyes with my mouth dropped slightly open. He looked me in the eye for a fleeting second and I found myself washed away in a soothing heat. The aches and pains vanished and all I saw were those shimmering lilac orbs.

“Jaegar, you have your own child to play with. Let her be captured by your eyes instead of this injured prey.” The words that were spoken floated through my head but didn’t quite register in my mind. Those gorgeous violet eyes vanished leaving me to blink into the blurry darkness. There were mumbles throughout the room for a moment as I let my head fall back to a normal level. The world was swimming. The glowing colors meshed together making one giant rainbow. Pain crashed back into my body letting me know I was still bound to my broken and dirty container. A whimper passed my lips as I sank down onto my feet. I had risen up off my heels without noticing the movement. Something pressed into my shoulder drawing my attention away from the colors and the pain. My vision cleared like someone had flicked a switch on my eyes and I was suddenly seeing defined shapes in the darkness again.
“Can you stand?”

I looked down at the chain pooled around my knees and shook my head. The chain was too heavy for me to lift without tearing myself apart. A hand reached over me and grasped the chain. As the arm retracted it lifted the chain off the ground and slowly the extra weight dragging me down was relieved. I slowly leaned forward and rolled back onto my feet so I was crouching. I stood though it felt like my joints were grinding and turned to follow the pull of the heavy chain. The man who held my metal leash already had his back turned to me and was gently leading me to the door that stood cracked open.

“Come.”

I followed him glancing at Bruno’s sheltered face as we went. When I passed through the door frame the door shut on my heels making me jump. I kept moving though I wanted to shout some profanities at the door and followed my new “owner”. I was starting to feel like some therapy dog being handed off from one person to the next.

I looked up at my owner and quirked an eyebrow. His white jacket looked stiff but moved fluidly along his body while his white pants never seemed to pucker as he walked. Only one glove adorned his hands leaving his bare skin to grasp the other end of my leash. He was at least a foot taller than me, maybe more, with rich red hair that was pulled back into a pony tail at the base of his neck. Remember what I said about three nations having elements that affected their physical traits? Well the third was ice, or solid things that were really cold. My former betrothed was from the Ice Empire... Hopefully this was just some nobleman leading me along. Royalty were usually the only ones with elemental traits, but sometimes people with strong enough elements within them gained the traits. We had used people like them as stunt doubles for my mother and father at public speakings.

We walked in silence as this mysterious man guided me down the dark hallways. One left, a right, a flight of stairs, some more turns and I was completely lost. Wherever we were going it was pretty well hidden.

We came to a stop at another door, though this one seemed to be a bit different. Chilling air wafted away from the door causing goose bumps to rise on my arms. I slowed my steps forcing the man to pull my unwilling body forward even though it was choking me to resist. He pulled me ahead of him as the memories of the past were surfacing, clouding my vision. My betrothed’s room was always like a freezer on the inside. The overspill of his power when he slept kept the room near freezing for most of the day until he returned to his bed.

We came to a stop in front of the door and I watched as my captor’s hand reached for the door knob. Scars trailed around his knuckles and digits like half formed rings made of white gold while one actual ring of silver with no jewel embedded in the metal adorned his thumb. Why the jewel socket was empty puzzled me, but I didn’t dare speak.

“Go on.”

I pulled my eyes away from his hand as it retracted to hang at his side and focused my eyes on the now open door. Complete darkness peered back at me from inside the room while a chilling breeze swept past me. I started to step back and move with the wind, but a gloved hand pressed against the small of my back and pressed me gently into the room. I leaned back on that hand as I was engulfed in the frozen air and tried to hold my breath. Another step was forced from my feet and as soon as my feet touched stone again that cold air vanished leaving me to bask in what seemed to be a sauna. I heard the door slide and the latch click as the light from the hallway vanished.

I looked around as best as I could without pulling on the chain. The room was nearly pitch black letting me make out what could have been another doorway or something that was just as black. I tried to turn and find the man holding my chain, but stopped when his hand pressed against my bound wrists. I froze trying not to allow him to know how little I could see. Then again a human wouldn’t have been able to see diddly squat so I shouldn’t have been whining. Not that I could see much anyway.

“Your ribs, they are broken.” I felt his hands slide around my arms to my abdomen where his hands roamed freely. I shuddered under his hot hands until the pads of his finger passed over the tender area of my chest. I pulled away from his hands pressing my bound arms into his body. A blush crept up my face making the rest of my body flare in heat. I shoved myself away from his body and took a few cautious steps in the darkness before stopping myself.

“Don’t,” I started to say but caught myself before I could fumble over my words.

“Hold still.” I felt his hands on me again and froze like I had before. I was nearly blind in this room and running away would only make me trip over something. His hands drew up my waist and over the shirt I had been wearing since Erica’s birthday party, though it felt some what tattered. His hands stopped at my shoulders for only a moment then continued on to touch the base of the collar. I heard the chain of my leash clank against the ground and slowly the weight around my neck increased. I was yanked forward then snapped backwards as the weight of the chain disappeared and the sound of it falling in a pile on the floor echoed around the room.

“Sorry,” he said as I hunched a bit to sooth the ache that the jolt had given my ribs. His hands left my skin to grasp my bound wrists. I straightened my body as he pulled my arms away from my sides straining my shoulder joints. I heard metal scrape against the shackles binding my wrists and yet another lurch jarred my ribs and my arms slowly sagged forward. I clenched my teeth as the muscles in my shoulders groaned and stretched so my arms could return to their natural position. Pulling my hands together in front of me I rubbed my wrists even though the scabbed over scrapes stung with each touch.

“Please forgive their rude manners.” I quirked an eyebrow as I felt him shift around to my front. I couldn’t see him in the darkness, but the sound of his voice told me where he was. “People of my kind tend to forget what pains them.” I searched the darkness for his face and found nothing. If I had just ran for my room instead of the balcony everything probably would have been all right. I’d have had to concoct a new sealing spell for my element, but that would have been easier to do than getting out of this whole fiasco.

“I...” I caught myself before I started to complain. If he didn’t want me to see anything there was probably a reason.

“Yes?”

Fabric brushed against my cheek making me jump slightly. I stepped back from that touch and lifted a shaking hand to my face. When I had started shaking I didn’t know, but it was from fear that I shook. I was a blinded rabbit being cooed by the owl up in the tree. “I mean you no harm.” His voice softened and strangely I could suddenly pick out his accent. It was Russian, like most people of Ice, with a hint of French thrown it which confused me. Even if he did speak French it took years of constant speech to gain a hint of the accent let alone one that would taint an accent you had been stuck with your whole life.

“I... I can’t see a damn thing,” I mumbled, lowering my hand to rest just above the stabbing pain in my chest.

“Oh, is that all?” His voice tugged at me somehow, like the vibrations of his voice were traveling down a string attached to some weightless thing in my chest. I heard the slide of fabric and felt him draw away. A light flickered on in the corner, then another and a few more. Soon a soft glow from every wall illuminated the room in a yellow light. The man who had released me from my bounds turned to me with a soft smile turning his lips.

His eyes seemed to glow in the dull light drawing my attention fully to his face. Eyes the color of the Arctic glaciers, a crystalline blue that was so pure it could have passed for topaz stared down at me in peaceful content. I knew those eyes. They were my nightmares, my horrors, and my fear.

My legs gave out and I let myself fall unsupported to the ground. He was gone, those familiar eyes vanishing. I was caught inches above the ground, his hands holding me up with my back somehow pressed into his leg. I jerked away cringing as my back lit on fire with the contact and threw myself from his arms. Ending up on my hands and knees I tried to breathe, but my ribs were fighting me and the collar, though lighter, was still tight enough to keep me trying to force air through my throat even when it hurt.

“No,” I shook my head and coughed into my hand. Pulling my hand away I stared at the blood falling from my fingers in silence. “No, this is all wrong.” I ground my teeth together and forced another series of coughs to only shake my body.

“For that,” he said, close to me again, but I didn’t have the strength to move much further. I was too exhausted to fight him. “I am also sorry. You cannot return to your people.” I fisted my hand and slammed it against the floor. It hurt, but I welcomed the new pain. It was something that wasn’t bubbling up from my past.

“My people...” I scoffed at the floor and noticed as the first of what I assumed would be many tears slip from my eyes. This man... This man was my betrothed. His eyes made me certain. No one could have ever had eyes that were so blue or as bold as his. His voice was deeper than what I remembered, but that I should have expected that to be the case. He was 17 when I left. He was at least 25 now.

“Let me heal your wounds.” His voice sounded against my ear and I leaned away as best I could. To him I was just some helpless little human slave bleeding all over his floor. To me he was a monster that would have killed me given the chance, that I was almost sure of. His hand brushed over my back and surprisingly it didn’t hurt, but I shied away from his touch none the less.

“Don’t touch me,” I said trying to make my words sound harsh through another cough. My collar jerked and I was raised with it towards my former betrothed. His eyes bore into mine like drills as he held me by my collar. I tried to pull away, but he held me steady between his scarred hands. I tried to look anywhere but his eyes, but avoiding them was difficult. They stuck out like headlights in the darkness.

The metal against my neck was warm with his touch making me feel comforted despite the past. His eyes lingered on my face before traveling down to where his hands held me. His eyes flicked back to my face and something in that flicker made me meet his gaze. He caught me in a flat stare, holding my eyes in a lock. He pulled my neck closer bringing my face nearer to his own. His breath was hot as it skimmed over my cheeks. I raised my hands and pressed them against his chest to try and keep us from getting to close together, but still he came closer. I turned my head away from him though the skin on my neck felt like it was rubbed raw. His temple pressed into my cheek and suddenly the air was frozen. I shuddered and tried to reach up and push his face away, but his body pressed closer forcing me to lean back at a near painful angle. I let a small shout escape my mouth when the cold seemed to focus on my collar. It burned the skin on my neck making me cringe and try harder to pull away.

“Stop,” I whimpered as my hands sought somewhere to push from. He was pressed against me like some lover during foreplay and I really didn’t like it. I mean really, really didn’t like it. I found his shoulder with my palms and traced his neck up to his hair. Just as I was about to yank him away by his hair his head pulled back. The collar around my neck seemed to crack under the weight of his hands. I froze wondering what he was doing with it. The collar cracked again and I could feel through the frost bite over my neck the collar was breaking letting heat press against my frozen skin. I blinked up at my former betrothed with wide eyes. He was supposed to be a heartless man and even though my skin felt frozen he was removing the collar from my neck. I would have thought him to leave it on and have me deal with it on my own. That was the kind of man that he was. A cruel and careless man.

The collar snapped and his hands fell away with one half of the collar in each hand. I quickly let my hands wrap around my neck to try and warm the frozen skin but remained where I was. I stared at him wide eyed trying to understand his expression. In the soft glow of the candles his features were dull but still defined. He had always been a beautiful man although never truly masculine through his face. His jaw was not as bold as some and his high cheek bones gave his face a perfectly smooth surface. He looked lean under his white jacket, but if I knew anything those lean muscles could easily crush a human body. If he could get his arms around a car I’m sure he could crush that too.

“Let me see your neck.” He said. My eyes flicked up from his jacket to his face and I drew back slightly. He sighed and dropped the two halves of the collar to the ground. “I really do mean you no harm.” He tried to convince me. I slid my legs around my body so they were in front of me and ignored the pain in my back and ribs as I scooted away from him. His eyes followed me until my back hit wood and I snuffed out a shout. I watched him come towards me on all fours moving like a predator in the grass. I shrank against the wood at my back and tried to make myself invisible though he clearly had his eyes on me. I really didn’t want to be here right now.

He came to a stop just in front of me, his eyes running up my body. I followed his gaze and looked down at my body. A small gasp wheezed past my lips as I saw for the first time how damaged I was. My legs were covered in dirt making my hard won tan look splotchy and wrong. Dried blood made trails down my legs from scabbed over cuts and gashes while bruises took over every piece of uncut skin. What remained of my boots was tattered and dirty. The shorts I had worn for clubbing were now no more than leather underwear covering my groin. As my eyes kept climbing my shock grew. My once lacey shirt had been torn and was clinging to my body by mere strips of fabric. But what caught my attention the most was the giant purple and green bruise that covered my entire right side. My mouth slid open to hang loose from my skull as I leaned forward to see how much skin the bruise really covered. The only part of my side that really hurt was my ribs, yet the colored mass extended from my hip bone all the way up to the top of my fourth rib where it was swollen and a strange shade of blue.

“May I touch you?” He asked softly. I slid my eyes from my ribs and slowly lifted them to my former betrothed’s face. He looked like he could possibly be concerned with his brows knotted and eyes slightly wide. I watched his hand lift from resting on his bent knee and come towards me. I tried to pull back, but the wood behind me kept me still. His eyes stayed on mine as he reached out towards my battered side. I felt my breathing speed up and distantly wondered if I was going to start hyperventilating.

“Please.” The words almost made it past my mouth, but I stopped and snatched his hand in my own to keep him from touching the tender skin. My cheeks heated up at the contact and I cursed myself. After all these years he was the one man I could say I ever loved. How I could even think that now was beyond me. Maybe I still had a thing for him, though I could never harbor feelings of love towards a man who killed my parents. That was unforgiveable.

“I can make the pain go away.”

I let my eyes narrow and glared at him. “Don’t talk to me like I am some child.” The words dripped from my mouth like venom. His eyes relaxed and seemed to soften around the edges as his hand turned in mine. Either he was confident I wouldn’t hurt him or he knew I couldn’t hurt him because he pulled me into his arms pressing my body lightly against his. I sat in shock ignoring the pain reverberating through my body from the contact as his arms lightly gripped my body.

“Please have trust in me. I can heal your injury if you will let me.” He took a shuddering breath and gripped me tighter. My mind was blank, not knowing how to react. I had always told myself I would repay him for what he did to me, but now that I was in our current position I couldn’t really fight him off with physical power. I was much too weak for that. Words would have to do.

“Let go of me, Tala.” Saying his name made me shudder and it wasn’t a very pleasant shudder. Tala, Prince of the Ice Empire was his full title, or it was when I was a child. He was probably a king by now.

He jerked away from me leaving me to recoil back and press against the wood again. His eyes looked like two moons as his face seemed to hide from the candle light. “How do you know-”

“How? And you thought I was a stupid human,” I retorted. I clamped a hand down over my mouth once I heard what I actually said. I thought I was going to play human for a while, but apparently my mouth wouldn’t have that. Running your tongue was dangerous for anyone in this world and I didn’t particularly want to be figured out. If he knew who I was the s**t would hit the fan and I’d probably be dead… Or wish I was at least.

“Mother of-” I caught myself as I grumbled awake. I slowly started to roll over, but stopped when I thought about my broken ribs and flipped back onto my back. I was on a bed of some sort with my head propped up on a very fluffy pillow that my head seemed to disappear into. For some reason my body wasn’t killing me like it had been before I had been forced to sleep. It was strange, but I wasn’t feeling hasty about getting the pain back. A relief from coughing up blood was nice.

“Are you in pain?”

I jumped and sat up on instinct to look around with wild eyes. The voice seemed to come from nowhere. There was a glowing male figure that caught my eyes in the corner of the room. He was taller then me, but not by much, if my eyes were working properly. What else of him I couldn’t make out because of the darkness.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice sounding slightly dazed as I spoke. I cleared my throat and found that my throat wasn’t torn up on the inside. I slowly brought my legs together and sat up straight. I glanced down at myself and found an old fashioned nighty draped over my shoulders. I quickly bundled myself up in sheets to hide my body even though I was completely covered and hunkered down into them enough to draw them up to my chin.

“My name is Gideon Talkslana. I am High Priest to the council. Prince Tala asked me to watch over you until he returned from the surface.”

I quirked an eyebrow at his glowing form and shifted uncomfortably under the sheets.

“The surface, as in we’re underground.” I stated it not figuring to ask. I had suspected we were underground not too long ago. Apparently I was right.

“Yes. This place lies far underground below the battlements and serves as a dam between royalty and common soldier.” I liked the way he phrased that. It wasn’t a wall or a divider but a dam, something meant to regulate the flow of a larger body into the smaller. Royalty were small in numbers, though nobility was part of that class as well as not. Royalty was true pure bloods, nobility were faithful followers that were bound by elemental laws. They were like our bodyguards and tacticians, never marriage material.

“Battlements? Is there a war going on upstairs?” I asked quietly as I slowly inspected my body with my hands. I was healed like I had been told I would be, though my skin felt squeaky clean and fresh. It was odd because I had still had scabs and bleeding wounds before I had been knocked out. Even if I had only been healed I should have been at least a bit dirty. Someone had washed me and removed my old clothes. If it was the guy in the corner I was going to hurt him. Now that I could move without hindrance I could fight and possibly do damage even if I wasn’t completely my demon self.

“Yes, I suppose it started upon your departure.” His words were soft, like he was thinking something else as he spoke. I shifted under the sheets and lightly tapped my ribs. They felt fine, like nothing had ever broken them. “Yes, I suppose it all started with the death of your mother and father.” His words held no emotions as if he was merely stating fact. I wanted to be angry, but for some reason that pit of boiling anger never came to me. I furrowed my eyebrows and sank further into the sheets. Something was off about this guy and whatever it was I didn’t like it. If he hadn’t been glowing, I would have thought I was hearing voices in the dark.

“Could you turn on the lights? I can’t see a damn thing,” I said into the sheets that covered my mouth. A candle flicked on beside the bed making me jerk my head around to look at it. “Thanks,” I mumbled quietly as I settled back into my cocoon of sheets. I could see the man now. Gideon, I believe he said his name was, stood completely still leaning against the desk by the corner to my right. His hair was a dull shade of brown that managed to glimmer in the reluctant glow of the candle. Despite his earlier glow that had shrouded his body in tight and accurate lines, he was clothed in a long draping cloak that consumed him from shoulders to toes like a limp dress. He was slightly hunched under his cloak, but for a reason I could imagine. A delicate blue cord hung from his neck like a thin scarf with long tassels on both ends. In his hand he held a small stick the length of a ruler while his other found a home lying across the top of the desk.

“Do I frighten you?”

I took my eyes away from trying to find his feet and blinked up at him.

“No. I was just thinking about how many layers are hiding your feet,” I said in a light voice trying to sound humorous. His cobalt eyes stared at me in an awkward silence as I shifted under his gaze. I really was just trying to find his feet. Suddenly he pushed off the desk and parted his cloak revealing what I had seen in the darkness. Tight pants and a shirt clung desperately to his body showing off the plains of his chest and abs which were toned and rugged looking. He was extremely tall when he stood straight, maybe six-foot-five or so. I managed to force a blush away from my cheeks as my eyes quickly took in the rest of him. He was decked out in white underneath his black cloak, which surprised me slightly. My former betrothed had taken to wearing white. Maybe this was a sign that this man was from the Ice Empire as well, or maybe I was reading too much into it.

“Tell me, Princess, why did you return in such a manner? I would have thought you to have come of your own accord when you felt you needed to. Have you lost your will to run?”

Our eyes met, and I went rigid in my cocoon. I didn’t like people probing into my past even if they were somehow part of it. My past was like some big wall that couldn’t be scaled, but if you knew the magic words the doors would open. That had never happened to me before, the gates opening, except to my teddy bear in the loneliness of bedtime. Mr. Squiggles was dead now, torn apart once when I was angry. It was an accident, of course. Things were built to withstand our godly strength here. Humans had no need to worry about ripping things apart.

Gideon sighed after a few minutes of silence and hunched his shoulders further. I relaxed a bit knowing that he was most likely giving up on the subject. “Things would be so much clearer if you would only tell me the mysteries of your departure. What thoughts you had, emotions, promises you made upon that moment. Prince Tala will not speak of that night. It haunts him even to this day. What your absence did to him was horrendous.”

I shuddered again in my blankets and lay back down against the mattress. I didn’t want to hear about the problems of a guy I should hate. He had G rated problems compared to my R rated dilemmas. The horror of barely speaking English in an American world was more than enough to put me through the ringer, let alone the effort I put up to keep us together even when we had to be apart. Top that all onto the grieving of lost parents that no one could know about, and you had a walking wreck for a year or two.

“If you wish to know, think about loss, anger and betrayal. I had a dose of each that night in quantities that would kill if I had left alone.”

His eyes narrowed and he stepped away from the desk dropping his cloak back around his body.

“You left with someone? Who? I was told you had left alone. Serves me right for not being there to observe.”

I hefted a sigh and nodded. “Duh. I wasn’t going to let my little sister be killed by him.” By him I meant my former betrothed. I think he took it as someone else.

“Little sister? Would this child have a name?”

I didn’t like him prying into my life, I really didn’t.

“Allison,” I stated simply. I called her Alli for short. She hadn’t been named before my mother died so I had come up with one on the spot.

“Hm, there is child here by that name. A blonde and frail thing. We thought her to be demon at first, but she has no traits of ours.”

I perked up as his words trailed off and he looked deep in thought. Alli was a demon. She was more of a demon than I was at the moment. Her powers hadn’t emerged yet so I hadn’t sealed them away like I had done to my own. She was as human as I could possibly make her. Even her hair had the same charm I had woven through mine in it as well as her eyes. I couldn’t risk her running around in a completely natural state; people would suspect something was up with her. Albinos were always things that stood out and a child with black hair that turned grey within a few years would certainly be speculated over.

“Can I see her?” I quickly asked. He slowly shook his head, and I frowned.

“She is …not able to leave her room. She is overcoming the cr-ah- a sickness.”

I lifted an eyebrow at his correction of words and slowly propped myself up on my arms.

“What sickness? Does she have a fever? She’s never caught a cold before.” He stared down at me with a carefully blank face as he thought through his words. I frowned and smacked my head back down onto the pillows. Something was wrong with her. She needed me but I was stuck being watched by this behemoth of a man. If Alli couldn’t come to me, I probably wasn’t allowed to go to her.

“She is ill, that is the extent of my knowledge.” His words were a voiced whisper. I growled into the pillow and rolled over onto my stomach.

“What do you mean that is all you know? You sound like a very knowledgeable man, you should know more than that she is sick.” I was scowling into the pillow so hard my face muscles hurt.

“It would upset you more to know the entire truth.”

I started to sit up to yell at him, but a knock at the door forced my mouth to close in a hard line.

“Yes?” Gideon said as he too turned to the door.

“Father Gideon, I have brought the requested outfit. May I enter?” My head spun towards the door then back to Gideon waiting for his answer to be said.

“Yes, child, come hither.” I almost laughed at his strange words but stopped when the door handle jiggled then a beam of light flew in from the door. I blinked away from the light for a moment then looked back as the light went back to a subtle glow from the single candle by the bed.

“Princess Renee,”

I glanced back to the door as a very feminine voice came to my ears. A woman stood there with a large bundle of cloth in her arms. She was about my size, body type and all with dark blonde hair and golden eyes that shone brightly in the dull light. I instantly knew what she was, a Neko-jin or cat people. They came in all breeds and colors. She was a lion because of her hair and stature. The emperor from my time had been a black leopard and the kindest man you would have ever known.

“Yeah?” I said slowly as I sank back into my sheets.

“The Savior has requested you be supplied with fitting clothes. Ones from your residence are being retrieved.” I blinked up at her for a long time not really thinking the entire time. The savior? It couldn’t possibly be my former betrothed. He was a murder and a power hungry man.

“I will leave you two.” I glanced of over to Gideon as he spoke and bowed at me in a deep swooping motion then headed for the door. I looked away when the door opened until it closed then I looked back to the woman.

“My name is Lixue, Princess Renee. I have been assigned to you as your handmaiden until a higher purpose consumes me.” I creased my eyebrows at the last part of her sentence, but shrugged my curiosity away for later speculation.

“What’s that?” I said lifting a finger to point at the bundle in her arms. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what it was.

“A dress. It looks like we are about the same size so these should fit you though it will be a little long,” Lixue said as she laid out the contents of the outfit I was to be wearing at the end of the bed. A white corset, complete with a lace up back, the shimmering blue dress, a pair of white ankle boots and a handful of hair clips sat on the bed looking perfectly terrifying to my eyes.

Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I smiled at Lixue with a forced show of teeth. “Thank you for letting me borrow one of your dresses,” I squeaked out of my tense throat. I hated wearing dresses. Ever since I had discovered the blessing of pants and shirts I hadn’t put on anything even close to resembling one of the dresses from this time.

“It is no problem, Princess Renee. I’ll always be loyal to the royal family,” She said smiling down at me with her glowing golden eyes. She lifted the corset from the bed and began to unlace the back of it.

“You are a Neko-jin?” I asked for clarification. I was already positive of what she was. The way she moved in that slinking fashion like she had muscles in places that they weren’t supposed to be combined with her general appearance was a perfect give away.

“Always have been, always will be. Your mother saved us from the tyranny of the Iron Throne. We will always follow your kingdom’s rule,” Lixue said shrugging lightly as she finished unlacing the corset.

“My people? I thought my kingdom was destroyed?” I stared at her completely dumbfounded and let the covers I had bundled up in my arms slack down to my waist. She sent me a quizzical glance and shook her head.

“No, when the Queen and King were killed it was only the palace that was affected by Maelstrom’s army. Everything beyond its walls was left intact. Now the palace has been rebuilt and better fortified thanks to the King.” I watched her in surprise as I ran her words over again in my head. Mariah walked around the edge of the bed and stopped at the side. “If you would please stand.”

I looked around the room as if to look for someone I knew wasn’t there and slowly slipped my feet out from under the covers. Covering my chest as best as I could without being obviously uncomfortable I clambered out of the bed and stood facing Lixue; she promptly motioned for me to turn around and I did. “Who is the current king?” This whole time I had assumed my kingdom to be in ruins. The thought of a new king had never crossed my mind.

“You don’t know?” She asked as she wrapped the corset around my body and began to thread the strings through the loops on the back of the corset. I silently groaned as I felt my sides being squished in by the stiff fabric.

“I thought my kingdom had been destroyed.” I must have sounded like an ignorant child to her because she paused in her movements for a moment then continued to lace me up.

“Why, the Savior of course. He drove Maelstrom’s army out of the Air Empire’s lands and rebuilt the palace,” she said as she placed her hand against my upper back and pushed me forward. I choked on a small gasp as she pulled the corset even tighter.

“Who is this Maelstrom and Savior you refer too?” I asked quickly, sounding a bit breathy.

She answered me with a question. “You must have been in the Mortal Realm the whole time you were missing. Did you really live there for ten years?” I held in a sigh and tried to suck my sides in to make the process of turning my waist into a size zero easier for her.

“No, only eight.” I tried to take a deep breath and found I couldn’t. This was going to get annoying very quickly if I didn’t pass out first.

“Why did you stay there so long? Mortals are known for their idiocy and ignorance.” She sounded almost bitter as she spoke of humans.

“I had too. My sister needed someone to protect and teach her. I was afraid if I left her she would be abducted or hurt.” I nodded to myself as I spoke.

“You have a sister? When did that happen?”

I frowned. Did no one know I had a little sister?

“My mother gave birth to her a few days before she was killed. I took her with me to the human world,” I said slowly as I tried to look over my shoulder to see how far she was but found myself already constricted by the corset even before it was tight.

“I have never heard of her. What is her name?” She asked giving a good yank on the strings and forcing me to straighten my posture.

“Allison. She’s eight years old now, though she looks like she’s still five.” She pulled harshly on the strings again, this time forcing my lung span to shrink a few sizes. I sighed out the extra air in my lungs and began to take quick small breaths.

“Allison you say? Does she have white hair like you, or blonde like you were earlier?” Her voice shook, almost making her sound nervous. I tried to glance back at her with a curious stare but answered none-the-less.

“It should be blonde, but my charms might have worn off by now. It might be silver.” I couldn’t see her face but I could tell she was shaking. Did I say something wrong?

“Oh.” was all she said as she gave the corset another good tug forcing me to sigh out the little air I had left in my lungs.

“My god, how do you breathe in this thing?” I suddenly blurted out as I placed my hands against my diaphragm and tried to suck in a decent breath of air.

“You are an Air Royal. You do not have to use your lungs. Remember?” Her voice was quiet but not soft. She sounded shaken, almost scared. I shook my head and tried my best to use my shoulders to breath. It helped a little.

“I’ve long forgotten how to use my powers like that,” I lied. My main reason was I didn’t have powers to use to breathe, but she didn’t have to know that.

“Well, you will manage. I do and I am not of your blood line.” She sounded so empty. It was a sudden change causing me to worry. The mention of my sister had brought this on. Was something wrong with her? Gideon had acted strange when I mentioned my sister. If that was true, I needed to be with her, I was her only family even if she didn’t know it. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt the tail ends of the laced up string being tucked under the rim of the corset by Lixue’s warm hands. I watched her walk back around the bed and flip the dress over onto its back and start to unhook the back seam. As soon as the dress was situated on the bed she moved her hands to a lump of folded fabric and began laying out layer after layer of petticoats. I groaned in my head and waited silently for her to be done.

“Arms up,” she ordered.

I obeyed and she slipped a series of layers over my head taking a few shots to get my arms through the proper holes. It took a few minutes for her to adjust each layer so it hung properly before she picked the blue satin dress up from the bed and slipped it over my head as well. Amazingly my arms made it through the sleeves of on the first try, unlike the series of layers before it. I flattened out the front of the dress as Lixue hooked the back together around the impossibly tight corset.

“Thank you again,” I said as I looked down at myself. I was slowly becoming accustomed to the corset, but I was still heaving every little breath into my lungs. She didn’t reply, but finished hooking the back of the dress together. I turned to her smiling, but she didn’t smile back and made it very obvious that she was avoiding my eyes. I sighed and acted on impulse. I held out my arms. She didn’t seem to notice so I did the motions for her. Pulling her into a hug I lightly held her. “I mean it. Whatever’s bothering you, don’t let it show, it makes people worry.” I laughed lightly, trying to cheer her up and released her. She stared at me, probably thinking I was nuts. I knew people around here were too up-tight to casually touch a stranger let alone hug them, but I didn’t care. She needed to smile. It was bugging me that she was all gloomy and all because of my little sister’s mention.

“Thank you, Princess, I will leave you too your self. Do not forget to do your hair.” She didn’t smile, but bowed and headed for the door. I frowned, but she never saw as she quickly left the room and me. Gideon caught the door before Lixue could close it and walked in with his eyes trained on my form.

“Tucket was truthful when he said you looked like your mother. I always thought that old fool had lost his memory. I must apologize to him later.”

I stepped back from him slightly as he took a sweeping bow showing me the back of his head. I had never been one for formalities and I wasn’t about to offer him my hand to kiss. People slobbering all over your hand was just gross. I turned from him giving him my back and swept up the hair pins on the bed.

“My mother is long dead; looking like her won’t change that,” I grumbled as I stalked into the bathroom and shut the door tight. I shook my head and started to walk into the bathroom, but I stopped remembering the bloody foot prints I had made earlier and jumped to the side hefting my skirts up in the process. To my surprise the footprints were gone along with my boots. Whoever had redressed me must have taken those away as well. Sighing, I turned to the mirror that stood against the wall and laid the hair clips out on the vanity.