The light faded slowly as Brinn regained control of her senses. She had no concept of how much time had passed, but the fatigue of her muscles suggested it had been quite sometime since they had been used.

"Welcome back, princess…" Xander said in a silky smooth voice as he reclaimed his Merpearl and held it up. "…if that is indeed who you are."

Brinn looked down to make sure that her disguise was still in place before responding defiantly. "How dare you! Of course I am the princess! Who else could I be?"

"The Princess's look alike or something more magical perhaps. I do not know. What I do know is that someone who looks very much like you who was an excellent archer left the palace when the dragon's attacked. I had brushed it off until Cafer and I had a frank discussion about a week ago. Then he became suspicious too."

Brinn sat up in her bed quickly. Xander chuckled. "I am so glad you are feeling better. Time can do wonders for healing."

Brinn saw that the pearl was still glowing faintly. Nearby the door, Alvar was still frozen in place wearing Renat's face. His face was full of happiness as he stared blankly at the beautiful orb that Xander held.

"Let him go!" Brinn demanded.

"All in good time. That is, if you cooperate. I hear you have quite a soft spot for this one." The pirate winked, making the spymaster's skin crawl.

"Where are the others?" The elf did not see Nanny or the doctor even though they were in the room the last thing she remembered. They had to have been removed at some point.

"The Councilwoman and physician are safe for now," the pirate assured her.

Brinn realized she was basically alone with the Captain in Mairwen's room. "You didn't try anything while I was…out…"

She was more relieved than words could say when Xander shook his head. "I was told not to try anything just in case we are wrong."

Regaining her courage, Brinn began to berate the pirate again. "Well, you are very wrong. When my brother hears about this, he will…"

The pirate furrowed his brow in mock concern. "The future Emperor is quite busy with the coronation today."

Brinn's ears perked up. "Coronation? Today? But Alaron does not want to be Emperor. He told me—"

"A lot has happened since you went to sleep a week ago. Future Emperor Alaron had a moment of weakness. He has learned to listen to the wisdom of his elders over certain young ladies. You can speak to him after the coronation. Just now you need to get ready. Shall I send in your attendants?"

"I cannot go to the coronation." Brinn pursed her lips.

"Before you lie, I know you are not ill. Your doctor friend admitted as much after a tad bit of torture. Do not blame him too much. He wasn't the one I was torturing." Xander gave a wicked grin that made Brinn's stomach churn.

"I do not want to go!" the elf pulled the covers up over her shoulders to shield her body from the man's gaze.

"I am sad that you will not so easily support your brother, but I thought you might feel that way. Fear not, I have a solution!" Xander stood and held the merpearl directly in front of Alvar's face.

The pirate looked like a child about to gleefully torture a helpless creature. For that was Alvar was as he started at the shining globe: utterly helpless. Brinn's heart clenched, but her expression remained neutral.

"I am happy to see that the rumors about your fondness for this boy are true. It is why he stayed when the others did not. Hmmm…I would hate for anything unfortunate to happen to him like someone accidentally slitting his throat." Xander chuckled.

Hoping to catch him off guard, Brinn lunged at the pirate. If she could touch the pearl as Alaron had last time, she knew the spell would be broken. Perhaps Alvar could take Xander's place and ruin the rotten trio from the inside. But she really didn't think that far ahead. Her only thought was to stop Alvar from meeting Xander's blade.

But the pirate captain saw the split second of desperate determination before Brinn moved, and her jump only made it halfway before she fell back under the Merpearl's spell.

When the spymaster's vision cleared again, Alvar was gone, and her hands were tied behind her back. Brinn found herself sitting back on the bed with a pain on her chin where she must have hit the ground when she blacked out.

"Where is Renat?" She demanded to know.

Xander tucked the pearl away, happy to have her undivided attention once more. "He is safe, though unconscious. You will cooperate or Renat, your ladies-in-waiting, the Council, and possibly even the prisoners in the dungeon that still cling to Aurora will all pay the price."

"I will kill you," Brinn hissed as she pulled against her bonds. She was forced to sit back down by guards who were standing on either side of her.

"I believe you will try. Especially if you are not the princess as I suspect. But your hands are tied in more ways than one." Xander laughed as he leaned into the spymaster's face. Using two fingers, he tilted up her chin slightly. "You may be willing to risk your own life, but are you willing to risk all of theirs?"

Brinn jerked her head away and looked down. She shook her head slightly, making the pirate smile.

"Excellent," he said as he tucked Brinn's hair behind her ear before backing away. "I will send in your ladies- in-waiting to help you get dressed. You need to look your best." He cut her bonds and held them up like a trophy, knowing she would not be able to react.

'You'll pay for this,' Brinn silently promised Xander.

Xander seemed to read her thoughts and shook his head with a grin. "See you at the coronation," he chuckled before leaving to let the ladies do their work.

———————-

Alaron fought his way out of the haze only to be thrust back into the confusion of being semi-sedated. Every time he refused to eat or drink what was served to him, Cafer would come and comfort him. "You have been very sick," the gnome would say gently. "You must eat to get back your strength for the coronation." This time was no different.

"Where is my sister?" Alaron pushed his fist against his head as he struggled to think. How long had he been in bed? Hours? Days?

"She will be at the coronation today," Cafer assured him.

"You keep using that word, but I feel like I do not like it." The prince covertly moved and pinched the skin between the thumb and forefinger. The pain gave him a little more clarity. "I do not want to be Emperor..." he remembered.

"The sickness has made you delirious, my boy. You were just saying the other day how excited you were about ruling. Perhaps you are just nervous, my son." Cafer noticed the boy's hands and separated them. He saw Alaron visibly relax. "Here. Have some water." Caught off guard, the prince took a sip before remembering that he had been trying to refuse the food and drink. It was too late.

Alaron felt a wave of confusion wash over him. The fog was beginning to descend once more. "Why are you doing this to me?" he asked.

"Is it not obvious? I care about your success. I have consider you my son. Elias would have never been able to father such a strong boy. "

"But my sister? Surely she is not..." Alaron could feel himself slipping away. He unconsciously took a deep drink of water before throwing it across the room.

Cafer shook his head. "Gnomes do not have daughters. It hasn't happened since we broke the rules and lost access to the storehouse."

"Then I cannot be your son either. You are not making any sense." The prince went back to pinching himself. The pain brought back some of his senses.

The advisor furrowed his brow and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You were able to heal yourself from magic use. That convinced me that you must be half-gnome."

"The healing water from the land of magic did that. I should already be dead. I am fully human, Cafer." Alaron insisted. "Did Zephyra ever say you were my father?"

"She denied it, claiming she was pregnant before the Emperor died, but that only made me more convinced. At first I wanted to kill you to hide my own sins, but now I see that I was wrong. You were always meant to be Emperor." There was a sincerity in the gnome's voice that made Alaron cringe. The gnome had believed his own convenient lie.

"You are insane!" the boy blurted.

Under the drug's influence, Alaron was far too honest even when he struggled against voicing his thoughts. Cafer's face darkened momentarily, before becoming neutral again. "In time, you will see that I am right. Now let us get ready for your big debut. The coronation is in a few hours, my son."

Cafer stopped the boy from pinching himself and spoke soothing words as he offered Alaron a new glass of water. The boy's eyes glazed over slightly and he drank until his advisor took the cup. As the gnome continued to talk, Cafer helped Alaron to stand. The advisor along with many servants helped the future Emperor get ready for the coronation. The boy complied with their work and even allowed them to brush through his knotted blonde hair. At last his transformation was complete.

"Are you ready, Your Majesty?" Cafer asked brightly. He was very pleased with the results of their labor. The boy looked regal in every sense of the word.

In a final moment of clarity, the prince wondered at how far he had fallen. He was a prisoner in his own Empire, held by a man who had claimed to be his father. "I am doomed."