I woke up to a bright light. Squinting I tried to turn my head away from it, but I was too weak. “She’s awake.” The gruff voice came from somewhere behind me. Not able to deal with the bright light right now, I closed my eyes again. Soon after doing that the light disappeared and someone shook my shoulder gently.

“You can open your eyes now Princess Ariana. I turned off the light.” Trying to place the familiar voice, I opened my eyes and blinked up at them until I could focus on their face. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open when I realized who I was seeing.

Your Crown Prince Malick! From the kingdom of…” My voice faded out as I tried to remember where he was from. “I am sorry, but I can not remember where you are from.”

“That is all right.” He kept his voice gentle and friendly. “I am from the kingdom of Deadora in the north.”

Confusion appeared on my face when I registered that something about him was different than before. “You did not have medium dark violet eyes before, did you?”

He shook his head with a small smile on his lips. “No, I put dye in my eyes the last time we met to make them brown. These are my real eyes though.”

Yawning, I muttered, “Why would you do that? Your eyes are beautiful.”

Prince Malick’s smile grew wider. “Thank you Princess Ariana. However, my eyes do not even hold a candle to yours.”

“Of course they don’t. Eyes can not hold candles. That would be really dangerous.” Feeling really loopy, I gave a little giggle at the end. “What is wrong with me? Why do I feel really weird and out of it?”

“The smoke that you were caught in earlier had lots of plants in it to make you fall asleep and make you out of it when you awoke so we could get you away from everyone else safely and easily. Sorry about that, but it was the best option that we had.”

“That is okay. I am just having a hard time staying awake. Can I go back to sleep, at least for a little while?”

“You can after you answer two more questions of mine.”

“Sure, what is it?” My sentences got shorter and shorter as I drifted closer and closer to falling asleep.

“Can you tell me who the men in black were that took you away from your home? Also, who is the one that they call Milo?”

My voice sounded really far away when I replied. “The men in black are the Black Renegades. Milo is their leader and their Crown Prince. They come from the eastern kingdom of Raetis, and they are pretty nice.”

A triumphant smile lit up Prince Malick’s whole face. “Thank you my dear. You can go to sleep now.” Almost immediately after hearing that, I floated off to sleep. Waking up several hours later, I found myself in the same spot that I had woken up in earlier. Or at least in the same place that I had dreamed of. I could not remember if the conversation I had earlier with Prince Malick was real or not. When he walked in the room and I saw his medium dark violet eyes, I knew that the conversation had been real, and I might have given away crucial information regarding Milo and the Black Renegades. It was hard to remember exactly what I had said to him though. I had been, and was still, kind of out of it.

“Malick, what did I say to you when I woke up last time? I can not remember parts of it that I feel like I should be able to.”

Resting his hand on my shoulder, he smiled fondly at me. “Do not worry your pretty little head about the past. You just told me what I needed and wanted to know. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Trying to jerk away from him, I winced when I pulled against the ropes on my wrists. Twisting my head, I saw that my legs were tied to the chair I was in as well. “Why am I tied up? What do you want from me?” My voice was getting madder the more the plants and smoke got out of my system.

Caressing my cheek, Malick took his time to respond. “I want you to marry me.”

I laughed. “You are insane if you think that I would marry someone like you. Also how did you find me in the first place?”

“I paid off one of your servants to keep me aware of your every move and then I watched as you got into the carriage. Then all I had to do was get Hunter to slow you down. Also you will marry me if I threaten your friends.”

Not wanting to think about someone stalking me for the past little while, I concentrated on what he had said last. “Let them go. They have nothing to do with this. Especially if all you want from me are the words ‘I do’.”

He shook his head. “I do not think that you understand the situation. Either you marry me, or I will hurt your friends until you marry me. Those are your only choices and they both lead to the same thing. You as my wife and your friends as our prisoners. There are still many things that I need from your friends, so I can not let them go yet.” He tilted his head in consideration. “Or maybe I will never let them go. It really just depends on my mood. I will give you an hour to think about it and then I will come back for your answer.”

As he turned to walk from the room I panicked a bit. “Wait!” Desperation was clear in my voice. Malick stopped, but did not turn or answer. “What is your presence?”

He gave a low laugh and looked over his shoulder at me. “Wondering if you and your friends have a chance of escaping? My presence allows me to control the air around me. This means that I move faster than normal people, I can cause you to go slower, and I can cause the air in your lungs to simply disappear. I am not a person that you want to mess with or take lightly. By the way, I look forward to figuring out what your presence is.” Alone now I leaned my head forward onto my chest and started to cry. Malick swaggered back into the room an hour later to find me looking defeated and red faced. Sighing, he hugged my head to his chest. “There is no need to cry sweetie. I promise that I will treat you like the princess you are, and love you until I die.”

Distracting him by pretending to start crying, I slipped my hands out from my bonds and swung a fist at his head. Caught by surprise, he was not able to dodge it and staggered to the ground dazed. Standing up, I smiled down at him. “This is what you get for kidnapping me, calling me sweetie, and trying to get me to marry you.” The last thing he saw before everything went black was my foot heading for his head. Rushing around his limp body, I ran out the door and hoped that the only people left in here were my friends. Rounding a corner and slamming into someone, I cursed my luck. With the way things had been going lately, I should have known that I would not get lucky enough to get away that easily. Hitting the ground hard, I bounced back up to my feet and assumed a fighting position. When the person that I hit faced me I knew that I was in trouble. They were around a foot or two taller than me with huge muscles that stood out along their whole body. Not ready to give up when I was so close to getting free, I stood my ground. Glimpsing movement behind this boulder of a man, my shoulders sank a bit in discouragement. Seeing as the only people I know here are locked up and have no way to get free, the people running up to us must be the giant’s reinforcements.

Keeping my fists up, I reviewed my options. There was no way that I would be able to outrun every single one of Malick’s people and I hated the idea of threatening anyone no matter how evil they were, so that left me the option of fighting. Deciding to not wait for the giant’s reinforcements to arrive, I charged towards the giant hoping to catch him off guard. The only sign of emotion he showed on his face was a quick blink of surprise. His face then returned to the emotionless mask it had been before. Almost to him now, I hit the floor and slid. Making it through his legs and behind him, I jumped to my feet and slammed my foot into the back of his kneecap. The Boulder’s knee bent a little, but he was too strong to knock off his feet with only one blow. Especially when it came from someone who was as weak as me. Backing up against the wall I made sure that no one could attack me from behind because around a dozen people were running up to me and they were all wearing the same uniform. Brown pants, red shoes, a red shirt, a brown mask, and Malick’s red royal seal of a leaping fox. “This seems like an unfair fight. It would at least be better if you fought me one on one. Even that is not super fair since you guys have weapons or are huge, but it is more fair than this.”

The uniformed guards all looked at each other and nodded. Stepping back, they relaxed out of their fighting stances. Shocked that they actually listened to me, it took me a moment to turn to the giant. I was still suspicious of the guards, but I still had one secret weapon up my sleeve. When the giant ran at me, most likely to just pummel me into the wall, I stepped back into the wall. That meant that he ran directly into the wall and I came out on the other side. Hoping that the shock of seeing me do something like that would stun the guards into not reacting for a bit, I started to run away from the wall where the stumbling, most likely concussed, giant was behind and towards where I hoped my friends were. Faster than was ideal, I heard footsteps coming towards me. They were definitely faster than me and had apparently known a very fast way to get around the wall. Not wanting to yell just in case there were other guards nearby, I slid around a sharp turn and was faced with an open door that had stairs going down into what looked like utter darkness. A glance behind me showed that the guards were hot on my heels, so I started down the stairs. One of the guards called something out to me, but I couldn't really hear what they said over the loud beating of my heart. It was probably just something along the lines of give up though.

Careening down the stairs, I pulled up short when I saw something that should have been impossible. Flames shot out from both sides of the hall and blocked off my path. Once the shock of what had just happened wore off, I looked up at the ceiling and wondered why this had to happen to me. I was doing so well up until this point. Not thinking that I could phase through fire unscatched, I faced the guards and put my hands in the air in surrender. Stopping just out of my reach the lead guard grabbed his mask and pulled it off. My eyes doubled in size from my shock at seeing Darius. “How did you get out of your cell?” Glancing behind me to where the fire was now disappearing I asked, “Also who created the fire and how?”

Cayden, some Black Renegades, and Milo seized their masks next and pulled them off. “There is no time to explain right now. Let’s go back to the carriages and our campsite and see if the rest of the Black Renegades, your two sets of guards, and your two maids are still there.” Milo’s tone gave us no space to argue. Shelving my questions for now, I started to follow them back up the stairs. On the way up they put back on their masks and I was dragged in front of Cayden who was in the lead. Feeling my hands being tied behind my back, I tried to keep my breathing normal and to not panic.

Cayden leaned closer to me and whispered in my ear. “It is only for a little while until we get past the guards. Sorry, but we do not have another guard uniform for you and we have to appear like actual guards. We do need to avoid Malick though because we are not sure if he knows all of his guards or not. If you have any idea where he is, now would be the time to tell us.”

I smiled at the memory of Malick. “The last time I saw Malick he was unconscious on the floor of the cell where I had been kept. When you caught up to me I was almost directly outside of that room.” Even though they were behind me, I could still feel all their stunned gazes on my back. My shoulders shrugged. “What? He made me really mad. All he would talk about how he was going to make me marry him and torture all the rest of you until you told him everything that he wanted to know. Things like that can make me act in ways that I do not normally act.” Hearing some stifled laughter, I felt some pleasure at what I had done. Squinting a bit in the light from upstairs I almost rammed right into someone. Pushed from both behind and from the side of me, I was maneuvered out of everyone’s way. Stumbling a bit from the unexpected shoves, I leaned against the wall for support. Exhausted from all the events that had occurred that day, I waited to see what Cayden, Milo, Darius, and the Black Renegades would do to get us out of this mess. Spying the giant among the many guards now surrounding us, I groaned inside my head. Why couldn’t he have just stayed down?

After a couple seconds of no one speaking or doing anything I grew bored. “What happens now? Are we just going to stand around forever staring at each other or are we actually going to do something?” Footsteps coming down the hall forestalled any response that they might have given. When Malick came into view I slumped into the wall with disappointment. I had really hoped that he would have been knocked out longer than this, but fate did not really like me today.

“Hello love. I am so glad that I could catch up to you before you managed to get away. During our last encounter you left me with quite a few questions and absolutely no answers.”

I nodded slowly. “That is true. I also left you unconscious on the ground, but I noticed that you deliberately left that part of the story out.”

Malick’s eyes sharpened. “Yes, that is one of the things I had questions about. I checked your ropes after I awoke to see that they were still tight and in perfect condition. That means that you somehow got out of them without adjusting them or messing with them at all. The only way that might be possible is if you discovered what your presence was and at least partially learned how to use it.”

“That is one possibility. Another possibility is that I untied them and then retied them so that it would confuse you or give you the wrong idea.”

“Would you then tell me that you did that?”

I tilted my head to the side in consideration. “I might if I wanted you to be confused or to rethink your ideas. Also, I could just be really tired and not be thinking straight.”

Shaking his head, Malick gestured to some guards behind me and my hopes rose. “Take her to the west tower and make sure that she stays there. If she gets away from you then I promise that I will make your lives miserable.” Dismissing us, I was taken from the room and taken to another flight of stairs. Willing myself to have enough energy to make it up these stairs, I forced my legs to obey me and slowly started lumbering up them one by one. Malick’s guards did not make a sound the entire time we traveled up. Wondering if I made a mistake and these were not actually my friends, I tried to think of an escape plan, but my head seemed to be floating in the clouds. About halfway up the long flight of stairs I faltered. The ground beneath me seemed to be moving and getting closer and closer. Nausea appeared in my stomach and my head pulsed with sudden pain. Pitching forward I would have collapsed onto my face, but was caught at the last instant from behind. Disjointed voices floated around me before everything darkened and my eyes closed.

A cool breeze drifted over my face, waking me from a deep sleep. Prying my eyelids open, I winced at the light in the room. Looking around me, I was astonished by what I saw. I was in a huge, white room with expensive looking furniture all around me. Marveling in the softness of the bed I was in, I wondered if this was the west tower that I was supposed to have been brought to. Attempting to get into a sitting position, I moaned when all my feelings came back. Pain was back in my forehead, and nausea returned to my stomach. Glad that I had not eaten anything lately, I laid back down. Apparently someone had heard me because a knock sounded at the door. Clearing my throat to make sure that I would be heard, I called out, “Come in!” Malick walked in the door and came directly over to me.

“Are you feeling better? You should have told me that you were not feeling well. I would have had one of the guards carry you or put you in a closer room.”

Brushing away Malick’s concern, I got right to the point. “What do you plan on doing with me now? Obviously I have ways of getting out of areas that should be impossible to get out of, so there is no way that an ordinary room will keep me captive here.”

Malick’s laugh had me thinking that he had figured out what exactly my presence was. I hoped not because I was not even quite sure what it was or what I could do with it. “Darling, my plan for you is still the same as it was before you tried to escape. You will marry me either the hard way or the easy way. The only difference is that now I want to marry you even more than before and I want to do it faster. Preferably I want to get married today. After we are married then I can help you explore your presence and figure out what it is and what its limits are. However we now know one of the consequences for using it.”

I covered my face with my hands. “You mean several consequences. I have nausea, a headache, and am very fatigued.”

Sitting on the side of my bed close to me, Malick touched my cheek tenderly. “I will have to see if we have something to help with those symptoms, but first I want you to answer my question.” My blank look seemed to amuse him. “Wow, you must be even more tired than I thought sweetie. I just proposed to you like 10 seconds ago and already you do not even remember it.”

Understanding flickered in my eyes before I scowled at him. “Why must you ask this question when you already know the answer to it? My friends are gone and free. You can’t threaten them anymore, so what would be the point of me saying yes to your proposal?”

Chuckling Malick leaned so close to me that I could feel his breath on my cheek. “Do you really think that I do not know my guards or staff members? At first I did not know that the guards that brought you up here were your friends, but it soon hit me that I did not know them. Running up here I caught them in the act of trying to run away with your unconscious body and had my loyal guards recapture them and take them to a new cell with lots more guards than before. It was shocking to learn that Crown Prince Darius has a presence though.”

Disbelief spread through my body. “What do you mean Darius has a presence? His eyes are blue, not violet.”

He leaned back and scanned my face. “I am stunned that Prince Darius had not revealed it to you yet. That is how they escaped from their first cell. He used his fire to cut through the door and attack my guards.”

Realization came to me. “That is where that fire came from! It all makes sense now!” Looking into Malick’s violet eyes I said, “He did the same thing you did. He put a colored dye into his eyes to trick people into thinking that he did not have a presence. His family already has someone with a presence so it did not matter that he kept his a secret.”

Nodding Malick queried, “When did he use his presence around you?”

“That is none of your business. How are you keeping them here? Wouldn’t he just be able to do the same thing to get free?”

Shaking his head, Malick elaborated. “I placed them in a much more secure cell, with thicker walls, more guards, and Prince Darius is already reaching his limit on how much he can use his presence. He is feverish, and a little delirious. It would be dangerous to use it again anytime soon.” I nodded. I kept forgetting that even though presences are powerful, they take a huge toll on our bodies and are not the safest things to use. “I will leave you now to give you time to think upon your answer now that you know what is really at stake. I am sure that there would be tons of people that would love to get a hold of the news that Prince Darius has a presence and a very powerful one at that.” Childishly, I turned my head away from him and pretended to not be listening to him. Straining my ears to hear when the door closed, I sighed with relief. I was not sure how much more of him I could take. I tried to think over his offer and what could happen if I refused him again, but my mind just kept coming back to one fact. Darius had lied to me. Since the very first moment that I had met him, he had lied to me about a very big part of himself. I could understand why he hid it from those that would take advantage of him, but I was one person that could relate completely to him, and he had shut me out like I was just another person.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and I let it all come out. Blaming it on hormones and a complicated and emotional day, I put my face in my pillow and let loose. After what felt like hours later, but was probably only a couple of minutes, I felt my emotions turn. They began to turn to anger and frustration. I had shared some really personal things with him and thought that I could trust him. Yet he had decided that I was not important enough to let in about his own secret. Clenching my hands, I pressed my nails into my palms and felt the sting of pain. Just as all things had to though, that emotion faded away as well and I was left feeling numb and confused. Forcing myself to unclench my hands, I stared at the crescent moon shapes on my palm. Not able to think in the state I was in, I got up out of bed and started pacing. My mind always worked better when I was pacing. My situation right now seemed pretty dire, but there were some positives that I had not thought about before. My maids, Darius’s guards, and my guards were still free along with a lot of the Black Renegades. Or at least, those were the people that I had both not seen and not heard that they had been captured. They must have gotten away and must be coming up with a plan to free us at this moment. I just needed to concentrate and delay.

I did not want to say yes to Malick’s proposal because of how much was uncertain. He might take me somewhere else and get us married today. Then I would be stuck in more ways than one. Another option would be to say no to Malick’s proposal, but I was afraid for Milo, Darius, Cayden, and the Black Renegades that were being held captive with me. If they got hurt because of my stupidity, I would never forgive myself. There had to be another option. Some way to give me more time and to keep everyone safe, and happy. An option that I could live with. Pacing the room faster, I impatiently wished for something to come to me. When a new idea did come to me though, it stopped me in my tracks. Thinking through all the possibilities and what could happen, I started smiling. My new plan might actually work and give our allies enough time to find and free us. Maybe it would give Darius and me enough time to recuperate and be able to use our presences again. Malick was a very old fashioned person from a very old fashioned family and I was hoping that even in times like this, where he was desperate for something, that he would stick with his past and his values.

Two hours later Malick swaggered back into the room. It was painfully obvious that he was thinking that I would say yes to him and he would get everything that he wanted. I could not wait to prove him wrong. “Hi babe, I am assuming that you have come to a decision?” I nodded trying not to look too happy or confident. “Alright, I am ready for whatever you are going to say.”

My smile almost broke free of my control at those words. There was no way that he could have ever predicted what I was going to say next. “I would love to marry you Malick,” his grin grew wider, “but there is a problem.”

He faltered. “What problem could there be? We could have the ceremony all set up and over within a couple of hours, we have the witnesses, the contracts, everything.”

I hesitated as if I was embarrassed to correct him. “There is still one thing that has to be done before I can accept your proposal. Our parents have to agree to our union. Without their permission there is no way I can say yes to you in good conscience.”

By the way Malick’s mouth dropped open, I knew that he had not thought about that. Furrowing his brow, he started pacing back and forth across my room. Several minutes passed before he finally stopped and addressed me. “That is a very good point, but I think I have an easy solution. I will send your parents a messenger right now with a letter written by you. It will say something along the lines of how much you love me and need their permission to marry me. My parents have already given me permission to marry whoever I choose so that definitely saves us time because Deadora is over a day’s ride away.”

Annoyed that he had already made a plan for my excuse, I replied, “I am not so sure that it will be that easy. After all, my parents witnessed me being kidnapped from mysterious people from the east. They would be understandably confused to receive this letter, and would probably insist that I return home immediately to them. It would then take several days if not weeks for us to get married.” I shrugged in fake disappointment. “If that is the only plan that you can think of though…” Letting my voice trail off, I held my breath waiting anxiously for his response. Settling back into his pacing, he crossed the room several times before he stopped again.

“Okay, what about this plan then? We get married now and get your parents’ permission later. Since they have already been considering other peoples’ proposals we can assume that they would not care that we decided to tie the knot and get married. Especially since I had just saved you from the wicked kidnappers from the east.”

Internally rolling my eyes at his dramatic language I said, “Their reactions to that would not be positive. They promised me that we would talk about each wedding proposal before any decision was made.” I realized that now was the perfect time to fish for more information. “Also, shouldn't we be at least a little worried about the rest of the people from the east, and Darius and my guards? Will they not try to stop this union?”

When Malick laughed at me again, I gritted my teeth. His laughs were really starting to bug me now. “Hunter is taking care of them and making it really difficult for them to get a moment of peace. This is the real reason why you have been posing all of these questions isn’t it? No amount of time wasting will save you from marrying me. They are not coming anytime soon. We will just stick with my plan of getting married and getting your parents’ permission afterwards.” He grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. “I will send in some servants to help you dress and they will then escort you to where the wedding ceremony will take place.” Yanking my arm out of his arm, I opened my mouth to argue. Forestalling me by raising his hand, Malick spoke first. “You already said that you would love to marry me. I am officially taking that as verbal consent to the marriage and you know what will happen if you don’t sign the papers or say I do. Personally I would love to interrogate my other prisoners, but I have a feeling that you would not enjoy that as much as me.”

Repulsion on my face, I stalked over to the window and gazed at the outside world. Seconds after Malick left the room, servants bustled in. “Princess, we are here to help you get ready. Could you please come stand over here so we can get started?” Tears started to well in my eyes, but I impatiently brushed them away and walked over to the servants. There was no point in trying to make a stand or anything. Malick held all the cards right now and he knew it. Raising my arms to my sides, I stood perfectly still while they clothed me in beautiful layers of silk, gossamer, and makeup. Looking into the mirror they held in front of me, I stared emotionless at the image. Everything about me looked the opposite of how I felt. I looked so gorgeous, regal, put together, and completely in control of my life. Once they finished putting super high heels on my feet I turned away from the mirror and faced the door. Taking several deep breaths, I prepared myself to walk down the stairs to where my life would basically end. Never again would I be allowed to think for myself, take lessons from the staff, or do anything without Malick’s permission.

Straightening up as the door opened, I resolved to get married with as much dignity and self control that I could muster. No matter what occurred, I would always try to stay true to myself and do everything possible to at least partially control my life and future. After only one step however, I paused. Reaching down to my feet, not without its own set of difficulties because of the corset I was wearing, I pulled off my shoes. If they wanted me to walk down the stairs then they would have to deal with me doing it barefoot. I heard some gasps of shock from the servants and guards behind me, but I ignored them. Sighing from the relief of having my feet free from the torture devices they had placed on my feet, I continued my trek down the stairs. Entering a large room decorated with flowers, garlands, and vines I felt like I was entering a magical forest. Under normal circumstances I would have been stunned into silence with the beauty and majesty of my surroundings, but today I barely blinked.

Resting my shoes on one of the tables nearby, I refused to put them on until I was forced too, I walked around looking at all the decorations and food. My head was still trying to wrap itself around the idea that I was getting married today. Biting my lip and hugging my arms to my chest, I made myself consider a life with Malick. This did not necessarily have to be the end of my freedom. Maybe Malick would let me continue taking some lessons occasionally and let me train with him. Despair forced those thoughts out. Hearing my name called, I gathered myself and walked slowly towards the voice. When Malick came into view I almost started crying. He was dressed in a white suit, and looked so happy that he seemed to be glowing. Meanwhile I was also dressed in white, but I was sure that I did not seem to be glowing. Seeing the priest walk into the room and gesture us to the arch of flowers in the middle of the room, we started over to begin the wedding. Grateful that Malick had not noticed that I was not wearing my heels still, I enjoyed that little bit of freedom. The only people present other than Malick, the priest, and me were the guards, the giant, and the staff. Barely hearing the words that were being spoken, I gazed despondendently over Malick’s shoulder at the opposite wall.

Shaken from my thoughts suddenly by someone poking me, I looked at Malick in confusion. When he looked pointedly at the priest, I looked that way as well. Repeating himself for my sake the priest asked, “Will you, Princess Ariana Esma from the southern kingdom of Kuli, take Crown Prince Malick Elsher from the northern kingdom of Deadora to be your lawfully wedded husband?” With the breath stuck in my throat, it took me a while to finally splutter out the words I do. Malick took much less time to speak the words. Moving to the next part of the ceremony, the priest asked if there were any objections to the union. Looking hopelessly at the people in attendance, I prayed that one of them would step forward, but they all avoided my gaze. As the priest opened his mouth to finish the ceremony, the huge double doors crashed open. Jaw dropping in complete and utter shock, everyone in the room could only stand there as tons of people poured into the room. Hearing a strange noise coming from Malick, I turned back to him and a smile started to spread across my face at the look of utter shock on his face.

Dozens of voices from the wedding crashers cried out now in unison. “We object!” Lifting up my dress, I ran down to them. Recovering from his shock now, Malick started screaming orders to kill everyone and bring me back to him. Shaking themselves out of their stupors, his guards raised their weapons and charged at us. As I was dragged to the side of the battle, several Black Renegades positioned themselves in front of me to protect me. Searching the faces of those fighting around me I saw Milo, Darius, Cayden, Alex, Tyler, Casey, Liam, and all of Darius’s guards. The only people that I did not see were a couple of Black Renegades and my maids. My maids would never be brought into a fight though, and the couple Black Renegades that were missing would be making sure they were safe during this battle. Spying a sword on the ground, I picked it up and surveyed my dress. There was no way I would be able to fight in it, so I cut it off up to my knee and put slits on both sides. Both Malick’s and my sides were about even in this battle, and I had a feeling that I might need to fight in it before it would end.

Even though the fight was still raging and I was not sure which side would win, my smile was as big as ever. My friends had come for me and, as of right now, I was not officially married to Malick since the ceremony had not been finished. Life was great right now. Swinging my sword in a few practice swings to get the hang of its weight and build, I settled into a fighting stance and waited for my chance to attack. The Black Renegades protecting me were all busy in their various battles and I did not want to distract any of them. That could be a fatal mistake for them. Watching very closely I soon saw my moment to shine. One of my guards was struggling against their opponent. Making sure that my sword would strike true, I advanced. Swinging my sword, I hit my target’s shoulder. Reflexively grabbing it, they were easily and quickly dispatched by my guard. Sending a brief look of thanks, they were quickly caught up in a new battle. Getting several other chances to help out my guards, I finally felt like I was doing something to help.

During a respite, I looked around the room to see how the rest of my friends and allies were doing. This meant that I was the only one to notice Cayden. He was fighting against three other opponents and did not see that a fourth person was sneaking up behind him. Screaming his name, I shoved through my circle of guards and started sprinting towards him. Knowing that he could not hear me, I hurried as fast as I could to him, but was engaged by an enemy halfway there. I beat my opponent in five quick strokes, however the exchange had still taken too long. The man had reached Cayden and stabbed his sword right through him. Rage overtook me and all I saw for the next couple of seconds was red. Blinking my eyes, I saw that my sword was covered in blood and bodies lay around me. Ignoring them for the moment I found Cayden and knelt down beside him. Grasping his hand in both of mine I scanned him, looking for any sign of life.

It was only when I leaned down and put my ear right by his mouth that I realized that he was breathing. Relief coursed through me, but fear was still present. His breathing was too weak. “Cayden.” I shook him. “Cayden, I need you to talk to me.” Ripping a long strip of cloth from one of the bodies around me, I wrapped Cayden’s wound tightly and started applying pressure. The wound was very deep and right in the middle of his stomach. Not knowing what else to do, I shook Cayden again.

Tears streamed down my face when he blinked his eyes open. “Ari?” His voice was little more than a whisper.

“I am here, Cayden. Don’t worry. I am doing everything I can to save you.”

He shook his head. “It is too late for me. Please do not worry. I have lived a long good life. Your family made my life worth living and besides, I will die the way I wanted to die. Fighting a good fight.” Cayden gripped my hand tighter. “Do not cry or mourn for me. Just live your life happily and to its fullest for me. Promise me that.”

“I promise.” Wiping my tears away, I took a deep breath. “Goodbye Cayden. Thank you for training me.” Smiling back at me, his eyes closed and his breathing stopped. Laying my head on his chest, I swallowed my tears and screams. Taking a shuddering breath, I got up and stood on shaking feet. Lifting my sword again, I turned away from Cayden’s body and rejoined the battle. Finding the rest of my friends, I was beyond grateful to see them all whole and well. Crossing blades with another of Malick’s guards, I slid gracefully from move to move. Now that Cayden was dead, I wanted to honor him by showing everyone just how much he had taught me. How much he had inspired me. Hitting the sword out of the guard’s hands, I slammed the hilt of my sword into the side of their head. There had been too much death today. By my hand alone already six people had died. When no one came to replace the person I had just knocked out, I looked around. Most of Malick’s guards were on the ground either dead, or unconscious. Several others were tied up in a corner with seven Black Renegades standing over them.

The only fights still going on involved Darius, Alex, Milo, and Casey. They were all doing well in their fights and were soon victorious. Walking tiredly over to them I dropped my borrowed sword on the ground. That sword had worked well for this fight, but it was too heavy for me to wield for long. I needed to find myself a weapon that was made specially for me. Even back at Kuli I had never had a sword that was just for me. Maybe further along this journey I would find one. Staggering to Darius, I leaned against the wall beside him completely spent. Darius looked at me with concern. “What is wrong?” He looked closer at me. “Why are you covered in blood?” Horror was obvious in his voice.

Numb from everything that had happened, it took me a moment to respond. “Cayden is dead. Someone stabbed him from behind.”

“I am so sorry Ari. Is there anything I can do for you?” Darius wrapped me in a tight hug and laid his head on top of mine.

“This is enough.” I sighed in comfort and relief. Hearing the others start to talk, I pulled out of the embrace. “What happens now?” Realizing that someone was missing, I asked, “Where is Malick? Did he get away?”

Milo stepped forward. “Yes, Malick got away. We do not have the troops to track him down, but he should leave you alone at least for a while. By the time he has enough people to come after you again we will already be in the eastern kingdom of Raetis.” Nodding in agreement, I waited while everyone grabbed their things and then followed them out of the hideout. Sad that we did not have enough time to at least bury Cayden, I climbed into my carriage with Milo, Darius, and my maids. Sophia and Hazel, upon seeing me, insisted that we find the nearest stream and allow them to clean me up. No one dared argue with them because of the tone they used. About a five minute carriage ride away we found a stream and my maids helped me bathe and change into clean clothes. I was shocked by the amount of bruising on my skin, but was kind of proud of them. They showed that I had helped contribute to the fight and held my own against several opponents. Clean now, we climbed back into the carriage and continued on our way.

The first thing that I noticed was that Darius had washed out the dye that had colored his eyes blue. Now I would not be the only one in this group with a presence. Shaking those thoughts away, I focused on more important matters. “So how did you all manage to get out of your cell and come help me? I thought that Darius was too weak to use his presence again and that you were put in a super guarded cell.”

Milo nodded. “We were. The Black Renegades and both sets of your two guards freed us. As to how they got there, I would like to know that as well.”

Everyone turned to the Black Renegades in the carriage. The one sitting next to Darius cleared his throat. “Well once you had all been taken captive, we woke up still in the middle of the woods in our campsite. Gathering up all of our stuff, we set off to find you and soon saw Malick’s hideaway. Before we could reach it though, we were attacked by Hunter and several of Malick’s men. Fighting as hard as we could, it still took us a long time before we managed to defeat them. Thinking that maybe we were too late to help you, we rushed to the hideout and broke through the walls and first couple lines of guards. It was a lot easier than we thought it would be to break in and free everyone. Honestly, we thought there would be more defenses and defenders.”

I shrugged. “Malick must have just underestimated us.” Yawning, I leaned back against the back of the carriage and fell asleep almost instantly. Waking up several hours later, I glanced around to see no one else in the carriage. Thinking they must be setting up camp, I left the carriage to look for them. Stretching, I walked around the carriage and stopped in my tracks. In front of me was a scene that I never thought I would see. Liam was kissing Sophia and they were holding each other in their arms. It was clear they had done this before. When they pulled away I quickly went back behind the carriage. I did not want to get caught watching them kiss. Coming back around the carriage once I was pretty sure I had given them enough time to either leave or act like nothing had happened, I saw Sophia standing alone. Smiling innocently at her, I asked where everyone else was.

She led me to where our new camp was and sat down next to me on a log. Hazel came over a moment later. Seeing that no one else was around us, I decided to just ask the question. “Are either of you two in love with anyone?”

Both of them startled visibly, but then both laughed. “We should have known that you would figure it out sooner or later. Sophia is in love with Liam and I am in love with one of Darius’s guards. His name is Joshua.” Hazel sighed dreamily and her eyes got a glazed over look. When I looked over at Sophia, she had the exact same look on her face.

My smile was huge and bright. Hugging them both to me I exclaimed, “I knew it! Sorry, but I kind of saw Sophia kissing Liam. And Hazel I knew that you were in love with someone because I saw you gaze over at Darius and his guards with the same dreamy look in your eyes as you have now. Can you introduce me to this Joshua person? I would love to meet him.”

“Of course I will introduce you two.” She laughed and stood. “In fact you can meet him right now.” Spotting Darius and his guards coming over, I stood as well. As Darius opened his mouth to speak, Hazel cut in. “One second please Prince Darius. I was hoping to introduce Ari to all of your guards seeing as she does not know them and we will be traveling together for the foreseeable future.” Darius amusedly gave his approval. I had a feeling that he knew about Joshua and Hazel’s love. Pointing to each one in turn, Hazel told me each of their names. “This is Dustin, Ethan, Kane, and Joshua.” They bowed to me when their name was called.

I gave a small laugh. “You do not have to bow to me. Especially not out here in the middle of a forest. Also please just call me Ari.”