That's when it happened. The boy's eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground.

"You're picking him up." I said to my mother flatly. I quickly ate my dinner and left in a blur. I heard her call my name for a second but I ignored it.

"Eerrgghh, that hybrid of a son," the Queen grumbled. She ordered two servants to carry Alexander up to his current room. She also had the doctors take some tests. She knew he'd want proof that the girl was actually his sister and that they were fae creatures.

"I hope you don't faint again when the results come out." Queen Charlotte whispered.

~~~~~

Back in his chambers, Prince Phoenix was greeted with a sorrowful looking Eve. She still looked blank but he knew better. He immediately went to her and sat close beside her on the bed. She stilled again for a few seconds before relaxing.

Instead of asking her anything, the Dark Prince held her by the waist and pulled her across his lap. She was so stiff and she didn't move a muscle at first. He then rubbed her back gently and rested her head on his chest. She gradually loosened herself up but she was still sad and disturbed.

"It's okay. I know you heard a lot and it may be too much to take in but we'll take everything slow. You're not alone in this, I promise," her eyes teared up and the Prince felt a drop land on his arm. He hugged her tight and lightly rocked her back and forth.

"We are all going to be with you every step of the way," he whispered to her. Her body felt really hot. The Prince knew she was already getting a fever. Her breathing became shallow.

She was afraid. Terrified about what was going to happen.

The conversation between Alex and Queen Charlotte scared her. Alex couldn't remember anything before finding her in the woods, she couldn't remember anything before meeting Alex. This was all too much. It was like a big hole in their lives.

"Stop thinking so much. Please Little Flower." He cooed softly. He continued to hold her in his arms for a long time. Only after she was calm, did he call in Odelle.

"What is wrong my Prince? She looks so pale!"

"I know, she's getting a fever."

"Okay, let me prepare a cold bath. Then you can put her in it Your Highness," the Prince nodded while looking at his girl. She's been through enough, she doesn't need a bloody fever now. He looked towards the roses in the vase. The whiteness of them slowly transformed into a light shade of yellow.

As difficult as it was to believe that she wasn't human, the evidence was always there. Time and time again, it was always there.

~~~~~

Once Odelle was done with Eve, she had her changed into comfortable clothes. The Prince once again laid her down on the bed. Odelle gave her a head massage and not long after, Eve succumbed into a deep sleep.

"Tell the boy to come by first thing in the morning. Maybe seeing him will help," the Prince said to Odelle while she was going out.

"Alright, my prince."

~~~~~~~

He sat there looking at her sleeping form. Even in her sleep, she wasn't calm. Stress lines were spread across her forehead. Alexander then moved forward and gently eased those lines with his fingers.

He continued to look at her. He continued to look at his sister. He knew he couldn't deny the truth any longer. The results from the tests were sent to him by the Queen herself. Eve is his biological sister and both of them were not human.

He wasn't even twenty two for heaven's sake!! He buried his head in his hands and shook away all the lies. His whole life was a lie. Someone had them both believe a made up story. Someone prevented them from looking for answers. That same someone had blocked their minds. Why?

Were their parents really the great King and Queen of the fae creatures? If so, why send them away to Red Kingdom? To the one place where their survival had the smallest to no chance.

Just as he was thinking he felt movements. He looked up to see his Evie already up in a sitting position, staring at him.

"Good morning, well it's almost noon," he said softly. She just stared blankly at him. "How are you feeling now?"

She continued to look deep into his eyes. It seemed to him like she was trying to solve a puzzle.

"What is it?" he asked scrunching up his face in curiosity. Still she did not respond. She just kept staring and it was making Alex uncomfortable.

After a while, she moved forward and slowly brought up her shaky hand. She used her forefinger to touch his chest, close to his heart. She stared at her finger for a few seconds then hesitantly looked up at his eyes again.

"B..b...brother?"

She whispered under her breath.

Alex was dumbfounded for almost a minute. He couldn't believe she spoke.

Was this her first word ever since that day??

The simple word she let out took him back to the first few days after he brought her home and nursed her back to health. They were just children back then.

Two days after he took her in, she said her first word. It was just like this. The same curious tone. The same innocence.

"Y...yeah I guess. That's what they're saying and the tests came out earlier today. It was a match. Everything they said about us turned out to be true."

Eve dropped her hand and looked down.

"You don't like the fact that I'm your brother?" Alex fearfully asked. She immediately shook her head. Even before he finished his sentence.

"Pheww, you scared me for a second there," he let out a nervous chuckle. He took her small skinny hand in his.

"You want to take a bath?" at this she gave a slight nod. This made Alex beyond happy.

"I'll go get Ms.Odelle then I'll prepare breakfast for you," he kissed her on the cheek and rushed out feeling excited.

She spoke!!!

She responded!

That was so much more than he wished for. He couldn't wait to tell his family.

Alex rushed into the kitchen with a huge smile.

"Someone's happy." Beth acknowledged.

"I'm making some toasts. Help me make the chocolate spread."

"I'm guessing it's for Eve?"

"Yeap...."

"Oh just say it already!!" Alex laughed at her frustrated expression.

"She spoke Beth. My Evie spoke."

Beth's eyes widened in surprise for a moment. Slowly her lips stretched into a wide smile.

"Oh my goodness!! That's awesome!!" she went to give Alex a high-five but he hugged her instead, lifting her feet off the ground and spinning her around.

"Okay, okay! Go make the toasts. Don't make her starve!" Beth giggled and turned away. No matter how hard she tried to prevent it, she knew her cheeks were red at that moment.

After they prepared breakfast, Alex rushed up to the Dark Prince's chambers. When he walked in, he found her sitting on the bed and staring out the window.

"Hey, breakfast." Alex placed the tray on the small bed table and rolled it closer to her.

"Where's Ms.Odelle?" Eve did not respond to this.

"Um...eat first," he opened the tray and the smell of chocolate wafted in the air. Eve stared at her breakfast longingly. She absolutely loved chocolate. They've only eaten chocolate about three times in their whole lives. They had to save up a lot and only bought it if they had a little extra to spend.

Alex decided to feed her as her arms were still bandaged. They weren't fully covered anymore but he still thought it was better if he just fed her.

He cut the bread into small pieces, dipped them in the melted chocolate and fed it to her.

After a few mouths, she pushed the bowl to Alex using her knuckles. It wasn't because she was full, but rather she wanted him to enjoy the meal as well.

"Nah, this is for you. I'll have my fair amount one day." Alex smiled at her. He couldn't wipe the smile of his face. His family and friends were right. She will come out of this.

His Evie had never finished her breakfast this fast. She licked her lips in utter contentment. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Alex gazed lovingly at her.

This was all observed my the Dark Prince who stood at the entrance of his chambers.

"Thank you for making her eat more than usual........though it was quite unhealthy a meal," the Prince said walking in. Alex head whipped to where he stood at the moment.

How long was he standing there??? Alex thought.

"Um....you're welcome Your Highness. Anything with chocolate will do. She loves it."

"I'll keep that in mind. Does she...." he pointed his forefinger at Alex and motioned it between him and Eve.

"Yeah." Alex answered. The Dark Prince was glad she knew Alexander was her blood related brother.

"How about-" Alex immediately shook his head. Eve was not ready to know anything else. For now all she needs to do is recover from the horrible nightmare that she went through.

Alex cleared out the tray and kissed Eve on the forehead, saying goodbye.

As he walked out he signaled for the Prince to follow. Once they were a few feet away from the doors, Alex turned to him.

"She may look emotionless, but now she's listening to everything we say. She's coming back. Slowly. Earlier today she spoke-"

"What?! To you?" the Prince's eyes widened and he turned to look at the doors.

"She pointed at me and asked 'brother?' She only uttered a single word but it's something."

"A very big something," the Prince growled out. Alex ignored his obvious disappointment and continued. He knew the Prince didn't like that Eve had spoken to himself first.

"Let her just recover completely before revealing anything to her." This made Prince Phoenix sigh.

"I too do not want to do it now. Even yesterday's conversation got her thinking too much. She came down with a fever last night," the Prince said.

"Oh. Well, she's getting better now. She will need more time though," the Prince nodded at this.

"I'll get back to work," before he left, he was stopped.

"I don't think that's right. Maybe you working here is not a good idea now that we-"

"Your Highness, I can't just accept everything within a night. I've lived a normal human life all these years. I can't just, I mean I don't know what to think yet. For now, let me just make sure she's fully herself again and then maybe I'll think about the next step."

"Fair enough."

Once Alex was gone the Dark Prince walked into his chambers towards his Little Flower. He too found her looking out the window.

He suddenly realized that he was supposed to take her out this morning. He sat next to the bed. "How are you today? Do you feel any sort of pain?"

She turned towards him and stared. Other than her blinking, she gave nothing away. "Are you disappointed that I didn't take you out? Don't worry we'll go now." She remained quiet but her eyes lit up almost immediately.

After Odelle had her changed, the Prince carried her out into the gardens again. Her legs were still weak so he made her to sit on the grass.

"Maybe tomorrow I'll call someone to help you walk," she turned towards him and gave no reply. She was more interested in the many flowers, the sky and the majestic Sun that warmed her very little exposed skin.

There were also butterflies that flew around the flowers. Eve's eyes were twinkling at the sight. She had never seen so many butterflies in one place before. She couldn't take her eyes off of them and the Dark Prince couldn't take his eyes off of her.

They sat on the grass for some time. Then the Prince looked at his surroundings.

"Would you like to go around? This is only one part of the garden."

She slowly turned towards him but kept her gaze on his shoes. She was afraid to answer. All her senses were slowly sinking back into her mind. She was slowly feeling again.

His behavior, it was confusing. This was all very new to her and she didn't know how to react. Was he playing with her? Would she get in trouble later? She couldn't remember the last time he was bad to her. Maybe he stopped. Maybe he still hasn't.

The Dark Prince could practically see the gears turning in her head. She was thinking too hard so he didn't wait for a response. He immediately stood up and picked her up in his arms. She let out a whimper as it was a sudden move.

"Sshh, I'm just going to walk you around. All you have to do is enjoy the view." She calmed down and looked blankly ahead. He sensed her fear and nervousness but pushed it away. He then started to walk on the stone path.

His Little Flower was relaxed in his arms after a while. She kept looking around at the colorful flowers and the butterflies. There was a ghost of a smile playing on her lips but that was it. He could only wish for the day she would actually smile.

At him.

"Do you like it here?" she stopped looking everywhere once she heard his deep voice. She debated on whether to respond or not. "Hmmm, if you don't like it, I guess we'll never come back out here again." The Dark Prince said seriously.

She immediately felt lost. His sentence made her to gasp and look down. She loved the gardens and everything in it.

The Prince however was ecstatic that he received a reaction. Good or bad, she still reacted and that was what he wanted.

"I'll ask you again, do you like it out here?" she looked down and slightly nodded her head. Her grip on his shoulder tightened showing that she was scared of his response.

"Good flower," he smiled proudly.

Once they finished walking halfway around the gardens, he took her back to his chambers. By that time Eve's cheeks were pink due to the Sun. She looked even more radiant to the Prince. He couldn't help but think that nature was slowly healing her.

Once he had his Little Flower settled, he went to the dungeons.

~~~~~~~

Those guards shouldn't have raped his girl.

He was going to take them into the deepest pits of hell.

~~~~~~

"They should reunite with their parents you know."

"You said the boy doesn't want to rush into anything right now so let him be, my precious."

"They need to know. Queen Aurora and King Sindrion Celeste must know about these two. One of them carries a gift. I think the boy shouldn't take too much time."

"His sister has been through-"

"I know, I know. I do not want to seem heartless. It's just that....."

"I get it. War will be upon us again. Soon. Those trolls are not fully defeated. They will return in a number far greater than before."

"She's a powerful one. I can sense it radiating off of her." Queen Charlotte mumbled while massaging her husband's head. He leaned into her feminine touch. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. This made her smack his arm.

"The reason behind that would be..?"

"I'm having a serious conversation with you! You're going to sleep instead."

"You're the one making me," the Queen huffed in annoyance.

"Listen to me Char, they need time to process everything that you've said. They were simple people. They still are. Not to mention, the girl needs to heal. From what we've heard, she was horribly tortured. She was on the brink of death! You think dropping the news of her being some other creature is going to help her situation? Do you honestly think that letting her know the truth about herself is magically going to allow her to make a full recovery? She's traumatized for now. You don't want to make it worse. Let her come back. Let both of them strengthen themselves first, and mentally prepared themselves. You know this is too much for them."

Queen Charlotte sat quietly, listening to what her husband was saying. He was right about many things.

"You seem so sure about them being Sindrion's children."

"Oh, you are just like your son Phoenix! Who else could they be?! Why can't the two of you just join the dots?"

"Alright, alright. I believe you," the King raised both his hands up in surrender.

"Good."

"So, in the meantime, just let them be and allow the boy to take things in their own pace."

"What if he decides to take too long? He's very protective of his sister. If he knows the truth could cause her the slightest sort of distress, he'll prolong it."

"He knows her better than we do and he's a smart boy....right?"

"He's not stupid."

"Give them a couple of weeks more."

The Queen reluctantly agreed.

"Where is Phoenix by the way?"

"Occupied." Queen Charlotte gave him a look.

"I know he's spending a lot of time with the girl but he's missed his meeting twice. Meetings with the royal advisers."

"Well, Zenas and Esmeralda said he's been spending time in the dungeons too."

"Great," the King grumbled.

"He seems to be enjoying."

"I don't expect anything less. Has he killed anyone yet?"

"Not that I know of. He's taking his time..."

"Giving them slow deaths?"

"It appears so."

~~~~~~~~

"Aaaaaaaaaaaarrggghhh!!!!! No!!!! No No Stop!!!! Please!!! Have mercy!!!"

Not happening.

I had one of the bloody guards who raped my girl strapped up in a chair. His arms were stretched out on the surface of a wooden table. Much like how I started off with Esther's punishment. Only this time a soldier was skinning both his arms. From the tip of his fingers to his elbows. No matter how much he screamed and begged for the soldier to stop, I felt nothing but my increasing anger.