I was so distracted by the grandeur of the palace that I kept having to run to catch up to Damien. My feet echoed on the black marble floor echoing along the enormous archways that lined the castle.

I caught my reflection in an enormous column made of fine crystal. The girl that stared back at me was haunting with tired eyes and bruised skin.

"Keep up, Em," Damien said as he continued down the corridor.

I scrambled to catch up skidding to a halt by his side when he stopped. A team of guards pushed open a door made purely of black opal revealing a semicircular room. At its center, two large chairs sat on a raised platform. Both of them were a deep ebony, engraved with wild runes and images.

I hesitated as the doors closed behind me.

Thrones.

I was actually in the throne room.

I followed Damien as he sauntered down the room towards them. He stopped before the one on the left that dwarfed its partner. He stood in front of it regally with familiarity.

He turned to me. "Whatever you hear, I promise you, I will protect you with my life."

I nodded, scared. In all my life I'd never heard him speak that way before. I grasped his free hand with both of mine. "Whatever it is, Damien, we will get through this."

He watched my hands for a moment as if in contemplation. I watched him swallow slowly before he spoke. "Did you know that you can do some magic now too?"

I looked at him questioningly, out of the corner of my eye. "Nu-uh."

He was smiling like I'd seen him do before when we were young. He was excited, like he'd been waiting years to do this. "I had to transfer magic to you, remember? For the next couple of days, you will have some effects from it."

I crossed my arms. "Pfft, prove it."

He gently tugged on my hand to lead me up the steps to the thrones. Once I was next to him, he turned, placing himself behind me.

I felt his chest press against my back and his right hand hold my right elbow. I nearly jumped out of my skin but he didn't let me move. "What are you doing?"

I felt him chuckle against me and his cool breath against my ear. "Relax."

I couldn't. My heart beat hard against my chest, my breath was shallow. I remembered the kiss from the night before and my cheeks flamed.

Didn't he realize what he was doing? It may have been easy for him to be this close to someone but not me. I'd barely had a relationship before. Since Damien was "God's gift to women" as he so eloquently put it years ago, he was probably used to this type of proximity.

But not me. And especially not with my best friend.

I felt his hands on my shoulders then pushed them down slightly. "Relax."

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry.

He sighed. "This would be a lot easier if you just relaxed."

I nodded and took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly. I tried relaxing my shoulders and back.

I must have done something right, he furthered the instructions a second later. "Close your eyes."

I did as he instructed then felt the tips of his fingers guide my right arm in front of me.

My heart sped up again like a jackhammer against my ribs. I took another deep breath to steady my nerves.

"What is your happiest memory?" His breath tickled my ear.

I frowned, taken aback but not opening my eyes. "My happiest memory?"

"Yes."

I took a deep breath and smiled. "The day I finally had The Deathly Hallows in my hands."

He sighed, irritated. "Really, Em? A book?"

I dropped my hand and turned to look at him. "What? It's a good book!"

My voice caught when his gaze met mine. He really was perfect.

I cleared my throat and turned away from him, closing my eyes. "Fine. The day I got accepted into college." I raised my hand in front of me like before.

I felt him move away, his tone unbelieving. "Your happiest memory is getting accepted into college?"

I sighed and thought harder.

Suddenly, I had it.

I smiled. "My eighteenth birthday."

He stepped close again, his hand back where he had it before. "That's better. What made it special?"

"It was the day you introduced yourself to my parents. I had everyone I care about together in one room. No more secrets. Well", I paused then shrugged. "More or less."

He chuckled. "All right, hold on to that memory."

I laughed as well. "Do you remember how my parents flipped when you got me first editions of Voltaire?"

I could feel his deep laugh again reverberate through him. "How about the Santa Monica pier afterward?"

"How could I forget?" Smiling, I felt like I was there again. "I begged you to ride the coaster with me."

"You got sick."

I tsked. "For a second, at most."

He laughed. "The spinning chairs."

"You got sick with that one." I was grinning reliving the memory of my birthday. How we managed to escape my parents was beyond me but it was truly one of my happiest memories. "Do you remember watching the sunset at the end of the pier, our feet swinging over the edge?"

He nodded against me, resting his chin on my shoulder. "Yes."

"That was the best coconut ice cream I've ever had, I think."

"Open your eyes."

I watched my hand transfixed. A small ball of white light hovered a couple of inches above my hand. It bounded and moved with silver tendrils floating all around it.

I didn't want to move, afraid it would disappear. I whispered so only he could hear. "Did I do that?"

He stepped away, finally letting my hand go.

The little ball stayed, still floating above the palm of my hand. I brought my hand closer for inspection and touched it gently with my other hand.

It moved away from it then wrapped its tendrils around my index finger. "This is amazing."

Damien watched me carefully but didn't smile. "Remember this, Em. Whatever happens in the next week - hold on to that memory. I'm afraid that things will only get worse from here."

He was right. I felt like I was standing on the precipice of something greater. Things would not get any easier and would not be simple.

Someone cleared their throat.

We both turned to it.

A man in armor and helmet got down on one knee in front of us. "Alteazor, the rest of the guard is waiting for your command."

As he took a knee, I noticed the woman behind him. Leah stood there, arms crossed staring daggers at me.