Silence hung over me like a shadow. It was in every corner of the dark, dirty cell. The loneliness and boredom were too much to bear and pressed down on me with so much weight I was sure I was going to go crazy.

I couldn't even tell how much time had passed. I had no window to watch the sun or the moon, meals weren't regular and sometimes I'd go what I thought were days without food or water. If you could call what I was given food, it was barely edible gruel.

Whatever magic I did have that one night didn't resurface.

Even when I concentrated nothing would come.

Then I found myself to be ridiculous, as if I knew what I was doing.

I knew it had to be the Mark. Kymra had said it before when I couldn't control myself that it was the Mark's magic working, controlling my body.

It had to be related.

Or the magic wasn't my own and he channeled it through me somehow.

But that didn't seem right either. I'd felt it come from me, even before he'd snapped his fingers and started controlling me. I'd felt the magic in my veins, felt it thrumming through me seen the effects.

The Magister hadn't released me from the Mark like he had claimed. He'd just made it disappear from my skin, left the magic of it intact so that when Robyn did come, he could still control me.

I wondered if they went after the Magister once we disappeared and demanded answers.

Kymra had mentioned that Oren wasn't satisfied with his answers. Did they know he was involved?

I hoped so.

And that they could get answers from him and rescue me.

Somehow.

I missed my house, missed my parents, missed the daily walks I would take through the woods behind the house. I missed the sun on my face, missed even the small breezes that kissed my cheeks.

I missed Damien. Even if a part of me hated him for leaving me and getting married, I couldn't blame him. He had his duties - he thought he had to marry Leah to keep his throne.

Which turned out to be a big, fat lie thanks to the Magister - Damien didn't have to marry Leah after all.

My stomach turned at the thought of them together. She'd wanted me dead, hated me enough to poison me. Jealous enough to follow through.

Robyn hadn't forced her.

He said he barely pushed her to it.

Her hate had been there all along.

How would she be now? A benevolent, kind queen?

I snorted. Maybe a petty queen that wanted the biggest jewels for her crown.

How wrong I had been.

Eventually, sleep found me.

---------------------------------------------------

"Wake up, darling."

I groaned against my slumber, too comfortable in the layers of blankets and pillows to move.

Fingers gently traced my cheek moving my hair from my face. "Wake please now, darling." Soft lips grazed my forehead.

I stretched lazily and turned to the voice next to me, slowly opening my eyes. Upon recognizing who called me, I smiled. "Good Morning, my love."

Robyn smiled and planted another sweet kiss on my brow. "Good Morning, my queen. How did you sleep?"

I yawned as I stretched. "I think I had a nightmare." I frowned as I struggled to remember. "You locked me in a cell."

He gave a throaty laugh as he pressed himself against me, planting kisses on my neck and shoulder. "What a terrible dream."

I nodded, raking my hands through his hair. "Indeed."

He continued his advances, burying his face in my neck. "What shall we do today?"

"I don't know," I sighed as I ran my hands down his bare back as he continued to plant kisses, the large wedding ring on my finger catching the sunlight. "Maybe we can go into town today? Maybe take a stroll through the royal gardens?"

I frowned. A sudden image of bright colored lights and a handsome blonde armored guard at the doorway coming briefly to my mind. Where had I seen him before?

As soon as it appeared, it was gone. A moment too brief to catch.

I felt Robyn's deep laugh reverberate through him. "Or we could stay here, in bed, all day." I felt his hand under my shirt, touching my skin underneath. My nerves turned to ice where he touched.

My stomach lurched.

I frowned. Why did it feel so wrong?

A knock on the door made me freeze. Robyn didn't stop and growled at the door. "Not now!"

The door opened slightly and a man spoke. "My King, there is an important matter in the -"

Robyn pushed himself off of me and growled at the door. "I said NOT NOW!"

My hand touched his shoulder and I, too, pushed myself off the bed. "Maybe we should go see what is happening?"

Robyn growled in anger and got off the bed, he was instantly dressed with barely a wave of his hand.

The man closed the door as I began to get out of bed and walk to the closet.

Robyn approached me and grabbed my hand, kissing my fingers. "Darling, we don't do that anymore, remember?"

He glanced down at me and suddenly I, too, was dressed. I looked in the mirror, he'd placed me in a long black dress with impossible stones that glinted in the light. My long silver hair was picked up with diamond and onyx combs.

"Come," he tugged on my fingers and led the way out of the room and down a series of halls.

Once we were in front of the throne room, the men in black armor pounded on the floor with their long staffs announcing our arrival. Once the doors were opened we walked inside. The small group who stood in front of the thrones bowed as we passed as was custom.

Robyn sat in the large throne while I took his side standing beside him as he held my hand.

One of the guards in black armor pushed the man in his hand forward, making him fall on his knees in front of us. The man was small, frail and dirty. A low-class from the look of it.

"Now," Robyn announced. "What is so important that you interrupted our morning?"

A guard kicked the man when he didn't speak making me wince.

This was wrong.

"Speak!" The guard commanded.

The man coughed, struggling to find his words. "I-I wanted to speak to the A-Alteaza."

Robyn laughed, "Well, here she is. Speak to your Queen."

The man nodded and bowed even lower to the ground in front of me, "Alteaza, please forgive me."

I frowned. "What do I need to forgive?"

He began to cry, tears streaming down his eyes as he looked at me. "I'm so sorry I stole from the royal food storage. My family, they are so hungry and since magic was bound-"

Robyn raised an eyebrow. "Is this a complaint?"

The man shook his head vehemently. "No! No, not at all, we were just so hungry-"

Robyn sighed. "Kill him, we don't have time for this."

At once, a guard stepped forward and sliced the man's neck in almost half.

I watched as the man fell forward on the floor in the puddle of his own blood. I felt the bile rise in my throat and I held on to the throne to steady myself. The cold stone was familiar to my hand.

"What is your happiest memory?"

I blinked and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. I recognized the man's voice but not who it belonged to, the sweet tone tugged at my heart. It was so familiar like it had been there my entire life.

"My happiest memory?" This time it was my own voice I heard echo in my mind.

"Yes."

"The day I finally had The Deathly Hallows in my hands."

"Really, Em? A book?"

Em. The man called me Em.

I watched two ghostly figures appear in front of me. I recognized the woman as myself but not me. Her hair was brown and she had glasses on her nose to help her see. But her smile was like mine her features were similar to mine. She had my voice.

She looked at her companion behind her with a smile.

The man was taller than her, broad-shouldered and strong. His dark hair was tousled loose, letting it fall slightly over his forehead. He was handsome, a fae by the looks of him, high-class judging by his clothes.

His eyes, the amethyst color I'd never seen before in any living creature.

No. That was wrong. Yes, I had.

He looked at her adoringly, he was in love with the girl. I could see it in the way he held her close, watched her movement, almost like he was absorbing every detail of the moment.

The girl spoke again. "Do you remember watching the sunset at the end of the pier, our feet swinging over the edge?"

The Santa Monica Pier. My eighteenth birthday. He introduced himself to my parents then stating that "Princes do not hide."

I knew him. "Damien."

Robyn turned to me, furious. "What did you just say?"

I searched my memories. This moment was wrong. This was so wrong. This wasn't me. I looked at my hands, the clothes, the throne, him.

How had he managed to make me forget?

I searched through my memories. No, there was something wrong. Some of these memories were wrong. I wasn't a queen, I wasn't married to Robyn.

I was Emmy.

Damien was my best friend.

The last thing I remembered ... I was in a dark, small cell. I'd fallen asleep.

He always terrorized me in my dreams ...

I held my head in my hands and I felt something building again in me. I couldn't control the anger, the complete fury I felt.

My memories were not my memories. My feelings were not mine. I wasn't in love with Robyn. It was the opposite. I hated him, I despised him.

He tried to kill Damien.

He wanted to have me kill him.

Unleashing everything I could inside me, I screamed, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Instantly, the room vanished. I wasn't in the Throne Room back in Blackdown Keep. I was in a small dirty cell somewhere underground.

Robyn stood in the corner of the room clutching at the wall. The wall was crumbling beneath him like he had just been thrown against it. Red liquid dripped down the side of his lips.

He chuckled as he brushed the blood away with the back of his hand.

I looked for a way to escape, if he managed to get in, I could probably get out.

He laughed. "It looks like we'll be doing this the hard way then."

And he disappeared.

--------------------

Hours passed until I heard something outside my cell. My ears picked up on a small sound outside the door.

I ran to it, pressing my ear as close to it as I could to listen, holding my breath.

Someone was fighting with someone else. Two men from what I could tell.

I frowned then heard someone call out, "Emmy, step away from the door!"

My heart was leaping. Damien!

I ran away from the door covering my ears just as it went flying across the room.

I turned to the empty doorframe and watched as he came into view through the dust flying the dark room.

I didn't even hesitate. I ran to him and he scooped me up in his waiting arms.

Instantly, I felt safe, protected.

I breathed in his scent, happy to be back with my friend.

"It's all right, you're safe, darling."

His voice soothed me like it had done my entire life. "Thank you for coming for me."

He pulled away, using his hand to take the hair away from my face. "Of course, I would never leave you."

I hugged him, tighter this time.

"Come on," he whispered. "Let's get out of here."

I nodded and he let me go. Taking his hand, I followed him out of the cell and into the hallway.

A spear suddenly pierced him through his back, coming out of his chest.

"Damien!"

I froze, watching horrified as he looked at the bloody spear in his chest. He fell to his knees and I fell alongside him watching him cough up blood.

Shaking, I held his face as his amethyst eyes began to roll back.

I tried to hold him up in place but it was no use, I was too weak to hold him. I cradled his head as I watched the life and blood leave him.

I screamed, pulling my hands back drenched in his blood.

Robyn suddenly appeared in the hall in front of me. He crossed his arms. "You wanted to do this the hard way," he said casually. "I'm more than happy to oblige."

I woke, screaming. Sweat plastered my hair to my forehead and neck.

I took a big breath. It was a dream.

I was still in the cell, alone. Damien hadn't come.

It was only a dream.