36.

"Lyra!"

Blake's voice sharpened my attention. I lifted my head from my hands and shot my gaze over to the elders rushing legs. I sat in the throne room, gathering together the weapons that the shadows had taken from me days before. The wraiths had been kind enough to return my daggers, but I had a small amount of difficulty re-arranging them inside my clothes.

"What is it?" I raised an eyebrow and stood from my crouch.

"There is one more thing I believe you need to attend to before we leave." He spoke quickly, nervously, and licked his lips.

Frowning, I nodded and quickly placed the last dagger into the strap on my thigh.

"Let's get to it then."

Trailing after Blake, I stared at the passing walls as we made our way up the staircase with a renewed fascination. I would most likely never see it again. The palace did not hold a big place in my heart, but the landscape was beautiful none the less. Never before had I seen glass that absorbed all surrounding light, instead of reflecting it. Everything else in the Shadow Plane was alien, but all the while beautiful and dangerous. And although the shadow people would be travelling with us to the First, I couldn't but dwell.

"He is just through here." Blake gestured to a large black door.

We had climbed to the top most level of the tower, which I knew to be my doppelgängers old living quarters.

"He?" I asked, examining the lock that kept the doors closed from the outside.

Whoever was in there, Blake didn't want them out. I narrowed my eyes in unease and lifted a dagger from my waist. The man inside was dangerous enough to scare a talented magician and I wasn't taking any chances, even with my powers.

"Yes. This man was the ladies... lover, of sorts." I crinkled my nose at his response and cocked my head at the door.

"What makes him so dangerous?"

"He is from the First, Lyra, and a very powerful Fae. He does not know that Ly is dead and it would be wise to approach with caution."

I nodded and flipped the blade in my hands.

"How do I open the door?" I gestured to the lock, which seemed to have no keyhole.

"The stone allows you to access The Umbra's powers. Simply let the power in and touch the lock, it will recognise you as its owner."

"We will have to talk much of these new powers later." I said and then dismissed him, believing the threat perhaps too dangerous for his presence. I didn't need his fighting body, only his knowledge.

"As you wish." Blake bowed and hurried back down the steps. I would monitor his whereabouts later.

"Beast, Noir?" I called for my creatures in my mind as I approached the lock.

"Yes?" Noir answered.

"We are here."Said Beast.

"I am about to see who is behind this door and I have I feeling I already know who it is. Noir, I need you to patrol the ground just in case he makes a run for it and slips past me. Beast, I need you to fly up here and cover the window."

I sent them both an image of the door and the memory of the conversation with Blake. I felt Beast's wings beat as he pushed himself off the ground, although I could not see him. Noir also began to run towards the castle, black smoke curling off his pelt.

With the reassurance that an error would be covered by my soul mates, I breathed deeply and opened my soul again to The Umbra's power. As it was already running through my veins, the power revelled in its release. Surging forwards, I felt my power bind together and extend towards the lock. Carefully, I lifted the metal in my hands and heard a soft click. The metal melted intomy skin. I flinched back in shock and shook my hand frantically. But the metal had been absorbed into my skin. I was right about one thing, Blake and I needed to have a serious chat about The Umbra's power.

I nudged the door with my foot and it swung open, creaking softly as it swung on its axis. Poking my head in first, I saw only extravagant furniture. A plush bed with silk black sheets stood centred next to two large cabinets. A table and chairs were pushed off to the side, perched beneath a window, the only source of natural light in the entire castle. Littered around the room were piles of clothing and what appeared to be the squashed remains of flowers. I crinkled my nose as I re-examined the ruffled sheets and the maleclothing on the ground.

Without turning, I nudged the doors closed with my foot, sealing the exit.

"Ly?" A soft voice called from the corner of the room and a man with a familiar face stepped into the light.

The prince of the First Plane stood tall and powerful, his golden skin shining against the backdrop of the window. He wore only pants, his muscular chest exposed in all its glory. My eyes flicked up to his face. His lips wore a wide smile and his bright eyes twinkled with admiration and perhaps even love as he stared down at my body. I could see him examining my horns and my eyes and wondered if his affection made him blind to the truth. In two large striding steps, he closed the distance between us and grabbed my face with his hands.

The prince crushed his lips to mine. As his lips moved against mine, his guard dropped. In a split second, I pulled out of his embrace and released the force of telekinesis onto his body. The prince flew across the room and landed with a hard thump onto the bed. With the power stronger than ever before, I realised it would not take much effort to keep the man pinned to the bed. His arms thrashed about as he tried to lift himself from the sheets, but his chest and legs remained pinned to the bed, paralysed by my power. I called upon the threads of power to tie him to the bed and they looped under and over his body like chains. Once the threads had restrained each of his limps, tying him down with the invisible ropes only I could see, I tied them together in my mind. Once the knot was completed, I relaxed. Unless I untied it, the prince would be stuck on that bed forever.

I grabbed one of the chairs from across the room and sat next to the bed. The prince's eyes narrowed and his teeth ground as he tried helplessly to release himself from the restraints.

"It makes sense now, the visions." I spoke softly, head cocked as I stared down at him. "Tell me, did you know what she planned to do to your home? What she planned to do to the humans?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." The prince spat stubbornly, his neck straining as he tried to sit up.

"Okay then," I was surprised at how calm I was, how indifferent I was to his betrayal to his family, "Did you know she intended to kill me?"

At this, he flinched into the sheets and his eyes darted away from me. I shifted in my chair and crossed my legs.

"I don't blame you," I said in honesty, "From what I've witness the past few weeks, your family does not deserve to rule, much less live. They've killed thousands of innocents. All Ly wanted to do was get revenge." I shrugged and sat back in my seat, "By the books, it appears you are on the right side."

The prince said nothing and continued to stare at the wall on the other side of the room.

"But what she planned on doing, what you planned on doing, to the humans is wrong. Millions would die if a war broke out, and a war would break out if they discovered you exist."

"We." He snapped, his head suddenly turning to face me.

"We?" I asked calmly.

"Yes, we. Or do you not realise you have horns and the ability to restrain me WITH YOUR POWER."

"True." I said simply and uncrossed my legs, "But a part of me is still human, and always will be human."

He stayed silent. I had the feeling I wouldn't be hearing much after that.

"You don't have to tell me anything, Sam, but let me try to understand. At some point after we spoke to The Anima, you were sent on a mission. Your father instructed you to go to the Shadow Plane to deal with... a threat? Yes. So you did as you were told, you went to the shadows. But when you arrived, you realised the 'threat' was no more than a village. Perhaps this village was all adults, but perhaps this village also had children. You were told to burn it to the ground. But, being the upstanding man that you are, you decided to investigate. Somewhere along the way, you encountered my doppelgänger. After only an hour of discussion, you unveiled your father's injustices and decided you had deciphered the visions you feared so much. You realised that this was what your destiny had decided for you and that you were fighting the 'right' war. You got closer to Ly, and just as the vision predicted, you fell in love."

Sam squirmed on the bed, his face contorted in an ugly mixture of emotions.

"Shall I continue?" I asked, cocking my head.

"How do you know this?" He was panting, the result of resisting the tightening restraints.

"Entered people's minds is a power Ly intended to take from me when she killed me. Reading them is one I must of inherited when I killed her instead."

Strength he had not before shown suddenly pulled against the restraints as he jerked from his position. Eyes wide and vicious, veins exposing on his neck and arms, Sam looked ready to kill me. I wanted to feel sympathy, but I could not. The facts were too obvious and the line in the sand had already been crossed.

"She was manipulating you, Sam." I said softly.

"She was good!" He screamed and thrashed about on the bed, but my power was stronger than his and he could not be released. "She was going to fix it! All of it! How could you do that? How could you kill the one person good enough to want to fix it all?"

Tears were forming in his eyes. It was then that I was sympathetic. He truly thought she was going to do the right thing.

"She was not good, Sam. Her motives were not as pure as her intentions. Did you know she intended to hide for the duration of the war and rule over the rubble when it was over?"

His eyes flicked to mine, pure anger running through the iciness of his irises.

"Tell me, Sam, did you check on my family as I asked?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, but then he nodded, a small movement almost unseen by the naked eye.

"And my sister, you saw her?"

Again, a small nod.

"So when you and Ly intended to bring war to the humans, did you consider that she might die? A small child? Because that was what was going to happen. Children will die, as will soldiers, but the children will die none the less. Tell me, is that right or just?"

"There is death in all war."

"But is all war inevitable?"

Silence fell, clocking the room as shame filled the princes heart. I felt his emotions like a punch in the gut. Along with the inevitable anger and disgust, there was betrayal and a seep suppressed sorrow. I sighed and sat up from my chair. Staring down at the prince, who was now so small and powerless, I saw him for what he really was. He was just a man. Easily manipulated maybe, but from digging around in his mind, I knew he was not evil. However, I still nibbled my lip at the possibility that the visions foreshadowed more than what had already passed.

"You can't trade one evil for another, Sam. I think you know that." I paused and watched his face in silence. A tear slid off his cheek and sunk into his silvery hair.

"I'm getting everyone out of here tonight. We are going to take over the palace and stop The Anima. We could use your expertise."

"And why would I help you." The prince spat, his face reddening.

"Because you know it's the right thing to do." I started, relived that the sneer dropped from his face, "And because I believe you want to get rid of your father as much as the shadows do."

I raised an eyebrow and waited. Faintly, I heard a sigh. I smiled in victory.

"Plus," I shrugged, "Someone needs to rule the First when your sweet daddy is gone."

With a simple flick of my wrist, I untied the magical ropes that kept him restrained. Suddenly, he sat up, leaping from the bed and reaching for me in one fluid motion. Something cold pressed into the front of my throat and his hands snatched onto my hair.

The stone throbbed sharply at the base of my neck and I laughed at the idiocy in the situation.

"Oh, honey." I chuckled sharply against the blade.

The power was like heroine and my was I addicted. I was far beyond the realisation that no blade or weapon could harm me. It might make me bleed, but I was no longer mortal. I could not be killed.

Sam's hands were steady, unmoving. I caught the hand that held the blade and sliced my neck open. Blood gushed from the wound, spurting over the prince's face. He staggered back in shock, stammering for words he would never find. I grinned as the blood flowed down my front, already slowed by the skin that had begun to stitch itself back together.

"I tried to be nice, Prince. But here is the deal now, you join us, or I lock you in this room forever. Now I still don't know exactly how you Fae work, but I know you don't need water and can go a long while without food. You'll be trapped for a long time before you die, and even then you'll be an entire plane of existence away from any of your possessions, and no one will know when they need to resurrect you. So, do you want to rule the First, or do you want to be trapped here... forever?"

The wound had healed and I began to work on absorbing the blood on my front back into my skin. Sam's eyes stayed pinned to the ground and I felt the unease creep into his subconscious. He had no choice, he knew as much. Slowly, the unease faded and his eyes rose to meet mine. A grim smile settled on his lips and he tucked the blade into his waistband. I plucked up a used shirt from the back of the chair and threw it at him.

"Get dressed. We have work to do."

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Hey guys! The double update, as promised. I think I might have to make the final few chapters super long because I wanted to finish on a rounded number, so prepare for some later long ones.

Comment your thoughts!

What do you think about the visions coming through?

Vote if you enjoyed :)

xx Charli 

(unedited)