Raphael and Eric were locked in argument, neither able to gain the upper hand. Eric was convinced Raphael was wrong for keeping Lana, but the latter wouldn’t hear of it. He couldn’t very much tell Eric about Almahalc’s price for the prophecy, so they were left with a dispute going nowhere.

“She doesn’t deserve to be caged up like this, Raph. You know it isn’t right, so why are you still keeping her here?” Eric demanded, his eyebrows furrowed into worry lines. He had always gone with his leader’s choices, usually without question, but this time was different.

“I can’t let her go yet. I still need her.”

“But she’s not the girl from the prophecy! How could you still need her?”

Raphael pulled his rough fingers through his messy white-blond hair. “I do not have to justify myself to you, Eric.”

Eric closed his eyes in an attempt to keep his temper at bay. “You asked me to help you save her! The very least you owe me is an explanation!”

Raphael walked passed Eric and put his hand on his shoulder. “Go home, Eric, be with your family. They will want to know you are okay after everything that has happened.” Eric shrugged off Raphael’s hand and left without further world. Raphael exhaled in relief.

He knew Eric was right; Lana didn’t deserve to be caged up like this. But what other choice did he have? If he didn’t somehow find a way to make her stop loving Andreas, he was done for. He didn’t exactly know the mechanics of the blood curse, but he knew there was no way he would survive if he was infected by it. Almahalc had warned him not to be too hasty in making his decisions, and he now finally understood why. His only choice at this point was to try and get Lana to fall for him. But for that to happen, she must never find out he had lied to her about Andreas. He doubted she would ever forgive him for that.

Mustering up his courage, he knocked on Lana’s door. No reply came from within the room, so he figured she was still sleeping. However, when he unlatched the door, he found her sitting up-right, her eyes rimmed with red. She was rocking back and forth, bags under her eyes. It appeared she hadn’t slept yet. This was the second day Raphael had gone into her room to find her in such a restless state.

“Lana, how are you doing?” he asked, his concern evident in his voice. She turned her gaze to him and something within her seemed to relax, at least for the time being.

“I’m… fine I guess. But it’s going to take a while for me to become normal again I suppose,” she said, all emotion detached from her voice. Was it possible that this incident affected her more severely than he had anticipated?

Raphael extended his hand toward her and she took it hesitantly. “You look tired, have you gotten any sleep since last night?”

She fervently shook her head. “No, I won’t sleep… I can’t.”

“Why is that?” Raphael inquired, his eyebrow raised.

Her big eyes locked with his. “Because when I sleep, I dream. And when I dream, I experience it all over again. The flames, the pain… my death. It’s too real and too much. I can’t go through that every night. Not again.”

Raphael squeezed her hand tightly to try and give her some of his strength. He had no idea what it must have been like for her to burn on the stake. He didn’t know the spell he had Eric put on her would still make her feel everything that was happening to her. He had hoped that it would act as a shield to protect her and only make her appear dead to everyone. Little did he know that it would make the experience as lifelike as possible. The spell had saved her, but now he wondered at what cost.

He stroked her cheek and she seemed to lean into it; perhaps getting her to fall for him wouldn’t be as hard as he thought it was going to be. “I will have Miss Henry make you a sleeping potion for tonight so you may get a decent rest. I’ll be sure to tell her to make it strong so no dreams, good or bad can seep into your unconsciousness.”

She placed her hand above his. “Thank you; that would be kind.”

Smiling kindly to her, he leaned in to kiss her on the forehead before exiting the room again. She remained sitting there, somewhere faraway in her head. How Raphael longed to be able to read her thoughts. Not so he could use them to his advantage, but he found that he was genuinely curious as to what she was thinking. Perhaps getting her to fall for him might work out in his favor in more than one way.

***

Six days, twelve hours, and forty six minutes had passed since I “died”. In that time no one I once knew had even tried to establish contact with me. I knew my parents and Eiet probably thought I was dead, but Raphael would surely have told Zane I had survived wouldn’t he? And what about Kalen? Why hadn’t he broken through my nightmares to find me in a dream to make sure I was okay? It seemed I was back to where I started, at a place where no one I thought cared about me seemed to show any interest. And while Zane seemed to be on my side at the very end, he wasn’t even there when I was being burned alive. He hadn’t tried to reach me afterward.

A part of me was saying that maybe Raphael was keeping them from me, or me from them. But the bigger, more prominent part was convinced Raphael was on my side. After all, he was the one I woke up to. Still, it was hard to fully convince myself that he was one hundred percent innocent in all of this. That part of me that doubt him was nagging me not to trust him completely, and for that reason I kept my guard up around him.

As soon as he left my room I sprung up from the bed and watched through my door until he was nowhere in sight. I took my chance to slip out of the room and do a little much needed exploring. Raphael didn’t have to know how much energy I had left, despite my lack of sleep. The more he underestimated me, the better. Too many things were still question marks when it came to him. Perhaps he would prove me wrong and end up being a truly decent guy. But anyone related to John Argeno had to have a knock gone somewhere.

I walked down the hallway, passing room after room. This house was a lot smaller than most I’d been in. I found it strangely nerve-racking. Where was I? If it came down to it, would I be able to find my way out of here?

It wasn’t long before I reached the end of the narrow hall. There was a bathroom that seemed to be shared by the surrounding rooms. More and more I started to get the feeling that Raphael, Eric and I weren’t the only people in this place. So where could Raphael possibly have taken me?

My heart nearly stopped when I heard Eric’s deep voice boom from down the hallway. “Lana, you seem to be doing better if you have finally decided to exit your room,” he commented, his tone slightly amused.

I squared my shoulders and turned to him with a fake smile plastered onto my face. Eric was one of the reasons why I didn’t fully trust Raphael. He had pretended to be Kalen, messed with my head, and for what? Raphael had mentioned that Eric had been the one to place the spell that ultimately saved my life on me, but why did he need to pretend to be Kalen in order to accomplish that goal? I narrowed my eyes. “I’m feeling much better, thank you. Now if you’d excuse me, I’m in need of finding a library.”

I started pushing past him, but he grabbed my arm. “Can you at least let me explain what happened at the palace?”

Sucking in a deep breath, I faced him again. “What is there to explain? You pretended to be Kalen, gave me false hope, then made me hate Kalen for something he wouldn’t ever do to me, and then you saved my life with some spell you put on me. Why you had to toy with my emotions, now that is something that could use explaining.”

“It appears that you are feeling a lot better than you are letting on, M’lady,” Eric commented and forced me to look into his eyes. “I pretended to be Kalen, one, because I knew it would be the only way I could get you to let me touch you, something essential in the spell I was tasked with placing on you, and two, because I knew in order for the whole thing to sell, you had to appear completely defeated to everyone there witnessing your death.”

I yanked my arm from his grip. “I would have felt just as defeated had I thought, or knew, that Kalen never showed up.”

“But then I wouldn’t have been able to place the spell on you and you would be dead right now, sweetheart. So instead of blaming me, perhaps you could try thanking me.”

“By thanking you it would suggest that I am grateful to still be alive, and frankly, I am not,” I replied, my voice coming out weaker than I thought it would.

Eric snorted. “It really damn figures. The first time I save someone’s life, they didn’t want to be saved. Tell me, princess did you not want to be saved, or did you just not want to be saved by me?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but promptly closed it. Eric had a point. While being alive after having resigned myself to death felt like a cheat, there was a part of me that still wanted to live. And I had wanted Andreas to be the one to save me. Maybe the whole reason I was so depressed was not because I was haunted by the stake each time I closed my eyes, but rather the fact that Andreas hadn’t been there to save me. I had been so sure that he would swoop in at the last minute and finally be the hero I had been wanting him to be. Disappointment had a way of sending you spiraling in the wrong direction like nothing else.

“Firstly, I’m not a princess, nor do I act like one. And secondly, perhaps you are right. Perhaps I had been wishing to be saved by someone else. Lastly, I still do not like you, and I really doubt my opinion of you will chance.”

“I can live without being liked. Sometimes doing the right thing makes you enemies along the way,” Eric replied gravely.

My eyebrows furrowed. “What on earth are you talking about?”

There was a noise from the other side of the hallway near my room. Eric quickly grabbed me and pushed me into the closest room and locked the door behind him. Suddenly every warning signal I had started flaring up. Eric must have noticed as he held up his hands in a gesture meant to calm me. “Lana, you need to listen to me, and you need to listen to me quick. I’m trying to do the right thing here despite what you may think. When Raphael asked me to help him save you, he put me under the illusion that we would make sure you were okay, and then give you the option to go wherever you wanted to. But for some reason he wants to keep you here, and something feels very off. I normally do not question my leader, but this has to be the exception.”

I tilted my head sideways as I tried to get a read on him. If before I had been confused about Raphael, right now I was outright baffled. Eric didn’t seem to be lying, his eyes actually sincere for the first time since I’d met him. But why was he telling me this?

“Why are you telling me this? Why would you want to help me if I don’t even like you?”

“Because you don’t have to like me for me to know I’m a good guy, okay? I did not choose to become a follower of light for the fame or for the glory, but instead because I wanted to do the right thing. If you never trust me again, you have to trust me now.”

“Even if what you say is true, what am I supposed to do about it?” I asked, my sleep deprivation finally catching up with me again. My legs faltered and Eric caught me in a quick movement.

“At this moment, act like nothing has changed. Make Raphael think you suspect nothing. I will then help you get out of here as soon as you are strong enough,” Eric said with conviction. I could tell that he didn’t really want to go against his leader, so clearly something had to be up.

“Fine, but then you are going to help me figure out what he’s up to,” I replied as he helped me straighten out.

He cursed. “Is this because you are curious, or do you think he’s planning something that needs to be stopped?” Eric accused.

“I would say a bit of both.”

He rolled his eyes. “Very well, I will help you. But right now I should probably get you back to your room and feed you something. You look terrible.”

“Gee thanks, exactly what every girl wants to hear after she already feels like crap.”

Eric shrugged and the corners of his mouth twitched up a little. “I’m not here to flatter you, princess. I’m here to give you the cold hard truth.”

I sighed. Working with Eric was not going to be pleasant… at all. I still didn’t like him, but if his suspicions were true and Raphael was planning something sinister, then I would need Eric’s help to stop him.