Cress sat on her bed, her thoughts screaming at her. Her head hurt and the constant tirade of thoughts only made her agony worse. The sun had settled down but she hadn't paid any heed to it.  

The look on Taemia's face, the horror in her eyes flashed before her and her stomach knotted itself together at the memory. She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to let go of the image with the breath she released.

Her fists were tightened and her knuckles had turned white, her face remained ashen and only guilt reflected in her blue-green eyes. 

Zagan had tried to murder her. Zagan had tried to have her dead. In return, she had killed him. An eye for an eye.

'Doesn't that make the whole world blind?' A quiet voice of reason spoke in her mind and her body flooded with guilt. 

Her world was in turmoil so she reached for something to provide her comfort. Her fingers reached inside the pocket of her kaftan, grabbing her silver dagger. 

She pulled it out and glanced at it, the surface shone brightly, reflecting her pale face, slightly oily brown locks and her eyes. Cress couldn't help but flinch at the sight of her.

What had happened to her? Why had she turned the way she had? 

Cress yearned for someone to comfort her but as she glanced at the door she knew no one was coming. She placed the dagger back in her kaftan and made her way towards the table beside the bed.

A glass stood beside a tall steel jug filled with water. She raised it and tipped it to pour water into the glass. The clear liquid almost seemed like glass as it poured from the opaque jug to the transparent glass in a stream, like a frozen bridge between them. Her fingers trembled to cause the bridge to break and the water to fall on the table.

For a second, Cress looked around for a cloth to clean the table then she realised the change in her surroundings. She was not in Vilehelm anymore, there were people to do this work for her. It was a change she couldn't decide to be positive or negative. Having someone clean up after her and provide her with all the delicacies in the world was welcome but it had also resulted in making her incompetent. 

In Vilehelm, after weeks of unhealthy food and slightly unhygienic living quarters, Cress had taught herself to cook and clean up after herself. She now possessed the talent of cooking food without burning it, she could never be nearly as good as Felix but her cooking skills was a talent that had taken effort. 

She took a sip of water from the glass, quenching her thirst and enjoying the feeling of cool water flowing down her throat. Her eyes moved to rest on the spilt water and she sighed. 

With the glass of water still in her hand, Cress made her way to the door of her room and opened coming face to face with a girl not much older than she was. She was dressed in servants attire and her cheeks were red, the servant was breathing heavily as if she had been running for a while. 

"I spilt some water on my desk, would you have it cleaned?" Cress said in a tone that made it seem more like an order than a request and turned to go back to her bed.

Before she could move back into her room, the servant spoke. "My lady, I have news about your father."

Cress froze. Her body refused to move as the servant spoke. Her mind remained blank as she heard the words, only her heart seemed to come alive as it throbbed against her chest. Every beat seemed to ring around the room although she seemed to be the only one hearing it. Her brain could not process the words and when she tried to speak no words came to her mind.

The servant stopped speaking and instead looked at her with a sympathetic expression. Cress continued to stare at her, her eyes staring at the girl in front of her but her mind seemed not to realise it. 

"I am sorry." The servant finally said, the slightest note of hesitation appearing in her voice.

The words worked like magic and Cress felt her body come to life. She staggered, the world swimming around. For a second she felt as if she might fall. Cress placed a hand on the wall, straightening herself but even then her fingers were not strong enough to keep the glass from slipping and breaking into small shards on the floor. 

The water spilt on the ground and before she knew what was happening, Cress felt her legs taking her to the only place she felt safe. To her sister, the only person who could ease the burden her heart seemed to carry.

***

The first thing that Cress noticed was that the lights in her sister's room were uncharacteristically dim. A dark gloom hung over the place but Cress barely noticed as she glanced at the hunched figure of her sister sitting on her bed.

Had she received the news? 

Cress stopped spying from the small crack in the doors and pushed the door open, causing the light from the hallways to fall in the room. 

Taemia jumped as the light entered the room, brightening it. She turned her head and squinted as Cress, her eyes adjusting to the sudden change in the intensity of light. 

"Diana.." Taemia began, her voice tight. "What are you doing here?"

Cress searched her sister's violet eyes and found many indecipherable emotions but sadness was not one of them. 

"You don't know?" She asked, her eyes taking in the stiffness her sister seemed to carry.

"Know what?" Taemia asked as if just realising that the expression Cress wore was one full of grief. "What happened?"

Her tone held a note of urgency and fear yet she didn't move from her spot on the bed. Her body was hallway turned towards her and Taemia made no move to turn it fully. Cress brushed the puzzlement away as she focused on the problem at hand.

"I..uh.." Cress floundered for words as she realised that she would be the one who would be responsible for causing grief to her sister. Her mouth opened and closed as no words appeared in her thoughts. 

"What is it, Diana?" Taemia asked, her voice still tight. "If it can wait, then please tell me in the morning. I am tired and I wish to retire."

Cress continued to stare at her sister, her eyes watering as she realised the true meaning of the news she was meant to give. A sob broke through her as she thought of the grief the news would bring to her sister. The thoughts travelled to her father and those days when he made her blissfully happy. Her mind turned into a kaleidoscope full of memories of her father instead of colours. 

She couldn't help but think of him smiling. Her memories of him were slightly faded but his smile was still clear in her head. She could almost see him, the way his eyes would crinkle as the edges, how his eyes would shine, how his smile caused a small dimple to appear on his left side. His laugh was unusual, it sometimes sounded like a dying animal, one that caused them all to laugh but his smile was perfect. 

Cress felt her lips twist to form a smile. It was a smile with the slightest curve to it and it made her look like she was trying not to cry.

His smile was perfect and she would never get to see it again. Her smile dimmed until it diminished. She didn't even get to visit him one last time, she didn't even say goodbye. Her mind fills with guilt as helpless tears flow down her cheeks. Her body feels numb and Cress couldn't help but feel the grief flow until she is drowning in it. 

Her eyes are still on Taemia who is watching her with a shocked expression, startled by her sudden tears. Words rise up her throat to explain her condition and flow out before she can stop them.

"He's dead Taemia" Cress sobs, her voice holding the sound of a heart cracking. "Father's dead. He is not coming back."

Cress looks at Taemia as her the startled expression on her face changes to one full of shock and sadness. She moves suddenly, her body jerking as her mind processes the news and causes something to fall off the bed and roll on to the floor. 

Cress looks at the object blankly before it registered in her mind. Her hollow eyes lift to Taemia's which are full of guilt and grief.

"I... I can explain-" Taemia says her voice cracking. Cress doesn't know if it is due to the news of her father but she doesn't care.

"It was you," Cress says her voice sounding raspy. "Why?"

Cress doesn't recognise her voice. It's too numb. It holds neither grief nor anger, it's blank. Cress looks at her sister unable to find any dissimilarities between her and the face of a monster.

Taemia stays silent, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "I..I didn't know what he was going to do. I swear I-I... I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."

The unshed tears finally come down her cheeks and begin to drip as they fall from her chin. Cress doesn't feel anything as she gazes as the vulnerability her sister holds. 

"You tried to have me killed." The words are hollow and broken. They hold no feelings just facts. 

Cress thinks of her father. Would he have protected her? Who would have chosen between her and her sister? If he had made a choice then would the choice caused his heart to break? 

She would never know but little did she know that the monster standing in front of her was her sister and even after all this, she would still treasure her. Still love her and protect her.

Cress feels an ugliness unravel itself inside her, eating away at the happiness and replacing it with despair. Taemia betrayed her, she trusted her with everything she had and she betrayed her but even then, she couldn't call Taemia an enemy because the thing about betrayal was that it could never come from an enemy. 

When you faced an enemy, you knew he was going to attack. You knew he was evil but the last thing you expect in a war is the person closest to you to stab you in the back.

"Why did you try to have me killed Taemia?" Her voice is soft, so soft that you could barely detect the bitterness in it.

"I didn't," Taemia said, tears still flowing down her cheeks. "After the prophecy, I didn't want you to be a pawn in this game so when Zagan told me that he had a way to make sure you were kept away from all of this, I agreed and got him the seal to make the paper's official. I did not know what he was planning. I was only trying to save the kingdom,"

"And you didn't tell anyone about this when I didn't come back for almost two summers?" Cress asked.

Her body felt cold as if the temperature had suddenly dropped down a couple of degrees but when she looked at Taemia, she realised that she was the only one in the room who felt the cold descend over her. 

"I was scared. I couldn't." Taemia stared at her, her eyes pleading with her. "You have to understand."

"Understand? I have to understand?" Cress opened her lips to let a small mirthless laugh flow. "You stabbed me in the back Taemia and then you proceeded to tell the world that it was you who bled. All this time, I felt shame at the monster I had turned into but you are the monster hidden in disguise."

Taemia flinched at her cold words but Cress didn't care. Her heart had received many bruises, if this is what it took to protect her heart from breaking, then she didn't care. 

"Taemia Tatterfell Cameria, I order you to leave the palace and never return. If you are to do so, your treason would be made public and order of your execution will be placed." Cress barely recognised the tone she spoke with. It didn't belong to her, it was cold and full of power. 

The thing about her voice that scared her was the satisfaction it bought her. The power she held in her voice made her feel invincible. As if she could take over the world and what made shivers run up and down her spine was that she wanted to take over the world.

How did it feel to have the fate of the world in your palms? To have so much power that anyone and everyone was ready to follow your orders, to do anything at your bidding?

It would be amazing. A voice whispered at the back of her mind. You want that don't you?

Cress shook her thoughts away as she looked at Taemia, waiting for an acknowledgement to her words.

Taemia didn't speak, her head bowed low in resignation and defeat. Cress felt no kindness only pity which she brushed away. Before she could leave, she turned back.

"Zagan blackmailed you didn't he? That is why you agreed to marry Prince Zeid?" Cress questioned and received her answer in her sister's silence. Her next words are as cold as ice and just as sharp. "I hope that you will be betrayed by someone you love and trust. And I hope the betrayal will shatter your soul."

Just like you did to mine.

Cress turned to leave but paused as she heard Taemia whisper.

"It was a mistake."

Cress held her words and continued on her way, her mind screaming at her to run away from this cursed palace and never return but they were just murmurs in the background as one voice in her mind spoke.

That wasn't the mistake. The mistake was that you trusted her, the mistake was that you believed in her. That was the mistake you made, my dear. You should learn that trust ends in heartbreak, it always does.

***

Cress sat on the ledge of her window, her legs hanging in the air. If she were to fall, she knew that she wouldn't survive but strangely enough the fact didn't bother her. She ought to be thinking, to plan her next step, to figure out what was going to happen but her thoughts remained blank.

The stars were a beauty to behold. They twinkled against the dark blanket of the never-ending sky reminding Cress of young children, innocent, naive and happy. Cress hated the stars at that moment, they seemed so full of light whereas she couldn't help but feel the darkness growing inside her.

She shivered, feeling a cold descend over her. The night was warm, winter had not arrived, Cress worried if she might be catching a cold. She would have laughed at the mundane thought of catching a cold if she hadn't felt so... empty. Like a blank canvas.

Cress looked up her eye-catching the sight of a bright star located overhead. Pole star, she realised as she gazed at it, her eyes moved as she caught the sight of Sirius and Orion and finally came to rest upon the Great Bear.

Legends had it that the people of Celestia had a gift for stars for they were the descendants of Celeste. Cress couldn't help but think it to be true, her love for stars was greater than her love for anything else nature had to offer.

Her father had taught her to see the stars. He had spotted her lying on the ground looking at the stars many summers ago and had come to lie beside her. They had been silent for a while before her father had asked her.

'Do you know what are you looking at Ana?'

Diana had nodded, her voice lilting with excitement as she realised that she knew the answer. 

'Stars!.' She had exclaimed. 'We are looking at stars Papa.'

Her father had shaken his head and Diana had frowned. Before she could claim that she was right, he had said. 

'You are not only looking at stars Diana. You are looking at the past. You are looking at so many stories, you are looking at things which are older than our world.'

Diana hadn't completely understood his words at the time. She had frowned as she had gazed at the stars, who had become much more complicated than they were a few minutes ago.

'Are the stars older than you papa?'

His father had smiled, his small dimple appearing in his left cheek. 'Yes. They are even older than your grandmother.'

Diana had gasped at that. She hadn't believed anyone to be as old as her grandmother when she looked back at the stars, a new curiosity shined in her eyes like the stars shone on the dark sky.

Cress felt a small smile appear on her lips as she gazed at the stars. The same stars she had gazed at when she was a small child.

"You won't leave me too, will you?" She murmured, her voice quiet in the night. 

Salty tears travelled down her cheeks as she continued to look at them.  Her heartbeat loudly against her chest, each one was more painful than the last. The sclera of her eyes had acquired a red tint to them and she felt tired. She looked down, her eyes taking the gap that lay between her and the ground. What if she fell down? Would it be painful? What would happen if she were to die?

Images of her drowning flashed before her and all of sudden, Cress found herself gasping for air. She pushed herself off the ledge and back into her room, settling for resting her arms over the ledge. 

She looked back at the stars, helpless tears still falling down her cheeks and onto her arms. The grief continued to weigh her down until her legs trembled and finally gave in causing her to fall on the ground.

She drew herself close and placed her back against the ledge. Her head was bowed down and her arms were wrapped around her knees. Cress had stopped crying, her tears were no longer silent, they fell and as they did she made a sound like a child gasping for breath. Her shoulders shook as her sobs wracked her body. Her body ached for someone to hold her, to tell her that it was going to be alright that she was going to be alright, her sobs became louder and deeper as she realised that no one was coming to help her.

She tried to take in deep breaths, trying to calm herself down but they faltered unable to handle the overwhelming sadness. Her feelings changed from sadness to frustration and she opened her lips to scream but nothing except for half gasps escaped her mouth. Her frustration turned to anger that began to poison her until her whole body trembled because of it. 

Had Cress not closed her eyes, she might have seen the lamps in her room flicker until they paved the way for darkness to settle in. The darkness covered the whole kingdom, causing the light from thousands of bulbs and flames to diminish, a low cry of an animal rang into night causing Cress's eyes to open. 

The darkness disappeared and as it did, Cress's eyes changed their colours until they turned grey. Cress stared at the wall in front of her, feeling her emotions numb down and exhaustion replace it.

Her fingers reach into the pocket of her kaftan, pulling out a seal. The seal that once belonged to her father, which once held a lot of power. She stared at the object, unable to fathom how something as trivial as it could cause her world to shatter. 

Cress tightened her fingers around the red and blue seal, a lone tear disappearing between her eyelashes as she tried to hold it back.

She couldn't help but feel that she had lost two people instead of one.

***