Meenu found herself in Feyran before she could even think straight. So it was only after she had arrived that she wondered how she was going to find him.

     Everyone knew he was Avaryn now. Could he really ever come out of hiding again?

     Had she lost him forever?

     The only way she could really think of finding him was to go to Master Red. And for some reason, she still thought that that wouldn’t help.

     She took a breath and let it out.

     But when she opened her eyes again, her heart skipped a beat.

     She turned around quickly, not really too surprised to see him standing there.

     And as she ran towards him, she wondered if he had really ever let her down. He always seemed to be there when she needed him… and she shouldn’t have expected less this time around.

     When she jumped into his arms, he hugged her back, tightly. But the hug didn’t last as long as they both had hoped for.

     She pulled away the second she had a chance. “I’m sorry,” she said, quickly. “I really am… but you have to explain. Everything.”

     The man looked at her with his red eyes, trying to figure out what to say.

     He was in his usual attire, except he wore a cloak on top of his clothes, the hood falling over his head. Like the man she saw in her dream months ago.

     Her eyes were just as red as they were before but his face looked tired. Tired and stressed.

     “Avaryn–”

     He flinched when she said it.

     And that made her narrow her eyes. “I won’t call you Blood anymore. Avaryn is your name so I’ll call you Avaryn.”

     He nodded his head slowly.

     Meenu pulled away from him completely. “Why aren’t you talking?”

     He let out a sigh and looked at her. “I… I don’t know what to say,” he started. “I always imagined that I would die before you ever found out the truth.”

     She noticed that his voice was a little deeper and it annoyed her to think that he hid his true voice from her as well. “Well I’m glad you didn’t,” she tried to give him a comforting smile. “But now you have to tell me the truth.”

     “I can’t let you get involved.”

     “I’m already involved,” she crossed her arms after pushing her hair off her shoulders. She had gotten so used to wearing it up in a ponytail that leaving it out annoyed her now. “Dukaryn probably wants me dead now.”

     He just kept his gaze steady, staring at her, trying to find the words.

     “You have to tell me the truth,” she took his hands in hers. “You owe me that.”

     “I don’t even know the complete truth myself.”

     “Well tell me what you do know. Tell me why you did it,” her voice suddenly started to sound like she was begging. “I can’t and don’t want to believe that you’re a crazy killer.”

     The corner of his lip twitched slightly. “What if I am?” He was. He had more blood on his hands than any of his comrades, or anyone he knew, after all.

     “You’re not,” she said. And though she felt confidence in her heart, her voice didn’t seem to agree.

     He sighed. “I don’t think I can tell you anything that will make you feel that much better.”

     “Just tell me something. Anything!”

     He looked at her desperate eyes, and after a moment he took a breath. “Fine.” She was right when she said he owed her that. There was no more of a reason to keep her in the dark any longer. He had no right to, for that matter.

     A smile broke on Meenu’s face and she didn’t let go of the man’s hands.

     “I’ve told you once before that under my father’s rule, inadequate knights were persecuted.”         

     Meenu nodded.

     “My father was a wise man… but he wasn’t wise enough to consider that many of those knights would join forces against him. He trusted that at the very least, they would keep their vows to protect the land and their king.” Avaryn said. “But he was wrong.

     “Many of the knights that my father had made a fool of came together. They called themselves the ‘True Knights’ as they believed they were the best in Raffyre and the only legitimate ones,” he continued, “They cared not about trying to take the time to change their ways and asking for a second chance, which my father would have surely allowed. Some men did do that and my father returned them to their positions. Of course, he kept a close eye on them and those who he believed were honest in their desire to change were allowed to keep their titles. But these other men, they wanted their titles and rewards back immediately. They did not have the patience to work for it, and their ego wouldn’t allow them to ask for forgiveness.”

     Meenu seemed to be starting to already understand what was going on.

     “They are the ones who spent years conspiring against my father. Eventually, they poisoned one of his meals and that is how he died. He was killed by men who had once sworn to protect him with their lives.”

     “So all the people you killed… they were knights.”

     Avaryn nodded. “Most of them. Some other men and women joined the plot simply because they disliked the Lumynos. I killed them too.”

     “How did you know who they all were?”

     “The poison killed my father slowly. He began to weaken moments after he consumed the meal but lived for another week. The moment he felt his body weaken, he knew he had been poisoned. The kitchen maids were the first suspects… and in fear, the one who was paid to poison the food stepped up and confessed her crimes. She said her children were dying from sickness and needed the money to pay for a doctor. So my father pardoned her, but used the information she gave him to figure everything out.”

     Meenu was shocked to hear that the woman was pardoned. Had King Kyryn really been such a forgiving man? But Meenu realized that that really wasn’t important right now.

     “That was how I first met Master Red. The Lumynos are the best spies in the realm and Master Red was the best of them all. He was a student of my father after he was a student of your father, and he respected my father greatly. So he took it upon himself to find out the names of all the men involved. The names were given to me and I executed them.”

“Why don’t you just tell everyone the truth? Tell them that you killed criminals that night!”

“Because we still haven’t discovered who the leader of this entire thing was,” Avaryn said. “What we know is that Lyryn, Dukaryn’s father, was a driving force of all of this. He was greedy and wanted the throne to himself. But he killed himself in a jousting accident years before the actual plan was initiated.”

     “So the leader is dead.”

     “No. There was someone else. Lyryn was never smart enough to have organized something like this on his own. I have come to the conclusion that someone else was helping. Someone who was both powerful and smart. This person knows I killed all the knights that were in his group… but he cannot know that I’m coming after him too. That was why I went into hiding and accepted the rumor that I had gone mad. But now… I cannot be free until he is dead too.”

     Meenu let out a breath, letting go of his hands and crossing them. “Right… and Master Red is helping you with this?”

     “Yes and no. Master Red’s goal is to slowly but surely get rid of the corruption and Dukaryn. He wants to place me on the throne because I am the legitimate heir and he believes that I will follow in my father’s footsteps. What he wants is to better this nation for the people that live in it. But I refuse to take that throne until I have avenged my father. So we have agreed to help each other fulfill both our goals and that is why we continue to work together.”

     “But Avaryn… how can you take the throne? People are scared of you. They think you’re evil!”

     “That was what my father hoped would happen. What he hoped for was that people would fear me until my mission is complete. Once it is complete and the truth is revealed… though they will know my executions were justified… they would still fear me. My father hoped that this would prevent any more corruption in the future.”

     Meenu shook her head in confusion. Though it made sense in theory… she couldn’t understand how people would accept him. It would take them years to trust him. And he’d have to work hard for that.

     “The best kings are both feared and admired,” Avaryn said. “I will have the feared aspect of that statement… so I’d just have to prove myself.”

     She looked at him and then sighed. “I admire you,” she said. “And… it may take a while… a long while… but everyone else will come to admire you too.”

     Avaryn let out a small laugh. “The truth is… at this point, I don’t really even want to be King.”

     Meenu smiled at him. She could understand why.

     “But Dukaryn has to go. And if Dukaryn goes, someone needs to take his place.”

     Meenu nodded. “How are you planning to take him down? You won’t… kill him, right?”

     Though she could see the reasons why that crazy young man should die, she thought it would still be horrible to kill a King.

     “It would be ideal to have him killed,” He said. “And it must be done by me. Though I am the legitimate heir, Dukaryn is king. If I want the throne then I must kill him to get it. That’s how it works with the Lumynos. The one who is the most powerful must sit on the throne.”

     She nodded her head again. “I never realized how complicated this all was.”

     “And I hoped that you would have no part in it,” he sighed. “But clearly, that isn’t the case.”

     Meenu smiled at that.

     Avaryn kept his eyes on her for a long moment without speaking. “Please, Meenu…” He finally said. “Please be safe.”

     She rolled her eyes.

     “Accepting my identity as Avaryn meant returning my evil, which I separated from me,to my body. This means that I can’t sense when you’re in danger anymore.”

     Meenu narrowed her eyes. “What?”

     “My evil watched over you. That is how I knew you were in danger before. But I can’t do that anymore… so please be safe.”

     Though she wanted to know a bit more about that, she nodded her head.

     “And…” His face suddenly showed a hint of sadness, making Meenu worry. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

     Now she chuckled. “You don’t need to apologize.”

     “I do. I’m sorry for everything I put you through. I don’t deserve the kindness you give me.”

     “Oh, be quiet.” Meenu waved it off as she turned to walk off. “I’m going to go speak with my father about this. I wont tell him anything important… I just think he might be able to help you–”

     He grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop. “Let me finish.”

     She looked at him, a little surprised.

     “I’ve waited all these years to tell you this and I wont be able to live with myself if I wait another day.”

     Meenu turned herself fully to face him. “I don’t want an apology. You did what you had to do–”

     “You are truly beautiful.” He said over her, looking her straight in the eyes.

     Meenu felt her cheeks redden immediately.

     “Other people may not think it… but I do,” he continued, “you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.”

     “Avaryn…”

     “You are amazing, smart and talented too. People will tell you otherwise, but it’s because they’re scared of you, and people only know how to be cruel to things they fear. And the fear they feel is my fault, not yours,” He gave her a small smile, still holding her hand in his. “So please… don’t forget it. Don’t ever forget how truly special you are.”

     She was unbelievably shocked by the words that came out of his mouth. And what shocked her more was the look in his eyes. His red eyes seemed to look right into her. As if he knew her. As if he really knew her.

     And he did, didn’t he?

     After all, he knew her for years.

     “And Meenu…” He took her other hand and took a step closer. After looking at her for another moment, he spoke. “I love you. I always have.”

     For some reason, the sincerity that Meenu heard in his voice was enough to make her feel the urge to cry.

     She blinked a couple times before she stepped forward and kissed his lips. Though part of her felt like she was with a whole different man… his kiss felt the same as always.

     It was warm and loving and made her so dizzy that she could faint… just like it had been with Blood. And this kiss was exactly what she needed to be reassured of her love for him.

     And when she finally pulled away, she did it with reluctance.

     But she had to. She needed to tell him.

     She pressed her forehead against his, eyes closed. “I love you too,” Meenu said, her grip on his hands tightening. “And… we’ve got a lot to talk about and make clear… but that can wait until all of this is over.”

     Avaryn nodded his head before his kissed her forehead. “Please refrain from telling anyone anything I’ve told you. You can ask your father if he has any information but don’t tell him the truth. I don’t want him to get unnecessarily involved.”

     “Right,” Meenu smiled as she pulled away from him. “Will I be able to see you soon?”

     “I will try to come to you whenever I can… but Master Red is preparing a plan to get rid of Dukaryn right now. Once he’s done, we will probably head to Amberdyse to discuss it with the Mayor.”

     Meenu nodded. “I’ll see you at the Mayor’s place.”

     Avaryn frowned, “I don’t want you to get any more involved then you already are.”

     “I’m part of the Hidden now,” Meenu responded, “that means I’m going to do what I can to help.”

     Avaryn kept the frown on his face but decided not to argue with her. He could just get Master Red to force her to stay out of it. She’d have to listen to him.

     “I won’t keep you any longer then,” Meenu started to walk off again. “I’ll see you soon.”

     Avaryn simply nodded, watching as she ran off before he could say anything else to her.

     And though he watched her until she arrived safely at her village, he still worried about her safety.

     It was hard to believe that Dukaryn wasn’t after her right not. He might have feared Avaryn, but his ego was too large for him to be subdued.

     That was the reason for why Avaryn was reluctant to leave her alone to return to Master Red. But of course, he had to. His mission wasn’t complete yet.

     And the faster he worked, the faster he would be able to relax and sit down with Meenu, even if it would be for a little while.

     That’s what he wanted more than anything right now.