I can't breathe. My lungs are aching, and saltwater stings my skin. Where the heck is that Damien!? Gritting my teeth, I reach up and into the fading light, but it's no use. Darkness enfolds me, and black is covering my eyes when something enters the water. Warm hands grab me and I barely have enough life left in me to see violet eyes. Those eyes are the last thing I see before I fall limp.

There are voices. Voices that haunt me. Are the guards here to torment me again? But no, these voices ring in the air. As I open my eyes, I remember everything and nothing. I stare at the ceiling first, where light filters through. I feel the pleasure of freedom again, but stiffen when I hear footsteps. In a flash, I am up. I hold myself in a fighting stance that I am surprised to remember. As soon as the door opens, I knock the Fae over without thinking and see violet eyes. There is a broken mirror in my hand, held to his throat. I am surprised to see the reflective mirror showing me a High Fae with circles under her eyes and- whatever I was thinking is pushed away as the Fae with the perfect face flips me flat onto my back. He slowly smirks and releases me, but I feel my anger boiling.

"Who are you?" I hiss, and take my distance. My former self could have diminished this meager, stupid, know-it-all in the amount of time it'd take his blood to pound once. 

"I'm the one that saved your life. But otherwise, call my Rhys." His voice is smooth and just maddens me more. But I make myself calm down. His answer is fairly acceptable and I ask him another. "Where have you taken me?" Crossing my long arms over my chest, I glare at him until he grins. "Velaris." I snort. This Fae is annoying me. 

Oh no. I just snorted. This High Fae thing is getting to me. 

"I'm leaving now." I stride over to the door. The Fae- Rhys- doesn't stop me. I have a feeling I may have to fight myself out of here, but I easily walk out. The place is huge, and I feel drawn to the diamond chandelier. Rubies and sapphires catch my eye, but I force myself to stop from grabbing them. At least, after I've taken an emerald that's larger than my fist. 

But when I step outside, two arms grab me. "Hey!" I struggle against two High Fae, with wings that carry me to the top of the palace. A voice reminds me, Illyrians. I am pushed onto the roof, where that annoying Fae waits. "Hello again, Amren." I startle. "How do you know my name?" Well, my new name, I think. I wonder if he knows who I am. A sparkle in his eye tells me he knows more about the Fae I inhabited more than I do. "I know everything that goes on in my land." I am confused.  His land? Whatever. "Let me leave." I demand. "Hold on. Tell me why you're here." Now I'm more confused than ever. "I mean, why are you in Prythian?" I stare him hard in the eye. "Perhaps it's better to discuss this over a nice cup of coffee." he says. 

I laugh. Coffee? "I'll talk, but I need blood." Just saying the word makes me tremble in anticipation. Back in The Prison, all they gave me was enough to keep me existent. Here, I could have all the blood I wanted. 

"Yes, yes, go get Amren some fresh blood, Azriel." He talks to the guard that looks frozen in place. But as soon as he has a command, he sets off into the sky. "Cassian, leave us." He dismisses the other Illyrian, who looks like he has something to say about this turn of events, but rolls his eyes and follows Azriel. 

Rhys beckons me downstairs, into a fancy room. He snaps his fingers and a table appears, and on it is a cup of coffee for him. By the time he gets comfortable and I sit down, Azriel flashes into the room with a pitcher of dark, red, liquid. My eyes widen. The smell pulls me to it, and Azriel jumps back. I'm gulping the blood down, and my hunger reduces to a manageable pull. My lips wet with it, I hand the empty pitcher to Azriel. "More." I say it with a growl that leaves him bolting out of the room. 

"Well, I guess you enjoyed that." Rhys says, chuckling. I narrow my eyes at him again and sit down. "Now, what is it that you had to say to me?" I ask. He smirks. "You're High Fae- but you were not always. Tell me how you came to be." Can I trust Rhys? I ask myself. Surprisingly, the voice inside my head answers. Yes. 

And after a few gallons of blood, annoying questions, and time, he knows everything. Now, I ask him a question. "Who are you really?" Rhys answers with a sad smile. "I'm someone that was once slave to the darkness, but now, I... I can make my own light." 

"Okay, that tells me nothing." Rhys smiles, and changes the subject very obviously. "I'll tell you a bit about who you're inhabiting now." But I don't push it, and besides, I was going to ask him this anyway. 

He squints thoughtfully. "Where should I start? Well, first of all, nobody actually knows you well, but your father- a general for the Night Court- likes hunting more than he likes you." I snarl. "What kind of a father is that?" I'm surprised at myself. I never cared about family when I was in The Prison. I mean, I never had any family there. 

"A typical father in Prythian." Rhys's violet eyes fade out, and suddenly something dark comes over him. But he shrugs it off easily, and tells me the rest of my story. Apparently I had a relationship with a Fae, but after he went off with another female, he was executed in public. Rhys winces. "I remember it clearly, you and your father were both there." He laughs. "That was where you met Damien. At your former Fae's execution, you met your next suitor."

I leaned back in my chair. "So you mean to say that... I killed somebody?" Rhys muttered under his breath, "Not just somebody." I replied loudly, "Great. I'm a cold-blooded killer already! I bet he deserved it!" Grinning wickedly, I felt more like myself. Rhys shook his head in frustration. "You don't understand. I-" 

Suddenly, the doors slammed open and in a flash a furious face was leaning over mine. I jumped back, but I held my ground as I readied my fist for punching. "Cassian! No!" Rhys yelled. Dang, it was the Illyrian, I thought. "Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!" Cassian jabbed a finger in my face. Deadly quiet, he whispered, "Take it back. Now."

"No. I don't even know who-" 

"He was my friend, Amren! You killed my friend!" Now he was crying a little, tears streaming down his face. Rhys was behind him, glaring daggers at me. "It's okay. Calm down." He eased Cassian off me, while I sat there looking at him looking at me. "You. You will pay for this." Cassian growled. Azriel flashed into the room a second after he said that, and he helped the other Illyrian away. 

Rhys stared at me. "What?" I asked.

"You're just like the rest of them. The ones who hurt others because they want to." Although I didn't know who influenced me to have such a vengeful attitude, I could see that Rhys was like me, had done things that he had gone to regret in life.

"I'm just like you." I stated the fact blandly, while Rhys looked away from me. I smiled, thinking I had shown him who was boss. But I was wrong. 

"No. I apologized. Do you even know what the word means, Amren?" He walked away, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "You cannot leave this place until you have figured who you are. You know what you have to do. Your chamber is written down on the piece of paper on the table." Without another word, he left me. I peered down at the note that had just appeared. I followed the passageway until I found a room at the end of the 3rd floor hallway. I opened the door and inside it, was an empty room with nothing but a bed and a window. 

"Stupid High Fae. Thinking I can't escape. We'll see about that." Ignoring the guilt that crept over me, for not apologizing to the Illyrian crybaby, I tried to smash the window open. Instead, as soon as I touched the glass, I was flung backwards and hit the other side of the wall. I groaned. 

"You know what you have to do." 

Rhys voice reminded me that I did, in fact, have someone to apologize to.