The Silent Princess

She opened her eyes in her courtyard, the stones, the flowers, the fountains all familiar but the world itself unsteady. It shimmered in and out in gold light. Ilun whined, nudging her to stand with his nose. "I fainted," she said as she stumbled to her feet with Ilun's assistance.

"Why am I still dizzy?" she asked the empty space.

"You cannot stop it so much!" the shade said.

Isilla turned to the voice, before stumbling to a bench and leaning her head into her hands. Ilun whined and growled in equal measure, pressing his body against hers as much for his protection as her support.

"Already, too much! Tsk, you pull so easily, it wants you. Your blood knows what you need."

"You said I had a few weeks," Isilla spoke through clenched teeth, her head throbbing.

"Weeks? Mayhaps, if you can calm this now. Sorgia must have found another, one with power! The blood wants it."

She shook her head, "No. He's dangerous. He'll kill me."

"It would be unwise to kill a Sorgia," the shade said soothingly. "Just afraid, like before but just like with any man, the pain is quick."

"You don't understand," she said shaking her head.

The shade made a tutting sound, shaking her head, "No, little Sorgia, it is you that does not understand. Even after all you've seen, you do not understand. So I say, you must make, you must build, use this power or it will eat you from inside."

"I can release it back to the dreamers," she said attempting to stand and failing.

"Not this power, something different, this power wants to go out," the shade said, her tone as if she were speaking to a child.

Out, Isilla thought as the world spun and glistened around her.

"You're weak," the shade said and the world shifted.

"No!" Isilla cried but too late, the shade was in her, taking over her being piece by piece, winding itself around her. Numbness raced through her body and swiftly she became a passenger, a prisoner.

She felt herself rise, the the space above where all the Veil, clear and wide, spread all around her. Thick threads of light came from the spheres of light that were the dreamers, wrapping around her as if she were a beacon. "This feeling," the shade said, the words tumbling from her Isilla's mouth. "I've missed it."

It's the afternoon, there aren't many dreamers, why is she doing this, Isilla thought, her mind racing.

"There are enough dreamers," the shade responded, even Isilla's thoughts no longer her own. "Here, this one will do," she said plucking one from the spheres that floated around them.

She dropped back down, straight into the dream. The world around them stone, some sort of building but this one held strange relics, crumbling statues holding symbols she did not understand.

The shade walked along the bare ground, weaving color into the world, brightening things as she went, searching for the dreamer.


I know this energy, the feel of this power. We can't be here, please, we have to leave, Isilla begged but the shade, focused on her own work did not listen, the world shifted around her until there, in the center of it all was the dreamer.

"Isilla, the lovely Isilla," Lehan said, focusing his blue eyes on her. "Come here, let me see what my brother has."

No, she shouted in her mind even as the shade smiled and crossed the space to him.

"This one, so strong! What will he make," she asked as she reached her arms out to him.

No, Isilla thought again as the world erupted in strange, red flowers.

"What beautiful flowers," Lehan said grabbing her arm, pulling her close.

I don't want this, she shouted again as the shade's arms wrapped around Lehan and he leaned forward.

Isilla woke abruptly, gasping. Late afternoon sun shone through the window, the red flowers beautiful in their light. The strange blossoms covered the bed and the floor, Isilla stared down at the pool of them in her lap through her fingers. This isn't my room, the thought a flickering realization in a stew of panic and confusion.

"Isilla?" Arren's voice drew her attention. He sat on the bed, in front of her, his hand touched her face, wiping at tears.

Ilun pressed his face against her side his many tails sweeping away the flowers behind him.

"You were crying, in your sleep so I woke you," he said softly.

She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and he responded, pulling her close, into his embrace. She let herself be held, his large hands stroking her back through the heavy fabric of the dress as she cried, shaken and frightened.

As her tears slowed he gently pulled her away from him him. Between them, the crushed, red petals stained her dress and his shirt. He wiped the remainder of her tears away before speaking gently. "I thought your dress was too tight, that you had overheated when your pet brought you to me."

She looked over at Ilun, the shifting beast's tails thumping on the floor in an attempt to communicate with her that he was happy, that he had done well. She reached her hand out for him, touching his head weakly, her body still loose and strange after the shade's intrusion on it.

"But," Arren said softly, grasping her chin to turn her face back to him, his touch the mirror image of his father's. "That's not it at all."

She shook her head slowly, unable to explain, her words trapped behind her wall of silence.

"Your book," he said, "You must have dropped it when you lost consciousness."

She nodded.

"Wait a moment, little bird," he said closing his eyes. A swell of power filled the space and the shadows thinned to nothing.

He's still holding me, she thought as his fingers absentmindedly ran along her side.

A moment later the shadows condensed, their familiar tendrils and waves back, pooling around the bed, reaching for her before dropping her book into her lap.

Arren breathed out, long and slow before opening his eyes again.

"I found that in the halls leading to my father's rooms," his voice still gentle. "Little bird, tell me why it was there."

No anger, his hand still stroked her side. But when I tell him about what happened with the shade, will he change, she thought even as she opened the book to a clean page.

Your father knows I'm the Sorgia. He aid it was a name for brides that came from the Light, she wrote quickly, starting with the first thing that came to her mind.

His hand stilled, tightening on her waist for a moment, "But that is not all it is, this Sorgia business, is it."

She shook her head.

"The flowers? What you did with me, you've done with someone else," he said.

She nodded. I didn't want to, the shade took my body. She said there was too much power built up, that's why I fainted. Please don't be angry, she wrote.

"I'm not angry with you, little bird," he said softly brushing her forehead with his lips. "And it's my own fault for making you think that I would be. Still, there are too many things I don't understand. Something has happened, and you haven't explained it to me. Why were you in my father's halls? I told you to stay away from him."

She bit her lip, I didn't want to trouble you.

"Trouble me? Isilla, it troubles me that you are in danger," he replied. "Your pet bringing you to me with blood dripping from your nose and you in a dead faint troubles me. You keeping things from me troubles me. Telling me what is causing these things so that I can help you does not trouble me."

She looked up at him, still teary and shaken. He smiled down at her gently.

"Wash your face, Julen can bring us some tea to calm your nerves, and then you can explain to me what has happened today."

She nodded and reluctantly slid from his arms. The dress, loose now that he had undone the laces, hung on her frame. She walked into the bathing room and shut the door, leaving Ilun whining on the other side.

"Oh!" she gasped at her reflection in the long mirror. She looked terrible, her dress askew and stained, her hair half undone by sleep, the makeup runny from her tears. Quickly she located a cloth and scrubbed off her face clean, removing the thick makeup. Next she pulled her hair down, running her fingers through it, massaging her scalp. This is just like our wedding night, she thought, blushing.

She attempted to tighten the dress but gave up, the laces were in the back and she couldn't reach them properly.

She walked back into the room as Arren just finished changing his shirt. She touched his hand and he turned to her, eyebrow raised as he reached for one of her curls, wrapping it around his fingers. "This looks much better on you," he said softly.

She smiled and pointed at her dress before turning.

He pulled the laces gently, tightening the dress so it would stay on.

Finished, she turned and smiled. He looked back at her nervously for a moment before the door opened and Julen entered. A look of deep concentration on his face as he slid the tray he carried onto the table and set up the cups for the tea.

"Isilla! You're alright!" the boy cried, his job complete, crossing the room and wrapping his arms around her waist. She returned the hug as he spoke, his words muffled in her long skirts. "I was so worried when Ilun brought you here! I thought you were dead!"

She smiled down at the boy, pulling him gently from her body, to show that she was fine.

"I told you she would be fine. Take a cookie," Arren said told him. "And see that we are not disturbed. Even by members of the Council. You are to tell them that I am not receiving visitors today."

Julen nodded solemnly as he picked up a brightly frosted cookie and began to eat it.

"I won't let anyone come in," he said, a mouthful of crumbs, as he bounced away from the table.

"Take the beast to help you," Arren said.

"Really?" Julen asked, excited at the prospect of playing with the animal.

"Go with him," Arren ordered and Ilun turned to Isilla, questioning her.

She nodded and sat as Julen and Ilun left, closing the door behind them. Arren poured the tea and picked up a cookie of his own.

"Now, how did you end up in father's halls?"

I had lunch with him, she wrote, Elixabete planned it to try and take my place as your wife.

"My father wouldn't dissolve this marriage for that woman. She must be very desperate although I do not know why. It can't just be the child she carries, there must be something else. But why did she bring you?"

Isilla frowned at the page before confessing, She was brought on to be my lady in waiting.

"Lehan," Arren growled. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Is she bothering you?"

I'm fine, she wrote.

"You're lying, little bird but it is fine. I can deal with that later. What did my father say to you?"

Not much, just what I already told you and that he could feel something about me, she replied.

Arren sat back and thought about this for a moment before shaking his head, deciding to leave it and move on. "Did you faint while you were with him? Tell me what happened."

She shook her head and wrote out the details of from when she fainted up until she woke up with the flowers.

"So now my father and brother both know that you are something other than what you've said," he said slowly.

She nodded, guiltily.

"It's not your fault," Arren said softly, "Drink your tea."

She picked up the cup and sipped at the hot liquid while he spoke.

"This secret was bound to get out before long but I had hoped to understand more about you, about this feeling."

You feel it too, she asked, surprise.

"I don't know what it is. I feel something. It is not important right now. This thing, whatever it is, is dangerous for you and we need to stop it before it becomes too much."

Are you upset, about your brother, she asked timidly.

His fingers flexed on the table for a moment before relaxing, his shadows darkening around him. "I can't explain my feelings. I know that what happened was out of your control but it still feels like he has taken something of mine. Isn't that strange? You were, after all, intended to marry him."

She looked down at her cup, the steam rising from it still.

"Isilla, from now on, just me, alright?" he asked, speaking quickly, the words rushing from his mouth as if he were afraid to stop speaking. "Don't use this power with anyone else. If you need to come to me every night, then come to me every night until this is controlled. Make flowers or jewelry, or even more beasts if that's what you want but come only to me. Doing this with anyone else is too dangerous for you. If Lehan had woken up covered in flowers instead of you, what would have happened? So please, only me."

He wouldn't meet her eyes, his focus on his own tea cup. What are you really asking me, she thought even as she answered, tapping his hand to draw his gaze back to her, a smile and slight nod signaling her agreement to his request.

That searching feeling stirred in her chest for a moment and she wondered if his body responded to it, could feel that sixth sense as well. But more than that, she wondered if the man who had claimed to love her all of those months ago would take this responsibility if offered to him.