The Silent Princess

Arren stood with her for a long moment in the dark room, his hand stroking her back, her body trembling in his arms.

Someone tried to kill me, why, she thought as she twisted Arren's jacket in her fingers.

"Love, we have to get this dress off you," he said.

She nodded against him and he pulled away slightly, sweeping the room with his shadows, turning on the lamps. His bedroom came into view, she turned to him.

"It is safer, they attacked you, not me," he said.

"Harbit," she said the name slowly.

"I am having them brought here, to my apartments. Do not worry, they are safe, Ilun is with them as well. Please, focus on yourself for now," he said releasing her and pulling her gently towards the wash room.

She let herself be led. He unlaced her dress, the heavy fabric pulling it to the floor, her blood bright red against the creamy white. In only her shift and undergarments he left her for a moment, turning on the water and wetting a cloth. He wiped her skin while his shadows tugged at her hair, removing the twists and braids so that it fell around her. "So you can rest comfortably," he explained. "You used so much power, you must be tired."

She pointed at him and touched his chest.

"No, I'm fine, little bird, do not worry about me," he replied. He removed his jacket and dropped it on top of her dress, hiding the bloody mess of it.

He washed her hands and then his own face and neck, removing any traces of the attack. "In the morning you can take a proper bath."

She nodded, still feeling unclean and shaken.

He took her hand and led her back to his bedroom. Opening drawers he pulled out a nightshirt, "Put this on instead."

She nodded and changed, stripping away every piece of clothing she had worn during the attack, each one feeling tainted and dirty. He did the same, fresh clothing replacing his fine ones, ruined with the night. Changed, his shirt hung huge on her smaller frame. He pulled back the blankets and placed her into bed, sliding in behind her, holding her body close, his shadows turning off the lights around them.

"Isilla, I," he started, his words stilling in his mouth. She covered his hands with hers, knowing what he needed to say. "Do you still love me?"

She nodded, turning in his arms. His eyes clear, he stared at her while his shadows touched her, wrapping themselves around her wrists and through her fingers.

"You've seen what can happen," he whispered.

She shifted, pressing her lips against his. She kissed him softly, her fingers reaching under his shirt to feel his skin. She moved slowly, as if any sudden movement would frighten him away from her but he responded, pulling her close, letting himself be kissed, be calmed. She kissed his jaw, then his neck where he stopped her.

He touched her throat, where she had been injured. Under his fingers the flesh was unmarred, as if nothing at all had happened to her. "You are so very special. To love me, even after you've seen what I am. I do not deserve the gift of you." He touched her chest, "You did something extraordinary. I felt it, you used my power as your own and you turned back what I had done. My father-"


She shook her head, pulling him back to her, wanting his kisses and touch. Needing to be comforted in a way that was beyond words, needing to forget, even for just a moment, the pain and fear.

"My dearest," he said, honoring her request, his hand slipping below her clothing to touch her bare skin. He lifted the shirt, bringing his mouth to her breast making her gasp and her bite her lip. His hands and shadows swept over her skin, touching her in the most intimate ways.

She pulled him close to her, burying her face his neck as the space between them disappeared. She held him close, listening to his heavy breaths, matching them with her own. I wish, she thought, that he could hear me.

Spent, he held her close as she relaxed, allowing herself to fall into a deep sleep.

She opened her eyes in a space that was not her courtyard, Ilun did not greet her. A garden stretched before her, fountains and flowers, stone benches and tiled walkways. The sky above a deep purple, the air blue in twilight. In the center of all it stood the shade, her eyes bright, a wide smile on her face.

"You have done it. No little Sorgia, just Sorgia now," she spoke.

"This isn't my courtyard," Isilla said slowly.

The woman shook her head, "No. You should recognize this place, Sorgia. All the Emperor's daughters stay here, all the ones that are like you, dreamweaver."

"I never lived there. I didn't even go in while I stayed at the palace," an uneasy feeling spread, overtaking the pleasant warmth of Arren's love making.

"Ah, well, it matters not, because you did it, you're the one. The one who will unblock the flow of power and reset the world," she said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied.

"You must have noticed, how different this world is then the one in all the old books, how weak the power is except in a few. Your father, your husband, they're very strong but so rare. When I was a girl men like them were nothing. And the world stretched on forever, beyond the horizons to strange lands. But now, the flow is just a trickle and all the Realms are broken. You will open the gates again, fill the world with magic, Dark and Light."

"Your words are much clearer now but I still don't understand what you're trying to tell me. It has always been this way," Isilla said slowly, cold sweat breaking out down her back.

The woman shook her head, "You are just understanding me better. Do not worry so Sorgia, your blood carries my memory, I will never harm you. And after this, I will be gone and you will be all there is."

She crossed the space between them quickly, shimmering out of space and then back into it, her arms around Isilla, the cold seeping from them into her flesh. As before, she couldn't move, couldn't do anything but submit to the touch of the woman who held.

"This is my last gift to you. Good luck, daughter of my daughters," her voice was sad and gentle against Isilla even as they fell, the world shifting and changing around them.

***

Isilla woke up with a start, coming out of the shade's memory as it ended. Her head pounded with the gravity of the woman's history, her mind attempting align the experience with her own. She breathed deeply, letting herself come back to her own body.

Arren's room dark around her, she felt the weight of him next to her, his arm over her belly, still holding her close. Ilun must still be with Haribit and Julen, she thought, realizing that she had never recalled him from the duty.

He woke beside her slowly, sitting up with her in the darkness, "You've lost a great deal of blood, you should still be resting."

She shook her head, her mind a whirl.

"Fine," he sighed and his bedside lamp flickered to life. The shadows spun for a moment in her lap before her book appeared. "What is keeping you awake, love?"

She opened the book. Is Haribit alright? Julen? Ilun?

Arren nodded, "They're fine. They're sleeping in the next room. Haribit had no idea anything was happening before I saw them. Ilun is guarding their door, likely until you call him back."

She nodded, relieved that they were safe and guilty that she had fallen asleep before confirming it.

"My father, he knows now and I have defied him already," Arren said slowly.

You stopped his shadows from touching me again, she wrote.

"Yes. I didn't think, I just could not bear it," he said slowly.

She curled against him and he sighed, tension falling from his body. I know what this power is, she wrote.

"How, my love?" he asked, his thumb stroking her hip.

The shade, her name was Usoa, she shared her memories with me. We are part of something much larger, she wrote.

"I will do whatever it takes to protect you," he said.

We have to protect each other, she wrote. It is more than just your father. We can turn Dark into Light. What we are, together, can reshape all of the Realms.

"I don't understand," Arren said, frowning.

I know, I need to tell you a story, it's about what happened to the Third Realm she wrote before she began, sharing the memories of the shade had given her.