The room and its occupants stood like a perfect freeze frame. Morwena held the bow out, her eyes unblinking as she waited for my reaction. Iggy’s mouth dropped open, and Kirsten took a step back. Sakura simply watched the proceedings with a nonchalant air, as if Morwena had sauntered in and demanded who hadn’t cleared their dishes away earlier.

But they were all waiting on me. I had to say something. Did I lie? Did I run?

No, I would never make it.

Lie, then.

I can’t.

Lie— or risk being killed!

I can’t lie to these people.

They have been so kind to me.

And I knew, as soon as I met Morwena’s gaze, that I had missed any chance to lie; I had hesitated for too long, and the truth was already written across my face.

‘Lumina?’ she whispered, the bow lowering and then clattering to the floor. ‘It’s really you?’

‘I’m not what you remember,’ I said defensively.

But Morwena didn’t look happy; her face contorted in irritation.

‘How could you be so stupid?’

It was not the reaction I had expected. Tears of joy, tears of disappointment or a prison cell was what I had expected.

But not the shoulder-grabbing, glaring, anger kind of reunion.

‘You— alone­­— walk around with a bow with your name engraved on it, with weapons belonging to a princess left where anybody could see?’

I just gawped. My mouth opened and closed, and a slight slurring sound seemed to try and escape my throat as Morwena’s grip tightened on my shoulders.

‘You walk around looking exactly as you did eighteen years ago— no disguise! Nothing! In broad daylight—’

If she was going to rat on me, I prayed she did it soon. The nausea in my stomach from nerves was rising through my chest.

‘…and then you pick a fight with Lord Dale!’

I was going to vomit on her feet.

‘And win!’ I heard her exclaim.

‘Aren’t…aren’t you going to kill me?’ I asked weakly, feeling my knees shaking.

‘Kill you? Good heavens, Lumina, no! You are exactly what this country needs. You’re not perfect, so don’t go getting a large head— but it’s something we can work with.’

I felt my arms flop to my sides with relief. She wasn’t going to have me killed! She must have realised I was swaying, giddy, and she grasped my shoulders firmly again.

Then my eyebrows furrowed as I tried to piece together what she had said.

‘Work with?’ I said blearily. ‘We?’

‘Yes,’ Morwena rolled her eyes, as if already regretting her decision not to throw me into the river. ‘We. Me and the rest of your people who are waiting for the moment to fight against this class system in Angelica.’

I stared at her, feeling sick once more. Perhaps she should have killed me; she was enlisting me into her army! I didn’t want to fight for a kingdom!

‘Lumina, you look like a fish,’ Sakura said politely.

Iggy giggled, and I looked furiously towards them.

‘You try being enrolled into a war sometime,’ I snapped.

‘We’ve been waiting for it,’ Kirsten said darkly, ‘for eighteen years, Lumina.’

We all turned except for Morwena; I caught her eyes flash with pity before she closed them with an inaudible sigh. It did nothing to cure my unease at Kirsten’s words, and as I looked at her, I realised that she was perhaps the most angry of all.

‘You’re supposed to want to help us,’ she said, ‘don’t you dare take this lightly.’

‘I’m not!’ I protested, confused. Something in Kirsten seemed to be seething; what had I done?

Morwena looked at Kirsten, and gave her an empathetic nod. ‘She will help us, Kirsten, once she knows the facts.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said honestly, but this only seemed to rile the girl more. ‘I really don’t know anything about this war. I don’t remember anything, and even Fabian didn’t explain it fully—’

Kirsten jumped again, and I was surprised to see how she switched from being angry to furious.

‘You met Fabian?’ she demanded.

‘I…did,’ I said, again, remembering her admiration of him and feeling that prickling feeling of annoyance.

‘You…when were you going to tell us?’

‘I couldn’t exactly let on to knowing Fabian without announcing who I was,’ I said hotly, my voice also beginning to strain with anger.

But Kirsten changed track immediately.

‘Are you two lovers again?’

‘What? No!’

‘You didn’t do anything?’

For a moment, a flash of the feeling of warm, bare skin against my thigh came flooding into my brain. The feeling of strong arms curled around my body, and a handsome face nuzzled so close our noses were almost touching.

I had hesitated again, only this time, I had turned beetroot.

It was enough to make Kirsten roar.

‘Oh shush, Kirsten, or I will send you out!’ Morwena’s voice cut through Kirsten’s complaining, and the girl stopped protesting. Feeling relieved, I let down my guard— until Morwena began with the questions again.

‘Lumina, if you’ve already met Fabian, why are you here?’

I looked at the floor. ‘I ran away.’

Iggy had taken a seat next to Sakura, and even Kirsten was now looking curious.

‘You ran away?’ Morwena asked.

‘They were lovely to me,’ I said quietly, ‘but not because of me, because I looked like somebody they both loved. And they thought I would be happy to stay safe in the tower while they waged a war.’

Morwena simply stared at me for a moment, as if waiting to see whether I’d yell, ‘Only joking!’ When I didn’t, she clapped me proudly on the back and gave the best laugh I’d heard since I arrived on the island.

‘That’s brilliant,’ she wheezed, ‘Please tell me you stole his power too. That would have completely crushed him.’

I nodded, and then paused. Crushed him?

Seeing my confusion, Morwena said, ‘He hadn’t come out of that tower for anyone. He didn’t have any hope of you coming back, Lumina. He wasn’t waiting to take up arms for eighteen years. Scarlett held the hope her sister would return, but Fabian gave up on the world.’

I was beginning to feel a sinking feeling in the pit of my heart, a feeling that had been nagging me but had been pushed aside and filed away.

‘So…when I stole his power, shouted at him for not seeing me as a person, and to get over the old Lumina…’

Morwena laughed even harder, not noticing my distress. I had been so bitter to Fabian, thinking he was only nice because I looked like his old fiancée.

‘Yeah, he never saw you as her,’ Morwena said, rolling her eyes again. ‘That fool! He’s so bad with women!’

‘How do you know so much about Fabian?’ I said, my eyes narrowed. How did I know she wasn’t just making this up? Why would Fabian have told her his personal feelings, much less in the past week or so of knowing me?

Morwena flashed me a dark smile, and she puffed out small, sapphire leathery wings.

‘A Seer?’ I said, still not understanding.

‘Seers can See the present, too,’ she said, ‘and not just visions. To me, you are all like a mood ring…only much more complicated.’

I recalled seeing cheap trinkets at travelling fairs that supposedly predicted your emotions. Suddenly, I shrank away afraid of how much Morwena could see.

‘Don’t run away now,’ she said, giving me a patronising look. ‘I can’t remind minds. You’re swirling with emotions, Lumina. You’re quite difficult to read. Fabian, on the other hand…’

Morwena smirked, and understanding finally flooded me. She knew how he felt because she could See it.

‘It’s handy when you’re dealing with strangers,’ Iggy volunteered, ‘Morwena always knows when there’s a bad one.’

‘So…I wasn’t bad?’

‘You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. It’s a helpful insight, I’ll admit. You were nervous and afraid that day, and in desperate need of help.’

I swallowed.

‘Thank you. So you also know Fabian?’ A striking thought ran through me. ‘Does he know I’m here?’

Morwena shook her head. ‘Not yet. I have met Fabian on several occasions, because we – that is to say, the commoners of the rebellion— needed to know whether we could trust him. I know he’s trustworthy, but he didn’t seem keen on the idea of waiting for you, which is what we planned. We dealt with Scarlett much more than Fabian.’

‘Your plan was to wait for me?’

‘You were Seen as a future Queen, Lumina. Do you know what that means?’

‘Not really.’

‘It’s big. For thousands of years, the temple has announced its potential new rulers; from common folk to nobility, it’s selected the best ones for the job. If no vision is Seen, the crown naturally passes onto the son or daughter of the current ruler by birthright. But you were Seen, Lumina; if anything, that crown is yours, for the greater good of this kingdom.’

‘What if it was wrong? What if the old Lumina was meant to rule?’

Morwena looked puzzled, ‘They would have mentioned what you looked like in the vision, so they would have noted whether or not you had black wings. But the only person that heard the vision will never agree to tell us about it.’

I looked darkly at her. ‘It’s not Dale, is it?’

Morwena laughed bitterly. ‘Dale could be persuaded. I would much rather it have been Dale.’

‘Then who?’

‘The King. And his only daughter, Princess Freya.’

I took a deep breath inwards, sharply. The group looked at me, and I knew I had to tell them.

‘Freya escaped the island with me,’ I said, ‘she lived on Earth with me, as my sister, under the name of Reia. She was good. And then she was attacked and dragged away by a monster.’

Morwena looked shocked; I didn’t need a mood ring or a power to know how stunned she was after hearing my words. When she spoke next, it was low and disbelieving.

‘The Princess is your friend? That can’t be. There are rumours that she hasn’t left the palace in eighteen years…unless…no, that can’t be it. Damn, this was something we hadn’t factored in…’

‘I want to find Reia.’

Morwena’s head snapped in my direction; for a moment, she looked thunderous, but then a clever smile crept across her face.

‘I agree,’ she said, ‘I want to find this Reia. If she is innocent, she may be key in taking down this King, but we don’t know if she’s on his side…and has been watching you, learning your weaknesses…then she’s smart. And a worthy opponent…’

I watched as the woman murmured, her eyes cast upon a vision I couldn’t see, clearly plotting schemes with the information I’d told her. But I couldn’t quell my nervous excitement; she had agreed we had to find Reia! At last! I had help!

And I knew that as soon as Reia was found, we wouldn’t need to prove her innocence.

‘We’ll have to move you,’ Morwena told me firmly, ‘it’s not safe here. But I can spare Sakura, Iggy and Kirsten with you if they wish. You can finally see your old home. The rebel camp is in the Opal district.'

I noticed how neither Iggy, Sakura nor Kirsten took the news of a rebel camp with any surprise. This was not a spontaneous decision on Morwena's part; even without me, this group had been conjuring up plans to rid Angelica of its king.

And from Emerald, I was to go to Opal. My stomach fluttered; I felt a longing for a home I had never known, yet seemed so dear. I ached to finally see it, after being told so much and so little about it. Was the house I lived in still there? Was it as pretty as Emerald?

'I think you’ll be happy to find that there is an underground stronghold that we will take you to,' Morwena was saying.

‘Underground?’ I had never lived underground. I felt unease; I prayed that this was no trick and that they weren’t going to shut me away and keep me there. It was only when Morwena patted my shoulder affectionately did I realise that I was being paranoid.

‘You have every right to be afraid,’ she said, eerily echoing my thoughts, ‘but please, all I ask is that you trust me. I’m on your side.’

I nodded.

‘I am going to tell Scarlett about our plans,’ Morwena informed me, ‘you realise that, right? Things are starting to take shape. You won’t be locked in a tower, but they need to be updated.’

I felt the knot in my insides squeeze, as if relaxing and contracting at the same time. On the one hand, I was insanely relieved that Scarlett would find out, and know that I hadn’t entirely deserted her. She might even want to see me again.

But would Fabian find out?

Did I want him to?

Yes, a tiny voice in the back of my head throbbed.

But would he want to see me again? Probably not.

‘Lumina, you are a colossal display of colours right now,’ Morwena teased, clapping me heavy-handedly on the back. I coughed, winded by her enthusiasm. ‘You are like a peacock! Goodness, we have three days to get everything together. I haven’t forgotten about Valkyrie, you know,’ she added.

‘I’m getting there,’ I said, ‘I used Iggy’s power because I really needed to. But I’ve been able to steal people’s powers, so I should be able to try.’

‘Wait!’ Kirsten suddenly jumped up, hitting her head with the palm of her hand. ‘We can’t forget that he threatened my sister! What are we going to do about that pig Lord?’

‘We’ll kidnap your sister,’ Morwena said casually, and Iggy jumped. ‘Ignacio, calm down. We can’t warn her because she can’t stay sober. She’s vulnerable. She’s best with you all, away from that livelihood and that vicious cycle.’

Kirsten looked terribly afraid, as if taking her sister away from everything was both a great plan and a horrible one. ‘Please, we can’t let Dale hurt her,’ she whimpered, ‘and I can’t stand the way she’s treated there…’

Iggy clasped Kirsten’s hand, and she looked at him in surprise. For the first time, I noticed how the tips of Iggy’s ears turned red around Kirsten, the girl he was so friendly with.

So that’s how it is, I thought, a small smile playing at my lips.

‘We will save your sister,’ Iggy said valiantly, before ruining it entirely by saying, ‘And she will swoon at my feet as her saviour!’

‘Ignacio—’

I could hear Kirsten swearing at him all the way out the room and into the corridor as she chased him, trying to catch him with her fist.

Sakura, Morwena and I began to laugh.

So what did you think of their reactions to Lumina being the prinny? I know a lot of you said you wanted these guys to help Lumina, so I may have taken that into consideration... ;)

And finally...Lumina is going to see the Opal district, but what do you think she will find?!

Furthermore...it looks like Fabian and Scarlett will be coming back!

If you liked this, please vote/comment/add it to your reading list. It would help my book get more and more readers like you loyal people, which would be AMAZING!

Lots of love, Larissa