Lexa had always preferred the color black. There was just something about it. Smooth. Simple. Elegant. Dominating. She felt like it matched her, like a color doppelgänger.

On other people, however, not so much.

Every person around her was clad in midnight black. The children, the elderly, the mothers and the fathers. A sea of shadows and darkness. The people around her were so alike in their compliance to the color.

Maybe that is why Lexa decided to wear her best crimson dress to her mother's funeral. She stuck out of the crowd in the way you would expect bright red would at a funeral, and it did not go unnoticed. Even as the host talked about the great and wonderful person that was Lexa's mother, sly glances slid to the stranger at the back of the room from both far and near. Each gaze carried an opinion of its own about Lexa's fashion choice, yet, as Lexa would have suspected, none would confront her about it.

None mentioned that the person that they saw was one they had never seen before, either. Lexa's new found skills prevented them from seeing the daughter they knew underneath this mask.

"Relea Pectora may not have been the most important person in the kingdom, but in my mind, she was the most beloved." Testified a long friend of Lexa's mother, Mamie. She was the plump, grandmotherly kind of person who had been that one friend who was always more of a sister to her mother. From what she had heard, the palace nanny that was her mother and the palace maid that was Mamie were the suns to each other's moons.

A part Lexa wondered as Mamie droned on and on if maybe she should feel the same kind of affection. Her mother had loved Mamie almost as much as she had loved her daughter. But yet, there was nothing there. Almost like how there was nothing to the words that Mamie was sprouting now, nor the tears that started to crystalize in the corners of her eyes. The others seemed to be buying into Mamie's testimony of some story about her mother, dotting used pieces of cloth to their eyes. They couldn't see what Lexa saw, that the words were only the kind of fluff found at all funerals.

Not that she had much experience in the matter. But hopefully that would change. Hopefully this would be her first funeral of many to come.

Maybe when-

"Red is certainly a different choice."

Lexa was blasted out of her daydream as she swiveled her head to the boy standing next to her, caramel hair perfectly aligned and gray blue eyes like storm clouds intently on her. He himself was out of the fashion of the event, but not because he refused to wear black like she did. In fact, it was more that he was over dressed, in a simple black suit, but yet still fine and properly made. It was the kind of suit that Lexa assumed that prince's like him thought were suitable for the working classes, but yet still so far off from the truth.

She recognized him, of course. This was Prince William. The one and only heir to the throne of Catala.

"Not that it's bad or anything..." The prince concedes under her stare. "Just that it's different. It stands out."

"So do princes."

He laughs a nervous laugh, scratching his head. In some sort of magical princely miracle that all of them seem to have, not an inch of hair on his head moves. "There may be some truth to that. She was my nanny, by the way." His tone is sharply lined with grief. "That's why I'm here. She was a good woman, Relea Pectora."

"I'm sure she was. Truthfully I didn't know her all too well." The lie on her lips was weaved effortlessly, smoother than the silk web of a spider.

The prince smiled, the expression forced.

Though Lexa didn't know if most would notice that, if they were not looking for it. He was a diplomat, quite clearly, with a trained set of convincing masks.

He adverted his eyes, training them on Mamie as she started to speak of the time her mother had graciously helped a homeless child.

"I..." his voice falters. "She deserved more than she got. Relea was like a mother to me."
He shakes his head. "I just came to pay my respects to her family. I heard that she had a daughter. I never got to pay Relea back for... I never got to pay Relea back. The least thing I can do is pay back her family. You wouldn't know her daughter, would you?"

His attention turns back to her, and they lock eyes.

It doesn't take Lexa more than seconds to come to her answer. This answer she knew for many months, a realization that creeped up on her like a ghost.

"I'm sorry. She died years ago."

It was the first truth she had told in weeks.

----------——————§*****§——————--------

That was a year ago. Now, Lexa's mind wandered away from the memory as she slithered through the shadows of the maid corridors to a certain Princess's quarters. Adelaide, who Lexa had convinced the head of maid staff to let her attend to, was consistently out and about during the tiny hours of the night. But of course, so was Lexa. She found sleep to be a waste of valuable time.

She could be doing so many other useful things. Like planning. Or honing her skills with a recently acquired magical book.

Or, as was the case tonight, finally starting what seems to be like she had always planned for.

Lexa slipped into the darkness of the quarters with the leather bound book in hand. After that, she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

But eventually, after so long that Lexa was almost ready to retreat, the door creaked open, and a finely dressed princess stalked in.
She was the kind of princess that looked exactly like what one would think a princess would look like. She was tall and lean, with silken blonde hair and large doe eyes colored a bright hue of green. She carried a woven basket, something that from what Lexa could tell from countless hours of spying to be a constantly used item.

Every night, Princess Adelaide would creep out in the night with baskets of bread and food, and every night it would be returned empty. How pathetic, that Adelaide did this. She had all of the opportunities in the world for power and wealth, but yet she chooses to waste it all on the poor. If Lexa had half of what she had, she would have been on top of that throne when she was 10.

The princess paraded in, dropping into the jewel studded chair in front of Lexa. Through the vanity mirror, she sends Lexa a grateful grin as Lexa sets to brushing her hair. "I know I say it all the time, Abby, but I appreciate you. You truly are one of the best maids a lady can have, coming in here to help me undress in such undesirable hours."

Lexa was a harsh person, someone who cared for little and rarely ever cracked a smile that was not forced. But Abby, the maid girl that Lexa pretended to be, was quite the opposite. She was the kind of cheery, innocent girl that would get along with a perfect girl like Adelaide.

But perhaps most importantly, Abby was the kind of girl that Adelaide would trust.

"It's the least I could do for you, Lady. Especially after everything that you will do for me."

The princess's eyes widen into confused saucers. "What do you-..."

Adelaide breaks off, suddenly paralyzed.

Mortolo hebalia. The mortal herb. A contortion of deadly spices that can kill in only seconds after ingestion, and incurable. But, if one is skilled and uses the right dose, it could also be the perfect paralyzer. A sprinkle of it onto a hair comb would be just the right amount for it to sink into the skin and freeze the body in only moments. By the time the recipient notices something is wrong, they are already paralyzed, or dead.

But it won't last forever. And when Adelaide gets control back, the first thing she will do is scream. That's what they all do.

Hopefully though, Lexa will get this spell right. She has her book. She has her spell. All she needs now is time and energy.

As Lexa prepared the spell, cutting a strand of hair off of Adelaide's head and mixing it with a variety of herbs, chanting along the way, Adelaide watched with fearful eyes. Lexa liked that. Found it exhilarating, even. The princess was right to be afraid of her.

She yanked the limp princess onto the floor. Then Lexa grabbed her wrists, concentrating.

Lexa pictured herself as Adelaide, illustrating her state of consciousness in the body of a princess. She was focused. She was in control she was-

Screaming. Adelaide was screaming.

And the guards came busting in.