"So... he's not mad?" asked Kanin, pacing around the cell restlessly as I sat down on the floor and watched him walk around me.

"No."

"And he's not going to tell the king?"

"No."

"And you are sure we can trust him?"

"N-yes!" I exclaimed. I had responded to his question with an automatic 'no' because he had been pounding me with questions for the past five minutes, and all of them had been no, no, no, no.

He held up his hands in surrender, even though it looked awkward with the cuffs, "Three moons, you don't have to be so defensive of him. I was just making sure it did not interrupt our escape plans."

"Totally." I said sarcastically.

Kanin raised a brow, "What happened up there anyways?"

I blushed all over, "He let me see his room."

"And?"

"And they're actually very nice."

"And...?"

"And he actually timed me."

"AND?"

I threw my hands up in frustration, "And we kissed! There, I said it!" I crossed my arms and glared at him.

His jaw dropped opened. I continued to glare at him. The breathing space got perhaps a bit more crowded.

"You kissed him?" Utter disbelief.

"He kissed me! And why would you care?"

"Because I told you not to get attached to him!"

"Oh I'm sorry, but last time I checked, you weren't my father!"

"No, I'm not. He's dead. And your Xylin is responsible for it."

When he finished his sentence and glared at me, it felt like a solid iron fist had punched me in the gut, "Take that back," I choked out. When he didn't respond I screamed: "TAKE THAT BACK!"

"No! Because you know damn well that it's true!"

"You don't know anything about him." I hissed.

"And here we go again. So quick to defend your little princeling. Or have you forgotten that he was the one that told on you. That led Captain Sandrien to your house and had your father slaughtered!"

"Don't you dare mention my father again!" I roared. By now the guards had come to see what was going on, footsteps pounded closer to our cell as Kanin and I backed into our own corners of the cage.

"What is going on here?" a guard shouted.

"Nothing," I shot back, "my cell mate and I had a little disagreement."

"Fine." Another snarled, leading the other guard away. I glared in there direction a little bit longer before returning my gaze sharply on Kanin, only to see him watching me in turn.

"You call yourself a rebel." I snarled, low and clear.

"At least I do something useful with my life." He shot back.

"You know that part when I said you were insufferable and an idiot? Well, you are. Truly." I whirled on him and stared out the cell, ignoring his brooding face as he let loose a frustrated mutter of curses and went to the back of the cell to think. Or brood. I didn't care anymore. I had to pass the time. I didn't care how.

I knew I should have been doing something, anything, but until Kanin's friends arrived, I could only sleep and wait for Xylin to come. And that's what I did as I lowered myself to lean against the wall and closed my eyes.

. . .

 A sharp kick to my ribs woke me up and I yelped, reflexively punching my attacker in the leg.

"OW!" Kanin half shouted, half howled. I bolted upright and took his hands to stop him from collapsing over.

"I'm so sorry!"

Kanin stared at me angrily with his mismatched eyes and yanked his hands back. I frowned and faced the cell door, wishing I could take back my words from yesterday so we didn't have to be angry with each other.

My entire face lit up and all thoughts of Kanin disappeared when I saw Xylin, and I quickly walked over, "Good morning." I said cheerfully.

He smiled widely and unlocked the door, "Take a walk with me?" I took his arm hesitantly. Kanin could be heard muttering angrily to himself again.

"Oh, spit it out." I said, detaching myself briefly as Kanin stared at us.

"Nothing. Just watch where you step." I rolled my eyes and followed Xylin angrily.

When we were in the clear, or as clear as it could get with guards lining every hall, Xylin coughed and awkwardly asked: "What's the matter, Raila?"

I let out a frustrated growl, "Kanin and I got into a fight... about you."

"...oh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." He said sincerely. I snorted.

"Of course you are. Where are we going anyways?" By then, we had passed the throne room and every other important room that I knew about in the palace.

"It's a surprise."

"I don't like surprises."

"Then please don't kill me."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't stop thinking about you yesterday—"

"Aww."

"—and I remembered that you spent your twentieth birthday in a prison wagon and you never got to do your Beckoning."

"You made me a cake?"

"Well... no, I thought you might want to see if you had any powers?"

I froze and stared up at him, "Are you serious?"

"Completely. I know how much this means to you. I already set up the vials."

"The what?"

"The vi—I forget you haven't seen one before. You drink from five different vials, each of them represents a different element, although they're so ancient no one remembers what they stand for anymore. If you react to one of them, then you have a power under that element." He said in a full business voice.

I snorted, "Huh. I'll try it. Although my family has ever only had common powers."

"A power is a power, Raila. Feel sorry for those that will never have one."

"Like my mother," I whispered. Xylin dropped his arm and took my hand reassuringly.

"Don't be nervous, there is no one watching us."

"I'm not nervous." He gave me a look, "Okay, I'm a little nervous."

"Don't worry. It won't kill you."

"Fair enough."

Xylin shook his head, toying with his sleeve as he pushed open a door and I was hit with the scent of wild roses and grass, "The gardens." I whispered.

Xylin seemed pleased with my reaction and led me over to a stone table where; as promised, five vials sat under the sun.

"They look like the poisons Little Ryver makes in the illegal potions market." I commented.

"Little Ryver, the poisons master of Arnain? He was arrested by Quintus already."

"Oh, my mother use to go to him for advice on how to get powers. She almost ran our money into the ground buying all that junk."

"Not all of it is 'junk'" Xylin commented.

I glanced over a shoulder and said smoothly, "And how would you know that, Prince?"

Xylin laughed lightly and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, "I don't spend all my time in the palace. Rumors circulate fast."

"I know that." I didn't mention which one I knew. Let him guess what I meant, "Anyways... here we go," I said, delicately picking up the first vial and tipping my head back as I swallowed it. A warm feeling enveloped me as I lowered the glass. Nothing happened. No streams of fire erupted from my hands or anything.

"Four more to go still," Xylin said encouragingly when he saw my disappointed expression.

The second vial tasted like pine needles; the third tasted like nothing and made me feel as light as air; the fourth tasted like sea salt that I spat it out and coughed for a while, Xylin patting my back awkwardly. When I arrived at the fifth, still without a trace of a power, my hopes rose as I lifted it to my lips and drained it like I had drained the others. Xylin and I held our breaths as I waited for something to happen. Anything. We stood there for ten more seconds before I lost it.

"Nothing." I snarled, "Six generations of family members with powers and I'm stuck with nothing!" I roared. I grasped at my hair as the anger consumed me out of nowhere.

"Hey, hey. Raila it's not as bad as you think," Xylin said distantly, forcing on a pained smile as I fell to my knees and wept.

I ignored him, "I'm so sorry Father," I whimpered, burying my face in my hands. I let out my emotions and crumpled onto the ground, wishing I could just disappear from existence. Wishing the earth would swallow me whole, but then Xylin whispered something in my ear.

"Nothing happened at my Beckoning. I thought I had no powers as well, until a couple days later. I just disappeared into thin air in the middle of a council meeting and my father lost it. He thought someone had teleported me away and sent out guards everywhere to search for me when I was actually standing right in front of him. It took me an entire day to refocus myself back into this world. Quintus was the one that eventually found me shivering under a hallway bench." He sighed and laughed to himself at the silliness of it. I smiled hesitantly as my spirits rose again.

I lowered my hands and stared at him through foggy eyes, "You hid under a bench and you were twenty?"

"Yes. I know, I'm immature."

"I'm glad you realized that. You were hiding under a bench when you were twenty while I was robbing your belongings while I was eighteen."

He started laughing uncontrollably and tumbled to the ground when I playfully tackled him down. I laughed with him for a while until I noticed that I had pinned his hands above his head.

I stared down at him and smirked, "You need to work on your defensive skills, Prince."

He sighed dreamily, looking up at me as his bronze eyes met my ice-blue ones, "I know. Alas, you have vanquished me. Let me up."

I didn't feel like letting go of him, but I pushed the feeling aside and pulled him up, "Why aren't you mad at me?"

He seemed confused about me asking, "What is there to be angry about? Unless you think I thought you kissed me horribly." He got a hard swat to the chest for that.

"I mean," I said dramatically annoyed, "that I didn't tell you I was planning on escaping soon. I didn't tell you the truth about me when we first met, I didn't—"

"You didn't tell me a lot of things, Raila. Three moons, it would probably be easier to list all the things that you did tell me."

"I know."

"Yes, you have lied to me multiple times I'm sure, but like I said before, you're different than the other prisoners here."

"I wouldn't be entirely sure on that." I stared at the ground.

"What now?"

"I-I work... with someone. When I was still a thief. He's my best friend," I snorted, "actually he's my only friend. I didn't want to tell you before because I was afraid you would tell the king... or worse. I still partly do."

Xylin was silent for some time that I thought he had walked away, "You are one hard lady to please."

I looked up at that, but there was nothing threatening in his gaze, just a lazy grin. A smile tugged at my lips, "I know. He would have said the same thing." I thought about Kalinier, if he were here, he'd be giving me that insufferable lopsided grin. The thought made my smile widen.