"So, did you find what you were looking for?" Alexstrayna asked as she ran her fingers through Reylor's loose blond hair. He lay his head in her lap in a post-coital haze, his eyes closed while she gently released all tension from his mind, body and soul.

"Unfortunately, no," he sighed. As his efforts regarding the Annals proved futile, he was grateful the Empress was waiting for him as exhaustion from the day overtook his body.

He knew these were only dreams, but he also knew they were meant to be so much more. With the Empress he finally felt whole, complete, as though this was how he was supposed to live. She knew him and complemented him in every way.

"Are you sure you really want to read the whole thing anyway? It seems like it's a rather large book."

"I will take in all the book has to offer me. Whether there's more than that, your guess is as good as mine. I just wish there was some way to figure out what this all means."

"What what means, my lord?"

He looked up at her. "You. Why are you here with me? And how do I find you?"

Alexstrayna shrugged. "I already know I exist. Finding me, that's up to you."

Reylor shook his head and looked away. "No. As far as anyone else is concerned, finding you is up to my brother."

"So, what will you do now?" she asked as if she didn't already know the answer.

"That is a question I have yet to find the answer to, but in the meantime, I will be quite content right here, with you." He looked back up at his Empress.

She was nowhere to be seen.

He sat up and looked around him. A pile of pillows remained where he had lain in her lap only moments ago.

The Empress was gone.

He panicked. What did this mean? Where did she go? When would she come back?

He wasn't given much time to think for soon he felt a shaking motion, as though an unknown force was moving him from the inside out.

Reylor opened his eyes, weary from his dream. He investigated the darkness of his room, but there was no sunlight coming through his closed drapes. It was nowhere near morning, so why did he feel so awake?

But there was some light, he noticed, and it was blooming from the table by his bedside. He turned towards the source, and in its shadow his brother's form came into view through the newly-lit candle's flame.

"Treyan?" He leaned up on his elbow as his eyes adjusted. "What's happened?"

His brother leaned down into the candlelight, bringing his face to Reylor's level, his face aglow and the look in his eyes akin to that of a star-struck lover. Reylor knew the answer before Treyan even opened his mouth, and his stomach automatically became a tangle of tortuous knots.

"I've had a dream."

"We all have dreams, brother." But the panic was already resting in his chest. Reylor wanted to end this conversation before it even began, and tried to turn away, but Treyan placed a hand on his shoulder, intent on continuing.

"I've dreamt about her."

"Who?" Reylor asked as though he did not already know the answer.

Treyan was not playing his games. "The Empress, Reylor. I finally know who she is!"

Reylor felt as though his heart had been penetrated by a dagger but he made a conscientious effort not to show it. Every ache his body suffered from his exploits the night before surged back tenfold, and he wanted nothing more than to act as though he never woke up.

He stared at his twin for a moment. Of course he had dreamt of her. Only that could explain her sudden disappearance from his dreams. Which meant....

He shook his head. "How could you possibly know it was her?"

Treyan sat on the edge of his brother's bed, and the proximity made Reylor want to run out of his skin. As much as he wanted to join in on his brother's celebration, his mind was going a mile a minute with caution. This was dangerous ground and he needed to tread lightly.

His brother's voice was dreamlike, which wasn't surprising for the scene he was about to lay before him. The gleam in his eyes that shone within the candlelight was answer enough for Reylor, but Treyan continued, oblivious to his brother's hesitance.

"Her voice was like birdsong on the wind. Her eyes were the color of honey, and her hair was like suns setting on a midsummer day. Reylor," he turned to him. "She's beautiful."

"I bet," he said, trying to sound supportive. "Did you speak with her? Did she have much to say?"

Treyan cleared his throat and turned away from his brother. "Umm, no. Not much." Reylor could have sworn a blush rose to his brother's cheek in the dim light.

"I see."

"But I'm sure there will be plenty of time for that once she arrives in the Empire."

"Mm."

"Do you think she'd be the type for hunting and archery?" Treyan wondered, still entranced by his dream. "Or do you think she'd prefer ball gowns and etiquette lessons?"

Reylor scoffed. "Alexstrayna would never—"

He caught himself before he gave away any more. He looked to Treyan, and the panic set in as he realized with severe regret that he had revealed too much.

By the look of utter shock upon his twin's face in the candlelight, Reylor knew Treyan had sensed it, too. The silence was torturous; Reylor had to break it.

"Treyan?"

His brother closed his eyes as though it was an effort to remain composed.

"How do you know her name?" His tone was flat.

"Whose?"

"How do you know her name?" Treyan towered over Reylor, leaving the younger brother in the uneasy position of cowering away to protect himself from whatever onslaught his sibling was about to unleash. In the darkness of the bedroom, Treyan's eyes almost went aflame as his pupils burned into his brother's.

Reylor quickly tried to compose himself and moved far enough from his brother so that he could sit up in bed, all the while trying to keep covered with the bedclothes around him. He was beginning to think sleeping in the nude may have its downfalls, but Treyan quickly snapped him back to reality.

"Knowledge of the Empress' name is only known to the Crown Prince upon the time of which he is set to retrieve her." Treyan sounded as though he was quoting the Annals themselves, but he continued. "No one—no one—is to know her name before me."

Treyan paused again, taking another breath. His blue eyes pierced Reylor's own.

"So, I ask you again, brother. How do you know her name?"

Reylor feared for Treyan's teeth—if he clenched them any harder they were sure to shatter. A trickle of sweat ran down Reylor's temple. His nerves began to revolt as his stomach twisted in sheer panic.

He had no suitable answer.

Admission would mean automatic banishment, but he knew a lie would be worse. Lies needed to be maintained, and any shadow of deceit could be the end of him and any relationship he hoped to maintain with his twin. His mind pinged between the two possible outcomes, but Treyan relieved him from saying anything more, Reylor's turmoil evident through his lengthy silence.

"Is this why you've been acting how you have, distant and self-absorbed?"

"Self-absorbed?" Reylor's voice cracked. He may want to remain innocent, but he would be damned if he would allow his brother to unfairly criticize his character.

"Have you a better word for it?"

"Not at the moment," he snapped defensively.

Treyan took a step back from him then, as though trying to compose himself. He straightened his shirt, dusted his pants, and re-tied his hair, all without giving Reylor another glance. The anxiety was surging through him, but he couldn't go anywhere else now, for a sudden urge of decency kept him securely under the blankets.

Reylor kept his eyes on his brother while he waited. Would he require his immediate banishment? Or would he present the case of betrayal before the Council of Lords before sentencing Reylor to the Borderlands? He wasn't going to just sit here to find out, but before he could break the silence, his twin did so for him.

"Come the morning, there will be a meeting. I expect you to be in attendance."

"Of course. Why would I not be?"

Treyan looked at him then, perking his eyebrow. "Because you've been avoiding them like the plague these last few weeks."

Reylor shrugged it off.

"The beginning of the Prophecy is upon us," he continued, as formal as ever. "I expect your undeniable support through these urgent times."

"Of course, brother," Reylor confirmed, just as formal. He, too, could play the lord when he needed to, and he felt now, more than any time before, he was going to need his wits about him as much as he could muster.

Treyan nodded, and without another word he headed towards the door. Reylor watched him with eyes like daggers in the back of his neck and did not let himself relax back onto his pillows until he was certain Treyan was out the door.

Too soon, though, Treyan turned back for one final encounter. His deep tone of voice within the darkness startled Reylor as though he had just awoken from another dream.

"We will keep this conversation between us for now," Treyan warned. "But I swear to you, Reylor, if you ever think of betraying me or this Empire, you will never live to see the next suns' rise."

Reylor stared after his brother into the empty doorway until the suns did indeed rise again.