That wretched witch stole my voice, I knew she was up to no good and her little show proved my beliefs. In this kingdom dragons ruled and most of their followers were dragons while few were mortals such as myself, there was no room for evil witches like her. Hopefully recent events would convince the royals to dispose of herr, maybe even permanently.

After she simply walked away Cassius continued to try and calm me down but I wasn't having it, I became so distraught that he finally gave up and decided to escort me to the Castle. He promised me that once the witch returned he would speak to her about giving me my speech back, in the meantime I was allowed to stay with him in his room. He told me to make myself comfortable while he went off to the kitchen to fetch me a warm cup of tea and some cold water, he thought it might help with my voice.

I stood in the bathroom primping my hair and making sure there were no traces of dirt on my face, I even unbuttoned the front of my brown dress to expose more of my breasts. Satisfied with how I looked I turned to leave the bathroom but jumped in surprise, with her arms placed in front of her and her head tilted to the side stood a strange woman. Long white hair cascaded over her shoulders and the blue hue of her eyes glowed like shimmering sapphires.

"Katia, sweet girl what has the awful witch done to you? She's come into your home, stolen your man and now your voice. None of these things belong to her yet she holds them in her grasp like a proud thief, no more shall this happen if you take my extended help." She breathed.

I stared at the strange woman before, what she said about the awful witch was true. Everything had been fine before she showed up, Cassius used to only have eyes and hands for me. The woman hardly looked dangerous, with her gorgeous appearance and pure eyes she represented the splitting image of an angel. Angels were meant to be everything good in the world and they were suppose to rid the world of evil such as witches.

With a firm mindset I nodded in agreement to the beautiful woman before me, I could finally have Cassius all to myself again and maybe even get my chance to be the Princess of Scalefire. 

Gliding over to me she stroked my cheek gently before grabbing my neck in a firm grasp and lifting me off the ground. Her angelic features quickly faded as her glowing blue eyes clouded into black orbs and pulsing inky veins appeared along her papery skin."Stupid little girl, you honestly think I would ever help you?, Why would I want a mortal weakling when I could have Elanor's daughter, she did inform me she was powerful but.." She leaned her head back and breathed in.

"I didn't expect her to be really, but now that I've smelled her power and even gotten a taste of it I must have her. She'll be easy to turn, the poor girl doesn't even realize she's already got darkness inside that little pretty heart. Maybe it's all the pent up anger?, Mommy keeps her locked away then sells her to the highest bidder and instead of getting a knight in shining armor she gets a thorn in the hide, one that she has to protect." 

Holding up her free hand, a dagger appeared in her grasp and she ran her thumb along it's hilt."This is a tainted dagger, dipped in the venom of a hell hound, swirled in the soul of a shadowed one and burned with the blood of a crossed witch. If you can stab Emerald with this then that little bit of darkness will grow and soon it will over come her, in return for your good service I'll grant you a little help."

Parting her pale grey lips a flow of shadowy smoke curled from her lips and filled my nostrils, it burned its way down my throat and filtered into my lungs. She released her grip on my neck and I collapsed onto the floor, looking down at my hand I saw inky veins pulsing underneath my skin and I felt power coursing through my body.