Dinner with Maren's parents, Jonathan, and Alec was an interesting affair. Her parents were rather reserved people and not given to uproarious conversation with people they knew well, much less people they did not know well, like Alec and Jonathan. Meanwhile, Alec and Jonathan's individual tendencies towards exuberance seemed to increase exponentially when they were together. And Maren was in the middle, feeling like she was between two different worlds.

Despite some awkwardness, it was still a very nice dinner and Maren thoroughly enjoyed it. That is, she thoroughly enjoyed it until the middle of the dessert course when a man in a Tracker uniform walked in holding a pistol to the butler's head.

"No one moves and no one has to die," the Tracker sneered.

Everyone froze, and Maren felt as though her heart had stopped altogether. She had no doubt the Tracker had come for her.

Jonathan glared at the Tracker, and Maren got a glimpse of a hardened military commander behind the kind man.

"How dare you!" he growled. "Unhand my man this instant!"

The Tracker was unfazed. "I will be happy to," he said blandly.

And then he fired his pistol.

The butler collapsed instantly and blood seemed to go everywhere. Maren's mother screamed. Maren felt like screaming, but something told her the only way any of them would survive was if she kept her wits about her.

"I've come for the witch," the Tracker said, and then looked directly at Maren. "Surrender now, and no one else has to die."

"You should know," Jonathan snarled, "That she is the wife of the Crown Prince. If you value your life, you will leave immediately."

The man smiled a sickening smile. "Word from the Capitol's that there's no Crown Prince, not anymore."

Maren's stomach dropped and her heart clenched. But she shoved aside her terror that Donovan was dead for the moment. She didn't have time to think about that.

"The house is surrounded, Princess," he mocked.

"Come with me, or I'll start shooting people," he said to her.

Maren looked at him and nodded.

Everyone at the table protested until she held up her hand for silence.

"Put the pistol away first. I know the one thing you aren't allowed to do is kill me," she said in the most commanding tone she could manage.

He did, and Maren breathed a sigh of relief. She thought it likely he wasn't allowed to kill her, but she also knew he wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone else in the room. If the only thing she managed to do was save the people she cared about, that would be all right.

Maren glanced at Jonathan and gave the smallest nod she could. She thought he'd understand.

She pushed back from the table and rose, ignoring her parents' and Alec's protests.

Maren walked as slowly as she could. She drew as much Light as she could to her hands without the Tracker seeing. She was just out of his arm's reach when she flung her hands at him, forcing the Light to explode into his chest.

Her mother screamed again, and the Tracker flew backward and slammed into the wall behind him before falling to the ground. Maren knew he was dead.

The Light was interesting. It would listen if you told it to heal or only illuminate, but what it wanted to do was burn. If you wanted to explode or burn or blast something, you just had to tell it where to go and it did the rest. She'd never exploded it into a person before, had never even killed an animal. She had only ever fired it at harmless trees or-

"Maren!"

It was Jonathan. He gripped her shoulder and she snapped back to reality. She must've been in a bit of shock.

"We need to go, we need to send for reinforcements," he said, looking into her eyes.

She nodded, no longer feeling shocked. She felt like taking action.

"We must go to my office. I can wire the fort from there for reinforcements. Maren, you guard the rear, everyone else behind me," he said. He spoke so firmly and confidently, it was impossible not to agree.

Maren nodded and drew the Light to her, letting it glow around her fists. She ignored her mother's gasp.

Jonathan nodded in approval and the group set out. They saw no one on the way to the office, but the house was eerily still. Maren hoped the staff was alright. She resolved to see to that after they wired the fort.

When they reached the office, Jonathan sat down before the telegraph and handed the pistol to Alec. Alec seemed baffled as to what to do with it.

"Guard the door with Maren," Jonathan ordered.

Alec nodded and came to stand by Maren at the door. They did not speak.

After what felt like a very long time Jonathan announced he was finished.

"Help should be here soon," he said.

Maren nodded. She had always wondered how she would react if she was truly under attack. She had worried she would freeze in terror and was vaguely pleased that she hadn't. As terrified as the was, she felt strong and powerful.

"Alec, stay here with the pistol, I'm going to try to get the staff," she said.

There was a chorus of protests from the others. She didn't care. No one else was going to die for her.

"If anyone else has magical powers, they are welcome to join me, but as it is, I'm the only one qualified to go," she snapped.

Jonathan came to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Maren let go of the Light in her hands instinctively.

"Maren, look at me."

She did. His green eyes were shockingly calm considering the dire situation.

"They won't come with you. They'll be afraid of you."

Maren gritted her teeth. She hated that he was right. She pulled away with a scoff and stalked off to the other side of the room. Maren was furious and terrified and needed to do something.

The men began moving furniture to block the windows. Then Jonathan asked her to fuse the lock in the door, and she did. Then they moved more furniture in front of the door.

"All right, that's all we can do for now," Jonathan said. "Best get comfortable."

And so, the siege began.

-

Before Donovan could respond to his brother in any way, he found himself forced into a chair and restrained with Kieran's powers. Only then did he see his parents were in a similar condition, but it appeared Kieran had also sealed their mouths shut.

"I hear congratulations are in order, brother! A wife and a baby. How charming. I think I'll even let you see your whore again, just so I can see your face when you know she belongs to me now," Kieran sneered.

Donovan tried to ignore him. He tried to summon the Darkness to his hands, but could not. He was powerless.

"I'll admit, that was a clever little move you had today. Of course, you omitted a few details. Like, why didn't you tell Mother and Father about the time I had almonds put into your food? Surely, they'd want to hear how I almost killed you?"

Donovan just glared at Kieran. There was no point in responding. He let Kieran continue with his rant.

"Oh, I remember! Because the only plausible explanation for you not dying is that your sweet little witch healed you. It's really rather touching! I thought she'd let you die. But that's alright, it told me all I needed to know about her.

"I'm sure you're wondering how I knew the Light could heal. You must've forgotten that I have The Codex of Light and Darkness and I have read it from cover to cover, and I know things about witches you can only dream about?

"And Mother, Father, just so you're aware, the witch can get pregnant but only by someone who has the Darkness, so, Princess Maren can still be a witch even if she's carrying Donovan's whelp. And I do assure you, the Princess is very much a witch."

Donovan just gritted his teeth. He would get out of this. He would get to Maren. It would be all right.

He hoped if he thought it enough times it would become true.

"That makes me wonder, dear brother, if you can get her pregnant, and I'm so much more powerful than you, what will happen when I breed her? I bet we'll make some powerful children. Don't you think? I don't want witch children, of course, but I do want an endless supply of power."

"If you touch a hair on her head, I will murder you," Donovan snarled, enraged.

"Aw, you love her. Adorable. You should know that by now, my Trackers stationed in the West will have her in custody," Kieran said.

Donovan tried to tell himself that nothing Kieran said can be trusted. He tried very hard to believe that and ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach.

"I know you thought by tucking her away in a military stronghold you'd be saving her, and perhaps that would have worked. Except that dear Father told me today he planned to have me dismissed from my position and sent East, and I just couldn't let that happen.

"Here's the thing I want you all to understand," Kieran said, gesturing wildly at everyone in the room. "No one takes power from me. I take the power. It's mine. And now, I have all the power anyone needs to be king, and we're all going to see that very soon. When it's all said and done, you'll be dead and Father will be dead, and your witch will be mine, and I shall be king."

Donovan tried to use his powers again, but nothing happened. Kieran apparently noticed.

"Oh, are you finding you can't use your powers? That is thanks to a special little trick I learned, courtesy of The Codex. I even used it to develop some new technology that I'm sure will be introduced to your...wife...very soon."

"You have no idea what kind of fire you're playing with, little brother," Donovan taunted. He hoped that showing bravado would help somehow, even if he didn't feel it.

Kieran laughed. The sound made Donovan feel ill.

"No, no, it's you who has no idea what you're dealing with. "You always thought you were so much better than me because you were more powerful. Who's better now?"

Kieran smirked, clearly pleased with himself.
Then he clapped his hands, as though he'd finished some great effort.

"In any case, I'm getting tired of talking and want to get on with it. I'm sure you've wondered how I've been taking power from others, and I'm delighted to offer you a demonstration! Father, any last words?" Kieran said, flicking his fingers.

Donovan's heart clenched in fear. Kieran was going to kill his father.

"Andrea," his father said to his mother, "I love you. We've had a wonderful life together. Be strong."

Donovan saw his mother nod to his father before closing her eyes. She could not speak and could hardly move, but Donovan watched as silent sobs wracked her body.

"Donovan," his father said, and Donovan looked at him. He saw anger and sorrow in his face, but there was love there too. His father had been foolish about Kieran and was perhaps not a terribly good king, but he had also trod around the apartment on his hands and knees pretending to be a horse with Donovan on his back when he was little. He was his father and Donovan loved him.

"You'll be a great king, Donovan. I love you."

His father smiled ruefully, then choked out, "Save my grandchild if you can."

"Ha! We'll see," Kieran sneered. "Are you done?"

"Kieran!" his father growled. "Pride will be your downfall, as it is mine! Kill me if you like, but this will not end here!"

"Well, it will for you," Kieran said sounding bored.

Donovan watched helplessly as Kieran held out his hand and fired a bolt of Darkness that pierced his father's chest like a spear. It stayed connected to Kieran's hand, flowing out of him. Then his father's cry of pain turned into a howl of agony as the flow of Darkness reversed and began flowing out of his father.

Donovan knew without knowing how he knew that he was watching his father's power leave his body.

It took a very long time for Kieran to finish. Donovan's father screamed the whole time. He knew with great certainty he would never forget the sound.

Finally, it was over and Kieran seemed to glow with triumph. His eyes had gone fully black, and he seemed nearly giddy with the joy of his victory.

Donovan felt sick.

Something seemed to happen within Kieran, and his eyes returned to normal. He looked at Donovan and his mother as though they had just finished a particularly fine meal together.

"Oh, I wasn't entirely sure that would work. I had only done that to witches before. How lovely. Can't wait to do it to you, brother!" Kieran said cheerfully.

"I'm going to go now, I'll unbind you after I leave, but you will be staying here until after I have your whore, Donovan. You too, Mother. I want to make sure you know how to behave from now on."

Kieran released the wall of Darkness for just a moment before leaving the room and throwing it back up again.

-