My heart leapt into my throat as a brief silence emerged, only to be followed by even more cries and rushed footfalls. It was the prisoner, it had to be. I spoke too soon, everything was far from fine.

Sabre rushed up to look through the warped glass of the doors, to which I slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her away from it. "Don't," I warned, whispering low enough so only her and Auron could hear my words. "We're hidden here. You could expose us if you do that."

"But there's people getting hurt in there!" She hissed, tugging herself free from my grasp as another crash sounded from inside. "Trik's in there! Your mother is in there!"

"Who is even attacking?" Auron dared a step closer to the doors, trying to see what was happening through them, though, from our angle, we couldn't make out much.

"It's most likely to be Icrodeia," I offered in defeat. "Our plan didn't work." When we had been discussing it several nights ago around the table in the blacksmiths, it had seemed like the best thing to do. It was the finest plan we had. Now, I could only think that perhaps the best course of action should have been to pick a suitor to best prepare us for war, not to try to prevent it.

"What or who are they after then? Surely, if they're attacking now then what they want is close by?" Auron suggested.

"If it's an object, then I have no clue what they want. But if we're talking about people, then my mother and I are probably the top on their priority list to take out." Or Sabre, I thought. I still hadn't told either of them about that, but now didn't feel like the right time. "The spy mentioned they want to rid the world of the fae for what they want back."

"Well, if the queen is still in there, then she's in the most danger. We need to get her out or war will break out anyway! I doubt the council would let you idly sit by if Icrodeia kills the High Fae Queen." Sabre walked up to me, her golden eyes full of sorrow. "Please, I don't want a war to start."

It was as if I could hear a piece of her heart fracture, like it was made of glass. It saddened me to see her pleading like this, to see the terror in her features which matched my own at the thought of losing my mother. I had already lost my father, I couldn't lose her too.

"Okay, but we need to try and keep hidden."

"Perhaps we should see what's actually going on first?" Auron stepped between us and opened the balcony door a fraction to spy on what was happening inside.

I crouched next to him to get a look myself.

There weren't many guests left in the ballroom, those that did remain were injured on the ground, possibly dead. Several of the chandeliers had fallen to the ground, the glass shards that they were made of shattered into tiny fragments. Thankfully, there was nothing flammable around as the floor was made of alternating coloured tiles, otherwise, the ballroom would have gone up in flames already.

My mother still sat on her throne, her skin paler than I had ever seen it. She had been chained to the stone chair and a dozen cloaked figures surrounded her. They were made of an onyx fabric, making them appear to be fleeting shadows or perhaps shards of a starless night. One of them, however, wore no cloak at all. The prisoner.

While deep purple bruises were still present across his face, he no longer wore the blood-soaked garments we had last seen him wearing. The spy had been cleaned and was now adorned with a casual black suit to match his companions. Small jewels glittered on the jacket, making him appear as if he had walked down from the field of stars in the sky. A bow was slung over his shoulder along with a quiver of arrows, ready to attack from afar if need be.

"We aren't going to be able to get the queen to safety without being noticed," Auron stated, his lips pressing into a fine line.

"Then we don't try to stay hidden." Sabre tugged the door open completely and stepped through, raising her hands up into the air in surrender. What in the forest's name was she thinking?

I tried to grab her to pull her back again, but she had walked too far away. If I did so now, we'd all be noticed. We had no choice but to follow if we didn't want her to face this alone.

A beckon of her hand motioned us to join her, raising our arms up into the air too.

"We don't want violence," Sabre began, drawing everyone's attention. "We only want to sort out the issue that Icrodeia has with Racaea."

The prisoner turned around and smirked. "Well, if it isn't the traitor. I didn't know you were to become queen, I would have put you out of your misery already if I'd had that information." He stepped towards us, running a hand through his long, brunette hair. "Within centuries, the fae have done so much to ruin our lives. Now, they need to pay by being wiped out. Fate has made it easy for us by only allowing two to survive to this day." A dark chuckle rumbled from his chest. "Even fate wants them gone."

"What do you want?" She intercepted his speech, having heard enough of his voice. "You mentioned Racaea had stolen something from you, but I assure you we didn't intend to. Whatever it is, we can work this out peacefully."

He looked between Sabre and me, several times, an even cruller grin twisting the corners of his lips. His head tilted from side to side, considering something in his mind.

He knew. He had to have realised that I hadn't told Sabre about her being the potential stolen item.

"What did the fae even do to you?" Auron spoke up, moving to stand next to her and join the fray.

The prisoner shook his head. "We haven't got enough time to go through the history of how they've treated us." He turned to the cloaked figures surrounding the queen. "Stand down. We should see what our traitor has to say for herself."

Each one of his companions stepped aside, creating a clear path to my mother. They undoubtedly had weapons hidden on them ready to attack, so the order they had been given didn't mean much. Dread curled around my chest. What was he planning?

"If you believe, despite the Icrodeian blood running through you, that the fae are the victims in this, then you can stand in front of your future mother-in-law and persuade us not to kill her and your prince." Did he truly believe what he was doing was right?

I grabbed Sabre's shoulder before she could move. I had known her for long enough to guess that she wouldn't hesitate in a situation like this. When she believes she's right, it's difficult to change her mind or stop her from proving why she thinks so.

"What will happen if she cannot persuade you?" I asked, knowing the answer could be nothing good.

The prisoner removed the bow from his shoulder and nocked an arrow into it within the blink of an eye, aiming it directly at Sabre. His movements were clean, fluid, as if they'd been practised over several years. Before anyone in the ballroom could breathe, he released the arrow and it soared directly towards Sabre's face.

Reaching out, I caught the arrow in my hand mere seconds before it landed with the gifted reflexes that came with my fae blood. However, I dropped the wood with a cry moments after, the skin that had made contact with it beginning to burn and peel away.

Derix Dust. A poison lethal to the fae. It began to eat my skin with excruciating agony and thankfully started to stop after a short while as there hadn't been too much Derix rubbed onto it.

"If you fail, I'll shoot one of these arrows and it will either hit you or your queen, but that all depends on who you want to protect. The poison and the arrow will surely kill the queen, but if the arrow were to hit you, there would be some chance you'd survive." He drew another Derix laced arrow from his quiver. "It also depends on how nice I'm feeling."

"Mace," one of the cloaked figures whispered to grab the prisoner's attention. "We're here for the fae and only the fae. Leave her out of it. We need her alive."

The spy — who I assumed went by the name of Mace — only shrugged. "She got herself involved." He turned back to Sabre, awaiting her response. "So, what will it be?"

As she tugged out of my hold, Auron grabbed onto her to stop her from walking forwards. "Don't, Sabre, it's not worth it. We can't lose you."

"We can't lose the High Fae Queen either. I'm willing to take the risk," she declared, sending a challenging glare to both of us.

There was nothing else we could do. Either Sabre accepted Mace's offer, or my mother would get shot with one of his Derix tainted arrows. At least if Sabre went up to stand in front of the throne, there would be a small chance of everything turning out okay. But I knew that with the people around us, thirsty for vengeance for something we didn't even know of, that didn't matter.

I pulled Sabre into a hug, holding her close enough so I could feel her body stiffen against mine. She relaxed after a few seconds, returning the embrace.

There was nothing but loathing in my heart for the situation we were in. Two of the people I cared most about had a high chance of dying. But I could also imagine how Sabre was seeing it. If the queen was certain to die and she had a small chance of survival, then she would take it in a heartbeat. I couldn't stop her from making her own decisions, but I could use the time that Sabre tried to persuade the Icrodeians to take down Mace.

"Don't do anything stupid," I murmured into her ear, breathing in what I hoped wouldn't be the last of her. There was also the possibility that if Sabre was the person that the Icrodeians were after, they wouldn't hurt her.

"It's too late for that." I felt her smile on my neck, her words tickling my ear.

Once I let her go, every muscle in my body screaming and clawing within me to pull her back to safety, Sabre made her way up to the dais, lifting her skirts as she did so, and stood in front of the queen like Mace had wished.

"Now," Mace resumed his cunning smirk, "how have the fae influenced you into believing they're not as monstrous as they seem?"

I watched as her weight shifted between her feet nervously. "Perhaps Icrodeia has had a bad run-in with the fae in the past, but the current queen and prince have done nothing wrong. You don't need to make them pay for the sins of-"

An arrow cut through the air as if it were a sharpened blade and lodged itself into the wall behind the queen and Sabre. The latter jumped, not realising her demise could arrive so soon.

Now. I needed to do something now before things became even more out of control.

"Incorrect," the prisoner stated, placing another arrow carefully into his bow. "You are fine to assume your prince has done nothing wrong, for now, but the part about the queen is where you're falling. That wretch has been alive for a very, very long time. Enough to torment Icrodeia for several generations and have her own people forget about it."

He was wrong. My teeth ground together to stop myself from sending back a retort that I knew would do nothing to help the situation. The queen would never do anything like that. She had done everything in her power to retain peace between our people and the other kingdoms of this world.

A small doubt lingered in the back of my mind. My mother had never told her much of her past, even keeping her past relationship with my father a secret locked away. But Mace was wrong, I knew it.

I took a subtle step to the left, placing myself directly behind Mace. All I would have to do was charge at him and tackle him to the ground to stop him from harming anyone.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Auron pass me a warning glare, urging me to not go through with whatever I was planning. What else did we have left to try?

Sabre turned to face the High Fae Queen for a moment, wariness enveloping her, before she turned back to face the escaped prisoner. "When was that, if it even happened? Perhaps she's had a change of heart and wants to correct her mistakes?"

Mace snorted. "No Icrodeian would believe that for a second."

Her throat bobbed, her eyes darting around to search for something to help persuade them. "What do you even need? If it's here, we can give it to you and-"

My legs moved by themselves, running towards Mace as his fingers left the bowstring aimed for either Sabre or my mother. We both hit the floor, but it wasn't enough to stray the arrow completely off course.

The cloaked figures rushed over to me to help their leader, but Auron joined in. He punched a few, putting up the best fight he could, letting me drag my attention back to Sabre.

Sabre. The girl who had stood in front of the queen, her arms splayed wide and her body turned away from the people below the dais, with an arrow now lodged into her back.