This is another photo from my holiday! The mountain on the right is Suilven (the one that we climbed) and to the left is Canisp! The picture was taken during an amazing sunset on our last day. I really want to go back!

The following weeks are hard work. The whole academy is constantly training and everyone is exhausted. Us Royals also have to make sure our training across all of Shadow has been implemented. Today, however, is the day of the executions of the prisoners. I am dreading it. The Execution Arena has not been used for many years apparently, so today is a very different day. Early in the morning, some women come into our rooms carrying dresses and paints for our faces. Apparently, everyone must wear red or black during an execution. It is quiet and solemn as we are made ready. Even Tanya doesn't look excited about the fancy dresses and makeup. Once I am done, I do not want to look in the mirror, but I know I must. The dress I wear is completely black. The material is textured like scales. It has a halter neckline and covers my all of my torso but one triangular cut out just above my belly button. The skirt dramatically falls to the ground below it. My hair has been kept fully down. The pure white waves falling elegantly to my hips. On my face, black spikes have been painted around my eyes, all linking to look like a mask. My lips are bloody red. My sisters also look similar. The same scale like texture and mask pattern paint around our eyes. Even our lips are the same shade of red. Though the dresses differ in style. Finally, our crowns are placed upon our heads. Toryn comes into our room. Again, like us, he wears full black. It is a long robe thing with no sleeves and thick straps around the shoulders. It falls all the way to the floor and is a scale texture like ours. Underneath, he wears leather trousers. Around his eyes, the black mask pattern has been painted too.

"Are you ready?" He asks us. The three of us nod our heads. Serenity takes my hand as I take a deep nervous breath. Her smile is soft as she looks at me.

The capitol is quiet as we ride through. No one is even there. Most have made their way to watch the execution. We head to the prison at the Bank. I am with all the other young royals. Their parents, still against the idea, are already going to the arena. I wanted to speak to the prisoners. As were my instructions, they have not been harmed in any way. In fact, they have been well fed.

"Which one seems to be the leader out of them all?" I ask Lord Sven. He points over to one cell in particular. I make my way over to it. The man behind it sits perfectly still and relaxed.

"Have you managed to get anything out of any of them yet?" I ask. Of course, they had been questioned, but not tortured. I wouldn't allow it.

"No, your majesty," he replies. I nod my head, looking at the man behind the bars.

"You won't get anything out of me. I know what is happening today," he tells me. "I am not scared." I smile softly.

"No, I bet you aren't," I tell him. He looks up at me with dark eyes then scoffs.

"So you are the dragon that has our king so worried? You are nothing." I don't show any emotion.

"You are weak. You wouldn't even let your prison master torture us for information," he scoffs.

"So you are saying that you want to be tortured?" I ask.

"Of course not you stupid child. Any real ruler wouldn't have been scared of it though," he grins.

"I suppose," I reply back to him. "But we both know I am not afraid of a little violence." His cold laugh echoes around the prison.

"You mean trapping so many people inside a dome of ice and slaughtering us all?" Inside, the guilt runs through me. On the outside, I work on keeping my face expressionless.

"I mean protecting my people. It was you after all, who came into our home and killed innocent people. People who could put up less of a fight than you. You blew up children and shifters whilst we dancing in the street. You tore apart families in an unprovoked attack. Just like you did seven years ago," I tell him. "Our rulers then may have done nothing, but that is not us. We will not let your king destroy us so I will do whatever is necessary to keep everyone safe."

"Appart from torture those who could give you any information," he argues and looks at me as though I were a child who didn't understand how all of this works. 

"What was the point?" I ask. "I know you wouldn't tell us anything anyway. It would just be a waste of strength."

"What is it you really want from us?" he growls.

"To die. Your death is going to be a show. A show to your king that no longer will we pretend you don't exist. No longer will we let you kill our people. If he wants war, he can have war and I will kill anyone who threatens our land. " I reply before walking away. He shouts at me as I leave.

"I will tell you this little girl! You may have blocked our entrance into your lands, but there are much more of us here than you ever could imagine. We are everywhere and you can't find us all!" I look behind at him with wide eyes as he laughs coldly. Like all of this is one big joke and we still can't stop them.

"Enjoy your last few hours. I hope your king is worth dying for." The coldness of my voice surprised me as I go back to my horse and prepare to ride to the arena. The prisoners will be coming not long after us. A group of Shadow Warriors already wait outside to escort them under Lord Venom's command.

"We should get going," Maryanne says. I nod my head and urge River on. My huge black horse is ready to run.

I have not seen the arena before, so I am blown away when we get to it. A single mountain stands tall and large. Hanging over it is a huge long structure. Great stone walls rise high and giant chains hold it to the mountainside. It is spectacular. The entrance is through stone doors at the bottom of the mountain. A long upward spiral makes the way up to the doors which lead to the Arena. As I enter the arena, all the shifters start to cheer. There must be thousands of them all sat on stone benches up the side of the grand arena floor. Strait ahead from our entrance, are the Royals seating area. I race toward it, riding alone across the great arena grounds on the back of River. I must look so small to all the watching shifters. The High Queen already sits on the biggest throne in the middle of all the others. We make our way to our seats. The High Queen looks at me. She told me that she would have no part in this but to watch. That means it comes down to us to make the speech. Maryanne stands up with Oliver. Like everyone else in the arena, they wear black and red with black makeup around their faces. It looks kind of scary seeing everyone made up so dramatically in all this darkness.

"Today," she begins and the shifters settle. Her voice rings across the whole arena. Clear and sharp. "We execute those who wanted to harm our people. Execution is a horrible thing. It is a practice that the NightShade king himself often practices. Not us. We've always seen ourselves as peaceful and kind. Executing these criminals does not change that. The NightShade king kills for sport, for fun and to keep hold of his cruel grip over his people. We kill because we must. We find no fun or amusement in this. But we do what we must to protect those we love. That is what separates us from him," Maryanne finishes. Oliver speaks next.

"For too long, NightShades have been allowed to roam our lands and kill our people with no consequence. That is about to change. From now on, no attack on our lands shall go unpunished. Any NightShade found on our lands with the intent to kill, hurt or steal information that could cause death toward our people, shall be executed." His voice is powerful and strong. It is then when the doors open at the opposite end of the arena and a line of NightShade warriors walk in chained together. It is silent and I stand.

"This sentence does not only count toward Night Shades. We know that there are shifters who have betrayed us. Shifters who whisper our secrets into the King Harrison's ear. For those traitors also, death will be your sentence. But your death will not be quick or painless. To betray your own people is a crime worse than those who rage war against us." That causes lots of gasps. I look down at the prisoners and begin to walk down the stairs onto the arena ground. The man I had spoken to earlier stands fearless surrounded by the other warriors. I stand alone in front of these warriors destined to die. 

"You really are a stupid girl. How are you going to execute me? Tell me this grand plan you have," he mocks as I hear shouts coming from the grand entrance. NightShade warriors race into the arena riding on the backs of horses. The man chuckles and snaps the chains like they are nothing. There are gasps of fear throughout the shifters and everyone prepares to get ready for a fight.

"You bring every ruler of this country together in one place giving us the perfect opportunity to kill you all and give our king what he wants," he laughs. I stay emotionless and hold up my hand. This stops all the soldiers from entering the arena grounds. It tells all shifters to stay back. Over one hundred NightShade warriors file into the arena, all facing me and ready to blast their deadly spells when this leader commands. I do not stand scared. He wants to kill me before they all attack. He wants shifters to watch as I die before he then kills them all. A low, deep rumble sounds in the distance and everyone stops.

"Do you notice something?" I ask and he looks at me confused. I look back up at the royals.

"My brother and sisters aren't there." The rumble sounds again, louder this time before a huge shadow blocks out the sun.