She put on a fake pout, "Oh, but I'll miss you so, Kind sir." She winked at him and laughed as she shook her head, "Go. See the poor man you condemned yourself to the pit of reprimandment. Have fun, love!" Once he was out of the room she stripped down into her shift and crawled into bed. She had had a little trouble with the corset, but she managed and now it was time to sleep. She fell into a deep slumber a smile still placed firmly on her lips. The memories of the day still floating past her closed eyelids.

The next morning she awoke as her Ladies in Waiting entered the room to help her get ready for the day. As well as she could get out of a corset she couldn't just snap her fingers and put one on. Once the Ladies left she stared out the window wondering what she would do today. She didn't want to take Aeden away from his duties otherwise he might get in trouble. So she decided to go down to the library and read for the afternoon. That would be entertaining enough she supposed. It was Thursday and the ball would be the following day. She couldn't tell if she was excited or dreading the occasion.

She picked out her second favorite book in the library and settled down on a couch to read it. She could hear the clattering of boots in the hallway and quickly went to the door to investigate. In the main entry a group of men stood. They appeared to be guards of some sort. Each had an awful expression of anger plastered on their faces. The oddest thing she noticed was how pale they were and also their pointy ears. They spoke to her father loud, but not loud enough for her to be able to decipher the conversation. She was about to move closer when her mother stopped her, "Genevieve. I want you to please go find Aeden. Okay? Stay with him until I come get you."

"Mom, why?"

"Don't ask questions just do it. Our new guests are..." Her mother glanced towards the group, "Not your concern. Just tell Aeden I sent you."

Despite the confusion Genevieve set off to find Aeden. She found him in the kitchen, "My mom sent me. There are these weird men with pasty skin and pointy ears in the corridor. I think my mother has gone crazy."

Aeden chuckled at the little pout the princess gave him and knelt down to give her a quick farewell kiss on the hand. "Good night, My Lady." He stood and walked out the door, turning before closing it to give her another grin. As he went on his way to the kitchens, he allowed the memories of that evening to replay through his head. It was a lovely memory, to be sure. The minute he entered the kitchen, his happy thoughts had to escape to the further corners of his head as he saw the look that the cook gave him. Apparently, the fruit trick had gone off without a hitch, but since he left his post early, he now had to wash the pots that were left over from making dinner.

While his hands were elbow deep in the soapy pots late that night, he couldn't help but smile to himself. No matter what punishment he got for it, seeing that happy face while dancing that evening was still worth it.

The next morning started off as it usually did: Early rise as soon as there was sunlight, make oneself presentable, and go see what the cook wanted from him. Help with breakfast, bring it to the maids to deliver, help clean up from breakfast, and go see what the head maid wants. Clean some random stuff, deliver things to the maids, go back to the kitchen to help prepare for lunch. The lunch was finished pretty early, so he was now cleaning dishes. He didn't normally do the dishes after lunch, but he noticed that a certain fruit thief had gotten out of the kitchen after breakfast, so he suspected that he might actually be paying for what he did yesterday.

The day was already set up to be pretty boring, until Genevieve suddenly appeared in the kitchen with the news. At the descriptions of the men, he looked up in alarm and stared at her with the color draining from his face. "What? What are they doing here now?" Quickly, he dried his hands off on a nearby towel and took the princess to the store room. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he sat her down on one of the crates in the back and looked at her seriously. "Stay here and don't move no matter what. I'll be right back." He left the store room and exited the kitchen to see what was going on in the main entry. Standing behind a corner, he could just make out the angry words being exchanged.

Prince...daughter...Blackshine...dead?

He moved silently from his position to the shadows of another wall to see where the queen was. This couldn't be good, wherever it was headed.

Genevieve sat there for all but three minutes before her brain was going crazy. What the hell was going on? She felt like she was freaking out for no reason, but both her mother and Aeden had given her reason to freak out.

Meanwhile, Laura had returned to the hall and she stood next to her husband, "Whatever is going on?" She asked calmly with a polite smile on her face. The men regarded her with cold hard glares that sent shivers down the Queen's spine. She struggled to remain composed as they spoke directly towards her husband about the rebellion in the Fae's Kingdom. They planned on creating an alliance with the human's so that they could rebuild their kingdom from it's ashes and battle kissed lands. All the while Laura stood there with a neutral look on her face as she processed the death of her one and only love Cirro.

She excused herself swiftly and walked towards Aeden's hiding place without knowing he was there. With her back turned to the men she allowed the tears to flow freely. She accidentally bumped into Aeden and said a quick sorry before storming off into a random room. She began to hyperventilate and sob. She was mourning over someone she hadn't seen in 20 years! But it still hurt like hell.

Seeing the queen break into tears and run off to another part of the castle, Aeden tried to gauge exactly where the situation stood at the moment. At that time, it seemed best to go back to the princess and make sure she was alright. If anything changed for the worse, he would need to be able to protect her, and he certainly couldn't do that from so far away. Running back to the kitchens, he thought back to the times when he had returned to the Fae kingdom to report to the prince for one reason or another. He hadn't been able to go back very much, since his duty required him to be near the princess whenever possible, but he hadn't realized exactly how much had changed in his absence. Thinking even further back, he remembered the day that he left the kingdom.

You are to watch over her from now on since I cannot. I want you to protect my daughter, no matter what.
No matter what...

When he reached the store room again, Aeden immediately entered and went to Genevieve. "I'm sorry for taking so long. I think we may be fine for now, but we need to take some precautions just in case." Reaching into his pocket, he took out a small object wrapped in a cloth. Opening it, he revealed a small bottle filled with powder attached to a thin cord. "Break this if anything goes wrong. We need to move you to a better spot for now." Taking her hand, he began leading her out of the kitchen and toward some of the more secluded back hallways used by the servants.

Genevieve looked up as Aeden stormed into the room. Precautions? Why? An object was given to her and she studied it with curiousity. She was then being moved to a different room through several different corridors. She couldn't stand this confusion from him. Did he expect her to just follow him blindly like this?

"Stop!" She exclaimed, pulling his arm back roughly by grabbing his hand tighter, "Would you please explain to me exactly what the hell is going on!? For the love of god Aeden you can't just cart me around like this!" The words burst out of her mouth and it didn't slightly register that she had cussed. She took a deep and calming breath before letting go of his arm. "Now. It is time for that explaining, hmm?" She crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall obviously awaiting the reasons as to which she was being carted around for no apparent reason.

Aeden flinched at the outburst. He whipped his head around, listening to make sure nobody had heard or was approaching. Thankfully, it seemed that they were still alone. Looking at his charge, he knew that he owed her something, anything to explain the situation, but there wasn't a lot he could say to her just yet, especially if the situation was not quite as bad as he feared. Still, there was no way she would go with him like this, and he really couldn't blame her. He moved to Genevieve and placed his hands on her shoulders, whispering urgently.

"Princess, please. I can't tell you everything right now, but those men from before are not good news at this time. I need you to trust me, we need to keep as far away from them as possible."

Looking back down the corridor, he listened carefully again before turning back to her. "Please tell me that they haven't seen you yet at any point."

Genevieve rolled her eyes, "No. They haven't." She hated being kept in the dark about anything that involved her. Especially when it seemed like it might actually be something of importance, "The 'tell me everything part' needs to come soon or you will have a royally pissed of woman on your hands." She paused, "I'm a spoiled brat and I usually get what I want, Aeden. Don't forget that." She shrugged his hands off of her shoulders.

As he ushered her down the corridor she thought about a few things. If this were very serious why had her mother sent her to Aeden? And why did Aeden seem to know everything about the situation? She thought back to the fact that he had always been her shadow. Thats it! She connected all of the dots then. He had always watched out for her and given her advice when she needed it. He had been a friend to her when she had no one to call 'friend'. He was meant to watch over her and to protect her. She had no idea of what she needed protecting from, but she would find out soon. Even if it meant not listening to her best friend and seeking out her mother or father.

As he continued leading her down the halls, Aeden wondered how much longer he could put off telling her. It would be a very heavy confession, one that he couldn't possibly predict the outcome of. There would never be a good time for all of this, but the least he could do is find the best available time when she would be able to deal with the information. And probably when they weren't trying not to be found by anyone in a busy castle in the late morning. Yeah, that might make things easier.

Eventually they reached the servants' quarters in a reclusive part of the castle. Everyone was busy with work, so he figured it would be empty at this time. He opened a door to a small room and pulled the princess in quickly. This was his room. It was practically a broom closet, but it allowed him some privacy as long as he didn't make a lot of noise. Reaching under the bed, he pulled out a box and began searching through it, occasionally pulling out a few small items and examining them.

"How much do you know about the Fae?" He asked without looking at Genevieve.

Genevieve sighed and sat on the bed, "Fae?" She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, "Not much. I thought they were a myth to be honest." She glanced around the room. She was still a little angry at him for him just freaking her out and not telling her why. That was completely unneeded emotional distress. She folded her hands in her lap and wondered why the hell he was talking about the Fae. They were mythical, right? She had heard stories, but couldn't honestly believe they existed.

(Sorry for shortness. Would just be filled with fillers if I wrote more...xD)

(It's fine.)

Despite the serious situation, Aeden couldn't help a small chuckle under his breath. "And that's exactly what's made my job so much easier up till now," he mumbled, not intending for the princess to hear. "To be fair, there are probably a couple of them that think the same way about humans." He finally pulled out a small pouch, which he slipped into his pocket along with a few folded pieces of paper before shoving the box back under the bed and turning to Genevieve.

"Well, I'm sure the ears and such probably gave it away, but those men didn't exactly look human, did they? And if they were here with good news, their king would have likely sent word before their arrival." He stopped there and looked down at the floor for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Unfortunately, it would appear that their king is now dead. Along with the rest of the royal family." He looked up at her for a moment and went to the door, listening through the wood before cracking it open to look out while mumbling to himself. "Almost."

He returned to her, handing her a sheathed dagger. "I need to go get her majesty. Nobody should be looking here, but there's no reason not to be cautious. I'll let you know it's me before I enter, but don't open the door otherwise." He started towards the door, looking cautiously around the hallway before slipping off to the main part of the castle again. I have a terrible feeling about all of this. Even if they don't know, perhaps it is best to move now, before they figure it out.

She digested this information best she could as she sat there. She didn't look up at him. Fae were real and obviously something bad was going down. She just had no idea what and why it even involved her safety. Her best friend was acting like a complete stranger. He had a dagger in his hand! Wait...he is giving the dagger to the Princess. She didn't want to take it at first and glared up at him. Yet he insisted so she took it and put it on the bed. "What does this even have to do with me!" She snapped as he left. She groaned and laid back on the bed.

Meanwhile, the Queen sat in the room she had found herself in and cried. She had managed to calm herself down after a little while. For a long time she had been able to sheath her love for Cirro and hide it away deep inside herself. Sometimes the old feelings would come back when watching her daughter play or when having conversations with the young Princess. Other than that she made sure to never think of him for to long. Otherwise she would sit there for hours and wonder what he was doing. She would drive herself crazy and eventually she'd need to go investigate herself. She'd convince herself everything would be okay if she sought him out. Now she knew exactly what had happened to him. He had died at the hands of a rebellion.

The information had crushed her. So there she sat with tear lines down her face as she mourned her lost love. Maybe they could have ran away together when Laura found out she was pregnant. She had no idea. It was to late to wonder. She stuck her head out in the hallway and saw Aeden walking. He was likely looking for her. She slipped out quietly and grabbed him before returning to the room. "Where is Genevieve? She is safe, correct?" She asked sternly.

"She is safe, Your Majesty. The princess is currently waiting in the servants' quarters." Aeden worried about having left her the way he did. He wondered if there could have been a more tactful way that he could have gone about this, but it seemed a bit late now. Inwardly sighing, he realized that things would only get worse between them when he was finally able to tell her the full truth of the situation. There was simply no way to tell someone that a large part of their life was practically a lie and that they were now in danger because of it without them having some sort of highly negative reaction.

Looking up at the queen, the servant could still see some signs of the queen's state of grief on her face. He knew that it couldn't have been easy to hear such grave news, and that it probably wouldn't be any easier to deal with their next problem so soon after. He couldn't hesitate, though. Not with the orders he had been given by the now-deceased prince and the threat currently being posed to his charge. "If the Fae are here, though, I fear that we may not have much longer before the truth is discovered. It may be best to move now before they have the chance to do so."

Aeden stood silently to allow the queen some time to decide what should be done. Perhaps they did not need to move just yet, but time was running out with the Fae at the doorstep. Someone would likely figure it out. If they did not move immediately, then they would only have to leave later, and there would probably be more difficulty then.
"I await your command, Your Majesty. Do you wish to go to your daughter now, or do you have other orders for me at this time?"

Laura sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Okay. We need to leave. All three of us. IF they assassinated the rest of the royal family and they find out that there is still one living they will kill her. If my husband finds out that Genevieve is not his child he will kill me." She nodded, "We will be leaving. First I need to explain all of this to my daughter. It needs to be me that does it." She took in a deep breath, "Okay. Lets go get the Princess and make the arrangements on where we should go."

"Take me there and then leave me. I want you to go get some food together. Say that you are taking Genevieve on a hunting trip with the Queen. They won't refuse it. Get enough for a few weeks. Then go to my quarters. In the bottom right drawer is a bag filled with enough money to last us a year. I've kept it just in case I need to leave with her. Then meet us down by the stables in an hour with everything I asked you to get. I will worry about clothing and such." She then was led to where Genevieve was hiding. Little did they know a Fae guard was following them closely.

Once Aeden left the room to go do the things Laura asked the Queen sat down next to her daughter. The Princess looked at her with wide eyes and asked, "Whats going on, mom?" The Queen sighed and looked down at her hands.

"I have a long story I need to tell you." She closed her eyes and launched into the story of how she met Cirro. She went through the entire story while Genevieve listened with a look of shock spread across her face. "Aeden was sent by Cirro, your real father, to look after you. He is Fae and so are you. Unfortunately, your father has been assassinated along with the rest of the Fae royal family. You are a part of that family and the people that arrived today may want to kill you to. So we are going to--" The Queen was cut off by the door slamming open.

Suddenly the Fae's guards and a few human ones were flooding the room. They seized the Queen and the Princess. It was then that the King entered, "You betrayed me, Laura. This is not my daughter! How could you tell me she was? For 20 years?" He could have been hurt, but only the anger showed on his red face. "Bring them to the dungeon. We execute the Queen tomorrow for adultery and Genevieve the following day for impersonation of a member of my royal family." With that the two were dragged from the room and downstairs into the dungeon.

As soon as he left the queen and the princess, Aeden rushed quickly to accomplish what the queen asked of him. The cook was willing enough to give him the food once she heard the queen's request. "A hunting trip? I suppose it's a nice idea with the weather and all. I wish they would give me these requests in advance, though. It's hard enough to meet demands around here sometimes..." After agreeing to help the cook get the food together, he eventually left with a nice pack of supplies to last them for a while, even managing to sneak in a bit extra when she wasn't looking to keep her from asking questions. With that in hand, he ran up to the queen's quarters to find the money she directed him to get, finding it in a nice purse.

As he attempted to steal back to the servants' quarters, he found himself stopped in the hall by a loud commotion. Hiding himself, he listened carefully to hear what was going on.

"Bring them to the dungeon. We execute the Queen tomorrow for adultery and Genevieve the following day for impersonation of a member of my royal family."

Aeden froze in horror, realizing that he had been too late to get them out without trouble. [i]E..execution? Tomorrow? He wondered at how cold the king could act toward the women he had called his wife and daughter for so long. I wonder if Master Blackshine would have done such a thing... Quickly, he shook the offending thought out of his head. He just couldn't see him acting like this without some hesitation, though he wondered if that could have just been his devotion to the late royal that made him want to think the best of him.

Now wasn't the time for such musings, though. He had to figure out how to get them out of the dungeons. and probably how to avoid detection, since he obviously had not been careful enough before. Swallowing thickly, he made himself scarce before the king and the guards could see him as they approached. As much as it pained him to allow the people he had sworn to protect to be caught without doing anything about it, he knew that he wouldn't be much help if they had him imprisoned or killed as well.

"I'll be back," he whispered, vanishing into the shadows of the castle halls. He had some extra plans to make.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few hours later, the servant was walking down to the dungeons, carrying a large tray. Meeting the guards in the room at the room just at the bottom of the stairs, he told them that the cook had sent down dinner for them. Actually convincing them of why such a thing had been done would take him a bit, but he had enough experience from working in the castle for so long to keep him confident. " Come on, I need somebody to take it or goodness knows what she'll do to me. I know it's strange that she's doing this now, but she already had it mostly prepared before she heard the news and now she's ticked that nobody's going to eat it. It's good food, too, so I say we go along with it and enjoy our lucky share of gourmet cooking tonight..."

Several minutes later, the guards were passed out and their keys were gone. Having easily slipped through the heavy door with their aid, Aeden proceeded down into the dark room were the kingdom's worst criminals were normally kept.

Genevieve sat in the cold and damp corner just staring at the wall. She felt to numb to even think properly. Had her entire life really been one big complete lie? She felt so betrayed by her mother and by her best friend. Shivers erupted down her spine and she could feel tears pricking at her eyes. She had never felt more alone in her entire life. She didn't even know who she really was and that was what really got her. She wasn't human and she wasn't heir to the throne in the Kingdom she called home. She wouldn't one day find a noble husband and rule over the Kingdom. She was going to die day after next after seeing the one person she trusted in the world die.

Laura sat in the cell across the hall from Eve's. She hated to see her daughter sit alone in the dark. She had never imagined this would be what happened if her husband found out. Both of the women he was supposed to love executed at his order? He certainly had turned cold in the 25 years she'd known him. She stared at the figure of Genevieve as she quietly cried. Now she would have to mourn her daughter, her only love, and also herself. She simply could not come to terms with it.

The sound of an opening door boomed through the dungeon. Laura stood and rushed to the bars whereas her daughter stayed slumped in the corner. Had the executioners already arrived? Or was Aeden coming to rescue them? The figure stepped out of the shadows and Laura breathed a sigh of relief. "Aeden! Unlock the doors. Genevieve's first."

It was not particularly nice in here. Very dark and kind of cold to him, actually, but that might have just been nerves. Either way, he supposed it made sense that prisoners kept here would not exactly be allowed much comfort.

Walking up to the cells, he could see the queen already at the bars. "Your Majesty. Please forgive my late arrival," he gave a quick bow. At her command, he nodded and turned, seeing Genevieve sitting in the corner of the cell across from this one. Kneeling down in front of the cell door, he peered into the lock for a moment before selecting three keys to try. Lucky for him, the second one turned out be the one he needed, and the door opened with a creak. The servant rushed over to Genevieve, offering a hand to help her up. "Princess, we must go quickly. They should be out for a while longer, but we can't risk losing any time."

Looking at her, Aeden couldn't help but feel a slight ache at the expression she wore. He had honestly hoped that things would never come to this, but now that they had, it was obviously affecting her greatly. He wished that he could comfort her somehow, but he wasn't sure what kind of action would even be appropriate at that point. Besides that, getting her to safety was his top priority at the moment. They had to get out now if he wanted to be able to help her in any way later. Pulling her to her feet, he turned and walked back to the other cell to examine the lock.

Genevieve barely responded to Aeden as she ignored his hand and stood up. She walked out of the cell and stood idly by as Aeden attempted to open Laura's cell. The lock was different; therefore, it required a different key. The sound of angry men at the end of the hallway startled both of the woman. "Hurry up!" Genevieve exclaimed, saying the first words since she had been dragged down there. The steps grew closer and still Aeden struggled to find the key that worked.

Laura didn't want her to be the reason that her daughter didn't make it out of here alive. She grabbed Aeden's arm, "Go. I don't matter, she does. Leave me." she said these orders with the coldest of voices.

Aeden looked up with an expression of shock and worry. "Your Majesty...there has to be another way." The footsteps were still growing louder and there were more shouts now, though. They had run out of time, and he knew it. Glancing back at Genevieve, he gulped and straightened up. "I understand. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." Quickly, he bowed to the queen and turned to the princess. "We have to go now." Taking her hand, he ran in the opposite direction from where all the noise was coming from.

Leaving the queen there was one of the last things he wanted to do, especially since Genevieve already had to lose everything else she had, but what else could be done? His orders were specific, from both Prince Blackshine and Queen Laura.
Protect her no matter what. The princess would always be his first priority.

Genevieve stared at her mother in shock, "NO! I will never forgive either of you, give me the keys!!" But then it was to late and she was being dragged away, "Mom!!" She yelled as she still tried to struggle. Tears streamed down her face as she realized they had no other choice. The guards would make sure to put someone down in the cells to keep anyone away from them now. So she stopped struggling and ran with him, "Can we stop by my room? There is a secret passageway in there only my mom and I knew of so if anyone checks there we can go into it. I need some of my things."

She felt broken and beaten. All she wanted to do was crawl into her own bed and sleep away the nightmare of the day.

"Yes, Princess." Aeden quickly led her away from the cells and out of the dungeons through a series of doors and stairways. Within minutes, they were ducking through the halls of the main part of the castle, careful not to be seen by anyone. A few times, they had to stop and wait in the shadows for a guard or a servant to leave the area, but eventually they made it to the princess's room. Thankful to have made it without being caught yet, he pulled her into the room quickly and closed the door, making sure to lock it from the inside.

After listening at the door for a moment to make sure he couldn't hear anyone in the hallway yet, he left the door. He wasn't sure how long they had, but hopefully it would take a while for the guards to get here, and the locked door would buy them some time. Not a lot, but he would take what he could get. With that, he turned to Genevieve. "Is there anything I can help you get?"