[b]Ella finally broke free of the gripped fingers on her arms and ran to Ariana and Marken. She caught the assassin as she fell back, sliding from Marken's sword and onto the ground. Ariana's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she struggled to catch her breath, barely able to keep herself conscious now. Ariana let out a heavy, violent cough into her fingers & tried to shake her dizziness away.

"You should be reuniting with your prince..."

"No one should have to die alone, not even you!" Ella answered fervently. Ariana gave Ella a small smile, one filled with both contentment and longing. Ella wondered if they had met some other way, maybe they would have been good friends; maybe she could have made a difference in her life.

"You're so naive," Ariana groaned softly, "But since you're so nice... I'll let you in on a secret; there's another assassin in the castle, someone that works close to the king and knows who we are. You need to stop him before he holds your past over your head...."

Ella stiffened at Ariana's warning, keeping herself from asking who it was. She didn't want to goad the woman on her death bed. Giving Ariana a nod and a warm smile, she hugged the woman against her chest, feeling her start to tremble and grow cold. One more terrible coughing fit later, Ariana grew still and Ella felt her go limp. Ella buried her face into Ariana's hair, gently petting her as the light left her eyes. She stayed there until the stable hand gently pried the dead girl from her arms, and one of the soldiers pulled her to her feet.

"She didn't have to die, Marken!" Ella yelled angrily at her fiancé, hot tears streaming down her cheeks, "I convinced her to leave on her own. She wasn't going to kill me!"

Ella buried her face in her hands as a warm hand wrapped around her arms, rubbing gently on her shoulder. She recognized the queen's perfume as she sobbed quietly into her hands, feeling her firm, but gentle hands soothing her tears away.

"Ella, calm yourself," the woman muttered softly, "You're just feeling a temporary fondness for that scum because she showed you mercy. Getting angry at Marken for saving you does nothing to make the situation better."

Ella wanted to believe the queen, but she felt too destroyed right now; she'd gotten Ariana to trust her word, and it got her killed. Ariana warned her that she couldn't afford to trust anyone, and she was right. Ella was so stupid for thinking she could fix everything herself.[/b]