[i] “You may sleep wherever you feel most comfortable.”[/i]

Melissa mistook Alice’s quiet tone for one of disappointment and frowned. Even so, she was not going to deny herself a free bed. She just hoped she could please the royal in the line of duty when the time arose. The bitter smile and the attempt to make conversation troubled the former knight even more.

[i] “I’ll be in my study. Call if you need anything at all.”[/i]

“Ok,” she answered back with her head down, reaching to bring Miranda closer to her chest. Watching her new princess-and new friend?-leave into an adjoining chamber, Melissa picked herself up and headed towards the bed.

She instantly buried herself well beneath the covers, closing her one eye and sighing in what she perceived to be a brief moment of happiness. Even if Alice acted stoic towards her, she still appreciated the other girl’s generosity. Musing on these thoughts, Melissa couldn’t help but compare her to her own kingdom’s princess. They were both so selfless and caring. But one was dead and possibly buried into the ground. Frowning, she turned over on her side and let sleep overtake her completely.

It wouldn’t last for long.

It had to be midnight when the air in the bedroom suddenly shifted ever so slightly. In one single instance, he was there. The Masked Jester from before. He walked casually, moving about with the aura of a ghost or perhaps a spirit. Glancing over at the sleeping Melissa, he phased himself through the walls and into the next room. His eyes narrowed behind his mask at the slumped over form of Princess Alice.

How utterly defenseless and feeble. Reaching out, he extended a single blade of crackling energy from his palm and prepared to strike. 

A loud explosion made him pause, and he turned to see a smoking hole where his entryway had been. A glaring Melissa, still rubbing sleep from her eyes, had her own hand extended out, glowing in a darkened flame.

“So you sensed me? Your magical prowess is really quite interesting defective.”