xxv

Blood stained everything that Ophelia looked at. Her hands were slick with blood, her hair coated in the stuff. Her nostrils had the metallic scent of blood stuck in them. She spun around in the throne room.

Blood splatter lead up to the large pile of bodies lying on the platform. Ophelia's chest tightened with sadness, stomach churning with nausea. <i>This isn't real</i>. Ophelia kept chanting like a mantra.

Slowly, Ophelia stepped closer to the pile of bodies. The hem of her skirt and her silk shoes were soaked with blood. There were faces unknown to her - until she started getting to the top of the pile. It started with guards that she had seen around the castle, to some handmaidens. Then Anaieese, Ryuu, and Apollonia were laying there, blood had rolled out of their noses and mouths. Perseus, Yuki, and Aisling were on top of them.

The very top of the pile caused Ophelia to release a loud scream. Abraxas, Natalia, and Caspian were there, daggers sticking out of various parts of their body. She pressed her hands to her mouth, stifling the sobs coming from the deep recesses of her chest.

Ophelia moved around different body parts, pulling out the daggers from her parents and fiance. She gently stroked Caspian's cheek, crying. Tears dropped from her nose onto Caspian's face.

"My love, what happened?" Ophelia sobbed out, resting her head onto Caspian's chest. "Why wasn't I there?"

"You killed them." A voice whispered, seemingly breezing past her ear. "You were the one who killed them all." Ophelia stood up and turned around, coming face to face with a smokey black figure.

Slowly, it became clearer. The shadow looked exactly like her. Ophelia sucked in her breath. "Who... what are you?" Ophelia stepped closer to the shadow. "I'm your subconsciousness. I'm telling you, you killed everyone." The shadow person ran forward, smacking into Ophelia, before turning back into smoke.

Ophelia shot up, panting heavily and sweating. She looked around, eyes widened with fear. Caspian rushed over from where he was sitting by the balcony. He wrapped her into a tight hug and rubbed circles onto her back.

"Shhh, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." Caspian reassured, tucking Ophelia's head underneath his chin. "You... you were dead." Ophelia sobbed, gripping his biceps tightly.

Caspian swallowed before holding Ophelia at arm's length. "You're not getting rid of me anytime soon. Although I know you can run this kingdom by yourself, I'm going to stand behind you. I'm not leaving you." Caspian pressed a kiss against Ophelia's mouth.

She pulled away and breathed in deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Caspian rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs and coaxed her to breath slowly. Ophelia closes her eyes, breath finally becoming even.

"It was just a dream, Darling." Caspian said softly, looking into her eyes. The young handmaiden that Ophelia met the first day she had come back home opened the door and let Anaieese walk past.

Anaieese had a tray of food held between both of her hands. She walked to the table and set the tray onto it, opening the lids that were placed over the platters of food and set them on the shelf placed underneath the table.

Anaieese turned and bowed. "Whenever you are ready, Master Kahlil would like to speak with you." Ophelia nodded and bid both handmaidens a farewell. They both bowed and left the room, shutting the door behind them.

Ophelia pulled the blankets back from her legs and got up, walking around the bed and stood in front of the table. She reached and grabbed a piece of toast and walked over to where Caspian was sitting, reading through an old journal's of Abraxas'

"I knew I had heard the name Aisling before." Caspian said, pulling Ophelia close to him by her waist. She bit into her bed and looked down at the weathered journal resting in Caspian's lap.

"Dad had a run-in with Aisling?" Ophelia asked, slowly chewing the toast. Caspian read through some more before shaking his head. "Um, no... Aisling was his old right hand helper. She had done something to make him get rid of her." Caspian responded, looking up at Ophelia.

"He's never mentioned anything about her before." Ophelia shrugged her shoulders. Caspian rubbed his eyes. "He had talked about her only once, but I don't remember what he had said about her."

Ophelia sighed and finished off her toast, wiping the invisible crumbs from her fingers before turning towards her closet. "Honey, can you help me zip up my dress?" Ophelia walked out holding a simple grey dress.

Caspian pushed himself up and nodded. Ophelia smiled and walked to the room divider and stripped out of the sleep slip and put the corset on. Caspian came up and started lacing the corset once Ophelia had a good grip on the bedpost.

She slipped the grey dress over her head and turned, allowing Caspian to push her hair over her shoulder and zipped the dress up. Ophelia turned around and smiled up at Caspian before turning and bending down, sliding a pair of silk shoes onto her feet.

"I think we need to go speak with Kahlil." Ophelia straightened up and held out her hand, waiting for Caspian to take it. He smiled and interlocked their fingers before walking out of Ophelia's bedroom. They headed towards the small office to the right of the grand staircase.

Ophelia reached out and knocked twice on the door, waiting for Kahlil to answer.

They heard some shuffling on the other side of the door before Kahlil opened it. He smiled widely once he noticed Ophelia and Caspian were standing outside his door.

"Come in, come in!" Kahlil moved to the side and held out his hand, letting them walk past him and into the office.

"Is there something wrong?" Ophelia asked, sitting down on the chair in front of his desk. It was piled with papers. Kahlil shut the door and walked around the desk, sitting down on his chair before reaching across the table and shuffling through a pile of papers.

"Are you aware of the new threat? The kitsune?" Kahlil asked, finally looking up at Ophelia and Caspian.

They looked at one another before Ophelia nodded. "Yes. How did you..." "Know? I have my ways." Kahlil smiled sneakily.

Caspian leaned forward and folded his hands together. "How do you know?" Kahlil held up his hand and concentrated. Slowly, his hand started to disappear.

"You can turn invisible?" Ophelia whispered. Kahlil nodded his head. "That's why your father trusted me completely."

Caspian and Ophelia looked at one another. <i>Maybe we will have a chance</i>.