Drake woke up to the sound of shoes running across the stone hallway outside his door. Annoyed, he grabbed his pillow and covered his ears with it, almost muffling the sound. However, it didn't help when a great banging came from outside his door.

"Shut up!" He shouted at them. "I'm trying to sleep! It's barely three in the morning, for heaven's sake!"

Then to his dismay, the door opened filling the room with pale yellow light and a middle aged woman stepped in. She was wearing the usual grey servant clothes with her greying hair pinned tightly to her scalp. Drake glared at her, just daring her to speak.

She hesitated, but spoke nonetheless, "Sir I am terribly sorry for the disturbance, but your father-"

The boy's scowl darkened. "I-I mean the lord, well um he returned last night-"

"Why you think I'd care-" Drake began as he threw his hands in the air.

"He has been hurt . . . very badly," she spat it out like salt water, so quickly that Drake didn't have time to process the words.

"What?" He asked, stepping out of the bed, then opening a drawer, and grabbing a shirt.

"Your . . . the lord, he has been severely injured," she repeated herself. Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead from the anxiety of the night and small dark pools of shadow hung beneath her eyes from lack of sleep.

"Where is he?" Drake asked cooly, slipping into the white shirt.

"Top floor, the East tower," she responded.

Yawning, Drake stalked past her through the open door and followed the crowd of people making their way to the tower. With another yawn, Drake wondered if he should wake Jade and tell her what was happening, but the servants had probably woken her too, and besides she was the last person he wanted to see at the moment or well at most moments.

When he reached the top of the tower, he found the doctor who seemed to be in charge and asked him very casually, "So what's happening?"

It wasn't the doctor that answered though, but rather his uncle Amon, "Your dear father has gone and gotten himself torn to pieces is what has happened."

"H-He's dead?" Drake asked with shock.

"You'd like that wouldn't you," he commented with a sneer, "but no, actually why don't you go see him yourself. He just woke up like three minutes ago."

Drake studied his uncle; those crisp blue eyes seemed to be mocking him, but he nodded and stepped into the room. Damien immediately looked up to see who was there. He was laying on a bed and seemed to be wrapped in clean, white bandages from head to toe.

"What's happened to you?" Drake said with a grimace, noticing that the blood seemed to be pooling in certain areas and leaking through the bandages.

"Is Jade awake yet?" He asked. Drake frowned, but the concern on his black and blue, swollen face seemed so real that he asked.

"What do you mean? I'm mean why do you care? I thought maybe she'd be up here too, but I suppose she's still down stairs sleeping."

"Your uncle didn't tell you? You didn't sense it?" He asked. His stare was so severe that it felt like two irons burning into the middle of Drake's forehead.

"Tell me what?" He spat out, angrily. Why hadn't that stupid servant told him was the real question? "Did she run away again? I swear, I didn't know anything about it! You know how she is, I-"

"When she dragged your father in," Amon interrupted him as he stepped into the room cooly, "she collapsed and hit her head. It's probably a concussion. We hope it wasn't too bad though and hopefully she'll wake soon."

"Again what happened to you?" Drake asked as he tried to piece together the pieces of the story that his uncle and Damien were so irritatingly slowly handing him. "Why was she there?"

"Ran into a not so happy king bear," he replied sarcastically with a grimace.

"Right of course clever answer," Drake said angrily. Why wasn't he answering his questions? "How does Jade fit into this story then?"

"She rescued your father," Amon laughed so hard that tears began to slip out of his eyes.

"Yeah, I gathered that. She hates you as almost as much as you hate her though," Drake growled unbelievingly. "Not to mention the blood. You commanded her didn't you"

"Well, she did it and on her own mind too. You're welcome to see the sorry state she's in if you don't believe me," Amon hissed, letting his bad temper show.

Drake glanced from his uncle to Damien and then back, slowly, unsure of whether they were lying to him. He thought he had known Jade better. The girl he thought he knew would not have saved Damien from anything under any circumstances, especially one that had anything to do with blood and lots of it from the look of the many bandages.

"Come on," Amon said with a smile. He hated Jade as much as Damien did. Drake glanced back at Damien once more, expecting to see a sneer on his face, but he was looking tired and sad more than anything. Why sad, Drake wondered?

"You can't hear her can you," he mumbled.

It felt as if a sword a had been pierced through Drake's heart. He hadn't even noticed. He hadn't even thought. For the first time in several months, he heard nothing, but his own mind thinking. "No," he replied.

As he opened the door to her room, he found himself terrified of what he would find. If it had Damien worried it had to be bad. What had exactly happened that night?

Standing in the open door way he looked at her. She looked normal just laying there sleeping, like nothing was wrong with her. He smiled to himself. She almost looked like a princess from a fairytale waiting for her prince to kiss her and wake her from her slumber.

He walked closer and sat in the chair beside the bed. Then he noticed with horror that she was still covered in Damien's dried blood. Her clothes were black with it, her hair sticky with it. Jumping up from his chair, he called out, "What idiot left her like this?"

Then just like that she woke, screaming and sobbing. "What the hell?" He said in surprise.

She scrambled out of the bed and ran to the wall, still sobbing and screaming softly. "What's the matter?" He asked, alarmed. He tried to speak to her or hear her with his mind, but it was like talking to a stone wall. There was nothing.

"What is going on here?" Amon shouted angrily over Jade from the door way. "Is he trying to kill you sweetie?"

Immediately Jade ran to Amon and hid behind him, clutching at his shirt with her hands, crying all the while. "What did you do to her?" Amon asked with a laugh, shoving her away from him cruelly. She hit the ground with a thud and laid there motionless.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Drake shouted at him, rushing to her, but when she saw him coming, she crawled to her feet and ran out the door.

Drake followed her into Damien's room, where she was sitting in a corner crying pitifully.

"What is going on?" Damien asked, sitting up.

"I don't know," Drake hissed, walking towards her, but this time more cautiously like approaching an injured animal, who was frightened out of its wits.

"Jade," he said softly, "it's all right. You're all right."

However once again she ran away from him, this time right to Damien. When she saw him closer though, she tried to run again, but he caught her by her wrist.

"Let go of me," she screamed and began to hit him.

With a calm and forceful voice he growled, "Calm down and sit down before you go into hysterics."

Her breathing slowed immediately and she fell to her knees, letting her head fall onto his bed where she cried even more.

Damien frowned as he looked at his blood covering her. "Go get a wet cloth," he growled to the servant in the corner, who was about to leave for help as it was. She nodded and went through the door.

"Jade," he said softly. She didn't respond. "Jade," he repeated himself. However she simply continued to cry. "Answer me," he ordered her more harshly.

"Stop telling me what to do!" She screamed at him loudly.

"Well, then answer me when I'm talking to you," he snapped.

"Then call me by my name," she hissed at him.

Drake frowned, looking at Damien, completely confused. Damien shook his head and asked slowly, "Then . . . enlighten me, what is your name?"

She opened her mouth and then closed it and then opened it again, "I-I-I don't remember," she said defeatedly.

"Well, then what's my name?" he asked, this time using his power, probably to see if she knew some where inside her.

"I have never seen you before in my life and yet I'm more terrified of you than anything in the world. I hate you," she replied so truthfully that Damien turned away from her, glowering. He put a hand to his mouth, pressing it tight to his lips.

"Why do you care if she hates you? She always has," Drake growled, impatiently.

Before Damien could respond though the nurse came back in with a rag and bucket and handed them to Drake. "Come here," he said to Jade.

She tried to stand but it was as if invisible ropes were holding her body down. "Damien let her go," Drake snarled.

She tried to stand once more and then walked over to Drake. He dipped the rag in the warm, clean water and then lifted it to her face gingerly, wiping away the blood. Once her face was clean, he moved to her hair, which proved more difficult, but he managed. Then he looked at her clothes, "Maybe you should change," he said, "come on, I'll take you to your room."

She looked back at Damien and said, "Wait, I want to know what happened to you. What happened to me? Who are you?"

He stared at her expressionless for a moment or two and then, turning away said, "Just leave."

He didn't have to ask her twice because she was out the door before Drake. As they were walking down the many stairs to the first floor, a sudden thought hit Drake. One that was not his own. He focused on it with all of his strength.

What have I done? How could I have lied to him? He'll skin me alive!

Drake's hand grabbed hold of Jade's wrist pulling her to a stop. "What exactly are you playing at?"

She eyed him and knew that he knew. She wasn't surprised, however. "I-I," she stammered, "I didn't want him to see me so weak. I panicked."

"But before . . ." he trailed off.

"Until he stopped questioning me. I really didn't remember, but once I realized," she stopped as her breathing became faster and she began to cry again.

All of the memories from that night, flooded Drake's mind so realistically and in Jade's terrified perspective. He cringed slightly and then looking up, noticed that Amon was standing in front of them further down the hallway, watching them closely wearing a freshly curled smile. He was suspicious of Jade and would have loved to have told Damien that she'd lied to his face.

When Amon saw that Drake was staring back at him, he moved forward like a statue coming to life and began to strut towards them. He was holding a bundle of something in his hands.

"What do you want?" Drake asked angrily, stepping in front of her. "she's been through enough for one day. Don't you agree?"

He hoped his anger would hide how anxious he was about Jade actually knowing who she was because when Damien found out it wouldn't just be Jade who had lied to him, Drake would also be tied to that lie, for knowing everything Jade knew. Maybe, if he ratted her out now though while Damien was still sick, he would be spared some of his wrath.

"Here," Amon said at last, holding out a clean pale blue dress, "your father sent me to fetch it for you. He wants to speak to the two of you again."

Drake took the dress and shoved it into Jade's arms without taking his eyes off of Amon, "I don't think she'll go back up there."

"Then we'll make her," he took a step towards her, his shoes clicking against the stone.

Wiping the tears out of her eyes, Jade said, "Stay away from me."

"I need at least one of you to come."

"I'll do it then," Drake sighed he didn't trust Jade to keep her secret from Damien, "Jade, just go back to your room."

"Where's that?" She asked innocently.

Drake smiled to himself cockily as Amon said, "I'll show you, Jade."