Lionel's Point of View.

I never got along well with Lily Celeste.

Our first meeting wasn't bad at all though. We were 5 at the time, and she was to be introduced to Alstair. I'd already been a playmate for his Highness since we were small, so I was to be there since I would become close to both of them.

She was a fragile little girl. Like a just frozen figure where the inside is still water. She'd peered at us with her blue eyes so cautiously I thought she'd run away if I spoke up... she was that kind of girl. I felt pity for her back then... Alstair likely did as well.

Alstair spoiled her that once.

She looked at me once as if to see if I was as kind as Alstair, but I knew I couldn't be.

Bertram's mother had already begun being a danger back then... so when I saw how fragile she was I ended up thinking how spoiled she was, to be able to remain so weak and innocent...

During the years she remained like that. Alstair may have come to regret his kindness towards her, but none the less she is harmless. She is annoying, but harmless, is what I concluded. Furthermore, whenever Alstair was nearby she went into a mental state where she was ignorant to everything. Insults didn't touch her at all. In the end I found it best to just ignore her.

Perhaps that is why I didn't notice when she changed.

I blatantly thought of her scheming eyes as a new way to gain Alstair's attention and ignored what was right in front of me. Even when my guts told me that I shouldn't be one to judge a book by its cover I ended up ignoring it, because no one could change that fast.

Even after the first time I got poisoned it took me a while to become what I am now.

I, like everyone else, made up sweet white lies to explain her sudden display of hand to hand combat. I know what ingrained movement looks like, and that was it... so... why did I accept the lie? Why did I feign ignorance? Even when we talked on the dance floor she was different than she'd ever been. Why did I not realize before I ended up like this?!

---*---

For some reason my brothers had sought refuge in Lily's room that night. After spending more than an hour looking for them, just knowing they were safe brought me relief. Of all the places they could be hiding Lily's room wasn't the worst. Most servants didn't like to go near Lily since she was usually cruel to them. That's why I was okay with leaving them there after she told me of that old maid.

That old maid was my mother's personal maid. Father's mistress, Gwenore, has been trying to kill us for years, and mother has tried to get rid of Gwenore many times as well... but as long as Bertram is there, father will have her stay with us.

I know father loves her. When Gwenore is in front of father she is gentle and kind and hardly ever asks for anything... but I know that isn't how she truly is. Gwenore wants mother's place.

Mother always acted graciously. That's why I never thought she'd do this. If she does this... then the Gwenore will be able to turn father against her.

Father is stupid after all.

If he just understood a tenth of Mother's pain. If he just understood a tenth of all the effort she puts into solving this peacefully.

I barge open the door to Mother's room.

"Mother!"

Her frail figure peers at me from the bed. She's been sick for months now, and can hardly keep up appearances anymore. No matter how much I try I cannot find wherever the poison is coming from... I cannot watch over her like I do with the small ones. Her cheeks are sunk in and the gloss in her eyes is all gone, yet her body glistens with sweat.

"Why did you hurt Bertram! If father finds out he will be angry!"

I am overwhelmed with frustration and anger... but I cannot do anything. I cannot fix what has happened.

"Lionel..." Mother watches me with sad eyes.

"I... cannot do this anymore... Normand never listens..." she whispers as tears run down her pale sunk in cheeks and she grasps her pendant tightly. The proud woman she had been when I was small had been whittled away.

"You can do it! Don't give up!" I don't know what words to make to cheer her up.

Her gaze lands on me, but there is only pity in them.

Don't look at me like that.

I understand, but I won't give up.

I need to protect them.

"She said they wouldn't live through the night..."

The words had my mind go white.

"She came by just now before you came..." The tears keep rolling, now faster than before as mother crumbles in front of my helplessly.

"I don't know where they are. They ran after Gwenore's servant appeared, I can't move... I can't save them..."

If she knew... if Gwenore knows where they are they would be in danger!

I need to do something. Father wouldn't believe me. It would be too late.

I turn and dash through the many hallways back towards Lily's room. Lily doesn't know about poisons, and even tossing people around like she did with me wouldn't stop a knife.

Please, let me be in time!

---*---

I round the corner to the final hallway and one of Gwenore's maids come into view. She is holding a knife... still dripping with fresh red blood. My heart sinks and my body runs cold as I stare at the droplets of blood.

If... if I hadn't left them there... if I'd stayed by the door or told Lily not to open it... if I'd told her what I always tell my brothers...

I pulled my knife for self defense and prepare to charge in. Why?... why did this have to happen?!

A flash of white enters the moonlight as Lily steps out of her room. Her thin white evening gown was stained red from her shoulder and the side of her stomach. Are they alive? I step forward to barge in and help her against the maid. My chest filled with relief that I wasn't late... only to have that relief crushed...

The fragile little wounded girl, Lily... just executed the maid. It was one swift move all so foreign to me... and with a sword that was almost twice the length than Lily herself was tall...Lily just cut the maid down without a single moment of hesitance. A scream of Lily's fury echo through the large halls... as she cut through the maid's ribs like they'd been butter...

The girl in front of me... is that really... "Li...ly?"

Her gaze moves from the body of the maid and turns onto to me. They almost appear to glow golden in the pale reflection of the moonlight. The maid's blood has sprayed all over her night gown and the side of her face... but she is unfazed...

I remember the first time I had to kill someone trying to poison my brothers... I vomited everything I'd eaten. I'd panicked. I'd thrown a fit. I'd been so terrified I couldn't pick myself together for days...

She wasn't... she was fine. Unaffected.

I can't breathe... the strength in my legs disappears as she stares at me. Fear crawls through my body like a hungry swarm.

That isn't Lily.

That is not Alstair's Lily.

The movements just now were meant to kill. The scream... the scream was to shock... the lack of hesitation... There was no way that that Lily could do that. Not even a genius could do all that just on instinct. It was calculated. That's what my guts are telling me.

Besides... no child doesn't scream after stabbed in the shoulder... the movement to kill was the only sound she'd made. You don't learn that in a month.

What is that?

Was Lily replaced?

"...Assassin..."

Lily's voice breaks the silence... but as if the adrenaline ran out, she keels over and... she vomits blood, and the pressure I'd felt fades.

"Lily!" My body moves on its own and sheathes the knife.

I can see my brothers staring at us from the room as I pull her into my arms.

"Where does it hurt?!"

I need to confirm her injury first, but curse Soleil for not being blessed by light like his family prides itself on so much. I cannot heal her injuries.

"...It's fine..."

She actually grumbles at me and tries to shove me off like she isn't hurt.

"It's not fine! You're bleeding! You're vomiting blood!" I grasp at her nightgown to rip it open to check her injuries, only to have my consideration be met with the handle of her odd looking sword. She hammers me once in my gut and escapes with a growl.

"It's just a shallow wound!"

I cough and gasp for breath as she pulls away and get up. There's no way that stab is shallow. It's pulsing out blood.

Lily wobbles and backs away from me.

This is the wrong time to be prideful!

My brothers grasp each of her arms with tearful eyes. Curtid is already brawling his eyes out at her out of sheer worry.

Unexpectedly she stiffens at that... then clicks her tongue while even looking nervous.

"Hey, Lionel, say a word at what I'm about to do and I'll kill you."

The  eyes turned at me as she says that are truly filled with intent to kill me... when she tossed me in the garden I didn't take it seriously. I thought she'd never be able to. As I glance to the maid I fall short of breath again.

She's serious.

---*---

The girl in front of me isn't Lily.

...but I am okay with that.

The voice that escapes her is hoarse and rugged from throwing up... but with her back against a window to the outside where moonlight pours in, her hands glow a faint... yet warm blue... and in that instant she looks like something out of this world... not like the demon I had expected... not quite like an angel either. Something more human and yet still... divine.

Lily finishes quietly and then gives a nod, brushing the top of her night gown to the side to show us... to show us that where she was stabbed there is nothing... nothing but a scar.

The Lily in front of me knows how to fight, she knows her etiquette, she sensed the danger of the maid... and she possesses light magic... No... I'm quite sure that wasn't light magic, because light magic is golden like sunshine.

The sound of voices approach.

They must've heard the screams... still, they're slow.

Gwenore probably got in the way, at least I'd guess so as I can hear her voice.

I quickly walk up to the maid and smear my hands and clothes in her blood. The more the better. It's okay if I feel like vomiting, but I need to do this in return for what Lily has done for my family. I pull away and carefully summon a small boulder in midair. I feel my stomach tighten as I set the vector of travel for the boulder into the maid's face... and cast the spell... crushing the maid's head.

I feel my stomach turn and shudder, but continue over the parts Lily cut into.

By the time I finish my breathing feels weird and I'm gagging. I can't watch it... I feel sick...

Turning to Lily, I hurriedly wipe the blood off of her face with a clean patch of my sleeve. She looks at me with those blue eyes of her, but they carry bits of sadness in them.

Lily finally lets the huge sword go, but instead of falling to the floor it disappears as if it didn't exist in the first place... another odd point of magic... as the thing was made out of ice... which would require both wind and water magic... I shake it off and pull away as the guards turn the corner.

"What happened?!"

As expected Gwenore is with them... looking rather shocked when she sees the maid.

I lie:

An assassin dressed in the clothes of one of our maids attacked Lily. Since we were looking for the maid that had disappeared ourselves we had ended up finding her trying to attack Lily. Thereafter I killed the maid.

Lily stayed quiet.

She couldn't speak up.

Of course none would believe her if she said she did it, but if anyone knew she was skilled in killing... things could turn out bad for her and the entirety of House Celeste... for now we hold each other's secrets.

She holds the life of my mother, and I hold hers.

That girl isn't Lily.

But I don't intend on breaking my agreement with whoever she is. If she intended to go by the name of Lily, that is fine. Whoever she is, she has no interest in Alstair. Though... I'll keep an eye on her... a close eye... if she moves unexpectedly, she may cause havoc... and there's still the matter of what happened to the actual Lily.