Lili emerged from the mirror, shaking, out of breath from running, and not in her right mind. She stumbled and collapsed into the eerie-looking chair at the end of the dining table. Darkness was not there. The power Lili felt before when he knelt at her feet was gone. He was unpredictable now. After hearing that voice, the part of her that sensed danger knew that Darkness wasn't pulling his own strings. Now she didn't know what awful things he was capable of.

She knew she didn't have much time, but she was exhausted. Her mind was spinning, and she felt her whole body relaxing in the chair. It seemed warm, comfortable, inviting. She thought of the day when she had fallen asleep at Nell's cottage as a child. She felt a strange, pleasant, tingling sensation coming from the parts of the chair that touched her. She wanted to melt into it.

In the doorway of the unicorn's prison, Darkness fell to his knees with a gasp. He could feel the sensations in his body of Lili sitting on the enchanted chair, just as if she was sitting there with him. It was too much. He stood again after a moment, leaning against the side of the chamber to hold himself up as the soft, wonderful magic flowed through his being. He could not keep the edges of his lips from curving into a satisfied smile. The Ruined Master was wrong. Darkness would win. He would have both—his dark queen, and his eternal night.

…

Lili didn't remember falling asleep, but when she opened her eyes, she was resting in the arms of Darkness, who looked down at her with a greedy sort of pride. Was the unicorn... dead? The world still felt whole—perhaps more whole than it ever had. The cloak of rest lay heavy upon Princess Lili's limbs. She did not want to move. For the first time since she was kidnapped, she did not feel defiant. Perhaps a world without light would not be so cold... No! It was a terrible thought, to feel so peaceful, to not care if harm had come to the unicorn. She looked up at Darkness, to his twisted face, and saw no compassion, nothing kind and thoughtful, only a fearsome smugness. His muscular body was a distorted, primal fusion of man and beast. Yet sitting in that chair, looking up as if in a dream, Lili knew that any person could have been like him. Had she been raised by the Devil, perhaps she would have been. Perhaps she would have been worse. He knew no comfort, and there was no escape for him from this dark fate his Master had assured. He was beyond hope now.

She sat up in his lap, and kissed him. He tried to prolong her kiss, but she pulled away. "I'm sorry," she said, "I can't be a part of this. I can never be a part of your cruel world. I don't have the heart for it," her mouth quivered as she spoke, and her eyes glistened. "I must go."

Darkness's mouth hung ajar. He felt himself breaking. No words came. He did not try to hold her down. She got to her feet, bowed to him, and turned to go. As she stepped slowly and heavily across the cavern floor, she thought of a story in one of her books about a gentle maiden named Belle who was captured by a horrid looking beast. She had taught him to love... but it was only a story.

Darkness held a hand out toward her, "My lady, wait..."

She turned only her face toward him, which was now quite red around the eyes.

"I did not kill the unicorn. I was detained. It still lies in my prison." Why was he telling her this? Had she not caused him enough anguish? Had she not forsaken him then?

But, would the sun's defeat matter to him, now that he had lost her? In his broken state, Darkness would decompose, eternally fragmenting in his eternal night, if he could not love her.

"You..." she stopped, "You did not?" She turned toward him, shaking. "But you would have."

"Yes," he said desperately. "Yes I would. And I would have begged your forgiveness."

"And you will?"

"No!" He boomed, "I would not think of it now. All of this has made me sick," He stood from the chair, stepping toward her, and wrapped her in his arms. "Despise me if you must, princess, but I shall do what I can to attend to your desires. If one such desire is to see the unicorn freed, then you will."

She stepped back, taking his hands, "Show me."

To hell with the Ruined Master and his wretched scheming. To hell with eternal night, Darkness thought as he walked with her, quickly and certainly, hand in hand into the unicorn's prison. He would set the unicorn free, and if he would not then be rid of his suffering, perhaps he would do as the Ruined Master had so darkly predicted and follow fair Princess Lili into the sun to die.

There it was, the unicorn, bound in chains and helpless. He could still do it, a part of him told himself. He could still kill the creature before her eyes—make her pay for the pain that she made him feel. He could have. Instead, he chose not to bring any more pain into this miserable morning. He approached the creature with the intent to release it, as he had said.

Before he could touch it, the forest-boy, Jack, jumped from a hidden ledge on the wall between Darkness and the she-unicorn. His blade was drawn, and he showed no hesitation, brandishing it toward the towering demon before him. "Now!" he shouted, and a small sparkling light bounded up, up, and out to give the signal.

"No! Stop!" Lili shouted, approaching Jack. The boy took her in his arm and guarded her with his sword against the claws of Darkness.

"Don't worry, Lili, I still trust you. I've always trusted you. I have a plan. We can save the unicorn." He lunged toward Darkness, who parried Jack's blow with a growl, striking at him with the blunt heel of his hand to knock him over.

"Stop this, Jack! Listen to me!" she tugged at the back of his scale-mail tunic, "You mustn't fight him."

"Don't be scared, Lili," he said, dodging the blow, "He's not unbeatable now. You'll see."

"It's not that, Jack, it's-" Lili began, but Darkness was quicker this time, and hit Jack hard across the brow, sending him to the floor with a groan.

Lili rushed to Jack's side, and as she did, the prison chamber flooded with reflected sunlight.

Darkness shielded his eyes, and held his hand out in front of him, "What is this strange magic? I do not feel the effects of any spell..."

"... sunlight," Princess Lili whispered. "Darkness, this is sunlight!"

"This? …" He looked about him, waving his hands through it like a fool. He laughed a loud, echoing laugh that filled the whole cavern as it turned into the most savage roar that Jack and Lili had ever heard.

"He... deceived me! … how could I have been so blind!" Darkness stormed out of the prison chamber toward the mirror.

Lili pulled Jack up onto her knee. He was bruised, but he was breathing. "Oh, Jack, Jack!" Lili found herself crying now, after everything. He opened an eye, sitting up as he clutched his head. "Quickly, Princess Lili, we must pick the lock before we run out of time. Hand me that knife mounted there on the wall."

Gump sprung down from one of the rafters, "Are you alright, Jack? You look like you're turning purple on that spot. Do humans usually turn purple after a heroic rescue?"

Jack laughed at the comment as Lily pried the sacrificial dagger from the wall hanging.

"I don't know how to pick locks," she said, holding the handle side of the dagger out to Jack.

"I'll do it, dearie," Gump chirped, snatching it nimbly from her hands, "You attend to him."

"I am very glad you're alright, Jack," she said, grasping his hand. In the distance, she heard a great crash and a clatter, like smashing glass. He leaned toward her to kiss her, but she turned her face away.

Patting his shoulder, she said, "I'm sorry. I can't. Not yet. I mean... no. I'm sorry, Jack. I don't feel that way. About us. About you. I'm just happy that you're safe.

His eyes glittered, "Really?"

"Really. I wouldn't lie about it. That's just cruel," she said, brushing his hair aside from his bruise, "I don't think about you like that. I thought I would marry you because you are my best friend, and I didn't want to be traded like a commodity to some foreign prince... but now I see that there's more to it than that. I don't think about you … that way. Not really. But never mind that, are you sure you're alright? That was a nasty knock."

The lock clicked open, and Gump tossed aside the dagger, unchaining the unicorn. "We must leave! Now!"