For Alex and the family, it seemed as if things were finally turning around and getting back to normal – for the moment, that is. Alex was safe at home and resting quietly and the family wasn't tripping over themselves worrying about her.

There couldn't have been a bigger relief for Matthew. He had stood by and watched as Alex rapidly deteriorated. And now, he watched as she regained her strength. It was slow but steady; every moment brought another year of life back to her face. She didn't look as if she would die at any moment anymore.

But, in the back of his mind he knew the danger had not passed, and he intended to make Alex tell him what was wrong. He didn't know how he was going to manage that, he admitted to himself, but he refused to allow her to be miserable and weak as she was again, as he had before.

Alex had no more dreams that day. She dozed on and off, speaking to her family while she was awake and making no movements or sounds while asleep.

Joan and Eli visited frequently and, as he could, Derek dropped in every now and again.

It took a while before Joan could finally catch Alex while she was awake. Alex seemed glad to see her little sister.

They were alone. Upon the nurse's insistence, Odette and Matthew left to get something to eat and rest. Their constant, protective – albeit a bit smothering; but who was Alex to complain, since she was finally so close to her family again? - vigil proved tiring and it would be some time before they returned.

"Hey," Alex greeted, propped up on her pillows. She had just finished her lunch and was, for now, wide awake.

"Hey yourself," Joan replied, sitting down beside Alex's bed. "How do you feel?"

"Better than I have in days, I assure you." There was something sad in Joan's expression. Or maybe sad was the wrong word; regretful, perhaps, would be a better fit. "Something wrong?"

"I was just feeling a little guilty about last night."

Alex was slightly confused; she couldn't remember Joan saying or doing anything offensive – but then again, she couldn't remember a thing about the night before. Such was the degree of her exhaustion. "What about last night?"

"When I compared you to Father – not to insult him, mind you; it was just the situation that was so… well, you know."

Alex gave her a confused expression. "Joan, I'm afraid I don't remember…"

"You know, when I mentioned the situation over Rothbart's notes and all? And how Father kept all that a secret from Mother? I shouldn't have insulted your intentions like that."

"Forget it Joan. It was really the wakeup call I needed. I knew I was causing you all to worry, but I didn't realize that it had gotten so bad, that is had gotten that bad. I'm sorry you suffered."

"Alex, until whatever it is that caused all this is stopped, we will continue to suffer."

"I know," Alex admitted. "And I'm going to make it stop tonight."

"Surely you can't be thinking of leaving?" Odette asked as she walked in.

For a moment, Alex looked at her in surprise. She hadn't expected Odette to walk in at that moment, and she didn't especially want to explain her plan for that night – not that she had come up with a plan that was concrete quite yet.

"I have to."

"In your condition-"

"What condition?" Alex interrupted, trying to sound like her old, confident self. "I'm better now, better than I have been in days, as I told Joan earlier. And tonight, I will put an end to all of this and you won't suffer anymore."

"It's not worth your life Alex."

"But it is worth yours," Alex said under her breath, too quietly for Odette to hear.

Matthew entered the room and, for the moment, all conversation had stopped. None of them wanted Matthew to know what Alex was planning. It would just be another thing on the long list of problems.

He was a little confused to see that everyone was silent when he walked in, but decided not to question the issue.

Somewhere in his mind, he knew it would do no good.

XxX

The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully, but as sunset approached, Alex felt herself growing nervous. She knew she would have to leave, but there was no way she could sneak out, not with her entire family surrounding her.

But she couldn't just give up. She knew that. She was the one thing standing between Dominic and the destruction of her family. She couldn't give in or surrender.

For one moment, she was left alone with Matthew as the others went to eat an early dinner.

"Matthew, listen to me," she said urgently.

"I am," he replied, matching her air of importance.

"When the sun sets, I must leave."

"Leave? And go where?"

"To the person that has been causing all this trouble. I have to stop him tonight."

"Alone?"

"It's too dangerous for you to go with me, Matthew. You could be killed."

"And so could you. You're lucky to be alive even now, Alex."

"I know," she whispered. "And if this wasn't important, I wouldn't dream of leaving here, of leaving you."

"I can't lose you, Alex. I'd absolutely die if I lost you, not that life would be worth living anyway. There's nothing without you."

She sighed and cast her eyes down, unable to think of a reply.

He didn't say anything else, glad she wasn't arguing with him although he knew she hadn't yet been convinced to stay.

She didn't know what to do. Leaving Matthew would be difficult, but not leaving at all would cost the lives of him and the rest of her family. It was imperative that she put an end to Dominic that night.

Soon, dusk came. The only ones in the room with her were Derek, Eli, and Matthew. As soon as the sun had disappeared behind the mountains that surrounded the kingdom, she felt the terrible yearning to leave and heard Dominic's voice ringing in her ears.

"Come to me."

She jerked a little in the bed.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Derek asked.

"I have to go," she said, moving to get out of bed.

"Go where?" Eli demanded. "Alex, you shouldn't be moving around right now."

"I'm fine," she insisted. "But I need to leave. Now."

She could feel herself getting sick to her stomach. Matthew had his hands on her shoulders, trying to hold her attention and keep her from leaving.

Meanwhile, she could hear Dominic's voice. "Where are you, princess?"

"Alex! Stop struggling!" Matthew yelled. "Tell me what's going on!"

She was trying desperately to leave, but he was trying to stop her and he was much stronger. He couldn't allow her to become weak again. He had almost lost her because of his inaction.

But he could see her getting sicker again as Dominic spoke to her again.

"Get here, Alexandra. Now!"

She pitched as if she was about to vomit.

"Please, Matthew," she begged, feeling the excess saliva in her mouth, a warning that she was about to be sick. "Let me go."

Never before had Matthew heard Alex beg for anything. He watched in horror as she became sicker.

"Please," she whispered.

"Alright."

Matthew jerked his hands away from Alex and got out of her way.

"Matthew, what are you doing?" Derek demanded.

"We have to let her go. She's getting sicker."

Eli backed out of the way and so did Derek, though reluctantly.

Alex bolted out of the room, grabbed a cloak on the way out and ran as fast as she could to Dominic.

While she was running down the hall, she didn't know that Joan had seen her leave. Tired of being left behind and ignorant, Joan decided that she would follow.

Meanwhile, Odette went into the infirmary and was shocked to see that everyone was standing around talking excitedly, but not in the jovial tone they had been using all day. The room was tense.

Alex wasn't there.

The smile that she had worn as she walked in faded away quickly. "Where is she?"

"She had to leave, Odette," Derek said.

"Had to leave?"

"She was getting sick. She was going to die if she didn't go."

"She was going to die?" Odette repeated slowly. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know," Matthew admitted for Derek. "But whoever is doing this to her must be controlling her from afar."

"And there's nothing we can do about it," Eli muttered.

It suddenly struck Odette that someone was missing.

"Where is Joan?"

XxX

Joan followed behind slowly as Alex made her way through the forest, trying not to make too much noise so that her sister would realize that she was being followed. Finally, Alex reached an old barn.

Emerging from it was a man who was easily twice her age.

Somewhere behind her, Joan could hear a twig snap. She looked around for a moment, but then paid it no mind. It could have been anything, she assured herself.

Suddenly, a heavy hand was clasped over her mouth.

XxX

"What took you so long in getting here, Alex?" Dominic asked.

"My family didn't want to let me go," she replied bluntly. "They were too worried about me."

"Then how did you get here?"

"Because they became more worried when they realized that you had put me under a spell that would make me sick if I didn't get here."

"Good thing you came when you did; a few moments longer, and you probably would have died."

"It would be better than coming here," she mumbled, too low for him to hear.

"What was that?" he demanded, immediately annoyed by her insolence.

"I said I intend to put a stop to the threat on my family," she lied. In the back of her mind, she realized she had been doing an awful lot of lying lately.

"So you'll marry me?"

"Not in a million years," she replied coolly. "But I will find a way to stop you, make no mistake."

For a very brief moment, Dominic's face lit up as a flash of arrogance cut across his face. "Is that so?"

Immediately, Alex was on her guard. She tried to remain confident, but not knowing what Dominic was getting at made her a little nervous. "That's so."

"And you're sure your plans won't change? Or be interfered with?"

"What are you talking about?"

Dominic smirked. "Bring her forward, Rokus."

Alex, thinking Rokus was somehow going to manhandle her into being closer to Dominic, whirled around to see him right behind her. However, he couldn't have possibly laid a hand on her as his were full.

Alex watched in surprised horror as Joan, her blonde head jerking this way and that, struggled to be free of the burly man's grasp.

"Let me go!" she demanded when she had gotten her mouth free of his hand.

Rokus clapped his hand back in place, hard so that it was more like a slap than merely covering Joan's mouth to keep her quiet. Joan let out a yelp of pain and shock; no one had ever hit her before.

Alex grimaced, trying to reign back some of the rage that threatened to overpower her. "Let. Her. Go," she said in a very staccato voice, trying to avoid saying something she would later regret.

"I can't do that," Dominic said. "You see, I have no collateral. Letting her go would be like a bad business deal unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Marry me, Alex. And she'll be allowed to return safely home, provided, of course, that she doesn't rat us out on our little engagement."

It took no thought for Alex to answer. "So long as you let go of my sister, I'll marry you."

"Well, you heard my bride-to-be, Rokus. Let the girl go."

"What a shame," Rokus whined. "She's so pretty."

Alex was disgusted. "Let her go already!" She turned back to Dominic. "Might I have a word alone with my sister?"

"No tricks?" Dominic asked.

"No tricks. I promise."

"Go ahead then."

Alex walked over to Joan. "Joan, listen to me. I want you to go home and, no matter what happens, don't tell anyone what has happened here."

"But, Alex," Joan began to argue before Alex cut her off.

"Joan, I'm serious. Don't say a word. Go home.

"You can't marry him! Not for my sake."

"Joan, I said a long time ago, even before I was kidnapped, that I would look after you. I promised that to Mother. I can't break that promise, not for my sake."

"But Alex, what will you do when you are alone and married to him? Protecting me won't mean a thing if you aren't around."

"It will mean something to everyone at home. I can't let you die… or worse-" she looked pointedly at Rokus "- because I don't want to marry him."

"But it's my fault!"

"Go home! Just go, Joan! And don't tell anyone what you saw!"

When Alex spoke so harshly, Joan knew there was no point in arguing with her anymore. She had made her decision.

"Goodbye, Alex," she said just before running off into the night.

Alex watched her go, fighting the tears that threatened to run like waterfalls down her cheeks.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

"I am so sorry, my fiancé," Dominic said, pretending to comfort her, but in reality rubbing her face in her own misfortune.

"I hate you."

"It's not my fault. You had a choice."

"You people are all alike!" Alex yelled, turning on her heel to face him. "You, your father, Clavius, and Zelda! All of you! You make yourselves sound so righteous and fair, but in reality, all you do is drive families apart and make it sound like it's your victims' fault! You stand there, high and mighty, as the rest of us struggle to deal with the fact that we'll never see our loved ones again. This is your fault! You are the cause of my misery, just like your father was the cause of his death. My father would never kill a person, but when Rothbart threatened my mother, it was game on, and my father did what he had to do. So don't act for a second like you were doing something good by making me choose between my family's death and being stuck with you!"

Somewhere in the middle of her rant, Alex had gotten in Dominic's face and was yelling not five inches away from his mouth, which was set in a hard, annoyed line. With a swift, fluid movement, he slapped her across the cheek. His eyes were cold and menacing as she had never seen them before.

"You would do well to hold you tongue in my presence," he said, his voice monotone, though Alex could still detect the rage in it. "As my future bride, you will learn to respect and obey me."

Alex recoiled, but only slightly. Her face stung and she was once again on the verge of tears, this time, in embarrassment; like Joan, no one had ever had the audacity to hit her in the face. She shivered as Dominic leaned forward and whispered into her ear:

"We will get married, and I will have your kingdom… and much more than that by the time I am through."