Lady Hyrule read the letter over again to make sure she had gotten it right. King Van had summoned all of his most trusted advisors to his Council Room to discuss the three bodies found only a few hours ago. One of them was his wife, her wedding ring still round her ring finger. As the wife of Prime Minister Hyrule, she had been invited.



She was a bit surprised at the speed that the bodies at been discovered, but Lady Hyrule brushed the thought away. Of course Van would be able to find the bodies soon, he'd have his guards scouring the country side looking for his beloved wife. Lady Hyrule pulled a rope that would clang a bell downstairs in the servants quarters, signalling her maids. She would need to wear something special for the occasion...



*****



Merle looked around the room, wondering who else knew that Hitomi was actually alive. Merle looked very pale and even a bit yellowish, but Merle didn't know what from. Dryden had moved his things to another room, and she wondered what they had told Pandora. Or even if she knew yet. Pandora had a merchant's keen eye, but she could be a little naive sometimes. At the moment, the child was busy keeping close to her cousin, the only other person in the room near to her age group. Cheid looked like he was either ready to start crying or strike down Lady Hyrule the moment she appeared. Every once in a while he would smile down at Pandora, as if to reassure her. Dryden was boring holes into peoples head from his spot near the back of the room. Allen was also near the back of the room, leaning against the wall, his eyes closed in what looked like meditation. Merle couldn't tell who knew or who didn't.



But then, Van had suddenly called a Council meeting, and no one seemed to know what it was about. Merle didn't even know for sure what it was about, but she had a damn good guess. The rumour of Hitomi's death had gone nowhere fast. Van sent only one letter of the supposed bodies, and that was to Lady Hyrule. It was only by pure chance that Merle was there when the Prime Minister's wife read it. Everyone in the Fanelian empire still believed Hitomi was kidnapped, and that soon she'd be found perfectly all right. Or so they hoped.



Van entered the room looking emotionless. Not happy, not mad, not upset, just emotionless. The Council, Merle included, stood up when he entered and sat down only after he did. Van closed his hands and leaned on them with his chin, elbows on the table and eyes closed. "So...." he said. There was a long moment of silence, before Van slowly opened on eye. He'd thought awhile about just how to tell people that Hitomi was alive, and decided that perhaps the direct approach was best. "We found Hitomi."



The Council let out a loud cheer, and people immediately began to congratulate Van, who still remained emotionless. It was the usually quiet and cheerful Lady June who put an end to the celebration, however. She slammed her hands down on the table, leaning forward. Her eyes were large, and she looked quiet scared, but despite her body language her voice was quiet. "But.... Van... I mean," she blushed and began to sit back down, feeling the Council's eyes watch her every move. "King Van, did they find your wife... unharmed?"



His stone-like face broke, unable to keep looking emotionless at the thought of Hitomi. "She's got a few bumps and bruises, but that's it." Van continued smiling while he explained his plan.



*****



Millerna looked across the room at Dryden, not really paying attention to Van. She heard him say that she was supposed to continue looking sad, and Millerna gave a little snort. She had been divorced.... again! How else was she supposed to look?



But.... but maybe Dryden was right. Maybe they weren't right for each other. The pain she was feeling, it wasn't the pain of loss. Well, part of it was. Most of the pain she was feeling was from the loss of a husband, just the fact that she had bene dumped period. Sure, she missed Dryden a lot, but instead of thinking if him, she found herself thinking more of Pandora, what she should do next, not of how much she missed Dryden.



Every once in a while, the thought of him would slip out and Millerna would wonder why she wasn't warmer in the morning, or why there wasn't somebody barking at the door for him to be let in while she was in the shower. But that would quickly be replaced by other things. The whole ordeal was giving Millerna a migraine!

Was she really not missing Dryden, or was she just trying to kid herself so that she found his words more believable?



******



She was staring at Dryden. Dryden was staring at the floor. Allen was staring at Millerna. So, Dryden had moved his things to another room. They'd broken up again. Last time, Allen hadn't made a single move. He had been much to preoccupied with his little sister. Now that she was older.... maybe he could... But, he'd still have to wait. After all, Millerna was still vulnerable...



*****



The guards opened the doors for Lady Hyrule, and she entered the Council room wearing a long black dress that sparkled when she moved. If anybody asked her why it was so dressy, she'd simply say it was the only black dress she owned that fit her properly. To Lady Hyrule, however, the dress was perfect, as she saw the whole day as one long celebration. Hitomi Kanzaki, the other-wordly Seer was dead, and some Draconian-Mystic Mooner could not take the throne now. Now, all that was left was to take care of King Van. Hitomi's death was like killing two birds with one stone.



Living in a time of peace, Van did not have a taster. It would be easy to slip something into the food or wine every night at dinner, then when her husband could no longer by the Prime Minister, the poison would not be found in hsi food and he would die from with drawl. A natural death, with no possible connection to her since she was not even near the palace when King Van died. The death would look natural, and people may even link it to Hitomi's death as she hoped, believing that Van died from heartache.



She looked around at everybody's long faces, and put on her best front. She knelt down by Van, and took his hand, kissing the wedding ring he wore. Rasing her head, she pinched herself beneath her dress to make herself cry. "Oh Your Majesty.... I'm so sorry...."



Van took his eyes from the table, and stared right into Lady Hyrule's. He saw reflected in the eyes the predatory look of blood lust, not unlike the look Dilandau had in his. Van squeezed his other hand to keep from shoving the traitor away from him. Oh, the things he wished he could do. But not even the King was above the law, and he had to play his part. "Sorry?" he repeated, his voice sounding confused. "Sorry for what, Lady Hyrule?"



Lady Hyrule blinked, before excusing it. Van was probably just getting muddled from the pain of losing his wife. "I'm sorry to hear about your wife's death, King Van. She was quite a woman, and I'm sure we will all miss her." Lady Hyrule managed a smile and turned to look at the rest of the Council. "Won't we?" She looked around the room, and gasped in surprise when she got to the far side.



Standing in the corner was Hitomi. She was dressed all in white, and looked quite pale, with a stern look written on her face. Pointing a finger at Lady Hyrule, she spoke with a voice Lady Hyrule had only heard described before by those who had seen her go into a vision. "You. It was you. You were the one."



No one else seemed to have heard Queen Hitomi speak, and no one else seemed to hear her. But then, she was also dead.



Hitomi moved closer, still pointing at Lady Hyrule and speaking in that other worldly voice. "It was you. I can see it. My blood is covering your hands. They will stain you permanently. Every where you go, they will be dripping with my life that you stole. Thief!"



"I...." Lady Hyurle's voice was trembling. "I know that I will miss her." She smiled wryly. "I will probably see her face everywhere I look."



"Yes, you will." Hitomi's ghost said. "I will guarantee that. I will always be hovering a round you, around my blood. Go on, Lady Hyrule, look at your hands. They are covered with my blood, aren't they?"



Not taking lightly to being called a coward, Lady Hyrule dared a look at her hands. Sure

enough, they were covered with bright red blood. It was thick, running down her wrists to catch on van's pants where they ran to the floor, creating a pool of blood that she was sitting red smack dab in the middle of. She looked behind her to see brilliant drops of red blood splattering the ground where she had walked, and looking down at her dress she saw the hand prints of blood covering her black dress. Her jaw dropped, and she looked back at Quuen Hitomi, who was nodding, and worse yet, walking right through her husband! Lady Hyrule felt the blood drop rush from her face, and the room began to spin.



"Blood. It will mark everywhere you go until the end of time, Hyrule. I will be able to find you no matter where you hide, and so will every one else. There is only one way to get rid of it."



"Confess?" Lady Hyrule asked out loud. If she looked at the Council members, she would have seen them look at each other with confused expressions.



"Precisely."



"No! The punishment is death! I can't do it!"



"Then I suppose we will be spending a lot more time getting to know each other, Lady Hyrule. Tell me, what is your favourite colour?" Hitomi asked, kneeling in the pool of blood next to her killer. The red did not seep into her dress, and Lady Hyrule found herself shaking at the sight of a wingless angel in a bloody bath. "Red?"



Van put a calm hand on Lady Hyrule's shoulder, going right through Hitomi as he did so. "Lady Hyrule, are you all right?"



She looked right past him, although to other it appeared as though she was talking to him. "You deserved to die. It's not my fault, so don't blame me. You are the one who drove me to do it. When Van asked you to marry him, you could have said no, in which case I wouldn't needed to have order your death."



"I know I'm going to sound like my mother when I say this, but you have no one to blame but yourself for your actions. My hands are not covered in my own blood, your hands hold it, because I did not order my own death, you did it for me."



"Fine!" Lady Hyrule screamed. "I did it! Yes, I admit it!" real tears began to roll down her cheeks, and her body shook even harder with a mixture of hate and fear. "I killed you! Now, leave me alone! I don't want to be haunted by ghosts! Leave me ALONE!" With the pain of a scream filled with all the hate and fear she had been holding in for such a long time in her life, Hitomi vanished from Lady Hyrule's sight, leaving her realizing what she had just done.



She gave a small gasp in surprise, and stepped away from Van, whiping away the tears that had helped to prove her guiltyness. The Council didn't look sad anymore, it looked like a mob. The entire group scowled at her, even her husband, Lord Wernym and Lady June, the weakest, meekest, and shyest people there! (In that order.)



"It's true then." Lord Hyrule said slowly, hanging his head in shame. "You did set the whole thing up."



She began backing up even more, feeling very trapped. "Set up what up? My love, I did nothing. Why.... why are you all staring at me like that!?" she screamed, trying to think of some excuse for the words she'd already said out loud.. The pain of having every one staring at her felt like a thousand holes being burned into her, like she was being dissected under their gaze. Lady Hyrule backed up further, and hit something soft. She very slowly turned around.



Van stood up, and held out his hand. "Lady Hyrule, I think you've been mislead. My wife is alive and well."



Hitomi stood in the door, wearing not the long white dress she'd previously seen her in, but a green one. Was it possible for Hitomi to have changed so quickly? No. Was it possible that all she had seen was part of her guilty conscious? Lady Hyrule snuck a quick glance at her hands and the floor. They were still covered in Hitomi's bright red blood. She looked up to see Hitomi stare at her as unemotionally as if Van had taught her himself. "Hello, Lady Hyrule."



"But.... but... but the letter..." she stammered quietly.



"If you are talking about the letter addressed to you from the kidnappers you hired, then that was all a forgery. Guards, bring them in!" he shouted. The doors opened and the two kidnappers were brought in. Van looked at each of them, and handed them a piece of paper. "Is this the handwriting on the letter you received?" he asked them, indicating a paper that had Lady Hyrule's handwriting on it. The larger man nodded. Van asked him for the letters and he was handed them, which he put down on the table. "I show you Evidence A. Identical from Lady Hyrule and the plotter of the kidnapping."



Allen placed a rough hand on lady Hyrule's shoulder, guiding her to a chair close to the table. "You may want to sit down." he said, his voice so cold it was like ice. "This may take awhile."



*****



Van clasped his hands and looked around at his Council. "This is the evidence. So now, we must take a vote. Is Lady Hyrule guilty or not?"



Lady Hyrule had quickly realized that the evidence was stacked against her. Hell she'd even confessed. Now all she had to do was to let the Council decide on her innocence and punishment. She'd tried to kill a member of the Royal family, and that was an offense punishable by death. She could only hope that it was a quick one, beheading hopefully.



Everyone spoke in a cold voice as they told King Van that she was guilty. The last person to say anything was her husband. She looked at him pleadingly, but he was fixed on Van. "Guilty." He said, using that same cold voice as everyone else.



She had been stupid to hope for anything else. Theirs was a marriage of state, and not of love. He needed an heir, she needed money.

Van looked at his wife, and asked her if she was going to cast a vote for or against Lady Hyrule. She shook her head, saying: "It wouldn't be right.", making Van nod. He understood perfectly. Of course Hitomi would say that Lady Hyrule was guilty, but she was also the victim, not the jury.



"Al right, then." He looked around at his Council and nodded, before turning back to Lady Hyrule. "You, lady Hyrule, are hereby stripped of all titles and anything that is attached to it, including lands and money." Her eyes widened in fear, waiting for the final blow. "As punishment for the attempted murder of a Royal Family Member, I hereby order you to death. Lady June, have you got the arrest papers?"



"Yes, sir." Lady June said, holding them up proudly after taking a moment to dig through her large bags. He asked her to fill one out for Lady Hyrule (though she wasn't Lady Hyrule anymore), and within a minute the legal documents were necessary were filled out as the Royal Guards filled into the room.



"Guards, take her down to the dungeon, and lock her in the darkest, dankest cell you can find. I'll decided her fate later." he ordered. Van watched almost angrily as the guards guided the former Lady Hyrule out of the room. He wished she had gone down kicking and screaming, but he could see how disturbed she was anyway. That was good enough.



Lord Hyrule looked at the King of Fanelia after his ex-wife had left the room. "King Van, exactly what are you going to do with her? Beheading? Drowning? Letting her loose in the forest for the dragons?"



"None of them." he heard some people give a small gasp in surprise, and he turned to look at them, pulling his own wife closer to him. "In all my nine years of being King, I haven't yet had to sign a death sentence, and I won't start doing it now. Let her sit in the dungeon, fearing her own death until that fears kills her."



"But... But sir!" Lord Wernym cried, standing up. "If she gets out, she'll just go right after you two again!"



"Then let her." Hitomi said, trying to calm him down. "I don't think she'd get very far in a castle full of guards."



"Besides," Van smiled, and stood up to kiss Hitomi lightly on the cheek. "I think Hitomi proved she could defend herself just fine." He was standing so close to her, he could feel the heat coming off her cheeks as she blushed at the compliment. No, marriage hadn't changed their relationship a single bit. Other then getting a lot more physical.



"Speaking of guards, Van...." Hitomi reminded him, raising an eyebrow. Van nodded, and Hitomi called the guards to bring in their two guests.



The two kidnappers, Rave and Boss, entered the room, and knelt down by the standing Royal Couple. "Your majesties, you called us."



"Meet the people who managed to kidnap Hitomi, ladies and gentlemen." Van happily introduced them to his Council. It was times like this he loved being King. Leaning against the table, he spoke again. "Now, I believe that a reward is due for such behaviour."



"A reward?! Your majesties!" Lord Wernym protested, and shot out of his seat again. Van wondered if there was a spring hidden in there. "They kidnapped your wife, and you are going to reward them for this?!"



"No." Hitomi answered. She began to explain to them how she had heard Boss say he wouldn't kill the Queen, and though a few members of the Council were still apprehensive, they could not overthrow the King's command unless it was a unanimous decision. A few dark looks were shot in Lady June's direction but she juts shrugged, saying that loyalty deserved it's reward.



"Besides." The sweet spoken secretary concluded. "They did it because they didn't have money, so money would be the best thing to give them so that they won't do it again since they won't have a reason to do it. Although the balance of money between the rich and the poor has balanced out since the Destiny War, there are still a lot of people out there that don't have enough money and can't find jobs. So then they try to move and find that it's harder to get jobs in other towns and cities because you're an immigrant and people don't trust you." Heads began to nod, seeing her point.



"Also," Hitomi finished up. "We want to be able to keep Boss and Rave right where people can see them, and we can keep an eye on them. That's right here in the palace." Lord Wernym began to protest again, but he was shut down by a few nasty looks. "So, Van and I ahve decided to give you two jobs as the Royal Guards in the palace."



"Royal Guards?" Rave smiled. "Wow, that's a nice gesture, your majesty!" he elbowed Boss. "Hey, hey hey! Did you hear, we gots us some jobs in the Royal palace!"



"I heard, I heard." Boss said, ignoring the other's shoving.



*****



"Millerna..." Allen hung back as the people began to file out of the Council Room. He could hear Lord Wernym ask Hitomi how she had made Lady Hyrule see her ghost, and other bits of conversation, but his voice still made the Queen of Asturia stop and look his way. Allen raised his head, blue eyes looking a bit distant. "Millerna, could you wait for moment, please? I'd like to talk to you."



She hung back until they were the only people left in the room, and she sat down in one of the Council chairs. "Yes, Sir Allen?"



Without meaning to, the words cut him. Millerna must have been very tired. She*never* called him Sir Allen. The only times she did that was when she was too tired and courtly manners took control, she was angry at him, or was teasing him. 'My poor Millerna...' Allen stood beside her, and placed a friendly hand on her shoulders, leaning close to her. "Millerna, I know that you and Dryden have split up, and you can come to me any time you want to."



His hand slipped, and he knelt by her side, hugging her tightly. "I'll always be here for you to use my shoulder, I promise you." He felt Millerna's hand encircle his higher back, and her head rest upon his shoulder. He could barely hear her whisper his name.



Allen raised his hand again, after peeling off his white gloves he always wore to brush her hair. It felt like strands of sunlight, or the softest hay. Closing his eyes, he was a bit surprised to find that he fund it easy to speak. Maybe that was simply because he had been born to be knight, leading people was his destiny.



"I.... I was also hoping that maybe... Maybe when you've thought everything out and you feel comfortable, we could maybe go out for dinner, or something." Millerna was very quiet, and Allen began to feel he needed to explain himself. "You see... After Hitomi left, you were single again, but I was too afraid that maybe I might scare you away or hurt you if I starting telling you that I wanted to be with you. Then Dryden came back, and I didn't have a choice. So, this time around, I want to tell you know so that I won't have to lose you again. I don't care how long it takes, I'm willing to wait, as long as I won't lose you again."



Millerna and Allen stayed hugging for a very long time, both of them actually finding the silence comforting. As they left and parted ways, Allen to go and stir up a bit of trouble in the Knight's quarters to keep them on their toes, and Millerna to find her blonde daughter and pack, Millerna began to think to herself.



'Maybe... Maybe if we can stay like that, and not need to have words between us... just like it was before.... then maybe I do still love Allen.' she smiled softly, rubbing her chin. 'Still, he doesn't have a beard that tickles like Dryden when he kisses you.'



********* THE END