Warnings: Sharp twists and turns can throw the entire plot in a new direction.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Deception Is Like Fine Wine

I smoothed the heavy velvet of my skirt across my knees nervously, watching the fabric change color as the direction that the fibers went reversed. I left midnight blue streaks through the field of lighter, cornflower blue.

"Elensar," Alyssa appeared at my door. "Are you going to be alright?"

True darkness was fast approaching. I felt my heart race. "I-I think so." I swallowed, gulping down reservations and tears. It was a hard elixir to stomach.

"Hey now, you can do this. I know you can. It's only three nights." She sat down on the bed next to me, taking my hand in hers.

I didn't dare start crying; tears would muck up all the hard work that Raquel had done to get my make-up looking absolutely perfect. "Yeah, three nights. Three nights of hell." I looked up at her, trying to smile as the tiny bit of humor I had forcefully injected into my words fell flat.

"Oh, darling, don't worry. You can do this." Alyssa chucked me under the chin, and I was suddenly five years old again. "I know you can."

"But Alyssa!" I whined like I was five, too. "I can't knowingly send him to his death! I just can't do that!" I felt a sniffle coming on, and hastily repressed it.

She had no response to that, except to hand the wine glass over to me silently. She trailed her cool fingertips across my cheek as she stood and left. "Protect us, Elensar."

Oh. So it was back to that. I clutched the bejeweled stem of the wine glass, very tempted to drink it all myself, and sleep the night away.

I had a choice: I could give Adrian the wine and keep our secret safe, or I could drink it all myself and be relieved of my problems for a night, but wake up with a killer hangover in the morning. I knew that Evadne had put enough into the drugged cocktail to knock out a grown man, so I knew it would be more than enough for me.

I deliberated over my predicament until I heard Evadne call us to the dance. I stared at the door, which Alyssa had left ajar, and waited until all of my sisters had passed. Then, I slipped out to follow, two goblets in hand.

Halfway there, I deserted my sisters. I knew the way there, and I had made my choice. I tiptoed to Adrian's suite of rooms, and knocked on the door.

He opened the door, a study in frustration. "Elensar?" Adrian looked suddenly very confused.

"Can I come in?" I pushed past him, and into the foyer. "I thought you might like some help- and a drink." I set the goblets down on a table, being excruciatingly careful to remember which one was mine.

"Help?" Adrian looked lost, an emotion that did not become him well.

"Yes, help. I do have ulterior motives, after all." I tried for a smile, and hoped that he was too confused to notice that it was a mangled twisting of lips, and nothing more. I couldn't believe that I was lying to him like this.

"God, Elensar. I can't do this." He reached for a glass, and I handed him the one that Evadne had made especially for him. "I just…can't." He downed half the glass in one swallow, no easy feat.

I wanted to agree with him, but I just…couldn't. "You can, Adrian. I know you can. I believe in you." I daintily took a sip of my own wine. "Adrian…" My voice broke without warning, and he looked up, a frown creasing his forehead.

"What is it, dearling?" His arm came around my shoulders and he pulled me to him.

"Nothing. Just…I need to sit down." He led me over to a loveseat, and sat down next to me, cradling my hands.

"What is it?" He asked me again, and again, I couldn't answer him. I couldn't even look at him.

"You're going to die." I blurted out, unable to deny that fact any longer.

Adrian simply sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, I know, I figured." He bent down so that his forehead was pressed against mine. "I'm going to try though, for you, Elensar. I don't think I want to live without you anyway."

I reached up and slapped him. "No. You may love me, but not that much. I love you, too, remember? If anything, live for me, not love for me." I kissed him hesitantly to make up for the violent chastisement. "Adrian."

"Elensar." His mouth chased after me hungrily, and I started to wonder how long it would take for the drugs to take effect.

I pushed him away gently. "Run away. Just go. You'll find sanctuary in Delran; your people love you and would do anything to protect you. They need you…more than I do."

He looked up at me, aghast. "I can't do that, that would be cowardice!"

"No," I refuted, "It would be smart."

He sighed, and rested against me for a moment. "But I would have to leave you…"

"Take me with you," I responded instantly, knowing that it would never work. I would hate to leave, and hate him for taking me again.

"It won't work…" Adrian stifled a yawn, and promptly downed another draught of his wine.

"I know." I kissed his cheek, just barely brushing against him.

"Elensar?" He glanced up at me blearily. "Why are you all dressed up?" He sounded so pitiful that I felt my resolve start to dissolve.

Smoothing his hair out of his face, I replied, "Oh, just because…"

Adrian looked like he didn't believe me, but he didn't protest either. "Elensar?"

"Yes?"

"What was in that wine?" He rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Elensar?"

I couldn't speak. It simply wasn't possible. I couldn't admit to him that I'd drugged him. I couldn't let him know that I was working against him. I couldn't tell him. In fact, I didn't have to. He had figured it out on his own.

"Are you trying to kill me?" His anger, though muted by the wine, seemed to rouse him slightly from the stupor he was in.

"I don't know." When I said it, I knew it sounded stupid. It made me seem both cold and heartless, and at the same time, inept.

"Why," He yawned, "don't you?"

I started to reply, but Adrian's head had dropped to my lap, and he was snoring softly. I played with his hair, dallying for a bit in the hopes that he would wake, but he didn't.

Softly, I kissed the top of his head and stood, carefully setting his head back onto the loveseat's cushion. He would probably have a stiff neck in the morning. Oh well.

"Sleep well, Adrian." I carefully lifted the two goblets and walked back to my rooms, liberally partaking of the wine that I had left. At least I wouldn't feel guilty until the morning, when I was both hounded by my conscience and hangover.

Upon returning to my rooms, I deposited the wine glasses in a back corner of my study, hidden neatly behind several thick volumes of etiquette that my grandmother had given me once on my nameday. Not to be completely cliché, but I hated them and had conveniently "forgotten" to read them on several occasions. Where they hadn't served me well before, at least they were being useful now.

I grinned slightly, thinking how every princess in every story that I'd ever read would be so proud of me for those thoughts. "Go me!" I cheered softly. "I suppose," I continued, not bothered in the least that I was talking to myself, "I suppose that I should get on to the dance." With that said, I grabbed handfuls of my skirt in my hands and slipped out into the corridors.

I missed the hidden door twice because I looked too hard. Evadne had charmed the thing so that it just disappeared when one looked right at it. The only one who could look right at it and see it for what it was, a door, was Evadne herself, and she really didn't even have to look at it to find it. The rest of us usually followed her, therefore negating the need to actually find it on our own. She had, however, had the foresight to teach us all how to look for it and, subsequently, find it.

I knew the general area of where the door was; I just was having trouble finding out specifically where it was. So, having passed it several times, I breather in and out deeply several times, and let my mind water.

Almost instantly I saw it.

There it was, nondescript but still elegant. The designs on the door matched the paneling on the wall and except for a faint line that separated the two, there was no visible difference.

I reached for the door, groping for some sort of a knob or handle or something. Surprisingly, it sprung open at my touch, almost as if it had been expecting me.

"Thank you," I whispered, stealthily working my way into the secret passage. I heard the door softly snick as the latch caught, and for a moment, my world was plunged into darkness.

Stifling a frightened squeak, I felt my way along the wall, carefully descending the steps as my foot found them.

"Foolish of you, to try and walk in the dark." I stopped. Whose voice was that?

"Hello?" I called out tentatively, trying to be quiet but still audible.

"Elensar, don't be daft." I saw a flicker of light spark into existence.

"Markus?" I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Yes, now if you don't mind, hold this for me." He handed the cheerily flickering candle over to me while he tucked the flint back into his pocket. "Thank you." He grinned at me, my shock still etched all over my face. "Don't look so shocked, Princess." He took my hand gently in his. "Come on then."

"But…how?" My mind was not capable of coming up with a conjecture that would satisfy all the questions whirring around in my slightly drunk brain.

"Never you mind it, just follow me." He smiled jauntily and pulled me with him down the stairs and into the first forest.

As soon as we stepped under the canopy of silver leaves, Markus extinguished the candlelight that had cast a warm glow over everything. There was no need for the tiny flame anymore; the path was lined with lamps that outshone the candle by far.

I took a deep breath, and tried to sort out my thoughts that were in such disarray. Before I could ask any questions, however, Markus spoke.

"Elensar, we must hurry. You are late as it is, and if you do not get there in time, our way will darken once more." His grip on my hand tightened, and I threw all decorum away as I picked up my heavy skirts and trotted after him.

"I can't go that fast, Markus!" I protested weakly, clinging to his hand as I tripped over nothing. My dancing slippers were not made for running.

The look he gave me stopped all the objections I might have voiced. "Do not question, only follow."

I sighed, but did not question him again. We reached the wood of gold next, and there I was allowed a brief rest. My head had started to spin from the unaccustomed exercise, the wine, and the knowledge that I was working against Adrian and my own wishes. For a moment, I felt sick, but Markus tugging me upward banished all thought and worries except for haste.

"Haste makes waste," I recited the proverb breathlessly.

"Save your breath." He could hear how I was gasping for air as we ran. It didn't make sense, since I dance so often, but I supposed that running was a bit more exhausting that even a set of lively gavottes.

So I did.

By the time we had reached the periphery of the diamond-encrusted trees, Markus was practically dragging me along. He had increased our speed to such a clip that it was almost unbearable for me.

"Rest, Elensar, for a little while." He slowed down to a stroll. When I moved to sit on a fallen log, he stopped me. "Walk with me, Princess. We will cover ground and you will catch your breath."

I nodded, and continued on at a far more tolerable pace. The mad dash that had carried us through the first two woods had taken its toll on me, and I shook slightly. I tried covering it as best as I could, but Markus was perceptive enough to see how my hands shook as I brushed damp tendrils of hair out of my face.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but time was of the essence, and I could not let you fall behind." He took my trembling hand and gently kissed the back of it in apology.

"I believe I shall survive, provided that we can walk for a little while longer." My response evoked an amused chuckle out of him.

"Ah, Elensar, not to worry now. We shall be there soon." For all that our rush had taken so much time, he was right. The last enchanted wood was much smaller, apparently, than its predecessors. I had never noticed this on all of my myriad journeys here before, and I didn't want to bother questioning it now.

"You run a good race, Markus, although why the rush, I will never understand." I sighed, well rested now, and no longer unable to think straight.

He smiled at me thinly, not really humorous. "You may understand in time, Princess, and that time may be sooner than you anticipate."

I looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

He laughed, for real, "You'll see. But for now, don't question."

"Just follow," I finished, resignedly. "As always, I do believe I shall do just that."

"Elensar!" A glad shout from the lakefront suddenly captured my attention. "You are here! The others said you would come, but I doubted them. I don't know why I did…" Johan smiled down at me, exuding charm.

"Here, milady is where I leave you." Markus dropped my hand and bowed politely.

"Good evening to you, sir." I nodded regally towards him, and watched as he disappeared back into the diamond-strewn woods. I turned to Johan. "I'm sorry, my Prince, to have kept you waiting, but there were other matters that I had to attend to."

Johan, smiling as if he knew precisely why, nodded and held out his hand to me. "To the dance, then, my fair lady." He helped me into the swan-shaped vessel and then pushed off, leaping in at the very last moment.

It unnerved me how he seemed to know, but I did not press the issue. We slid across the surface of the water in silence that was broken only by strains of orchestral music that wafted out to us from the imposing castle that was our destination.

As Johan helped me out of the boat, I cast one last glance over my shoulder towards the faintly sparkling forest, looking for Markus, but seeing no one.

Johan, claiming my attention with prettily clichéd compliments, led me into the ballroom, and I was swept away in the music and the patterns that accompanied it, forgetting all of my doubts and fears.

Author's Note: Wow, time flies…I kept thinking, oh, it hasn't been all that long since I last updated…I still have time to make any final changes etc, etc. But then, of course, I saw that it's been far too long, a fact of which rainkisser so helpfully reminded me of! Oh, and happy Spring Break to all of you who have it! Mine just started…yay!

To my reviewers…

Lilred-07: Ooh, with cherries on top? Yum!

Miss Piratess: I don't believe that your warm fuzzy side was supposed to be pleased. I'm guessing that this chapter did nothing to appease that warm, fuzzy side either. :)

Fell4adeadguy: Indeed they do!

Rainkisser: Your reviews make me laugh…I mean, here I am, waking up on a Thursday morning with 8 new emails, and all of them unique little ways of informing that I will update now. Does writing absolutely have to make sense? I mean, I could still throw in a few unexpected twists and such…D

Aphrodite21: I like suspense, but only when I'm the one creating it! P

Rowenhood: Thank you! I'm rather of the opinion that the youngest princess's fate unfolds kind of like one of those origami fortune teller things, how about you? )

Panenmonium: Yay! You love it! D

Elvislivesagain: Thank you! )

Tamaran Girl: Aw, thanks so much! You make me feel all special and stuff! And good luck with the graduation stuffs…I did that last year, and I seemed to have survived okay, but good luck anyway! D

Annie M: Thank you much! I'm glad you like it!

CheekyChik: In your meditation, did you ever think that this would happen to Adrian?

Hannah: No, you're not the only one who doesn't like Adrian. A few of my friends who've read this don't like him too much either, and of course they're not afraid to tell me so. P But I'm glad that you like the story anyway!

TinkerBell394587: I don't know if you'd want to take lessons from Evadne…she's very nice, after all.

Athena Diagon Cat: He thanks you very, very much, because he knows that he'll need it. )

I've got a recommendation for all of you…it's a retelling of "The Little Mermaid", rewritten by CalliopeMused and re-titled Lille Havfrue. It's an excellent bit of reading, and I think you all should read it! It's really, really good.