A/N Well... once again I'm sorry it took me so long to update. No excuse other then being lazy. ll. But yeah... this one I hope you like. I think I did pretty well... was having a brain wave. hehe.Also, before you get started, their will be a lot of changing of the point of veiw, but there aren't any times gaps between the page breaks. So thanks to...

demented-dreamer: You'll see what Derek can see in this one. ll. And Terry was in the story before. He was the all mighty "Master" to the bowers. Zahib using his real name was a great sign of disrespect. And thanks for reading.

Randomisation: Why, thank you. And I'm so glad you like my story.

Sammey: ll. Yeah... kinda gross, but very necessary (can't spell worth crap without spellcheck. ll). You'll see.

TPFreak: I do believe that was your first note, yes. But thank you for it. And I'm glad that you're enjoying the story.

Zerrin: I'm glad that I am cured. And nice dance. Haha!

Tattooed Goddess: I'm sorry if you were confused, but glad it's all cleared. If you have any questions, just ask! And thanks again for thepositivefeedbackand for reading.

cylobaby: Once more, I failed the ASAP part. But here you go. Sorry for the wait.

Chapter Nineteen:

As Tori stepped into the hall behind Derek she felt a breeze tangle her hair. She lifted a hand to settle it and felt another, stronger gust push against her stomach, making her bend over slightly. She frowned and straightened. Derek looked back when she cried out to see her, the wind blowing against her, dragging her sideways until her legs gave out and she fell to her knees, the wind flattening her to the ground. He rushed to her, but though he found himself kneeling beside her, he himself could feel no breeze at all.

She cried out again as a soft dust flew through the air and over her face. The wind forced the dust up her nose and as she breathed in to sneeze the dust clogged her nostrils and she realized it was ashes. She felt a presence slowly creeping it's way into her body, forcing its way in, sending bone chilling shivers down her spine. But there was only so much room in her body and with the new presence entering Tori was forced out. With a guttural cry she was pushed from her body out into the void. Her soul, her very essence, drifted away until she felt the void closing around her, squeezing her tight. She looked up and saw Derek as he knelt before her, but he was so far away, so very far away. She began to shiver as the cold seeped into her soul, began to weep as she felt the utter aloneness of the place that she had been forced to.

And she felt the fear. If she didn't get back to her body, the void would suck her in and Lee would have her body forever. She was sobbing and shaking as she forced herself towards the light, but she didn't have the strength, couldn't push herself out of the small hole where she was crammed, didn't know how to beat Lee out of her body.

She felt a sudden pain, sharp in her arms and with a great rush she was in her body, Derek holding her arms and staring into her eyes, concerned.

She buried her face in his chest and sobbed and shook, her body trembling like a leaf as she babbled. "She… she…" she stuttered and tried to force the words out, tried to explain. But the horror and fear was still clogging her throat. She had nearly died, had nearly been lost in the void that was the place souls were taken to in death. She had almost been lost forever.

"There now, Tori. It's alright," he whispered and gently pulled her away to stare at her pale face. She was shaking still and her eyes were wide and frightened. Something had just happened, he could tell. She had looked at him seconds before and her eyes had been so very different, cold, emotionless. Those eyes had burned him. They had been someone else's eyes. And when she had spoken, her voice had been dark, dangerous. She had said, "There is a new Master on the thrown. Time grows short."

Then he had watched as the cold eyes had widened and then gone completely blank, dead, lifeless. And then Tori had been there again. "What happened?"

"I… I… I don't know," she whispered, as her shaking started to recede. She did know though. Lee was dangerous. She had tried to take over her body, tried to force her soul out. She had forced Tori out of her own body, sent her soul adrift in a void. Tori knew she was very lucky to have made it back. Derek had saved her. He had gripped her arms until it hurt and the pain had brought her back.

She thought feverishly as she slowly made her way to her feet. Lee must have been able to force her soul out of her body, but she hadn't been able to sever the ties that bound Tori to her body. The pain had shivered across the bindings and brought her back to her body. She owed Derek her life.

Tori was still unsteady on her feet, but she eventually made it back to the barracks. She fell onto her bed, exhausted and breathing hard. She felt as if she had run for miles and miles, but she didn't want to sleep. If she slept, Lee would be in her dreams and if Lee was there, there was a chance that she would be forced from her body again. Back into that damnable void.

"Are you alright?" Derek whispered, kneeling by her bed, grabbing her hand. Like magic, she thought as she felt the energy rushing back into her. His touch was soothing her, making her safe. He made her safe, safe from Lee's power. She frowned at him, thinking. How was it possible? How could he make her safe when he had no magic of his own?

"I shall be fine, Derek. But please, if I make noise in my sleep, please wake me. Grab my hand and wake me," she whispered as her eyes fluttered closed. If he had saved her once and made her safe now, how could he not be capable of saving her again?

As she drifted into sleep, she curled onto her side, bringing Derek's hand to her cheek and resting it there. She sighed and relaxed. And fell into a dream.

Lee cursed when she instead she wanted to sob and sat up in the bed, her husband's arm sliding down to rest over her hips. Husband, she thought, and scoffed. She hadn't even known his name until the ceremony, but she supposed that Kevin was a fitting name for a potential king of Tortall. And he was her husband now.

He had been quite surprised to find that his bride wasn't in fact a virgin. And now she knew that he would ask questions of her. But she wouldn't let him. She would escape him.

As she tried to move away, Kevin's arm tightened on her hips and brought her back to him. She nearly moaned, but managed to hold it back. "I'd like to know what happened," he whispered and for a moment, she believed that she heard caring in his voice.

"What is there to know?" she demanded and tried to escape him once more, but he wouldn't budge. He looked up at her with solemn blue eyes. Eyes that were kind and that made her want to trust him. But she remembered that first day when he had been cruel to her, had made her disgusted. Was that the true man? Or was the one before her true?

"I want to know what happened to you to scar you so badly," he whispered and sat up beside her. She stared up into his eyes and thought for just a second of telling him everything. After all, she had just been the most intimate you could possibly get with a person. What was the harm of sharing secrets long buried and supposedly long healed? But when that second passed, she shrugged and turned away.

"It doesn't matter. It was a long time ago and now it is over. We must look ahead, not behind. I must plan. The journey to the enemy's city will be hard. Are you prepared?"

He stared down into her eyes so green, and she nearly melted the ice around her heart and told him. But she wouldn't let a face or a look do that. She had to be strong. People only served to hurt her and she was so tired of being hurt. She would never trust herself to another person. He would be a tool and that was all. And tools didn't have the power to hurt.

"Yes, I'm ready."

She nodded and stood from the bed and dressed. It was morning and she needed to see to the council. She was slightly surprised when Kevin rose also, as if he meant to help her. But she knew it was for show. He didn't actually want to help, he only wanted her to trust him so he could betray her. She knew. And she wouldn't be fooled. Wouldn't be betrayed

Never again would she be betrayed.

Ciem sighed as he continued down the halls. He had probably apologized a thousand times to his father for thinking such terrible thoughts. But could he be blamed? He had been to young to remember that he had had a sister. And his parents should have told him the story before.

He could understand why they hadn't, though. It would have been hard for him to comprehend why he had a sister and yet never saw her, or knew her. And now it simply made him sad. To think, all these years, he had a sister that he didn't even know about. And then to find her again… well, that was pure luck! He sighed again and rounded a corner. He and Evie had decided on a search schedule and tomorrow they would be heading into the city. Evie remembered Torianna's presence and was certain she could pick it out of a crowd easily. If Torianna had been in the city at all, Evie would be able to find her.

Tomorrow they would be one step closer to finding his sister.

He frowned as he noticed a short blond man, boy really, and the commander of the special squad in the Own walking directly in front of him. He supposed his thoughts had kept him from noticing them before. But he was glad to see them. Derek had always been a friend, as were Derek's parents. "Derek!"

The two stopped, but only Derek turned. The boy seemed to have frozen in his tracks, but Ciem hardly looked to him as he engaged Derek in a conversation.

Tori turned with Derek when she heard the voice call her commander's name. She gasped when she saw the prince striding towards them. Her hands fluttered up and she had the fleeting thought of covering her face in her hands and running in the opposite direction as fast as she could. She couldn't be seeing him, not now! She had been having way to many close calls already. One more and she was afraid it would all come out. Besides, she was certain he would recognize her.

How many times had she looked in the mirror and seen how puny her disguise really was? Torick so closely resembled Torianna, one look at her and the prince would know who she was. She couldn't have that. Not with Derek right beside her.

Panic began to well, slowly rising in her throat until it chocked out all sound that would have escaped. Instead of covering her face, her hands settled around her throat and tried to coax out sound. Anything out. Not that making a sound would help her in any way, but her panicked mind didn't quite understand that.

What came out sounded like a strangled cat's meow. Ciem looked from Derek, stopping in mid-sentence, towards her, taking notice for the first time. She watched his eyes widen as he looked at her green eyes, at her face. At the expressions in them that he didn't understand.

"Torianna?" Ciem stared at her, but she just shook her head and started to back away. Her eyes were huge in her face and she looked like a scared, frightened little kid. "It's you!"

He rushed to Tori and grabbed her arms, lifting her off her feet until she was level with him, which was considerably higher up then she wished to be. She was shaking her head convulsively now. He looked happy to see her, ecstatic, but all she could feel was the crumbling all around her of everything that she had struggled so hard to preserve.

"No…" she whispered as her body went rigid as a board. She was not ready to give up, not ready to be found out, not ready for her last chance to allow Robert to rest in peace be taken from her. "No!"

She shouted the word and began to struggle like mad. Her feet kicking, her fists punching. One fist caught him in the nose and he reeled back as the cartilage collapsed and blood spurted, a wayward foot caught him hard in the crotch. The breath whooshed from him as he dropped her to her feet, as he fell to his knees holding himself. She felt a pang of guilt but then she saw Derek's face, saw the light dawning as everything clicked into place.

Oh Gods, she thought. He knew now. If he hadn't before, he did now. He knew that she was Torianna, the Torianna. The one that had been found holding a bloodied knife over a dead body. The one that had been in the chapel and had been attacked. The one that was suspected of murder.

"I…I… I didn't kill him!" Tori shouted before turning on her heel and sprinting away. Derek, she could feel him right on her heels, was breathing fast and shouting for her to wait. It was over now. Her cover was blown and right when everything was so close to being finished. She had his name! She shouted through her mind as she ran, had a name and a face!

She turned a corner and came face to face with a man that she recognized. She skidded to a stop with a squeak as she stared up at the bandit leader. The one that had nearly killed her and then left her. The man that had had a familiar sword technique, yet she had been unable to remember where she had seen him. But now she did.

How could she forget his face? His gray eyes looked into her own with that same surprised curiosity and familiarity as she remembered. Only she hadn't been able to pin down that first time what the expressions were. Or where she had seen him before.

But she knew now.

"You!" she hissed, as she stared at him. "You're that bandit! And… and you're the one that trained Robert! What are you doing here?"

"Nathaniel," a voice rasped from behind the man. Tori side-stepped to see who the man was and felt that jolt deep in the pit of her stomach. As she stared at the wrinkled old man, who was so fragile and bent that it looked as if a light tap on the shoulder would knock him over, she felt that pull as if her soul was being sucked from her and Lee was taking her place with that same bone-chilling determination. Tori was once again being forced into the void with no knowledge as of how to get out on her own. And Derek wasn't there to save her.

She screamed loud and long as she looked into the man's gray eyes.

Derek stood disbelieving as the name washed over his ears. He knew that name. It brought back so many memories. Robert, in the tavern, with the girl, the argument, finding Robert dead in the alley with the retreating figure of the woman shadowed in the alley. But that couldn't be right. That couldn't be Tori…

But then he looked to her, standing beside him and heard her whisper the words that he had hoped wouldn't be there. The words that claimed she hadn't done it. He wanted to believe her. He would believe her, he knew it. If only she would tell him what really happened.

But so much of what she did made sense now. Everything in fact. He supposed he knew all her secrets now. Knew everything about her, all her sins, all her faults, even the fact that she could very likely have committed a murder. And still he found that he loved her. And he made himself believe that it was a love he would give a sister.

But then she was running from him, and she was scared. Of him. Of his reactions. Of what he'd do to her. Of the laws he'd be forced to uphold, even if it meant convicting her. And he didn't want that. He wanted her to trust him. Wanted her to love him too.

He chased her, one thought clear. He would catch her and offer his help to clear her name. How could he not? She couldn't possibly have done, there was no way. He had seen her face before, when she had spoken of Robert. She had looked so broken, so beaten, so utterly alone and sad. And he had seen her face when she spoke of Robert being hurt by bandits, which was surely an understatement, he had seen the heat in her eyes, the semi-truth that indeed it had been bandits, or possibly thieves. No, there was no way that she was guilty of murder. And he would see that everyone else believed it also.

He would protect her from slander, from harm, keep her safe until the truth was out and she wouldn't need his help any more. And she would love him for it. Like a brother of course, but still, love him. Yes, that was what he would do. He would keep her safe.

But seconds before he rounded the corner he heard her scream.

Panicking, he skidded around the corner and ran into her, as she stood stalk still, just around the corner. But something was wrong, something about her stance set him off. He turned her to face him, but it wasn't Tori that looked back at him.

"Get your hands off me pig!" the voice, a voice that wasn't Tori's but came from Tori's mouth. It was dark, husky, and so cold it made him shiver. No, this wasn't Tori. She would never have been capable of this ice. This was the voice of a woman jaded. "You dare touch your future queen?"

"Where's Tori?" he demanded gripping her arms hard. He was scared because he didn't understand what was happening, didn't understand how he could be looking at Tori's face, into her eyes, but seeing someone else, someone else entirely. Where was Tori? There was no place for her to go, no place she could have gone, and yet she was gone.

"That twit?" the woman asked with true venom, icy daggers that condemned so very easily. "She's—" but then her eyes did that vague, dead thing that had happened the night before, her body went slack. And then he was staring once again into Tori's eyes, scared and wild in shades of brilliant emerald green.

Tori launched herself at Derek as she had the night before and shuddered as she breathed deep in his smell. The smell that was unique to him and to her, in the way that it was able to comfort her. Without a thought to what had transpired between them only moments before, of the secrets that had so recently been revealed, she wrapped her arms around him and clung.

"You saved me, again," she whispered gripping onto the shirt at his back. She didn't want to turn, didn't want to face the two people that were behind her. They had made Lee come out. And Lee didn't play nice. She made her leave her body, made her float in that black, cold, utterly lonely void.

But with Derek there, to save her, she thought she could manage it. She grabbed his hand, clenching it tight and turned to the two men. Nathaniel was watching her with that same expression, if slightly jolted. That same, curious surprise, as if she wasn't what he had expected and he wanted to understand why that was.

The real test, though, was looking at the old man. As her eyes settled on the bent form, she felt the tug in her stomach, but that was it. It was as if, by holding Derek's hand, he was keeping Lee at bay. Tori wondered why that was so, but didn't question it. She only knew that Derek was saving her, and he wasn't pulling away, wasn't giving her accusing looks. She knew she'd have to explain everything to him, soon. But the bent old man was stepping towards her.

"It's you," he whispered, stopping beside his brother, and leaning against him. Tori could see the resemblance in their faces and knew that they were indeed brothers. Plus, the younger man was holding him up with gentleness only a brother could express without embarrassment.

Seeing the connection and the love between them made a cord in her heart shiver painfully. She had had that once, with Robert. But now it was gone, and she had to move on. She pushed the thoughts away and listened because the old man was speaking once more, and she felt an urgency to listen to what he had to say.

"I've seen you so many times, in my visions. But to see you for real, it makes me so content, so whole. Come child, come and allow me to look closer. My eyes, they aren't what they used to be," he whispered and his voice rasped.

Maintaining the grip on Derek's hand, more for comfort now then for security, Tori walked slowly to the man. She could see his eyes, gray just like his brother's. But his eyes were foggy, clouded with something and she knew that soon he would be blind completely. She felt sadness in her heart, because she could feel this man. He was innocent of so many things, and so pure and sweet it made her want to weep. He didn't deserve to have something so precious as the simple ability to see things, things that could be so beautiful, taken from him.

Unconsciously, her free hand rose and smoothed itself across his cheek. She gasped in surprise at the sensation that tingled along her skin pleasantly and yet, ever so sadly at the same time, and felt herself sucked into another vision, only this one was different. This one was about the man before her.

A/N Well... there it was. And yes, I know, I'm evil. Another cliffhanger. So... you'll just have to keep reading to find out what happens next. A head's up though, the next chapter will be nearly all vision form, with very slight breaks. And I have a pretty strong feeling that it will be sad. So... yeah. Hope you liked this chapter. Review me!

Nubia