Thank you to all of my lovely reviewers, for whom I decided to post this early. Enjoy!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aleia looked stunning. Her dress was sapphire blue, with shimmering aqua beads strung about it in swirling patterns. Her necklace and earrings matched it, all accentuating her blue eyes. Her hair was curled to perfection, and her diamond circlet lay in place. She was the picture of beauty.

She gracefully made her way down the stairs into the ballroom. The king and queen had already come; she was last due to it being her birthday. There were many people and all eyes were fixed on her. When she got to the end of the stairs, she curtsied. Then the musicians started to play and the people started to move about, conversing with one another.

"Darling, you look so beautiful," the queen said, her eyes shining.

Aleia smiled. "Thank you."

Then the king came over. "Daughter, you are lovely," he said. She could tell he meant it, too, but there seemed to be something the matter. He looked very troubled.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"What? Oh. No, nothing. Let me have this dance, Daughter, before the night is over."

Aleia nodded and he led her to the dance floor, where they waltzed together.

The king's eyes showed so much love and affection, that Aleia thought perhaps she had misjudged some of his actions before. But there was also a deep sorrow that she could not understand.

When the dance with her father was over, Aleia went to converse with the peasants. She wanted to be sure that they felt welcome. Most of them were looking quite lost, gaping at all the finery. They were all incredibly kind to her, much more so than the courtiers.

She was having a good time, much better than she had ever had at a ball before, and thinking that perhaps she wouldn't die tonight after all, when she noticed Duke Conrad Kevar. He walked over to her.

"Well, Princess, are you enjoying your party?"

"Yes," she said simply.

"Good. You should while you still can. Now, Princess, may I have this dance?" he asked after a moment.

She frowned, but gave in, since they were in public. He pulled her to the dance floor, almost violently. She didn't like the way he danced. His grip was too tight on her hand, and he kept a most controlling hand on her back. He stared at her with a rather frightening look in his eyes.

"I'm surprised you even have the nerve to speak to me, Duke, after what you've done," she said.

He raised his eyebrows. "What I've done? Shouldn't you be blaming someone else? Someone who's name starts with an M and ends with an A?"

"If you know anything about Morwenna, you're going to tell me now!"

He laughed. "You wouldn't know the difference, whether I did or not."

"That's what you think."

He smiled. "It's almost a pity that you have to die. You're very pretty," he said, his eyes going over her once, before returning to her face. "But, sacrifices must be made."

"If we weren't in public, I'd knock you out right now," Aleia said.

The duke gave another laugh. "If we weren't in public...but never mind that, you wouldn't want to know."

Aleia raised her eyebrow and remained silent. She was very happy when the dance was over and she could leave him. Aleia was just going over to get a glass of punch, when she noticed Raoul and Josh standing at the door the open door leading to the courtyard. They beckoned for her to come to them. She glanced around, then swiftly made her way towards them.

"What is it?" she asked.

Raoul held up a letter. "This was brought to us, just after the ball started."

It was a note, another riddle. Aleia looked around.

"Alright, let's go to the courtyard and look at it. I can't stay for long, though," she said.

They walked out and over towards one of the lamp posts so that they could read the note. It went—

No la, can never let.

Aleia frowned. "What? I'm afraid I don't understand it."

"I'm with you, Sis," Josh said.

They looked at Raoul. "Well, the first word, no, could be the other kind of know."

"That makes even less sense," Josh said.

Aleia looked at it, thinking. "I've got it!" she said. "It says, Know all, can never tell."

Josh looked at her. "And how did you get that?"

"Raoul is right the first word is know as in knowing something. All and tell were both written backwards with the last l taken off so that they looked like different words."

"I...see," Josh said.

"But we need to know what they're talking about," Raoul said.

"Someone knowing something but not being able to tell," Josh said.

"Really, Josh? What made you think so?" Aleia said sarcastically.

He grinned. "I'm just smart like that."

"But what can't they tell? And why?" Raoul asked.

"Maybe it has something to do with the first note," Aleia said. "Maybe that was one of the two spells."

"Maybe. That still doesn't tell us what the person can't tell," Raoul said.

"I know, but I need to get back to the ball, before someone misses me."

"But I'll miss you when you go back there, Aleia," Josh said.

"That's not what I meant," she said smiling.

"Of course. Go," Raoul said.

Aleia nodded and returned to the ballroom. It didn't appear that anyone had noticed her disappearance yet. A few gentleman asked her dance, and she accepted. After a few dances, she started to get very hot and a little dizzy. Probably due to the large amount of people in the room. She got a drink. It helped a little, but not much. She decided to go to her room to retrieve her fan.

She met her father in the hallway.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"To get my fan. It's horribly hot in the ballroom."

He nodded his approval.

"Where were you coming from?" she asked him.

"Getting some fresh air, myself," he said.

She frowned slightly. "Why didn't you go to the door leading to the courtyard, then?"

He shrugged. "I went to the balcony off of my apartments instead."

She nodded and continued on her way to her room. She found her fan on her dresser top. She picked it up. There was a white slip of paper underneath it. Frowning, she turned it over. Another riddle. She clambered out of her room and down some stairs, going the other direction to the courtyard. She hoped that Raoul and Josh would still be there. They were in the same spot, still going over the note.

"Raoul! Josh!"

They looked at her.

"Aleia? What is it?" Raoul asked.

"This was in my room," she showed them the note, holding up to the light. It said—

Steer clear of circles, or hear the sad tale of Sir Inj.

"Umm..." Josh started.

Raoul just shook his head.

"I have no idea," Aleia said. "There doesn't seem to be any word plays in it. Well, there's tale, but it doesn't make any more sense with the other sort of tail."

"Aleia!" the queen was calling into the courtyard.

"I have to go. Come to the door and find me if you can get anything else out of this," Aleia said.

Raoul and Josh nodded and she walked swiftly back to the ballroom.

"Where have you been?" Queen Lydia asked. "This is your party, you're supposed to be enjoying it, not hiding in the courtyard!"

Aleia smiled. "I know, I just had...things to do."

The queen shook her head, but still smiled. "Well, there are still plenty of young gentlemen who deserve a dance from you. They've been waiting very patiently."

"Of course."

Aleia was soon whisked away by several Counts and Dukes wishing to dance. She was forced to dance nearly ten songs in a row, it seemed. She was very tired and begged to be excused.

She noticed King Ardahn surveying a group of peasants. He seemed very intent on them. She glided over to him.

"What are you doing, Father?" she asked.

The king jumped. "I'm—just—looking at my people," he said.

Aleia nodded and looked at them as well. A group of children were playing on the floor, they're mothers were sitting on some chairs, telling them to be careful not to break anything. After a few minutes she turned away to find something else to occupy her attention. Something like, perhaps, sitting in a chair.

However, it was not to be. She noticed someone in black, sneaking around. Aleia took a few steps closer and was shocked to realize it was the sorcerer-assassin. He glanced at her and started to walk away, out to the courtyard. She followed him, but was slower, getting delayed by having to squeeze through many people. When she finally got to the courtyard, he was nowhere to be seen. Neither were Josh and Raoul. She hoped that they had gone after the man, but she could not be sure of it. She wanted to investigate more when she felt someone pulling on her skirt. She turned around. It was a little girl.

"Ma'am," she said, "my mother wanted you to have this," she said, holding out a sparkling ring.

"Oh, no, I couldn't take it from you," Aleia said. "Use it to buy something for yourself."

"No, you must take it," the girl said.

"I refuse," Aleia said, a bit impatiently. She wanted to find the sorcerer-assassin, and the girl was delaying her.

"Please," the girl said, "we want you to have it!"

"Fine," Aleia said, taking the ring and pushing it on her finger. She felt the pull instantly. Perhaps it was some sort of magic, but the closest thing she could relate it to was a magnet. It pulled her, hand first, out the door. It was all she could do to keep from letting it drag her. It pulled her through the courtyard, to the other side, through some hallways, to a room she'd never seen before.

In the room was a spinning wheel. And the ring seemed to be magnetically attracted to the needle. Upon seeing the spinning wheel, Aleia brought up her leg and kicked it to the floor, determined not to touch it. The pull on the ring loosened then disappeared altogether. She breathed a sigh of relief, but it was not to be won so easily.

Someone entered the room. It was the sorcerer-assassin, but it quickly faded into a woman with black hair. Aleia didn't have to wonder who it was. Morwenna.

"You think you've beat me, Girl?" she said in a smooth voice.

"Morwenna."

"Aye."

"You're not going to kill me," Aleia said firmly.

"I'm not? Do you even know why I want to?"

Aleia slowly shook her head.

Morwenna shook her head. "That's what I thought. Your father knows why, and knew all of my plans, though he could never talk of it, and never do anything about it. I made sure of that."

Aleia kept an eye on Morwenna, and an eye on the spinning wheel, almost as if she expected the needle to jump up and prick her.

Morwenna walked over and knelt down by the spinning wheel. She moved around some of the wooden pieces that had come crashing down and finally picked up part of it out of the rubble.

"This is the needle from the spinning wheel," she said.

Aleia looked at it. The needle was attached to a bottle that had some sort of liquid in it. It was a makeshift syringe of sorts. Morwenna lunged at her. Aleia pushed her back and punched her hard. They struggled, Aleia would have gotten the better of her, but Morwenna didn't need Aleia to hold still to stab her with the syringe. Aleia felt the sharp, quick prick of the needle. She jutted her elbow into Morwenna's stomach, sending her reeling backwards, but it was too late. The liquid had already gotten into Aleia's bloodstream. Not all of it, though. The bottle had hit the floor and broken into pieces, the rest of the liquid had spilling on the floor. Aleia felt incredibly sick.

Raoul and the king walked through the door quickly. Aleia was on the verge of collapsing. Morwenna looked defiant.

"Revenge, brother," was one of the last things Aleia heard. Morwenna said it.

She was beginning to put the pieces together, and the riddles, she understood them now. The king had written them, in an attempt to get her to understand how she could save her own life.

Fynde clooze.

Two misspelled words. It meant the two spells, that had been made at the celebration of her birth. One on her and one on her father. Hers: to die on her twenty-first birthday, and his: to know of how Morwenna was going to do everything but not be able to tell anyone or stop her.

Two children, one rule. Half a carnival, with ease.

The children were her father and Morwenna, brother and sister. They were both half-fairies, she assumed.

From insect, to goat, to beggar, to courtier, to child, to lady.

It was a warning that Morwenna was a shape-shifter. She was both the sorcerer-assassin and the little girl.

No la, can never let.

The king knew all that was going on, but he couldn't talk about it.

Steer clear of circles, or hear the sad tale of Sir Inj.

She shouldn't have taken the ring, it was the circled mentioned, that led her to the syringe, which was what was killing her now. The one thing she didn't understand was why. Morwenna was her aunt, her father's sister, why would she want to kill her?

Aleia sunk to the floor. The world went black.