A/N: Wow. You know what I just realized? No, nevermind if I tell you guys that...well lets just say you'll be very, very mad. So! Forgive me, read and enjoy! Even though the last chapter was an interlude this one starts where chapter 13 left off. Because its my fault you probably forgot what happened in that chapter I put the end of the last one at the beginning of this one. Okay, there you go.

Chapter 15: Innocence of the Child

For a moment, Lana was scared as to what he might ask. She quickly threw that specific fear away. It wasn't right to assume and Zain didn't seem the kind of person to ask that of her. "What is it? I have to know before I agree."

"I seem to need a new guard. Will you and your brothers be my new guide?" Lana was ready to say, yes of course but Zain didn't let her just yet. "You must know what the job entails. When my blindness comes you will have to lead me, guide me. And when it is not there you must stay with me and wait."

She licked her lips, not liking that his tone implied something worse to come. "Wait for what?"

"Wait until I have another attack, another vision, and when I do I'll need you to wound me." His voice had dropped and dropped until he was whispering. It didn't seem like he whispered because what he was asking was horrifying to him but because, it seemed, he feared how horrendous it would seem to her.

"Zain I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to let anyone hurt you."

Zain smiled. So she wanted to protect him? Would she protect him from everything? It was a sweet thought. It spoke of a precious innocence. It was something that made his smile drop. How could he ask this of her? It might not be something that would tear away her innocence but it would chip at it.

Her voice was sweet. It wasn't something that was thick and sweet like honey. Something pure and light. With those words he could almost, just almost, see her eyes shining at him. It was something that made him feel warm. As if he could huddle around her like one would around a fire on a cold night and she would be keep him alive.

He put a hand on his face. Gods, this was wrong. So wrong. Simply being around him would ruin her. Break her. He knew that as surely as the sky was above and the land below.

Zain felt slender calloused hands on his each side of his jaw.

"Don't sink into yourself like that." She chuckled lightly. "My mother always told me it's unhealthy to stay inside your head. Which is odd because I'm pretty sure she does it a lot. Well, maybe that just proves she knows what she's talking about..."

Zain smiled. It wasn't the best of smiles because he still held on to his pain but Lana loved seeing it.

"You seem to be following your mother's advice very closely."

Was that...? Lana couldn't stop her grin. "Is that a sense of humor I'm seeing?"

She stood from her position on the edge of the bed and stretched. "I'm hungry. I've been too worried about you to eat until now. You'll probably need something, too." Without a second thought she bent back down and grabbed his hand and turned away as if she would pull him from the bed. He didn't budge but he did give her hand a squeeze.

Lana stopped. "Oh, you want me to bring you food? That's alright then. I should have thought of that myself."

"It's not that." Lana gave her hand an experimental tug but Zain didn't let go. She laughed a little nervously.

"Zain," Her voice was gently chiding. "if you aren't hungry I still am so if you would..."

He wanted to keep her there because there was unfinished business but he didn't. He let her fingers slip away and could practically feel the relief coming off of her. She knew. She was avoiding details she thought were insignificant now. Or maybe she thought she could fix him, help him like he didn't know what he was doing to himself.

Zain flopped back onto the bed and threw his arm over his face. So when exactly would be a good time to make her, maybe them, understand? It's not like she was making it easy either.

"You know," Vincent began. Damien waited but it didn't seem his brother was going to continue.

"Well?" Damien finally prodded with just a touch of annoyance.

"Hm? What? Oh, right." Vincent said coming back to himself with a little chuckle. "I was just thinking maybe this Zain fellow is a lot trickier than we thought. I mean, he does have our sister all to himself in that room right now."

Damien didn't say a word. A dark look came over his face and he rose from his seat. Vincent pulled him back into his seat with a laugh. "I don't mean it, honest. Well, half. I don't mean it fully. Oh come on, he's blind and hurt. What's he going to do to her?"

Damien set his jaw and didn't say anything but he didn't move either. He couldn't say in words what he knew in his head. Perhaps Zain couldn't hurt her body but Lana had always been soft. In some ways it seemed like nothing could get through that part of her like her ignorance or innocence (and it was sometimes considered blatant stupidity from time to time). But Zain seemed just the type to be able to get through.

He was...

Lana was...

The words didn't come to him and he couldn't finish his sentence and since he couldn't finish the thought he found no reason why he should try to convey it to Vincent. Vincent would probably neither care nor understand. Even as the thought crossed his mind he saw Vincent's eyes wandering to a maid here and there.

Sixteen, but Vincent had just enough charm or something else that the maid probably couldn't help but look back. This of course brought smile to Vincent's face and Damien knew that whatever deep moment his brother might have had was lost for another time.

Lana avoided going back to the room for the rest of the day. She had told herself that she needed to think. And yet by day's end she couldn't remember the thoughts that had passed her by. Surely she'd had them but she couldn't remember them.

She walked back into the room, her room, glad to find Zain asleep. She sat on the floor and pulled one of her packs to her. she opened it up and stared at what she found. Even in the dark the blade seemed to almost glow pale like the moon. She stared at it and sighed.

Would Zain still be able to help her like he had promised when they had first met?

Immediately, Lana filled with shame. How could she think that? He was going through a lot right now. Looking down at the sword she couldn't help but lick her lips in excitement. The sword looked so plain, so smooth and yet something about it screamed exotic and otherworldly.

Her hand literally itched to touch it. She wanted to grab the hilt hold it tight and swing it into flesh. The blood would look nice contrasting the white of the sword...

Her hand had been inches away from the sword before she pulled it back, the image too strong. Somehow she knew it was not her thought. She also knew it wasn't the sword compelling her to want that, to feel that. Her breathing was deep, her heart thumped loud and her eyes were wide. She took joy in the art of fighting but never, never the killing.

"Sorry."

The word floated into her thoughts like cobwebs on the wind. Exhaustion, sudden and momentary, came over her. She knew it was Uncle sending her the sensation like a question.

"Sleep." The word came even more bare than before. It was more like the wind the cobweb was carried on. "Sleep so I may talk more easily w--i---th...you."

She was still shaken from the joy she had felt in her very bones at the thought of blood and flesh. For the first time since she had stared at her own hand in horror because it had moved independently from her, she was afraid. Why hadn't she told Vincent or Damien?

Lana licked her lips but this time because of her fear, not excitement. Would the believe her? Of course they would, they would understand. They would know if she lied or not. They would see how serious she was. So why hadn't she told them before now? The servants had told her stories of people who had heard voices. They were--

"Those people were crazy or cursed. You are not. Please. Sleep. Let me talk with you. Explain..."

She was tired. Sleep sounded good. But where would she sleep? Zain was in her bed. Damien and Vincent were already asleep by then and they cherished their sleep more than Lana so she didn't want to wake them.

Her eyes crept slowly away from the sword in front of her to the bed beside her. The bed was not so narrow as some of the ones she'd seen at other inns...

She shook her head. What was she thinking? Were those her thoughts? She rubbed her temples. Maybe the security and comfort of a bed was just that alluring. Lana wrapped the sword back up, careful not to touch it though she wanted to, and left the room. She walked upstairs and a few doors down where Damien and Vincent were sleeping. She unlocked the door with just a little bit of magic.

Damien jerked awake.

"Shh. Go to sleep, Damien." He gave grunt. She saw a dark shadow she thought was his head bob up and down then flop back down on the pillow. Vincent didn't move an inch.

Lana decided to bunk with Vincent. Damien had more bulk on him where Vincent was a bit thinner and besides Damien was a cover hog. She climbed in with him. He woke with one deep breath through his nose.

"Wha'?" That seemed to be as much as he was going to get out.

He had two pillows under his head. She pulled the bottom one out and and his head fell, still cushioned on the other pillow. "Go to sleep."

He groaned and rolled over, his questioned answered in its own way. He pulled some of the cover out from under his body and threw it over her. It was extremely warm. So much so that she had to bare one leg out of it. It was nice though. Almost like being home again. She felt oddly safe so far away from home. The only thing missing was Damien on her other side.

Memories of the three of them bunking together in the middle of the night ran through her mind just before she fell asleep. All of them had been together since the crib. Literally. They hadn't slept peacefully as newborns until they were together. How could one sleep with out pieces of themselves? Then, when they'd grown older and they had still wanted the closeness of each other. Their mother had given them one of the largest rooms so they could put three beds in it but they would only use one of the three beds. People began to suggest that this wasn't healthy for the children. They would grow up much too dependent on each other. This might be okay for commoners but they were royal. They couldn't spend their whole lives in one area. Royals married and moved away and if they still had such a connection it would be devastating.

Arra hadn't wanted that. She'd put them in separate rooms and demanded that they slept in their own beds.

Lana smiled from her memories. The three of them were one and nobody had understood that, not really. They understood it of course but there were still things they didn't bother to decipher because they couldn't and they didn't care to. They accepted it. Like how they didn't need to say anything to know which of the three rooms they would end up in that night.

Thinking about it now, Lana thought her mother might have known. Probably knew.

As they grew a bit older, the rumors started. People whispered at the incest that went on behind the royal walls. It was even more disgusting because they were triplets, they had come from the womb all at once. They whispered and it was just more proof that no one understood the bond they shared. How could they assume such things between the three of them? They needed to touch each other, be near each other because, well, they were one and the same.

Not even a pair of twins could fully understand. Their soul had only been split not separated into three different pieces. It was easier to live with a half a soul versus a third of one.

Tears came to her eyes and she buried her face in the pillow. She'd gone from happy to sad. No one would ever understand.

Another warm body slid in next to Lana pushing her into Vincent's back.

"Go to sleep." Damien said roughly.

"Okay." She whispered.

She hadn't fully realized it but she'd needed him there. She had needed to have home on both sides of her before sleep would come. As the first wash of sleep came over her her fear from before dug deep into her gut and slowly very slowly it loosened and drifted away. For the life of her she couldn't remember why she'd been scared in the first place.

The presence in her mind was unmistakable.

Green eyes. That was always the image in her head. Whether there was any other part of his body or not, they eyes were always there. Watching. Seeing. Knowing.

With his voice, his body appeared. "You have been through a lot today."

"Yes."

For the first time since he'd first visited her in her dreams she saw some emotion pass over his features. For a moment he seemed more real, not just a figment of her imagination, not that she'd ever thought that. His green, green eyes shifted to look at both of her hazel ones and there was something like unease about them.

The next words out of his mouth seemed to surprise even him, "How is your mother?"

When Lana woke the next morning the rest of the dream drifted away. She laid there for long moments grasping at wisps of it but none of it came back to her. Odd, very odd... Usually the dreams of Uncle stick to her memory almost cruelly. It bothered her that this one did not.

"Secrets to tell you..." The spider-web of a voice came to her. "They will come."

A/N: Uh, wow, short but I promise I'm building up to something. Something...big. I just hope it all comes out right. Writers...--shakes head and tuts--we are the slaves to inspiration and muses! How horrible! Haha.

Do I dare?

Sure, why not? How much can it hurt?

Please REVEIW!!