A/N: Ahhh, I finished this chapter a while back but I've been trying to get ahead so that I could go back and post them once a week again. -_- It hasn't been working so I apologize and hope that there are still some readers out there!

Enjoy!

Chapter 20: Betrayal of Two Kinds

The next evening:

There were two people Damien could handle for long periods of time. That is not to say they never annoyed or frustrated him, gods knew they did, but they were the two people who he was willing to put up with. Even with his undying love and patience for them, at times he craved isolation. Lana and Vincent knew him well enough to let him have it.

The stables were not so silent or relaxing as, say, his mother's gardens but it was better than nothing. Sky didn't mind sharing a stall either.

Sky had fallen asleep some time ago. Other mounts whinnied, sighed and stomped every now and then. People came and went with their own conversations. Damien would have preferred silence but he would settle for the simplicity of being alone.

Just as he thought that the stall door opened. Damien looked up slowly, menacingly so that anyone might see how he felt about being disturbed. He met with dark, uncaring eyes.

Rije stepped through the threshold, closed the stall door behind her and took a seat near Damien. Sky opened one eye. She resettled her hooves and closed it again.

For long moments Damien waited for her to say something. It didn't really matter that she hardly ever talked, he still expected it. Minutes ticked on and she remained silent. Well, he thought, As long as she isn't a bother.

It wasn't often that two people could sit together and not speak comfortably. Silence was always undervalued. Human's constant need for noise, communication, something, leaves silence feeling empty and awkward instead of relieving.

Damien closed his eyes, releasing a sigh. The hush lulled him into a trance of unreasonable comfort. Sounds of movement and speech drifted farther and farther away. His breathing deepened. At some level he even forgot that Rije was beside him.

Her silence and unobtrusive presence was disarming.

Two cool fingers rested on the back of his neck.

In the span of one heartbeat his eyes shot open and he had just enough time to realize something was wrong, he'd been wrong, they had all been wrong.

She gave him no final words before his sight went black.

"Have you seen Damien?" Lana asked Vincent who shrugged in response. "I haven't seen him walking around in a while. I checked his room, too."

Vincent's brows slowly came to a furrow. "I know he likes his alone time but he usually..."

He let the sentence drift off. Damien usually didn't tell them where he went or how long he'd be out. His leaves ranged from a few hours to nearly all day. He had come back late in the night before. For such a stoic, steady guy his absences were rather sporadic. Now, this was all fine and dandy at the palace. There was almost zero worry about where he was. Normally, there would be very little need for worry at all since he, of the three, could defend himself the best.

Yet, indescribably, Lana and Vincent knew something was off here.

Vincent stood, an irregular stern look on his face. They didn't need to say what they would have to say to others. "I know its crazy but..." or "I just have this bad feeling". They both understood.

Lana looked to Zain who was sitting on a chair by the window. He was lit up orange by the fading light of the setting sun. Shadows fell from his nose, around his eyes and into the deep groove of his dimple which was sparked by the grim set of his mouth. His black eyes seemed to be staring at something and the look on his face said he knew unpleasantness hung in the air. After a moment he stood.

"I will go too."

"Oh, Zain, you don't need to. I'm sure he's fine and we're making a mountain out of a molehill." Even as she said it she knew she didn't believe it.

Zain shook his head.

A thought came suddenly to Lana. "Zain, do you know where he is?"

The man sighed and Lana thought she heard him mutter, "It won't matter."

The setting sun lent very little light to the sky as they walked out of the small lodgings. Dusk approached carrying a sinister edge and the eerie silence of the evening raised goosebumps on Lana's arm. She released a shaky sigh. Zain moved up beside her, the line of his arm barely touching hers.

As if set off by some cue the presence at the back of her mind became aware. It opened curiously excited eyes to peer out from Lana to watch and to wait.

Screams pierced the air.

For the second time in weeks Arra woke up screaming. The scream was dry and hoarse but it tore her throat all the same. Heart racing and breath frantic she fought for a whiff of the dream but couldn't put together the scraps in any understandable way. Fear, though, a fear she recognized, that remained vividly.

To her left Liam slept on peacefully. She was glad, at least, that he hadn't taken his rest from him. In his sleep, a small frown formed between his brows. She brushed her lips over it softly and the furrows smoothed. Arra slipped out of bed carefully before one of his long arms could snake around her and found a mirror.

The oval reflected back her solemn face. Instead of taking in her appearance she just stared. Eventually, she touched the mirror with two glowing fingers until the mirror glowed blue to match. Arra concentrated on what she wanted to see. And like every other time she had tried her magic reached out, hit a wall, and the mirror showed her only an opaque cover.

This was what she hadn't been telling Liam. Someone or something was blocking her from seeing Lana. It was possible that Lana herself was doing it but the complexity and complete cover she had was ... beyond what she'd ever learned. Whatever it was was even broad enough to cloud Vincent and Damien. What would Liam--

"Find out anything?"

Arra spun to face Liam. He was laying on the edge of the bed with his head resting against an arm and the other arm reaching to the back of his head. His hazel eyes were very awake even though his body language suggested a lazier attitude.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Arra gave up on the scrying and went back to the bed. She stood beside it for long moments.

"I can always tell when your doing magic, especially when you're so close."

Arra didn't answer but climbed back onto the bed and repositioned Liam who had managed to sprawl on her side of the bed and showed no signs of moving. They ended up with Arra sitting with her back against the backboard and Liam's head resting on her lap. His fingers were still touching the back of his head. He let her fingers take the place of his and she proceeded to rake them through his thick hair, across his scalp.

It had taken her a while to be comfortable talking about the old wound at the back of his head. Months and months after the fact, she'd still shied away from anything coming close to hurting him. Some would have described her as timid when it came to Liam those first few months. But she had just been so scared and so guilty and so happy he was alive. Liam had done good dealing with her but even he had a limit.

The queen of Karucia smiled remembering. She really hadn't understood how he couldn't be mad that she had wounded him. That he would always carry the effects of something she had done to him. Liam brushed all of it off. He was good at giving her space and time but she also appreciated him immensely for interfering and pushing her when it came to that. Eventually, her king eased her into touchy conversations.

He said it didn't really hurt, so much as tingling at the back of his head. It had taken him a while to realize what it was.

"What are you thinking?" Liam's breathing resembled that of a sleeper's so closely she'd fallen for it.

"Just wondering why you put up with me."

"Well, they wouldn't let me keep the throne otherwise," Liam answered promptly.

"Oh, my heart!" Arra exaggerated.

Liam lifted his arms above his stationary head and wrapped them around Arra's waist. "If you don't know by now that I love you more than is even conceivable then I don't know what else to do but continue to love you."

"Liam," Arra breathed hugging him to her. "I love you, too."

She saw his smile.

"And after over twenty years of loving you I won't be deterred from answers," There was his iron resolve. Not many recognized exactly how firm he was when he made a decision. They assumed, because they went about it in different ways, that she was the stubborn one and he was the flexible one. It was true that he was more willing to bend but when it came to something he wanted, he would get it. "So, what is it? Did you find anything?"

"I...Haven't even been able to catch a glimmer of them." Arra admitted. "They are being blocked from me completely."

Liam stared at her for long moments. She saw him swallow twice before even attempting speech. "Arra..."

"I didn't want to say anything!" She cut in, "You already wanted to go and take them back and I thought at some point I'd be able to sense them. I..I just couldn't..."

He sat up slowly, then stood. He covered his mouth with his hand, eyes moving back and forth over intangible thoughts. Finally he stopped back where she was and took her face into his hands. Arra thought he meant to kiss her but he held her face firmly where it was and gazed directly into her eyes. "They are my children, too. I love them and I worry about them. Why would you keep something like this from me? Arra, if you are trying to have them live and do what you wish you could I...I can't...I don't even know where to begin."

Arra knew she had gone too far if Liam was this flustered. Was she letting them live out this fantasy because it was something she still wanted? Perhaps.

"I do my best for you. I do. I let you do what you think you should around here because I know you become restless but, damn it, I feel like you are just slipping from me."

She tried to shake her head but Liam's hands remained firm. She covered his hands with her own. "Liam, no, I love you. I need you."

"Maybe I stayed silent about this for too long." He paused and let her go. "Please, don't keep them from me. I need to know what you know—and what you don't."

Liam walked to the bathroom.

Arra released a shaky sigh. She had been hoping a time would come where Emereth would be able to take the thrown and she could...leave. It was a pipe-dream at best but she had honestly almost believed it. And she knew that's what Liam was talking about. He was raised a prince. A thought like that would never occur to him, not really.

Using a technique that had taken her years to perfect, she pushed if from her mind. The triplets. She feared for them. Something in her gut told her that a menacing force was with them, covering them, following them. What could she do? What could she possibly do? Oh, her children.

Vincent ran ahead of them. It wasn't hard to get the lead since Lana had gone back for the milk-blade sword as well as kept a good hold of Zain.

"Where are we going?" Lana yelled ahead. Movement around them made it hard to tell if he heard her or not. The Yamani people controlled their emotions well as they fled but fear was only too apparent. Majority seemed to be heading to the port. Lana clenched Zain's hand hard in her worry. As if it triggered a response Zain stopped, careening Lana to a stop facing the opposite direction.

"Zain, what? What is it?"

"This way, Damien is this way."

"You knew?" Lana was torn. Had he known? This whole time had he known this would happen and said nothing? But her heart beat faster for Damien, fear rising into her throat making it impossible to stick to this shock. "Lead the way."

There was no time to call Vincent back. He would be safe. She had to believe that. Please, Lana sent the prayer up to any deity listening, please don't let me be trading one brother for another. Or lose both.

An unnaturally black form moved. A shadow that Lana might have been able to ignore if her spine had not turned to ice. Despite the need to continue running, to keep moving towards Damien, she stopped.

"Zain do you feel that?" Lana's eyes searched frantically. She pulled out the milky blade and wielded it as best she could with one hand in preparation. Her honed fighting instincts were in high gear. Her brain was splintered into so many different voices. One part shouting to save Damien another saying that it had been another fleeing Yamani yet she was listening to the part that was telling her that there was something wrong.

"I know," He whispered. Next thing she knew he had pulled her off the street and into the nearest door.

It was something like a supply closet. He held her very close, so close in fact that she could hear the rapid beat of his heart.

Zain closed his eyes tight for just one moment and felt it. She was there in his arms, pressed against his chest. Her heart and breathing were fast. He bent just a fraction and subtly buried his face close to hers. She even smelled sweet.

His heart ached a bit at this particular vision coming to be. A small, stupid part of him had hoped that her heightened pulse and breath would be for him. That she would clutch him in return instead of holding on to him for fear. He opened his eyes but the vision continued to stick. He had made this decision thinking, foolishly, of another scene.

And yet he also had known and still hoped otherwise.

Lana tried to ignore the sound of his breathing, the smell of him, the firmness under her hands. Instead she focused her ears beyond the door that Zain had pulled closed behind them.

Eerily slow steps thudded oddly. Even the screams had stopped. All stood stagnant. Zain's arms tightened around her a fraction as if knowing that she ached to peek out that door and confront whatever it was making its too slow path through the city.

Lana pulled away the slightest bit, lulled by the silence. Immediately, Zain's hand at the back of her head pulled her to him again. The suddenness had her alert again.

His voice was the barest whisper of sound, "Shhh, they're still there."

It was a bad time, she thought, to notice that she didn't mind being pressed against him.

The weight of him was so solid.

"I think they've passed," He all but mouthed into her ear. She wasn't expecting the movement of air and warmth around her ear to send shivers down her spine.

Lana had not realized just how far she had run following Vincent until she realized how long it took Zain to lead her back. "Zain, what are we doing here? We need to be looking for Damien!"

The eeriness had not left her bones sending her voice into nothing more than a whisper. Zain did not respond but rather continued to pull her along. He was so completely sure that she could do nothing but follow.

The stable was a mess. Most horses had fled, kicking down their stall doors in the process leaving bits of wood and a flurry of hay everywhere. Harnesses were thrown and tack that had been hung up was lying where it did not belong. Of course, Lana was proud to find three horses had remained despite the chaos. Their eyes were wide and crazed but they had stayed. Sky was prancing in the stall. For all the crazed look in her eye her movements were hesitant and careful. She was whuffing and making odd distressed sound.

Flash and Moonbeam, the only other mounts left which Lana completely attributed to Karucian training, were feeding off of her mood.

"Sky, girl, what's the matter?" Lana went in attempt to calm the mare with words and hands. She turned to Zain. "Why would you bring me here?"

"Look in her stall," there was a hesitation in his voice, an expectant pain. It reminded Lana of someone anticipating abuse or ridicule. It was this, too, his matching tone that a healer gives the family when there is bad news that made Lana dread what she would see upon looking.

"Damien!" She shrieked. Lana threw the stall door open. "No, no, no...."

A/N: Alright, please, please, please review. I miss them a lot! I realize I don't really deserve them at this point but I promise you they really DO spur me to write and post up chapters. PLUS I know I left you guys on a bit of a cliffhanger. Eh eh? I hope some of you are still out there!

Please review!