Eva POV

I didn't understand why Tiana, that sorceress, had to stand in my way to Evan. He was obviously the one for me since our names practically matched. She didn't react when I'd put my arm in his, so why was she reacting now? Of all times, she had to pick my birthday to counter my moves. My birthday.

But even if Julian wasn't Evan I still had a wonderful time with him. He'd asked if he could visit me in my chambers while we were dancing. If tonight was any other night I would've said yes. But tonight was something that happened once a month. The Wicked Witch of the East comes to visit.

Everyone thought she'd been crushed underneath a house but in truth she been brought back to her former glory. No one knew but me. Evanora came once a month to teach me what she knew. She said that eventually I'd become a wicked woman, but of beauty that surpassed all. This didn't bug me. I knew what I wanted, that was power, only Evanora could give me the power that I sought.

I heard a tap on my chamber window, I ran to it and said, "Come in, Evanora, I'm ready for tonight's lesson."

Tiana POV

As soon as Evan left to go to his chambers, I ran to my mother's. She'd understand what was going on, she always did. When I was a little girl, my Quadling caretaker had said that my mother was only beautiful when I was holding her hand. I hadn't understood that until my mother said that I saw everyone for who they truely were, not for their appearances.

Mother might explain why Evan's eyes were brown to me, but hazel to everyone else. Why was that? He had said to me twice that his eyes were hazel, but I saw pools of chocolate brown in the hot air balloon and at the castle.

I stopped outside of Eva's room when I heard an unfamiliar voice say, "And here's how you can make the very storms do what you want."

It sounded like child's play to me, that is until Eva replied, "How's this, Evanora?" I didn't wait for the reply, I was running down the hall toward my father's chambers. He was about to go in when I called to him.

"What is it, Tiana?" he asked nervously.

I was breathing hard, but I managed to get out, "Eva...I heard her...talking to an...Evanora."

My father's eyes widened, he started to quietly walk down the hall to Eva's room. I watched him wait outside of her room for a few minutes before coming back. His face was a sickly pale, his hands shook and his eyes were wide with fright.

"Tiana, go back to what you were doing before, make no mention of this to your mother, Glenda, or anyone else. We'll convene a meeting tomorrow," he said quickly. He stopped long enough to get my nod before walking into his room.

When his door shut I began walking to my mother's room. I could hear her sleeping, so I left for my own chambers deciding to leave it for tomorrow.

It was dark in my room, but I could hear someone's breathing besides my own. I cautiously turned on a light, pretending I hadn't heard their heavy breathing. Then there was a gag on my mouth, it smelled sweet, but I fought to get it off. I held my breath as I struggled to get free.

"Calm down, Tiana, I just didn't want you to scream," I didn't recognize the voice that spoke. "I need to talk to you." The cloth was taken off my mouth, my knees buckled and I fell to the floor gasping. Nevertheless, I turned to see who had assaulted me.

He stepped out of the shadows, Julian. My heart beat faster as I scooted away from him, I was still having trouble breathing. He just smiled and continued toward me.

I was about to scream at him when the cloth was against my mouth again. He scooped me up and put me on the bed. What was happening?

Evan POV

Something didn't feel right when I left Tiana. Instead of walking to my chambers, I followed her. She was running so I didn't worry about her seeing me. Oz was by Eva's door while Tiana stood by Oz's chambers looking at him.

I waited as Oz went over to her and said something I couldn't hear, Tiana nodded and Oz went into his room while she continued down the hallway. She stopped at her mother's room for a few seconds before moving on to her own. When she closed the door I waited outside listening.

I heard Julian's voice, a thud and then some gasping. When I heard a soft thump I charged into the room without thinking. A cloth was on Tiana's mouth, she lay on her back on her bed, still in her silver dress. Julian turned toward me as I brought up my fist.

His eyes had widened as I landed a solid punch on his chin. I saw Tiana rip the cloth from her mouth and jump off the bed from the corner of my eye. She looked at Julian before edging toward me. He started to get up from the floor he'd landed on and glared at me.

Tiana had edged behind me while I'd watched Julian rub his jaw. He stopped rubbing and asked, "What was that for?"

"You were about to-," I couldn't even get it out of my mouth before Oz, Theodora and Glenda came to the entrance.

Oz looked at me and Tiana, then Julian, and back again, "What's going on here?"

When Julian started to speak Oz gave him a look before turning toward me, "Julian was about to do the most vile thing to a woman, I can think of, to Tiana." Glenda and Theodora looked at Oz, puzzled, as his eyes widened with understanding.

He turned toward Julian with murder in his eyes, "Get out of my sight." Julian scrambled away before Oz sighed, "That's one more thing to bring up at the meeting tomorrow." Tiana then ran to her mother and father and wept. Oddly, she cried only into her father.

They patted her back in a comforting way as I felt the pounding in my ears begin to subside, "What meeting, sir?" I was afraid to offend the old man you seemed quite scary at some points.

"An emergency meeting, that you will be attending," Oz replied cryptically. I figured he wanted me there to comfort his daughter while he spoke, so I nodded. Oz looked at his daughter, "I want you to carry a knife with you at all times, or at least be prepared to use magic." Tiana nodded before she whispered something in Theodora's ear.

Everyone dispersed, including me, we left Tiana, Oz and Theodora alone. I wonder what they were talking about.

Theodora POV

We waited until it was only Tiana, Oz and I left. She began explaining her dilemma to us. It puzzled me, how could a man's eyes be hazel, but chocolate brown to Tiana?

Oz and I shared a look, he apparently had read the same tome I had. It was a secret, so not many had ever read it, but neither he or I said anything about it. There was a tome hidden in the palace's library that talked about two sisters, one was light and the other was dark, they hated each other with a passion that made the storms tremble.

Now the sister of light was a magic weaver that many feared and believed was dark, so she was shunned. The sister of dark, however, was loved and adored. Then one day, a mysterious note came, it said "The child of light must marry the prince of dark." Everyone in the kingdom believed the sister of dark was the child of light so was sent to marry the prince of dark.

When the sister of light found out about the marriage, she set out at once for the kingdom that shunned them. When the priest was about to give the marriage rite the prince of dark became angry. He said the kingdom was trying to marry him to the child of darkness. The prince threatened to destroy the kingdom, but before he could kill the sister of dark, the sister of light came out. She said the people feared her for what she was, not who.

But the prince saw the sister of light and told the kingdom there was his wife. After his wedding the citizens of the kingdom went and attacked the couple's home, killing them, and the kingdom fell. They say that the tomb that the couple were buried in was empty and so was the sister of dark's after she died from poison 12 years later.

Then another legend said that the child of light, the prince of dark and the child of dark were reborn, to do the marriage right and to restore the old kingdom. But that was just a story and a legend.

Nothing like that ever happened here. I didn't know what was going on with my daughter, but I was going to keep that a secret.

"Maybe, your seeing things, Tiana," I told her after a long moment of silence. "We tend to see things that aren't there when we're startled or tired." Tiana looked down in concentration, she wore a frown as she processed what I just said.

Oz gave her a smile, "Now get some rest, we'll have a busy day tomorrow." Tiana nodded and got up. Oz and I stood up, told her good-night and went to our separate chambers to get some rest ourselves. It felt nice to sleep in my own bed for a night and I feel asleep in no time.

Tiana POV

Morning came earlier than I expected, but I rose with the dawn and got dressed in my white, swan-feathered dress. When I entered the hallway in soft blue shoes, no one was there. I smiled and walked down the hall, listening to the sounds of people sleeping.

As I walked toward the dining hall I smelled intoxicating aromas. I entered the entrance hall that spilt into three ways, two went to the chambers while the third went to most of the building. Evan came out of the opposite hallway dressed in the t-shirt and jeans he'd worn yesterday. The servants had apparently cleaned it while he slept.

He gave me a smile that seemed to be a suppressed laugh. I chuckled at his disheveled hair before walking with him to the dining area. I'd known him for 3 maybe 4 days and I felt like I'd known him my entire life. I didn't feel uncomfortable around him like I had with Julian, Trevor or any of the other boys from the rescue squad.

We walked into the hall and sat at the table, politely waiting for the others. A few minutes passed before Glenda, Oz, my mother and Eva walked in followed by Trevor, Julian, Knuck and a porcelain girl I hadn't seen before. Also a flying monkey like mother's old ones came in.

Father introduced the porcelain girl as China Girl and the monkey as Finley. We ate breakfast with Father talking to China Girl, Finley and Knuck, catching up on old times. I stayed close to Evan and didn't look at Eva or Julian. Neither of them seemed to notice, or if they did they never said anything.

After breakfast Father called a meeting. Nobody seemed to suspect that Eva was the one who forced the meeting. We went into the throne room and sat on either side of the throne where Father sat. He looked around the room at all of us.

I stood close to Evan and tried to avoid Julian's gaze, he stopped looking at me when Father said, "Eva, step forward."

Eva seemed confused, but did as asked, when she was directly in front of the throne she looked at him and asked, "Have I done something wrong, Father?" Her voice sounded innocent, which caused my blood to boil.

"Maybe, depends on how you take this news. Evanora was heard in this palace," Father's voice was quite calm as Eva blanched. "Why so frightened, Eva? It's not like we didn't hear her in your room, talking to you."

"F-father, I-I'd never betray y-you. You know t-that, right?" Eva stammered. I rolled my eyes as who obvious she was making it.

Father narrowed his eyes, "I use to, but last night I heard with my own ears the sound of Evanora's voice coming from your room. She was teaching you dark magic, yes?"

Glenda gasped, "Eva, tell me that it's not true!" Eva just hung her head and mumbled that she wished she could. Glenda began sobbing.

"You'll need a lot more proof than your own word, Father," Eva smirked.

"Oh, I have Tiana's word too," he said without moving his lips from the disapproving frown they wore.

I stepped forward as Father asked what I heard, "Evanora was teaching Eva to control the storms. For a witch this is considered dark magic, but for a sorceress it is considered neither good or bad. Eva is a witch and she has performed dark magic, that is forbidden, she deserves a punishment." I could feel Eva glaring at me, but I didn't care. I stepped back by Evan.

"Before we pass judgement on you, Eva, we have another matter to discuss. Julian, step forward," Father said the last part slowly and deliberately. Julian stepped beside Eva, fear showed in his eyes. "You have attempted to do something, that I will not explain in front of innocent ears, to Tiana. There are several here who will testify against you. Eva, stay where you are. How do you plead?"

"I'm not sure, sir," Julian gulped. He glanced at me and I hid behind Evan.

"Theodora, Glenda, and I shall discuss both of your punishments before passing judgement. Stay where you are!" Father decided. Mother and Glenda obediently followed Father up the stairs to a place no one would hear them.

A few minutes passed before the trio walked back down the stairs and went to their original places. Father was about to speak when a light breeze flew a piece of paper in through the open window, it landed on Father's lap. He picked it up and dropped it with a gasp. I didn't see it before it flew back out the window.

What was that about?

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