Kera stood frozen as her father walked over to her. What was she going to say to him?

"Princess Kera what are you wearing?"

Kera immediately looked down at her dress and realized that she had forgotten to change back in the Tardis.

Kera tried to cover her tracks. "Um..father, this is…"

But she couldn't complete her sentence. What was she going to say?

Kera's father stood up and looked at her with cold eyes. " You were out fraternizing with that commoner again,weren't you?"

Kera was getting tried of the way he was treating her friend. "He isn't like that, father. Maybe if you get to know him you will find…"

But Kera's father cut her off. "I will do no such thing. We do not associate with the poor."

Kera tried to hold in her growing frustration but her calm was slowly fading. "He has a name, father. It is Theta."

Kera's father just rolled his eyes and walked over to her window. "Yes well, Its a good thing that Lord Koschei informed me of your whereabouts. He is a bright young man and will make a wonderful suitor."

Wait. What did he just say? Had Koschei ratted her out?

"But, father I can not marry Koschei. My heart belongs to someone else."

Kera's father sharply turned towards her. "Who? That commoner? Oh, Princess Kera you are still truly a child."

Kera's father walked over to her vanity and picked up her gold brush. "He doesn't care for you. He is just using you. You are royalty after all."

Kera refused to let her father talk about Theta like that. Her maybe, but she wouldn't stand for someone hurting him. "He isn't like that! He is the only one that has seen me without my title."

Kera's father scoffed and slammed her brush down. "You are a fool. You will never be seen without your title. You can never get away from it. You were born a princess and you will die a princess. You can try to run away from it all you like but people will never stop using you. You can not run from your destiny. No one will ever truly love you. The sooner you understand that the better."

Kera was livid. She didn't even care about her fake persona anymore. She ripped of her invisible mask and let out all of the hatred she was harboring for years. "You are wrong! Theta does love me! All my life I have been trying to please you but I am done. All I have ever wanted was love and he is the only person that has accepted me! I am sick of trying to change who I am to please you! You are not even worth it!"

Kera's father stepped closer to her and pointed his finger. "Watch your mouth."

"I will not! I am not your puppet anymore and I will not be bullied by you!"

Kera was silenced when she felt a sharp pain in her cheek and stumbled backwards. She looked up and saw her fathers hand raised.

He slowly lowered it and crouched infront of her and grabbed the front of her chin. "You need to learn your place."

He then let go and slowly walked out the door. "When you find out that that commoner was just using you, don't come crying to me."

He then closed the door, leaving Kera silently crying on the floor.

Theta walked with Koschei to the garden and sat down next to each other. Theta playfully placed his arm on Koschei. "So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Koschei ignored Theta's playful manner and just removed his arm from his shoulder. "I heard about you and Kera."

Theta laughed. "Wow. Already? News travels fast."

Koschei stood up and walked over to a bush of flowers. " You know it will never work right?"

Theta smiled faded. "What do you mean?"

Koschei removed a flower from the bush and placed it in his palm. "She is a princess Theta! She will be queen someday and will have to chose a King. If she chooses you then people will be constantly questioning her decsions as Queen. Everyone will laugh and her and try to rebel, probably even conspire to murder her."

Koschei crushed the flower in his palm and Theta watched as the petals slowly withered to the ground. "It will break her. Don't you understand? You will be the downfall of Gallifrey."

Theta had never really thought about this before. Practically everyone disapproved of our friendship at the Acedimy but he always pretended not to notice. He always ignored the hatful stares from there classmates.

Is that what it was going to be like for Kera if they dated?

He hated the idea of people distrusting her because of him. Could he really watch her break down because of him?

No. He decided he had to do the right thing to save her.

"Koschei. What do I do?"

Koschei stood beside Theta and said. "Lie to her. Its the only way she can move on."

Theta hated this idea. He couldn't lie to her. He promised himself that he would never lie to her.

But if this was the only way to save her so be it. Even if that meant breaking her heart.

He had to lie to her.