Chapter 3

!!!!!!Once again i dont own anything!!!!!!!

"Who was he?" repeated Brianna through gritted teeth.

Dustfinger knew that she had a right to know but somehow he could not bring himself to tell her. Great, he thought, yet another reason for her to hate me. Wasn't he supposed to be the one to protect her from all this ugliness? Wasn't supposed to keep her safe and happy? He glanced at the Black Prince; he had been unusually quiet for a while now but at his friends' glance, the Prince finally spoke up.

"All that matters is that you're safe-"

Brianna glared at the both of them. "Get out".

"What?" The Black Prince looked taken aback.

"If you don't want to tell me that's fine but I have an early morning tomorrow and now I want you to leave."

"Brianna I really think-"

"Prince lets go. Basta will not risk returning tonight. Brianna will be safe." With that Dustfinger walked out of the room, followed reluctantly by the Black Prince but not before giving his daughter a last fleeting look.

When they had both stepped out into the cool night air, the Black Prince turned to face Dustfinger. "We should not leave her."

"The place is now crawling with guards. She will be fine."

"That's not the point. She must be terrified; he got into her room Dustfinger."

"Don't you think I know that? I would have stayed with her all night but she didn't want us there."

"I don't care what she wants. We shouldn't have left her." Dustfinger didn't reply. "She needs to know about Basta. You do realise that don't you? She needs to know how dangerous he can be."

Dustfinger just nodded absently.

A couple of days later.

Brianna was sat on top of one of the many high hills that overlooked Ombra. It was one of her favourite places to come and just be alone for a while. She had come here after Rosanna had died. It was so peaceful up here; she could just sit and watch as everyone went about their lives.

Today everyone was running around busying themselves with the jobs that needed to be done to celebrate the return of their Prince. Cosimo had come back. It was impossible but then again…..her father had done it so why couldn't Cosimo.

She hadn't known him very well before he was pronounced dead but somehow even she could tell that he was different. Violante never stopped talking about it but when Brianna had asked Violante could not tell her exactly what was different about him. He was different.

If she was honest with herself, Brianna didn't care if he was different. He had come back and that was all that mattered. Of course that didn't guarantee that he would give her a second thought. She was only a maidservant after all. But just the fact that he was there gave her hope.

However with the return of Cosimo came the Adderhead, the Piper and Firefox. Things at the castle could not be further from happy. The Adderhead brought a sense of fear with him wherever he went.

Then there was Basta. She had not seen or heard anything from him since that night but still the fear did not just go away. The morning after her mother had ridden to the castle after finding out what had happened from Dustfinger. Brianna had questioned her mother about who he was and finally she gave in. Roxanne had told her everything.

So now she knew and it had not made her feel any better. The fear had intensified and just the mere thought of it made her look over her shoulder ensuring that she was still alone. Once again the feeling of guilt had come over her. Why did she have to yell at her father every time he came too close? She now understood why he had found it so hard to tell her who Basta was.

She was angry with herself. She knew she was pushing him further and further away. Why couldn't she just accept that he was back and be happy about it? Because you're afraid he will leave again, said a small but truthful voice inside her.

Brianna pushed her hair out of her eyes, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She would not allow herself to cry. Not even when she was perfectly alone. She would not cry.

The sound of a twig snapping behind her made her open her eyes. She rose to her feet quickly and turned.

"Hello princess."

Then everything went black and Brianna fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

I know another cliff hanger but i just couldnt resist *evil grin*

At the risk of sounding really desperate please please please review and tell me what you think, opinions, suggestions, hints as to whether or not i should keep writing it, or whatever else pops into your heads.