Disclaimer: I own nothing except Ava, Melody, Sinaaq (in a manner of speaking), August, and the Guardians. I do not own Night Elves, but I do own the physician character.

Songs for this chapter: Angels by Within Temptation, Ice Queen by Within Temptation

Chapter 11: Shocking Revelations

Ava stared at the wolves over Sinaaq's shoulder. He had not responded to her comment; he was too busy watching the predator, waiting for them to attack. She saw Bane and Matias standing next to Amarok at the head of the small army.

"How could you do this?" she asked, her voice full of accusation.

"How could you allow this killer to go unpunished?" Bane retorted. The advisor was taken aback.

"It was an honest mistake!" she exclaimed; never mind the fact that Sinaaq had been given a punishment of sorts. The wolves snorted.

"That is what he has told you. How do you know he has not been fooling you, and the king, this entire time?" Matias pointed out.

Ava's stomach churned. She had not thought of that. No, he couldn't be lying, she told herself. Why would someone who tried to save her life, who mourned her death, who protected her now, lie to her?

She thought about it for a moment and began to find fault where before she had seen none; he had not lied to her, at least not directly, he had lied to Caspian. It could have been his way to escape a harsher punishment. She kept thinking, and the more she did, the more her thoughts and feelings seemed to contradict each other. Though she stayed standing behind Sinaaq, she took her hands off of him and stepped back so there was at least a couple inches of space between them.

Sinaaq felt this and wanted to look back at her in question, but he could not afford to take his eyes off of the wolves.

Amarok was smiling in the way that only a wolf could. He had successfully planted a seed of doubt in the woman's mind, that much was obvious.

"We are simply uniting against a common enemy," Matias snarled.

"And once Amarok is freed and able to possess whoever he chooses, what will you do then?" Sinaaq pointed out. The beta wolves paused for a moment, seeming to think it over.

"What Amarok does to the humans is not our concern. We look after our own kind," Bane snarled.

Ava swallowed the betrayal she felt inside and turned her attention to Amarok. She needed to figure out what his plan was. After all, what was so desirable about being able to possess any animal you chose when the body of a direwolf was more than adequate? She briefly wondered if he wanted to possess something like a hedgehog and snorted at the thought.

Her gaze locked on him and his evil, silver eyes met her grey ones. She searched him for several moments, trying in vain to see what he was planning.

"Am I to understand that you are doing all of this just to kill me, Amarok? I'm flattered, Sinaaq said. Amarok chuckled darkly.

"You are merely part of a much bigger plan," the wolf answered.

"Care to share it with the rest of us?" Ava asked scathingly, an escape plan forming in her mind. The wolf chuckled again.

"You shall find out soon enough, little one. Unless, you would like to join me?"

Ava snorted in disgust. "No, thank you."

"No? Such a shame. You might have been able to rule at her side," Amarok said, turning his gaze to Sinaaq who merely stood there, staring back, his jaw and his fists clenched.

Her? Ava wondered. She thought about it for a long time, but was having trouble thinking as she was currently engaged in trying to create a heavy mist between her and the wolves.

"This world is dying, Amarok; there won't be much left to rule before long," Sinaaq pointed out.

"A dying world is no match for her growing power," Amarok replied haughtily.

Ava's brow furrowed in confusion. Her eyes flickered toward the ground as discreetly as possible, seeing that a significant amount of heavy fog had accumulated around them, rising steadily till it was up to her knees. She needed to concentrate harder.

Her vision clouded and her eyes turned a solid, pale grey; her curls began to tremble as if being tossed by wind, but the air was eerily still. The fog had become much too opaque for anyone to see through as it rose higher and higher.

Ava subconsciously opened her hands, palms facing forward, as if giving the fog a push towards the wolves. She groaned once, the power beginning to overwhelm her, and thrust her hands forward. The fog seemed to attack the wolves, obscuring them from sight.

When she was sure the fog would hold for a moment, she grabbed Sinaaq by the wrist and took off running toward the palace door she had come out of. She used all her power to run faster, all her weight on the balls of her feet, since she was still wearing heels, as she dragged the man along behind her.

As her chest started burn from the effort, she reached the door, slamming up against it and fumbling with the doorknob. She heard the angry howls of the wolves getting closer. At last, the door opened and she pushed Sinaaq inside, following him and slamming the door behind them. She locked it and leaned her head against the thick wood, reinforced by iron, panting heavily.

"Are you alright?" Sinaaq asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Ava froze; his touch was like ice to her now. She straightened up, but did not turn to face him.

"Oh yes, I'm quite alright," she said.

Before Sinaaq could say another word, she spun around and punched him square in the nose. His face contorted in pain and shock as his hand flew to his bleeding nose. He looked into her grey eyes through his watery ones, which stared at him with seething hatred.

"Ava…what…?" he stuttered as his blood poured down his tunic.

"I should have told the king to lock you away where no one would ever find you, you traitorous bastard!" she exclaimed, rage and hurt consuming her.

"I didn't—"

"Spare me the lies, Sinaaq," Ava hissed.

"As a matter of fact, little one, he's not completely lying," a voice said. The advisor froze, her gaze turning to the source of the voice.

"Jessalyn?" she asked incredulously.

The woman stood there, mere feet away, a smug smile marring her already cruel features, her hands on her hips.

"Actually, my name is not Jessalyn," she answered, her voice growing more poisonous. "It's Jadis."

Ava felt her chest tighten painfully; it was as if her heart was in her throat. She had read the journals of King Edmund the Just and she had spoken with Caspian about her and she knew exactly what the White Witch had done the last time she had been in power.

"Impossible! Jadis is dead!" Ava exclaimed, trying not to stammer.

"That was the old me. Reincarnation can be a wonderful thing," Jessalyn responded.

"Really? I don't see how it's done you much good—you look like a hag," the advisor retorted, recovering a little from the initial shock.

"You are not in much of a position to be spewing insults, girl, Sinaaq is going to die," Jessalyn pointed out.

Ava's brow furrowed in confusion. Before she could say a word, however, the witch answered her stare by retrieving a dagger from her bodice and hurling it into the side of Sinaaq's neck.

The advisor gasped and knelt in front of Sinaaq, pressing her hands frantically to his neck. Her panic grew as his blood seeped through her fingers. Jessalyn watched smugly.

"In truth, he did betray all of you, so you should not mourn him," she said, sounding delighted with Ava's grief.

"What?" Ava asked, looking up at her, eyes full of panic and pain.

"How else do you think he just happened to fall unconscious at Cair Paravel of all places? He was meant to find a way into the castle and procure information of the Guardians so that I may gain use of their powers or stop the next ones from being chosen," Jessalyn answered.

"So…the blood transfusion…it was all to gain my trust?" Ava asked quietly.

"Well, not exactly. He was supposed to gain your trust, saving your life just happened to occur along the way. It was quite helpful though," Jessalyn admitted.

"And the wolves he killed?" Ava asked.

"Wolves that were loyal to you and Caspian—though he doesn't know that. I just pointed him in their direction and let him hunt. Killing those wolves gave us a way to get Sinaaq into the palace," the witch explained, seemingly unconcerned that her plans had been revealed.

"And Amarok?" the advisor pressed.

"That part was not a lie," Jessalyn answered. "Sinaaq never knew that Amarok was in league with me, or else he would not have joined me. In truth, he did not know who I was either, or he almost certainly would not have helped me. He merely wanted the power of the Guardians to help him take down Amarok. He just needed a little inspiration, which I provided nicely. He had no idea his wife had bigger plans."

"His wife!?" Ava choked out, dropping her hands from Sinaaq's neck, disregarding the pool of blood that had gathered, soaking her dress.

Jessalyn took a simple, gold ring out of her pocket and tossed it at her. It landed with a heart-stopping clink-clink on the floor in the pool of blood. Ava felt sick and ashamed of herself all of sudden.

"Yes, I married him. I knew that would be the only way I could get close enough to him to convince him to do any of this," the witch said. "It was all supposed to be so simple: he would find a way in, gain your trust, procure the needed information, and then leave. After that, he was either going to rule at my side while I took my rightful place as queen of Narnia, or I would kill him. I did not expect him to take this long, nor did I expect him to start to fancy you."

Ava stared down at Sinaaq's now lifeless body in complete shock and utter horror.

"Yes, he fancied you. I wouldn't call it love, but he was certainly starting to change his mind about me, I couldn't have that. Which is why I sent Amarok to reveal his betrayal, I knew you'd never trust him again after that."

"Why would you kill Sinaaq? You must know that you have trapped Amarok in his prison forever?" the advisor asked. The witch looked nonchalant.

"I cannot have the wolf gaining more power than me. He'd turn on me the moment the curse broke!" she pointed out. "This way I don't have any distractions. As Narnia dies I grow stronger and with the demon of the snows at my disposal, it's only a matter of time before everything is complete," she answered. Ava wondered why she was so willingly divulging this information.

"You will never take Narnia!" the advisor exclaimed, standing up, retrieving the dagger from Sinaaq's neck with a sickening squelch, blood saturating her gown.

She threw the dagger at the witch, but Jessalyn merely grabbed it from the air and tossed it aside as if it were nothing.

"Tsk, tsk. You really think that is enough to kill me? Come now, surely you must be smarter than that," she said as she looked down at the scene before her, seemingly bored. "Well, this has been quite enjoyable, but I'm afraid I must go now. Don't worry, you'll see me again soon enough. Until we meet again, little one."

And with that, Jessalyn unlocked the door, opened it, and strolled away into the night while Ava looked on, frozen in shock and fear.