Chapter 8

The next morning Endymion felt the effects of a night not utilized for sleep but for the most painful thoughts. The queen confronted with many things the night before. How she knew all along who he was…though he thought that was a lie used to scare him. Actually all of the things she had said last was complete crap, but one and only one sentence had played in his head that whole night.

"If you touch her again, I will kill her."

This sentence made his muscles twitch with pain and confusion. But at the same time this thought gave him the motivation to stand from his bed and walk to where he had been instructed to get ready.

In some cruel joke the queen had him assigned to be Serena's personal servant. "Yes ma'am" and "No ma'am " were the only words that could cross his lips when he was in front of her. He thought for a few moments that she was bluffing about watching him every moment, but the next moment he realized that it wouldn't matter if she was because he couldn't take the chance.

So he went through the most embarrassing morning. Including four blushing girls, one not so blushing old woman, who gave him a bath. Then he ended it with the most grotesque outfit he had seen. The yellow ruffles could have filled a small room.

He was told that she was in the garden playing with her cats. The word cats was spoken with disdain as if they were dirty rats, and that's when he realized that if he had to take on the queen he would have to take on all of her subjects. Including the servants. Everyone in the castle was under her thumb, and now that he saw himself in the mirror he realized he was under her thumb as well. He became sick at the idea, but the idea of the one he loves being trapped here, or killed was so much worse.

But the costume had gone too far so he quickly decided to make a detour into his room and change into something more fitting for himself.

Once he was done he exited into the candle lit garden. At the first sight of her he thought it was a dream. She was smiling and throwing a tiny ball for the kitten Diana to catch. As Artemis and Luna sat at her feet and watched in wonder at a sight they seemed to have never seen.

Then when Serena set her eyes on Endymion she lit up even more. She ran to him and tried to hand him the ball to throw for Diana, but he jerked away. Watching to see if her hands were covered. They were. But this action had already been seen by Serena.

She gave him an awkward look, and said, "I have my gloves on, you don't need to worry." By her voice he had clearly offended her. But all he could say was "Yes madam." She returned to her game with Diana but this time she threw it she had a little of her glow. With some resistance.

"I will not allow you to mess with my spirit." He had been there two seconds and he had already ruined her first good day in years.

Instead of doing anything to worsen it he sat down in the chair near her. He continued to watch her, and even though she had fallen she still played, something she hadn't done in a long while. She turned to look at him again and she saw the confused look on his face.

"Why are you sitting here? Don't you have more wall patching to do?" "I have been assigned to be your majesty's personal servant." She laughed a little, and stated, waving her arms around. "I'm sorry sir, but I see no Majesty, just little old me." When she did this he noticed that her arms flowed more, not fighting so much to move.

She then decided to address his confused look. "You're wondering why I am so happy today, huh?" He looked away for fear of a smile coming upon his face, giving away his stoney exterior. "Your majesty has the right to be as happy as she wishes to be." His response was meant to shoot her down, but instead, maybe out of spite, she continued.

"I had a dream last night, about someone I had lost a long time ago, but when I woke up my glove was gone." She smiled to the back of his head, for he was still focusing on Diana who was still playing with the tiny .

"I don't understand Madam." He stated again trying to keep his cool, all the while trying to figure out how to throw her off. If she found out now everything would be ruined. He had to stall her realization not matter what it took.

"You must have worked your glove off during your dream, that is all." He felt his back almost break when he felt her gaze on him and he could not look back at her, he wouldn't let himself. The silence afterward was broken by her soft foot steps across the lawn. They were quick and painful for him to hear.

To protect her he had to send her back into a state that he had seen her in too much. So he quickly ran after to see if anything could be remedied. And his plan quickly developed as he ran up the stairs. He slowed down when he heard her steps, slow and weak. He actually stopped for a few moments so she could make it to her room.

When he could no longer hear her footsteps he began to walk again and soon he found himself at her doorway. She laid on her bed, still and weak as she was when he first saw her in the hallway of the castle.

She said nothing when he entered, and said nothing when he pulled her chair next to her bad and laid the book of Greek myths onto his lap and opened to the first myth, and began to read. But as soon as he had flipped to the story she had said to be her favorite in one of their pigeon conversations.

She sat up quickly looking him up and down, him not letting his eyes leave the book until he heard her glove begin to slide off.

This was his plan all along. He would give her this one piece of a secret to keep her going until he could tell her the rest. He only hoped this would satisfy her and she wouldn't dig any deeper.

He looked at her said, "Allow me." He reached for elbow length glove and peeled it slowly so he could have time to focus only on the letters and nothing else. But he knew he could not hold it too long.

As soon as the glove was off he felt her conscious hand with his for the first time in over a month. It felt weird to have her in his head searching, but he had to break it quickly so she would not dig any deeper. But he couldn't let go so when someone called for her for dinner, he felt relieved.

"You have to go, madam." Her eyes widened and she parted and left quickly afraid that she wouldn't be able to leave if she would keep contact with him. Her ability to run was a good sign, and his heart rose to be able to give this to her.

So he followed her to dinner and stayed behind her at dinner, watching her body turn and her hand wring the napkin in her hands. Something surprising had fallen into the napkin. Her tears had soaked through the cloth.

She was crying!

Why had she cried? How could he make things worse?

"What is wrong, my love?" Diamond seemed to give emphasis to the last two words. And when he reached for Serena's hand she jerked so hard, they both thought she might fall over. But instead she sat still, and out of the corner of her mouth she spoke, "I am not your love, and will never be. Understand now, the only reason I will marry you is because I have no other choice. If I had any hope that the man I DO love was alive, I would run away from here. But since he is…" She stopped consumed by pain, or at least that is what Endymion saw. He imagined not even Diamond could see how weak she was. She sat tall and clenched her fists, but she felt herself falling. So she quickly excused herself back to her room, and Endymion quickly followed. But before he go too far Diamond stopped him.

"You're dead remember." Three words that crossed Diamond's lips, that Endymion was sure gave him pleasure to say. But when he looked into Diamond's eyes he saw this feeling of inferiority. "Now leave me and my wife alone."

So he would not cause a scene, Endymion waiting moments after Diamond disappeared before following up the stairs. He stayed behind the sound of his footsteps until they arrived at the opening to Serena's room.

Endymion again stood outside the doorway waiting for a good time to enter.

Serena stood there shaking, cold, and broken she stood there watching the earth. "Why do you wish to stare at something so pitiful?" She shrunk at Diamond's voice, in some hopeless attempt to hide from that gaze of his.

Then he stood next to her. "It falls apart as we grow stronger, and it is all for you." She quickly turned from him, running back into her room. Hoping maybe that he would give up.

"What can I do to make you more comfortable, I have tried…" "I will never be happy here." She spoke and he finally shrunk back. He felt speechless. Almost ready to give up. And then in one last attempt he pulled her toward him and landed his lips on hers. He didn't feel her struggle at all so he felt his heart rise.

But her lack of a fight was simply due to her weakness and pain. His lips made her cry and fall deeper into this shell of a body and she just curled into the corner of her mind.

When he released her, she felt her body numb over and as soon as he was satisfied and left, she fell to the ground. Too weak to cry. When she heard foot steps enter her room, only moments later. She felt the need to stand up, but her body would not comply. Diamond would have to see her like this.

But surprisingly she didn't feel the cold arms belonging to Diamond, but the two arms that belonged to her friend.

Endymion lifted her from the ground and laid her upon the bed. He sat next to her and waited for her to reply to his presence. She put her gloved hand on his. "If it weren't for you…" she couldn't continue because she began to cry. When he reached over to comfort her she rolled away from him and lifted herself off the bed. She then walked over to the mirror and studied herself.

"I will be queen of this hole, and I can't escape." She stood there, straightened by pain, and he walked over to her. "Why don't you leave?" "I have no where to go, I have no one left…" She seemed to be about to fall, but with a sudden gust of strength she took the top of the mirror and slammed it to the ground with a great crash.

The sound seemed to echo through the castle and Endymion couldn't help but to jump back from the crash sight, but she was not shaken. "He's gone…" She fell to her knees and Endymion followed. He wasn't able to cause such pain anymore. "I'm here," he spoke and she looked at him confused. "I'm here," he repeated. She smiled, "I know but ..."

"No you don't understand!" His shouting seemed to awaken her from some daze. "What do you mean?" she asked and before he could fight himself he began to peel off her glove, and reached for her bare hand, but before he could a sound like an army came from the doorway.

"You are under arrest!" Endymion was roughly pulled by his arms, and the feeling of cold shackles around his wrists made him fight against the ten guards that surrounded him. But every thing was futile. They had him secured in every way. But that didn't keep Serena from fighting back. "What are you doing to him? Let him go this instant!" She showed more strength in these few moments than she had used in the time of being at the castle.

"It's going to be okay Serena," Endymion tried to reassure her, trying to stop her from doing something stupid.

"Tell me what are you doing?" His voice did not work, instead she kept fighting.

"I'm sorry your majesty, but this man has been caught conspiring to assasinate you." "What?!" Endymions and Serena both yelled. To make his point the guard pulled a knife from Endymion's back, pretending that it had been there the whole time.

He showed it to Serena and her eyes grew wide at the sight of it. "No…" she shook her head, she didn't want to believe it, but he saw in her face that she felt she had lost another person in her life. "Please Serena they're lying, I would never…" Before he could finish they dragged him off, away from her room. But he continued to yell her name, "Serena!" he struggled against the guards to let him go, so instead of dealing with him any longer they hit him over the head. His vision faded quickly and he dove into a deep sleep.

When the scene was over Serena felt herself begin to faint, but before she could her eyes fell upon an object she hadn't seen in a long time. It was a luna transformation pen, accompanied by a note. Written in his hand writing.

After she read the note she knew what she had to do.