I promised the next chapter and here it is! Hope you enjoy!
In the entrance hall of the Lienid Castle belonging to his Royal Highness King Ror a woman stood in the shadows. She was clearly visible and was making no effort to hide herself, but somehow no one seemed to notice her. It was not that they didn't look her way, for they did; she was standing next to the stairs which people were frequently ascending and descending, but the shadows seemed to gather around her in such a way that simply persuaded people's eyes to glide over her without taking note of her presence. Although clearly in sight to anyone looking directly at her, for anyone simply scanning the room she was, effectively, invisible. A door opened on the far side of the hall and the lady looked up, her miss-matched eyes picking out her target amongst the mass of people who entered the room. She sought out the man with one silver eye and one gold eye, and glided over to him, her footsteps curiously muffled on the polished marble floor, shadows draped around her like swathes of exotic fabric. She stood less than 3 meters from him and still he didn't notice her. Panther smiled to herself. Oh the joys of her Grace. When he excused himself, claiming tiredness a few minutes later, she followed him up the stairs and no one so much as glanced her way. When questioned later, none of the occupants of the room would remember a girl with miss-matched eyes and a silk dress who followed the youngest prince upstairs.
Prince Greening, aka Po, sighed as he climbed the stairs. For all that he loved being with his brothers and Father, he hated hiding his true Grace from them, as well as his blindness. Katsa, his wildcat love, was away giving her fighting lessons in Sunder, and although he could manage perfectly well by himself, he missed her.
Suddenly he became aware of someone following him. He could feel her thoughts towards him, but they were curiously muffled, like footsteps in the snow, and he hadn't noticed her before despite his grace, which was in its self remarkable. Her mind felt familiar somehow, like someone he'd met long ago. Her thought towards him however were strange. All he got was a feeling of anticipation and something else that he couldn't put his finger on; a mixture of malice, hatred and (could it be?) guilt. But he had no time to ponder the feeling for he had reached his room, and his companion stopped 20 yards behind him, which again was odd, for as far as he knew, none of the other rooms in this corridor should hold any interest to a visitor.
"Hello, can I help you?" he asked, turning around to face her, and was startled by her reaction. Her thoughts towards him flipped from hostile to downright shocked.
How did he see me? The thought came through loud and clear, then that odd misty feel was back and he heard nothing more.
"No, I'm fine my Lord" she said and now it was his turn to start. Her voice sounded exactly like...
"Kayla?" he asked. "I thought you were out hunting?"
"No Sire, my name is Panther" said Panther. Odd name thought Po, but he didn't say so.
"Well Panther, what can I do for you?" he asked, opening the door to his room and gesturing for her to enter. Panther took a deep breath, held it, and stepped into the room, desperate not to breathe in the sleep-powder which she knew Robin had scattered. The Prince had no such warning. He took a deep breath as he stepped into his room, glad to be back from a hard day's hunting... and collapsed sideways. His legs simply ceased to hold his weight, his arms went limp and his head rolled back as he crumpled to the ground, Panther catching him just before he hit the ground. She dragged him from the room before she had to breathe in herself. Once out of the room Po's eyes began to flutter and opened briefly, but she took a handkerchief soaked in a liquid made from the same stuff as the powder out of her pocket and held it to his mouth and nose. His eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp in her arms once again.
"I'm sorry my Lord" she whispered to his unconscious body, then picked him up, draped shadows around them both, and walked back down the stairs. No one noticed her leave just as no one noticed her enter. Prince Po would only be missed when he failed to come down to breakfast the following morning and by then it would be far too late.