Author's Note: Tiring day at work, so I'm posting this later than expected. Thanks for the reviews again, everyone! :) (I wish there was a way to respond to reviews in the review section.) No worries, ILOVEMILARION-I had planned to post Ch. 21 this morning but threw it up last night instead cuz I didn't want you to get discouraged. :) Content will only deviate from my plans if I get tomatoes thrown at me. :)

She had to make the announcement the next morning before fairies realized she was keeping a secret. Standing before her mirror, she looked at her reflection. Her wings had lost their luster, only slightly glittering now-almost as dull as they had been before she had fallen in love with Milori. She knew that they would always sparkle a bit, however, because she would never stop loving him.

Her eyes moved up to her face. She looked hard again-that was good. Any fairy who thought her still in love with a traitor would likely start questioning her. Right now, the last thing she needed was a rebellion. Then she looked herself in the eye. Her eyes were sad and lonely, which were not new emotions to her. But the heartbreak was, and it made her eyes bleak. Then her eyes drifted up to her hair piled on top of her head as usual.

It was odd, she realized, that Milori had never seen it down. She suddenly couldn't stand wearing it how he had known her when she was about to destroy him. Slowly removing the hairpins, the auburn curls fell loose to cascade down her back and rest against her waist. But queens did not go around looking like wild sprites. So she slowly brought it forward over her shoulder, as if in a daze, and began braiding it. Then picking up the crown from the vanity, she placed it atop her head. Never in her life had she hated that crown more.

The ministers tried to push for an immediate exile as they followed her down the corridor to the balcony where she would be addressing all fairies. She walked slowly with her hands folded before her, only half listening to them.

"Queen Clarion, we should not keep traitors in our midst. It is not safe," the Minister of Autumn urged.

"The winter fairies are not safe. We need to seal the border," the Minister of Spring interjected.

"You must be a strong queen and make a swift punishment," the Minister of Summer demanded.

"Enough," she answered quietly without turning. "I will decide when to set the date. Now leave me."

There was silence for a moment, and then they all left her alone.

She peeked out the balcony doorway to see all of the fairies gathered to hear what their queen needed to say. The low drone of the crowd grated on her nerves. Eyeing the winter fairies, she noticed they all stood far back from the border. Good. Gliss must have warned them there could be danger once the crowd learned it was two winter fairies who had betrayed Pixie Hollow. The prisoners were deep enough in the woods that she didn't fear for them. The prisoners. She smiled bitterly to herself to keep from crying. When had he become her enemy? When the council formed? When he claimed he loved her? How could she have been so blind?

"Love is blind," she whispered to herself and leaned her forehead against the wood wall. A tear fell down her cheek. Every moment of every day she kept waiting to wake up from this nightmare. But every day the pain only grew. She had thought she had been living without her heart before Milori, but now she knew it had simply been frozen. And the Lord of Winter, with his irritating teasing and gentle heart, had thawed it. It had only beat for a short time, but it had been strong and powerful-so powerful that it was agony feeling it now. How naive she had been but days ago to think that her heart was dying. Dying would have had an end to the pain. She realized now that it was tearing out, Milori unknowingly taking half of it with him. And she was left with a gaping wound that would never heal.

Wrapping her arms around herself tight, she tried to shut down. She could not address the fairies with any piece of her heart or soul bared because she would break down sobbing while delivering the news. "A queen rules with her head, not her heart," she whispered to herself, desperate for any form of comfort. "A queen is meant to be alone to focus on being a ruler." She touched her braid softly. "In a few hundred years, you will not remember him," she promised herself in a whisper. She looked out the window at the winter woods, a single tear spilling from her lashes.

The announcement kept playing over and over in her head the next two days.

The crowd had gone dead silent when she had announced who the traitors were. It dragged on for so long that she had begun to wonder if they had heard her. And then eyes had turned accusingly on the winter fairies. It had taken much persuasion, but in the end she had convinced the crowd that Gliss had proven how noble winter fairies were when she had stood up against her own ruler to come to the Queen's aid.

The exile date was set to be in fourteen days. Milori's words kept ringing in her head for some reason, and she had been unable to carry out immediate punishment.

"Mary?" Clarion asked her the next evening in Mary's home. "Do you think he's innocent?"

Mary blinked at her. "He said he didn't deny it. Why, do you think he is?"

Clarion stared down at the kitchen table. "I don't know. I keep thinking about what he said that someone else is behind it." She looked up and met Mary's eyes, deeply troubled. "But Gliss testified to hearing Milori and Sled talk about how Sled did it. The details she gave were impossible for her to know otherwise. She has never been to Neverland and couldn't have explained how to use a match otherwise. Milori has been there. He never said if Sled had been there. Mary, I'm so confused," she said in agony and rested her head on the table.

"So go talk to him again. We can guess until the bees come home, but you'll never have an answer that way."