Aurora felt like she was floating in a sea of darkness. She tried to collect her thoughts, but every time she caught hold of a memory it would dissolve and float away in the watery void around her. It was as if her mind was trying to protect her from some horrible reality, but she could not remember what.

Occasionally Aurora would hear voices from the darkness that she could not make sense of. The sounds were both familiar and foreign. Once she even heard a lovely story about a princess which made her cry, but she could not say why. Aurora lay adrift. An eternity passed. All was darkness.

Then the darkness lightened and faces around her began to take shape. Aurora knew their names: Devrim, Brinn, Nanny, Zan, Mairwen…They all caused the lady to smile. With them she was safe, wanted and home. But another face formed and the dark-haired woman cried out. The blue eyes staring at her were both forbidding and pleading. As she recalled all that had happened, his name escaped her lips, "Alaron!"

The Empress's eyes snapped open. She was in her room amid a flurry of silent activity. The air in the room was heavy, and no one seemed to notice she was awake at first. Next to the bed, Mairwen was asleep on a fabric chair. Her hands lay limp on the armrests, and her hair was matted to her head. She looked exhausted.

With great effort, Aurora attempted to turn her head in search of her husband. She tried to call out, but immediately regretted it. Although her throat seemed to be working fine, the skin across her neck burned in pain. Her words came out as a whimper, but it was enough to rouse the sleeping girl next to her.

The Princess glanced over and her eyes went wide. "Mother!" she cried. The others in the room froze and looked at the Empress. They were relieved to see that she was finally awake. Three servants ran out to fetch the doctor, Zan and Devrim. Mairwen sat on the edge of the bed and caught up the hand of Aurora's good arm. "I have missed you," the girl said with tears streaming down her face. Aurora gave her a comforting smile and tried to move her other arm to reach for her daughter's face, but the stabbing pain from her wound stopped the Empress from completing the motion.

"Be careful. You got a little banged up in the battle." Mairwen smiled warmly, relief etched on her face. Aurora was glad to see her daughter safe and sound, but the absence of Devrim was causing her to panic. Where could he possibly be?

Mairwen read her thoughts and chuckled. "Father stepped out to relieve himself just a moment ago, and I dozed off. We are clumsy nursemaids, I'm afraid." It was dark outside and the Empress guessed it was very late. She had no idea what day it was.

Devrim burst through the door at top speed, and nearly flew to the bedside. "I leave for one blessed moment, and you decide to wake up," he scolded. Then in a gentler tone he added, "We thought we had lost you for a while there. I am not sure I could have lived without you." The Emperor kissed his wife's forehead. His touch sent warmth through her aching body.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Like two arrows, the doctor and Brinn shot into the room next. The Empress marveled how no one seemed to knock anymore, but was unable to voice her thought. Mairwen moved so that the doctor could examine her mother, but Devrim stayed put. The Emperor peeked over the other man's shoulder as her performed his duties, even after the physician cleared his throat to try and make him back up.

"Why did no one tell me that Her Majesty was awake?" Brinn hissed. She had not slept since the incident, and was more than a little irritable.

The Emperor shrugged as he watched the doctor intently. "No one ever needs to tell you things, spymaster. You seem to find out just fine on your own. How did you find out, anyway?"

"I heard the servants in the hall whispering. I have super-sensitive hearing, remember?" The elf pointed to her ears like it was a commonly-known fact.

"Remind me never to tell my secrets when you are around." Devrim rolled his eyes.

"Do not worry. You have no secrets I do not already know," Brinn smirked. They were so happy to see Aurora awake that they were already back to bickering. The sound was strangely comforting to the Empress. She gave a tired smile.

Just then Zan, who had been dealing with yet another crisis, came into the room. He bowed briefly before addressing the doctor. "How is she?" He looked at Aurora, who was regarding all the people in her room silently.

"Does it hurt to talk?" The doctor asked the Empress. She winced and he took that as an affirmative. "You will need to wait until your neck heals before you can speak as normal. Get Her Majesty something to write with," the doctor said to the room. A pen and paper were promptly brought. Fortunately, the Empress was right-handed as her left arm was tightly bandaged.

'Thank you,' she wrote.

The doctor stood and looked pleased. "I think Her Majesty will make a full recovery. It will just take time and rest. I will leave you now. Please call me if you need anything." He bowed. "Glory to the Empress."

Before he was out the door, Aurora was already writing feverishly. Brinn and Mairwen helped her sit up. 'How long was I out?' The Empress wrote.

"Two days," Devrim answered. "The longest two days of my life."

'Where's Alaron?' The paper read.

Brinn answered this time, "We think he is with Cafer. After Alaron caused the stage to splinter, he, Cafer and Xander escaped through the ground. Thanks to Gandr's tracking, we know that Cafer and Alaron headed north. We think they are headed to the land of magic."

'Alaron used magic!'

Everyone nodded. All but Devrim had seen it happen. "He is likely in bad shape after using So much power," the elf said. "Using magic that is out of your element is very costly. And humans have no element…"

Aurora scribbled on the page. 'We must go after him!'

Dervim smiled weakly. "You are not going anywhere, Your Majesty. I will go after him. I am all packed. I just needed to know you were ok before I left. I could not go without knowing."

The Empress wanted to argue, but she knew that he was right. She was in no condition to go anywhere. 'Be careful,' she wrote at last. Her brow furrowed, and Devrim could read her mind.

"I am not taking the army," he assured her. "Just Junayd and I are going. I want to retrieve our son, not make war." It was incredibly risky, but Aurora agreed it was a better move. If war could be avoided, it should be.

'Take Gandr.' The Empress tried to nod, but winced instead. Devrim wanted to disagree, but he could see she was growing tired from the exchange.

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a teasing tone. Aurora relaxed. "I will leave in the morning, my love. Rest until then." Devrim kissed his wife again as she closed her eyes.

"Zan and Brinn, we need to go over everything one last time before I leave." Devrim yawned. Now that he was sure that Aurora would be fine, the fatigue of the past days was catching up with him.

"Rest first," Zan responded. "Brinn and I will also. We all need to be fresh to make the best decisions."

Brinn nodded in agreement.

"I will take care of Mother if she wakes up again," Mairwen offered.

Devrim needed no more encouragement. "Thank you all," he accepted their suggestions. The Emperor barely made it to his bed before he collapsed onto it with his clothing still on. It was a short night, but the grey-eyed man slept soundly. His mind held only one thought: Aurora would recover.