Bad, bad me. I'm supposed to be working on other stories...but i just finished this series, and I HAD to write this or risk going insane. So, hope you like. Let me know if you do for future chapters.

Something had seemed off that night. My instincts told me as much, and I had never known them to be wrong. So when Bevin Conner handed my family our goblets full of wine and smiled merrily at me, it made my gut twist. I took my goblet and tilted it, but didn't let any of the wine touch my lips. After taking a few more bites of food from my plate I claimed to feel ill, blaming it on my sword practicing right before supper which mother was forever reprimanding me for—though, I think she appreciated it, if only slightly. It reminded her of Jaron, so I continued to do so. Normally I wouldn't do such a thing, but I had lived with him for eleven years, some things were bound to wear off on me.

I left the room and went straight to my room. A servant dressed me for the night and I laid in bed, but I did not sleep. No, something felt very, very wrong. That evening I 'slept' with my sword under my blankets.

It was late into the night before I decided to pursue my feelings more. Quietly, I slipped on some pants and a shirt, then silently crawled out my window. Another attribute of Jaron that I picked up on, his talent to climb. While I'm in no way as good as he was at it, it was an impressive feat to be able to scale these walls.

Cautiously, I made my way sideways across the wall and it took me almost half-an-hour to finally reach my destination, my father and mother's window. Quietly I slid it up and slipped in. After staying still for a moment to ensure that no one else was here I called out quietly, "Mother? Father?"

Nothing.

Fear gnawed at my stomach as I made my way closer to the bed. There were two lumps visible in the moonlight, so they were obviously here. It bothered me that father hadn't heard my call, he's been such a light sleeper for the past four years, ever since Jaron's death. I soundlessly walked over and touched my mother by her shoulder, shaking her ever so slightly, nothing. Brows knitting, I touched her cheek and gasped, it was cold—cold as ice.

Panic raising, I turned her to her back and placed my ear to her chest, nothing. I waited longer, still, nothing. She was dead. My eyes widened and I hurried to my father and listened for his heart, nothing.

I fell to my knees as I clutched their bed, hot tears spilling silently down my cheeks. They were killed, and this no doubt was meant for me also. I had a fairly good idea who had done it also, yet I had no proof.

Hurried, I went back to the window and closed it, scaling down the wall. If this had also been my fate, as I was certain—I had eaten the same food as they, everything but their drink—then this attempted murder would not stop until I was dead. And Conner was as tricky as the devils themselves.

Almost at ground level now, I slipped back inside the castle and ran through the hallways without so much as a squeak from my shoes. Sticking to the shadows, I entered the servant quarters and found whom I was looking for. Rehin, one of Jaron's oldest friends, the only servant who wouldn't just let him win for simply being a prince—although it was only when others weren't looking.

I crouched over him and clamped my hand over his mouth, waking him instantly, and hissed, "Sh. Make no sound and follow me."

Rehin stood with me and made our way out of the room. We slipped back through the halls to the window I had used to enter, "You can still climb I presume?"

"Of course, Prince Darius."

"Good, then climb as quietly as possible to my room."

"But why?" He whispered.

I frowned, looking down the hallway, seeing no one, "I will tell you there, now climb."

Rehin nodded and stated climbing, not as silently as I had hoped, but still quietly. It took far too long, I thought, to reach my room again, neither of us were particularly fast and at one point Rehin slipped and fell—but managing to hang on and regain his footing. I must hand it to him, he never uttered a sound the whole time.

Once in my room, I checked the door and locked it before turning back to Rehin. "Rehin, what I'm about to tell you, you must act like you never heard it. Am I understood?"

"Of course Prince Darius."

I nodded and breathed deeply, "The, the king and queen are dead."

Rehin gasped, eyes wide in terror and sadness. I continued before he could speak, "I am fairly certain as to who it was, yet I have no proof. I believe that their fate was also meant for me."

"So why aren't you dead too?" Rehin asked quietly.

"I never took of their drink. In order to prevent joining my parent's fate and to expose the murderer, I must disappear."

"But what about the kingdom?"

I frowned, "For the moment, it will have to rule itself. It will take some time for the regents to gather to proclaim a new king. In that time, I will have either exposed the traitor, or a new king will rise."

"Prince Darius, the kingdom will need you."

"They will think me dead."

"No the-what do you mean?"

I sighed, "I must appear dead when the sun rises."

Rehin frowned, "But how will you do that without actually dying?"

I retrieved to vials from my pocket, "With these, one will make me appear dead to all living." I kept one while handing another to Rehin and looked him hard in the eye. "The other will revive me."

Rehin started to protest but I cut him off, "I cannot rule like my father, constantly worrying for my life from enemies within." Nodding to the vials, "It will last for six hours, if I go any longer than that without the cure, then I really will join my parents. You must do this for me Rehin, you are the only one I trust as of right now."

Rehin trembled slightly and choked out, "But how are you so sure that your decision won't plunge this country into war? You know Carthya's condition, we're barely holding on now."

I sighed again, "And I fear it will only decay into war even if I was on the throne. I must root out this traitor before Carthya can truly begin to hope to be safe again. Promise me this Rehin, you'll get that to me in time." I nodded to his vial.

He nodded, "On my life."

I nodded, a sigh of relief escaped me, and I opened up a chest on my table. I reached in and pulled out a necklace, a locket to be precise. Mother had given it to me to be a gift to Amarinda on our wedding night, whenever that was planned to be. A hole filled my heart, what would she think? She would be devastated. We may not have started out as lovers, but we had grown to be. Whispering an apology, I broke the locket in half and handed Rehin the half with my name carved in it, after securing it with a thin piece of rope to make a secure holder and chain, and kept Amarinda's half.

Then I grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote a note and folded it up and handed that also to Rehin. "Keep these safe, if the need arises, it will prove me as the crowned Prince Darius."

Rehin nodded and placed both in a pocket and frowned.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and said grimly, "This will no doubt not be Carthya's darkest hour. If the true king of Carthya hasn't come forth by then, then I shall. This I promise to you and all of Carthya. No go before anyone becomes suspicious, and get that cure to me on time or the devils shall have your soul."

Rehin nodded, a slight smile on his lips at the reminder of Jaron, before he slipped out window I added, "Tell no one of this. I don't care if Jaron comes back from the grave, you will not tell him or anyone else."

Rehin nodded again and said quietly with a slight laugh, "It wouldn't surprise me if the devils did through him back to the land of the living, or if they threw him up to the saints and then they gave him back to the land of the living. Life has been boring without him."

I couldn't help but laugh ever so quietly. "You never know, they just might."

With that he left and I exhaled deeply.

Looking at the vile in my hand, I closed my eyes before uncorking it and downing its contents. I threw the vile out my window, far into the courtyard where it would be lost, before stumbling over to my bed. I could feel its affects already.