Author's Note: This is the first installment in the Kingdom of Hope duet. You may not understand the characters if you haven't read the Heirs to Darkness trilogy.

If there was any day in Dras Leona that could be called quiet, it was this one. The waves of Leona Lake lapped quietly at the shore, stirring tiny clouds of sand. The wind through the leaves didn't rustle as they usually did. Underfoot, the grass didn't crunch. Squirrels were silent as they went about sniffing the ground for food. A fox slipped into the shadows, red fur a flash.

Above, high in the endless blue sky, soared a hawk. His tawny feathers moved gently in the wind, rippling like waves as he hovered on the thermals.

His fierce yellow eyes stared down at the ground below. His avian heart was beating beneath his breast, but his mind was aching as badly as his wing when it had been broken.

A mouse dared venture out of the cover of the brush, and he dove. The little creature was skewered neatly through the heart. It was dead before the pain hit its brain.

The hawk ate the mouse quickly, hoping the food might quell his nerves.

That taken care of, he angled his wings to take him back to the city. The warm air that rose around him lifted his feathers, and for a moment a song echoed in his heart. Then he remembered the figure that laid, still as death, on the bed in the city below, and the song was gone.

He landed neatly on a tree branch, coming to a swift stop. His wings flared to slow him down so he didn't go soaring off the branch and into another headfirst.

His golden eyes turned to a window nearby. He swooped to the sill, talons tightening. His heart clenched as he saw the girl on the bed.

She was no longer the mess she had been, after the accident. But her skin remained pale, her breath shallow. Her heart was beating, he could just barely hear it there, in her chest. But it was agonizingly slow.

A boy sat by the bed. He had rarely moved in two days, not even to eat. His twisting Shade eyes stared at her lovingly, his fingers stroking her hand gently all the while.

Rune.

The boy looked up, saw the hawk, and looked back down. He ran his fingers over her collarbone, resting on the chain she wore around her neck. He played with it in his fingers for a moment.

Rune stirred, a moan escaping her lips. Then she was silent again.

"She is feverish, Tawnyclaw," the boy said to the hawk.

Heart heat, the hawk affirmed.

The boy pressed a cool cloth to her forehead. "It's been two days."

Sunset to sunrise, twice again.

A pale girl peered around the doorway, her blue eyes concerned. "Is she any better, Súndavar?" Her wispy blonde hair fell over one eye, and she brushed it away, tucking it neatly in with the rest.

The boy looked up and shook his head. "No better."

The girl came to sit by him. She took the cloth from his head and felt Rune's forehead. "Her fever's gone down."

Súndavar shrugged. "Has it, Lenori?"

She nodded and smiled at him.

Súndavar's lips curled into a tiny smile back. Tawnyclaw fidgeted on the windowsill.

"She's going to be okay," Lenori said.

Súndavar smiled wider. He brought Rune's hand to his lips and kissed it softly.

I love you, he thought at her. Get better soon.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Saphira felt the life-song singing in her heart. The words swirled around her like the lifelight, dancing, whirling, always just out of grasp. A thousand voices called to her, each with a different message.

Saphira.

Saphira started, looking around. She could see no one to have uttered her name.

Saphira.

Show yourself, Saphira whispered, but her breath was stolen from her with the words on it. The lifelight laughed and danced. It began to sing. This time, is was a single tune, and single melody, sung by thousands of voices.

Dracling, dracling, of the wind,

Bathe to free thee from thy sins,

Deep within the heart of Hope,

Ne'er in darkness more to grope.

ooo

Friend of blood that's royal, true,

Throne that glints in darkest hue,

Hateful heart will truth disguise,

Scar with gore the lonely skies.

ooo

Girl who sleeps with bloodied breast,

Trampled heart within her chest,

Daughter of the darkest one,

Fall of King and joy to come.

ooo

Princess, daughter, sweet fricai,

Comely one, who's ne'er to die,

Hear this foreword, hear it right,

Prophesy to banish night.

ooo

Kingdom, Kingdom, Hope so grand,

Might of love-light, her command,

Save the queen, save Kingdom true,

This task, oh dracling, falls to you.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Shay touched Vanir's chest with gentle fingers, feeling his heart beat against hers. Their legs were entwined with each other in the grass.

"That was wonderful, Vanir," she whispered softly in his pointed ear. "I missed you so much."

He kissed her neck in response, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and moving up to kiss her lips.

She gave in to his embrace, hands slipping around his torso and fingers locking. The kiss deepened before he pulled out for breath.

"Eragon will come looking for us," Shay whispered. "It's almost daylight."

"Let him look," Vanir muttered, touching her. "He'll not find us until we wish it."

"We should get dressed," Shay said, crawling away from him. "Maybe something has changed with Rune."

Vanir sighed and levered himself onto one elbow. He received a tunic in the face – Shay had thrown it at him – and brushed it away, only to be bombarded with his breeches. When he had righted himself, Shay was already dressed.

Too bad, he muttered inwardly, before standing up and putting on his own clothes.

The mates walked hand in hand back to Ric's cottage, passing the corral where Eridor had been tethered. Shay saw it and felt her heart pull painfully, even though she was still on a love-high.

"She'll get better," Vanir assured her. "She can't just die."

But Shay wasn't so sure.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"What's happening to me, Lexi?"

Lexia sat very still, her hand entwined in her hair. She was braiding and unbraiding strands of it, nervously. Her white eyes stared into infinity.

"You're changing," she said simply.

"But you don't know why?" he urged. "Surely you'd know plenty of things I don't. Being dead and all."

"Death isn't a teacher, Súndavar," Lexia sighed. "I don't think I've learned a thing since the Battle. Besides, I'm not even sure I exist."

He set his head on his hands. "There's no way you can figure it out?"

"The dead don't socialize much, I'm afraid," Lexia said sarcastically. "How do you propose I go about finding out?"

Súndavar looked away. "My father got into my mind and told me that there used to be spirits in me," he said. "Do you suppose you could…check for anything unusual?"

"In your mind, Súndavar, I wouldn't even begin to guess at what 'unusual' means."

"Hey!"

She grinned. "Alright. I'll try it. Will you open yourself to me?"

He nodded. "Of course. I don't think I could close my mind to you if I wanted to. And I definitely don't."

Her grin widened, and she closed her eyes. He felt her mind in his, and for a moment they blended in a new, wonderful, forbidden way. Lexia shivered and pulled away.

"I'm sorry," she gasped. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's alright. Keep searching."

She nodded quickly and delved into him again. Her mind slipped into his memories gently. She touched on his cutting, on Slate's abandonment, on his silent death-wish in the alley. She squeaked in surprise and drew away again.

"Sún…"

He looked away. "Sorry. I should have blocked those out."

"No…I'm glad you didn't. I don't suppose you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

She shrugged gently. "Alright, I understand," she said. "Do want me to try again?"

"It's kinda hopeless, isn't it?"

"No," she said stubbornly. "It's not hopeless at all. I'll try not to get scared this time."

"Do I really scare you?" he asked.

She blinked her milky eyes and looked away. There was silence for a moment, before she spoke. "Súndavar, you aren't the boy I knew," she said. "You've lived so much since then. And with living comes changing. Some of the things you do scare me terribly, but I tell myself you know what you're doing. I wish I could help you, and I wish you hadn't done some of the things you've done, but I can't change you. I love you, and that covers the sins."

He reached out for her hand, and this time he felt it. Her skin was silky smooth, flawless, even in death. The scars that had criss-crossed her hands from warrior training had faded. Súndavar almost missed them, as he ran his fingers over her.

She gasped in pleasure, and he darted away.

"Sorry."

"Put them back," she said in ecstasy, "Oh, that felt wonderful! Just to be touched again…it's almost as if I was…"

Súndavar bit his lip. "Lex?"

"Yes?"

"Can we try again? With my mind?"

She blinked with a frown, then nodded slowly. "Okay. But hold my hands. Please?"

He nodded, and they touched again. She slipped flawlessly into his mind, and this time she stayed there. She rifled through everything, before drawing away, into herself. Her eyes fluttered open.

"They've left marks all over you, Sún," she whispered. "Like…like scars."

"But that doesn't tell me why I'm changing," he sighed. "I still don't know anything more than I did."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could help."

He forced a smile. "It's okay," he said. "You tried. And that deserves a reward."

Before she could say anything, his arms were around her, his lips on hers. He stayed there for a moment, breathing the sweet scent of her hair, before forcing himself to wake up.