I had another nightmare that night.

I dreamt that I was all alone in this strange world, with no one to accompany me. I walked around like a lost little child, the darkness slowing me down. It was as if someone had applied a vignette filter on a picture, and I was the sole cynosure. I staggered around in the dimly-lit palace corridors till I reached the two large wooden doors. In a state of desperation, I pushed them open, only to be received by more darkness and eerie stillness. No wind, no rustling of leaves, no clouds in the sky. Just...darkness.

With my chest tightened and my breath clenched, I ran outside, yelling into the distance, hoping someone would hear my cries. But of course, how would that be possible if I was all alone? I took several steps before something banged against my feet. I hobbled around, my hands around my toes to ease the pain. I looked down at what had collided against me and was puzzled to see a stone slab. Shockingly, this stone slab was just the size of a large bed. I stepped on it for I had no other option because the darkness had started to gather around my feet. Like slow-spreading fog.

All of a sudden, as if triggered by my weight, the stone slab started to sway. Sway like a raft on a vast pool of water. Then as if on cue, the ground around the stone slab started to become more malleable. It melted and bubbled till it looked like still, greying water.

The darkness started to close in. Panicked, I crawled to the edge of the stone slab and touched once what was ground only to be met by Adam's ale. I cried into the distance once more, the echoes of my voice not slowing me down. Then suddenly, the stone slab toppled over and I plunged into the deep pool of water. Seized by a strong will to survive, I gasped and spluttered as my hands tried to reach for the stone slab but to no avail. Water invaded my lungs, until finally I couldn't remain conscious and I let myself fall into the darkness. Deeper...deeper….

And once again, I jerked awake.

I was sweating profusely, my silk nightgown matted to my back. Carefully, I stepped out of my bed and paced the floor as I flapped my nightgown up and down to dry it out a bit.

"I've a thing for nightmares, don't I?" I muttered sourly as I looked out of the large, glass window. The moon shone down on me with arrant brightness, the light causing a window-like pattern on the red-carpet floor. In a haze, I thought, 'I miss my purple carpet…'

After a few more minutes of walking around, I jumped back into the bed when I had made sure that I'd finally calmed down.

My body was resting yet my thoughts were racing.

The Ceremony was in two days. Two days. In two days I'll be dancing in front of a large crowd of clueless nobles who'd have no idea I wasn't who I appeared to be. I'd wear the wonderful dress Fleur made. I'd wear the lovely shoes that Martha would've chosen for me. I'd get all made-up by Hetty and Marilynne who were miracle-workers in the field. I'd appear in the most dramatic of entrances in the ballroom I helped prepare. Then I'd have the first dance with...whoever. Then...then what?

Would I finally get these divine powers Reynard's been warning me about? He said the awakening would probably happen at nighttime. Around 8 or 9, he had said. But then again I wasn't so sure about believing him. But then again, I had no other option.

Reynard said that I would run away before my powers blossomed. How stupid was he? Had he no idea that running away was much harder a task when you are a princess in itty-bitty heels surrounded by lots of people. Perhaps even trained chasers. Well, I'm just saying.

Running away. It was a day-to-day task for me while back in Daegu. But back then, I wasn't always wearing a long dress and fancy heels. Come to think of it, it couldn't be that hard of a task to slip away amidst the crowds of fancy dresses. But dresses weren't the only thing I'd got going on for me. My hair was a problem too. I had come to discover that my hair glowed under bright lights, like Rapunzel's. And the ballroom would most definitely be dazzling on the big day, lit by dozens of chandeliers and bright table-top candles. If that was the case, then all eyes would be on me. Escaping then would be a trickier task.

I was immersed in my own thoughts when I heard a light tap on my door.

"Yes?" I said, thinking my guard must want something.

"Your Highness," said a soft, female voice. "Permission to come in?"

I sat up straight in my bed, alert. This was definitely not my guard. So who was it so late at night? Aren't the princess's chambers off-limit when she was supposedly fast asleep? Who was this person, bold enough to ignore palace rules?

"Name yourself," I said, my voice breaking in the middle. Maybe because it was nighttime but the atmosphere had become rather tense.

After a long pause, the person outside the door finally spoke once more. "It is I, Yvonne Sumner," she said with a soft exhale. "Permission to enter?"

A side of me was telling me to say no, that it'd be dangerous to let this strange woman who I'd met only once today enter my room. But the other side of me was telling me to let her in, that maybe it's something important she's come to relay.

"Fine, come on in." I sighed, the latter side finally overpowering the other.

The door creaked feebly as it was pushed to the side, and lo and behold, Yvonne stood in the doorway, her hair imitating flames as they were lit from the back. Her face wasn't quite visible but under my limited vision due to the darkness of the night, I could see that she was still fully clothed in the dress she had worn earlier with the Emperor. Had she not resolved to take a nap yet? What was she doing here?

"What is the matter?" I asked her cautiously as I stepped into my slippers, looking past the door to see if my guard was still there. He wasn't.

"I have come to discuss something very important with you," she said calmly and slightly breathily. "Will you spare some of your precious time for me?"

Again, one side of me was telling me to refuse and just go back to sleep but the way she talked was so utterly tranquilizing and pleasant that I couldn't help giving in. In a state as that of a person hypnotized, I nodded my head and Yvonne smiled. She gracefully stepped into my room and closed the door behind, turning to face me.

"Take a seat," I said as I gestured to my bed. Why, why, why was I doing this?

Gratefully, she walked over to my bed and with a soft turn of her leg, she sat down. Not once did her gaze leave mine. I ,too, sat down on my bed, inching as far away from her as I could.

"Your Highness," she said again, her blue eyes frozen to mine. "You are aware that I'm from Clatoise, yes?"

"Yes..." I responded, my voice strangely low and drawly.

"And you are aware why I'm here?"

"Yes..." I answered affirmatively again. But, hold on. Did I really know the purpose of her arrival? I think not. "No..." I changed my response.

"Hmm..." She leaned back on my bed as she hummed to herself and smiled, looking like a goddess as the moon's light struck her porcelain-like face.

Once, I had thought that Elora was the most beautiful girl I had ever come across. But this woman who sat before me was a totally different type of beautiful. If Elora was a fairy then Yvonne was the goddess. Yvonne noticed me staring at her and let out a lovely chuckle.

"Am I that fascinating to look at?" she asked as she tucked a stray strand of red hair behind her ear.

I nodded by no means of my own control.

"Well, funny that," she said as she smiled at me again, causing my heart to skip a beat.

For a minute the both of us sat on my bed in the breathless silence before Yvonne gave a sharp inhale.

"Right! I forgot what I was here for," she muttered to herself before she turned back to me. "Your Highness, are you perhaps aware of the prophecy?"

This caused me to jerk out of my daze-like state. I looked at her speculatively before I concluded that she hadn't any ill intentions. "...Yes…?" I answered hesitantly.

Her eyes widened with disbelief. "Really?"

"Erm...sure."

"How very strange," she muttered mostly to herself and let out an airy laugh. "So strange indeed. Well, it's good, isn't it? I won't have to go through it, then."

I looked on as she muttered to herself for a few more minutes before she snapped her neck back up to face me, which startled me so.

"Right. So what do you know?" she asked, the airiness of her voice decreasing greatly. "What do you know of this prophecy?"

As if I had no control over my speech, I told her every single thing Reynard had been so generous to tell me about. When I was finished, she sat back in amazement, staring off into the dark distance.

"How very peculiar," she muttered, a hint of humor in her voice. She raked a gentle hand through her hair and then focused her eyes back on mine again. "Who told you of this?" she asked.

"Rey-" I stopped myself from saying his name right on time. "Just...a little bird told me."

Not satisfied by my answer, she narrowed her eyes at me, her beautiful eyelashes fluttering in disbelief. "Right..." she said under her breath. "Right!" she said much louder this time, clapping her hands. "Right. It's fine. Everything's fine. Your Highness." She brought her face up close to mine, only leaving an inch or two to spare. My eyes widened as I got an up close view of her eyes. My, they were absolutely gorgeous. "Your Highness, you know, don't you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, suddenly uncomfortable in her presence.

"You know, right?" she repeated, holding my gaze. "You are aware of the tragedy that is yet to befall you, aren't you? In a year's time, you'll be dead. You'll die, do you get that? You'll be sacrificed to your ancestor's so-called 'God'."

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I tried to turn my face elsewhere, to break off whatever kind of hypnosis this woman was using on me, but to no avail. I'm sure it wasn't hypnosis at all. It was just the aura she possessed that held me in my place. In that moment, she looked so very intimidating, much more so than whatever Elora had been.

"I'll tell you why I've come here," she said, the breathiness back in her voice. "Just ask me."

As if on cue, my mouth opened and before I knew it, I asked her, "Why've you come here?"

She smiled and sat back, finally pulling her face away from mine.. "Because I am to make sure that you survive."