There’s such an uproar when I go down for breakfast the next morning. Everyone is talking about something major that had happened. I went up to Ryan to ask about what happened.

“Ryan, what happened? Why is everyone so worried?” I ask.

He responds by showing me a note.

You will find me amongst the Death Fairies from now on.

-Adair

Adair betrayed us. He moved to the side of the Death Fairies.

I’m shaking to the core. My own brother, a traitor. What did Hametsu do to manipulate my brother to turn against us?

Mother and father are distraught.

“Why would he do this?” Mother asks, her face buried in her hands and sobbing. Father tries to comfort her. He stands up and calls everyone to attention.

“Adair is not to set foot into any village or city here in this kingdom,” father declares, “especially Avalon. If he does….. it hurts me to say this ... he will be imprisoned.”

A hush falls over the room. My brother is now banished from his own home.

This hurts more than Hametsu's betrayal, and his betrayal hurt pretty bad. But the betrayal of my brother, especially since I’m very close to him, hurts like a knife to the chest. I’m devastated.

Adair holds some of our secrets, even the location of the Dragonfly Pendant. We're as good as dead.

Without thinking, I fly to the archives. Father flies after me. He knows exactly what I am thinking.

“You want to personally guard the pendant don't you Kallan?”

“Yes. It will be safer that way.” I reply.

Father recites the incantation that opens the doors to the archives.

We search for the pendant until we find it in a small chest behind a bunch of vines. I take it out. The black crystal necklace looks very eerie in the dim torch light. It sends shivers down my spine. I shove it in my pocket.

Then, I have the sudden urge to talk to Roxy. I feel like I really need her at this moment.

“I want to talk to my fiance.” I say out loud.

I want to talk with her about everything that has happened. About Hametsu and Adair’s betrayal. I really need to talk to her. I feel that she has to know about all of this, I mean, she's going to be the queen of Fae when we get married and after I become the king, which I feel completely unprepared for.

Then it suddenly dawns on me that I don't know how to fight or use a sword. If I'm going to battle Hametsu, I need to learn how to fight. I know the perfect person to teach me how.

I fly out of the archives to find Aidan.

I search for him for about an hour, checking out all the likely places where he would be. I finally found him on the training grounds training with Ryan. They were having a sword fight.

They stop to take a break, after Aidan pinned him to the ground.

“You're getting better, Ryan.” Aidan says, helping him up.

“Thanks Aidan,” Ryan replies, trying to catch his breath.

“Hi guys.” I call as I walk up to them.

“Hey Kal. What's up?” Aidan asks me, also trying to catch his breath.

“Do you think that, maybe when you have time, you could train me on how to fight?” I ask him, a bit sheepishly.

Aidan nods.

“No problem.” He said. “Actually, we’re gonna start now.”

“Wait, What? Now?”

He left for a few moments and came back with a sword. He told me it’s a training sword.

“You’re too wimpy for a real sword,” he says with this mischievous grin. I roll my eyes and shove him a bit. He shoves me back and hands me the sword.

“Just because your my brother, doesn’t mean I’m going easy on you,” Aidan tells me.

Oh boy… I can’t wait to see how this will end.

It's hard. Learning how to use a sword is very hard. Good lord I am not prepared for this.

“Kallan you're holding it wrong again,” Aidan told me, “right hand above your left hand. And fix your posture you're slouching again.”

He came over and adjusted my posture. I feel my back cracking. I can tell that Aidan hears it because he tries holding in his laughter, but isn't very successful in doing so.

“Your back cracked.” He says while trying not to laugh.

“I know,” I say. “It felt really good.”

“Kallan, your arms are drooping. Stop drooping.” He says, suddenly very serious and lifts my arms up again.

He makes me stand in that perfect sword holding posture for about an hour and a half. To say that I am tired is a dramatic understatement. My arms and legs feel like jelly. Then we move on to actual fighting techniques.

They are very complicated, involving twisting your arms that seem to defy human- uh fairy- anatomy. I am still getting used to calling myself a fairy.

Aidan somehow performs those moves flawlessly.

“Kallan come on, this is beginner stuff.” He says, starting to get annoyed.

“This is beginner stuff?!” I ask with surprise. If this is beginner stuff, I’d hate to see advanced stuff.

He sighs.

“Just keep working on it,” He says.

He also makes me stand in various other sword postures. An hour and a half each, so my muscles get used to it and feel natural to be in that position.

By the time I am done with the day’s training, every muscle in my arms, legs, and chest HURT like HELL.

“You did pretty good today Kallan.” Aidan tells me. He pats my back. I am so sore, I nearly fall over. We laugh.

I wonder where Excalibur is; I haven't seen him in a while.

“Hey, where's Excalibur?” I ask.

“In the archives,” Aidan says. “He's resting and saving his energy until you have to use him.”

“Ah. That's why I haven't seen him in a few days.” I say.

“Yeah, and you still need to learn how to use a sword Kallan.” He teases.

We both laugh.

Later that evening, dinner feels as if something is missing. I look over at where Adair usually sits. It’s depressing.

Why would he betray us?

I know he looks up to Juliet as the greatest healer in history. But, something doesn't make any sense. We don't know why he betrayed us. That's what bugs me.

I decided to go check out what made him betray us.

I spent twenty minutes looking for his room. I check every hallway then I finally find it. It's right next to the entrance to the palace garden. I shouldn’t be surprised honestly.

I dig around his stuff. He has a lot of books about medical herbs and healing magic. Some of them are old.

I search around his study area until I find a drawer filled with letters.

It seems like Hametsu has been trying to manipulate him to join his court as their healer.

I read Hametsu’s words. I never knew how manipulative he really was.

...Adair, this isn't about me. My sister is lonely. She actually looks up to you. She needs you Adair. If you want, I can position you as the official court healer. You can make history and help us, the Death Fairies, with whatever ailments we have. Or, better yet, I can position you in a seat of higher power, second only to me…

Hametsu has been pulling Adair’s pity strings. Of course he would feel bad for a girl. Everyone knows that. He hates seeing people lonely.

The more letters I read, the more Hametsu tempts him with promises of a higher power. Hametsu finds Adair's weakness and manipulates it to his advantage. He manages to make Adair think that he wants power.

...you could even be far stronger than your little brother if you join me. I know you want to be king Adair. If you think about it, it doesn't seem right to have the youngest child to be put on the throne. He's still a naïve little boy…

He is obviously talking about me in that one. I pull myself away from reading them and show them all to my father.

“He's been in contact with Hametsu for quite some time,” I say. I can't count them. There are too many to count.

“Indeed he has,” Father says. “Hametsu pulled his pity strings and pried a way open into his heart and made Adair's inner darkness grow.”

Now I hate Hametsu even more. He's tearing my family away from me.

But the dilemma still stands: to kill Hametsu or to not kill him? I've already said it about a bajillion times that Hametsu is my cousin. He's family. That's the problem. I don't want to kill him. But…. he's too cruel and wants to destroy every living thing he can get his hands on.

“Oh what's this?” Father suddenly states.

“What?” I ask.

“Take a look.” He says.

I look at what he shows me. Adair was in touch with Lilly too.

...Adair I'm begging you. Please don't come. Hametsu is just going to use you. He's lying. He will never give you power. I know you're worried that I don't really have anyone to talk with, but it's not worth your life. Hametsu will kill you once he's finished with you. Please don't come...

Lilly doesn't want him to go over to them. From the looks of it, she's been begging and warning Adair not to go over there for about as long as Hametsu was feverishly manipulating him to go.

Lilly's attempts proved futile because Adair went anyway. She must've been devastated.

It suddenly hit me that I haven't heard anything from Roxy in a while. I grew worried.

“I haven't heard anything from Roxy. Is she okay?” I ask.

As if right on cue, she walks in.

“I heard about what happened with Hametsu and Adair.” She says solemnly. I walk up to her and hug her.

“I haven't seen you in a few days. Is everything okay?” I ask.

“Yeah. It was fine. Ryan helped me get here.” She tells me.

“He did? I just saw him about an hour ago.” I say, rather surprised.

“He's a wind fairy. He can travel quickly using the wind.”

“But his wings are tinted green!!” I exclaim.

“The color of your wings doesn't dictate what kind of fairy you are. Oh and have you taken a good look at Aidan's wings yet?” She says.

To be honest, I haven't really paid any attention to his wings. She knows my oblivious nature too well.

“Actually no. I haven't really paid attention to them.” I admit.

“They're so pretty. They're the color of rubies and shaped sort of like fire,” she says. “You really need to stop being so oblivious to detail.”

“Can’t argue with that,” I say, with a slight laugh.

I look at my wings. They just look like butterfly wings that are gold. Nothing special about them in my opinion.

“I personally think that my wings are nothing special.” I tell Roxy glumly. I really don't.

“Kal, you really have no idea how amazing your wings are.” She tells me. She kisses me. Then she leads me to a painting of the Mother Goddess.

I study her painted likeness. She’s painted with brown hair and leaf green eyes, her wings are like mine, or should I say, my wings are like hers.

I have the wings of the Mother Goddess.

“Whoa,” I say. “I have her wings.”

Roxy giggles.

“And they look good on you,” she says as she hugs me.

We walk and talk for a while in the gardens. We talk about the stuff that we would normally talk about plus some new topics. My new favorite topic is our future wedding.

“We should have flowers. White flowers.” Roxy says.

“Sounds nice. But maybe we should add more color to it, like light blue,” I say.

We talk about decorations and the food. The wedding won't be for another year or so. We talk and laugh like old times. We find a place to sit and talk. She snuggles up close to me.

“I love you Kal,” she whispers to me. I stroke her hair.

“I love you too,” I say back. I kiss her.

Walking in the garden reminds me of Adair. I still can't understand why he did this. How could he fall for Hametsu’s trap? Even Lilly knew that Hametsu just wanted to kill him.

I don't know why, but I have this feeling that Adair will be back. He will come back. It's just a matter of time.

For now, all we can do is wait.