The world whipped around Julia at high-speed; it was like watching a DVD on fast-forward. Confused and bewildered she screamed but, no sound came out. When everything slowed down and came back into focus Julia found herself dancing with a man.

His long limbs held Julia tight and his broad body towered over her as he led her around the ballroom. The man was regal and looked to be in his 50's yet still youthful. His sandy blonde hair and square face highlighted his cold commanding features. Julia felt her-modern-day-self slipping away, being replaced with someone else. She tried to shake herself out of the man's hold but her body wouldn't respond. Her body kept dancing as her conscious and self-awareness dissolved.

Thorsen smiled at Beatrix but it was cold and restrained. "My dear niece, tonight is such a ground-breaking event. Your wedding will solidify two of the three royal clans and your children will have the power to reign over all dark faerie kind."

Beatrix's whole body stiffened listening to him. She cared for her uncle, yet his beliefs and lust for power disgusted her. She was a progressive in the dark faerie world and whole-heartedly thought dark faeries and all supernaturals could coexist with humans. Thorsen was old-fashioned. He thought we should break the ancient treaties with the humans, and that dark faeries alone should rule over all supernaturals and humans.

"Uncle, I would not go that far. Yes, our two families are powerful however, there are many other clans." Beatrix replied stiffly, trying to hide her disdain. "Besides, I do not think the senate would appreciate you talking as if they do not rule over us."

Thorsen laughed and waved his hand dismissively as he quipped, "My dear you cannot be that naïve. You and I both know the only reason they are in power is because the royal, families let them. The rot has set in within the senate and is spreading." Thorsen's silver eyes burned with loathing as he sneered at her. "The only way to get rid of the rot before it infects everything is to cut it out."

She ground her teeth, wanting to walk away, but knew better than to make a scene. The dark faerie court was treacherous at the best of times. Anyone and everyone were constantly looking for ways to stab you in the back and bring your clan down for theirs might take its place.

"You are my beloved uncle," Beatrix's words sounded hollow even to her. "Therefore, I will not report you to the Guard this time." Then she hissed, "However, Uncle, you know my stance on the politics of our kind. If I hear you speak of things like this again. I will have no choice but to report you."

Thorsen looked affronted as he led her off the dance floor. He gave her a fake smile and bowed. "My apologies," he said stiffly. "This is your wedding day and I have no desire to spoil it. I am looking forward to the joining ceremony."

As Thorsen walked off everything sped up once again into a blur.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The light of the midday filtered into Julia's room, bathing everything in its warm afternoon glow. Julia stretched out in her warm cosy bed and stopped abruptly then opened her eyes and groaned. She held her pounding head with both hands and sat up slowly. Her senses were in hyper-drive, every tiny movement felt as if her brain would rattle right out of her ears.

She looked around; to her utter shock and surprise everything was in super-high-definition-crystal-clear-clarity. She could even see the dust particles in the air and the different ways the sunlight reflected off everything in her room casting different shades and colours on everything. She sensed the tiniest of movement by the window and her attention snapped into focus like a bullet being fired from a gun. Her eyes whipped over to the window as her whole body instinctively tensed, ready for a fight. When she saw Alex smiling at her, she relaxed and propped herself against her headboard grinning at him.

"Whatever Ren gave me still hasn't worn off. It's making my senses go kind of crazy. It's actually awesome," Julia said. Then her attention focused on the door. She could hear everyone downstairs and almost make out what they were saying. Realising that her mom had caught them, she looked at Alex. "How pissed was my mom? I sort of remember shouting, but it's all still a blur."

He got up off the window seat, walked over to her, sat on the bed, and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. An explosion of sensation went off where he had touched her. Julia closed her eyes and placed her hand on his, as she leaned her cheek into the palm of his silky hand.

"Saying your mom was pissed is putting it mildly. But she has calmed down now." He looked at Julia then hesitated. His face smoothed and stood helping her out of bed. "You should get dressed quickly and come downstairs."

She wrinkled her brow and smiled at him as she said, "It's that bad then?"

The corners of his lips turned up as he looked over his shoulder at her and walked to the door. "Well, let's just say we postponed the public execution. Now hurry and get dressed."

Julia walked down the stairs fascinated by the crisp and funny sound her footsteps made and the intermingling sounds of everyone talking in the living room. Ren was the first to see her coming down the steps; he stood up and smiled at her. Everyone else turned, and as soon as they saw her it went quiet.

Julia gave everyone an odd look because of their peculiar behaviour. "Wow. I must really be in trouble."

Ren chuckled giving her a wicked smile. "How's the head, Jules?"

She flashed him a hard look, warning him she might claw out his perky bright green eyes. "I should jump up and down on your thick skull and ask how you feel afterwards. By the way, if you class whatever you gave me last night as help, then I never need your help."

Ren ran his hand through his honeycomb coloured hair. Surprisingly, it didn't look as if he'd stuck his finger in an electrical socket to style it. He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I sort of overdid it. Sorry about that, Jules."

Julia flashed him another look that was as hard as her head had been pounding. "You think?" she said in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

Edrys stood up, walked over to Julia and gave her a warm smile. Edrys had always been like a grandmother to her. Julia knew she must be in serious trouble if Edrys was here; she was the only one who could keep a hold on her mother's temper when her mom got crazy angry.

There had been four times when Julia had witnessed the depths of her mom's anger. Lucky for Julia, she had only been on the receiving end of it once and that was when she came back from her European vacation.

Julia shuddered at the memory. Her throat went bone dry as she tried to swallow the watermelon sized lump of fear in her throat. She inched her way forward, toward her mother and what she was sure to be her last moments on this planet.

Edrys wrapped an arm around Julia's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Come, Jules, let's sit down and talk."

Julia's eyes went to Alex, who was standing in the room's corner. He had an apprehensive expression on his face as he chewed on his thumbnail. Seeing how nervous Alex was ̶ someone who always oozed confidence and was always self-assured ready conquer anything ̶ freaked her out.

Julia's eyes drifted over to Véronique who was hovering annoyingly close to Alex. When their eyes met, the gamut of emotions ran across Véronique's face. First: shock, then horror, disgust, anger and to Julia's surprise, pity and sadness.

Véronique snapped out of whatever trance she had been in and shouted, pointing at Julia. "That is beyond madness. I didn't sign up for this and I have a good mind to report ̶"

Damien cut her off as he growled, "Shut up before I shut you up Beaumont! You barged your way in here uninvited, I'll remind you, and demanded to know what was going on. Now you will have to live with your decision because you know the other alternative." An evil, bloodthirsty smile formed on his face and it made Julia's shudder.

Alex stepped closer to Véronique; she'd been shocked into submission. He put his arm around her. "Vero, you took the blood oath because you demanded you had to know. There is no going back."

Julia remembered from Mr Usui's class that a blood oath for dark faeries was a serious matter. If a dark faerie broke a blood oath they were put through a torturous ordeal that lasted twelve months. First, they would be stripped of their status and their clan would be shamed. Then they were banished, on top of that a bloodthirsty group of enforcers would hunt them down like a dog for a year. Each time they were caughtthey were tortured and set free only to repeat the ordeal all over again. After the year was over, they were put to death by fire in the centre of Alandria so the other dark faeries could witness what happened to betrayers who broke a blood oath.

At that point Julia was beyond confused and said, "Is anyone going to tell me what's on?" She waited for an answer as she shoved the jealousy down that raged up inside of her over Alex comforting Véronique. "If somebody doesn't start speaking I'm leaving." She leaned back in her chair and noticed all the mirrors downstairs had been taken down. "And what is up with hiding all the mirrors? Do you know how annoying it is to try to fix your hair without one?"

Edrys laughed. "Sorry about that kid. I thought it was for the best." She looked over at Rosalie. "Well, Rosa, shall we get started?"

Rosalie was still hunched over and gave a little shrug in response.

Julia's mouth dropped open as she looked between the two women, gob smacked by her mother's response.

Ren took the small round hand-held mirror out of Edrys's hand. He plunked himself on his knees in-between Julia's legs and gave her one of his mischievous grins. "Now try not to freak out. I mean personally I think your new look is stunning." Then he held up the mirror.

Julia looked at him as if he'd had too much of the light faerie juice that made you hallucinate and run around like a lunatic. She grabbed the mirror held it up to her face and looked at her hair and thought normal. Then her cheeks normal, her lips normal, her nose normal, finally she focused on her eyes and froze, as two unnerving piercing silver eyes stared back at her. Julia gasped, sucking in a huge lungful of air. She threw the mirror and crawled up the back of the huge chair.

"What the hell is going on?" she screamed in a shaky voice.

Damien walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Calm down, Jules, everything will be all right."

Julia shot him an incredulous look. "Everything is so far from being all right, Damien. Have you seen my frigging eyes? What happened to me last night?" Then she glared at Ren. "What did you do to me you stupid faerie? That is the last time I trust you!"

Ren gently grabbed hold of both her hands and said, "Jules, you need to calm down. Sweetheart, I didn't do anything to you. Please trust me."

Julia ripped her hands out of his and snapped at him, "I was fine until you gave me whatever it was you gave me in the woods." She pointed to her eyes. "This is SO your fault. How can I ever trust you after this?"

*******************