A date.

We were going on a date.

Damien and I would be dating.

I covered my face with my hands as I continued to stare at the closed doors. "What the hell am I going to wear?"

A new feeling tugged in the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong, I felt it screaming deep inside me. As much as I wanted to believe that Robyn's eyes hadn't suddenly appeared through Damien's, I couldn't deny it.

I knew I wasn't imagining things.

And yet ...

I refused to believe it.

It was Damien. It had to be.

I stopped in front of the dresser and looked at the small jewelry box that I'd almost pushed off before with my power.

My power.

I had powers now. Magic lived in me.

I looked at my hand and flexed it.

I didn't feel it like before - I didn't feel it hum beneath my skin, didn't feel it course through me. I could feel it just beneath the surface but nothing else. Nothing like when Robyn had finally released it to find Damien's heirs. I felt like I was a step up from a human, still powerless and weak.

At least Damien was helping in keeping it under control, just in case I hurt anyone.

A soft noise made me turn towards the door. I listened carefully and realized it was someone knocking on it. I frowned, it was like they weren't even trying to make themselves known.

I walked warily towards it and opened it slightly.

I smiled when I recognized the soft chocolate eyes that greeted me.

My smile immediately fell when I opened the door wider and took in her entire appearance. The last time I saw her, her long black hair swept up in a high ponytail away from her face. Her pristine skin had been glowing, and despite what was happening at the time, she managed to have a smile on her face to help my uneasiness.

But now...

I hardly recognized her. She wasn't in armor, she was in a long flowing brown robe with a hood. The hood was down but I knew she had been wearing it over her head before I opened the door. Her hair was disheveled, carelessly picked up in a bun. Her cheeks were filthy like she had been rolling around in the dirt.

"Kymra?" I barely breathed.

She didn't curtsey, she only looked back down the empty hall. "Can I come in?"

I nodded and opened the door. She quickly walked inside and shut the door forcefully, taking it from my hands.

Her long fingers were dirty. Black dirt caked her fingernails like she had been digging with her hands and couldn't quite get it all off. The pattern continued with streaks of dirt trailing up into her sleeves.

She turns to me with tired eyes, "I'm so happy to see you." She hugged me quickly.

I frowned. It seemed uncharacteristic given we barely knew each other. "I heard I have you to thank."

"I was one of many, my lady," she replied as she let me go. She started to walk around the room examining everything around her.

She looked frantic, in a panic like she just finished running a marathon and couldn't keep still.

"Everything all right?" I asked her concerned.

She ignored me. "How are you feeling?"

I hesitated. "I'm ... all right, I guess? Shaken up because of what I'm learning but all right." I gave a small laugh. "Some good came of this at least, Damien and I are going on our first date tonight."

"The King is taking you on a date?" She didn't seem happy at the news.

I nodded as I cautiously watched her. "Yes, I guess you could say we're dating now - he said he wanted to be with me."

Kymra cursed and started pacing. She started biting her thumbnail as she did.

I frowned. "What's going on?"

She looked up at me, despair written across her features. "Don't you think that's too fast?"

I felt my stomach drop, how had she managed to say out loud what I was thinking when he'd asked me? I barely breathed my next question. "What is?"

"Emmy, he just broke off his engagement - he was about to be married and now he wants to be with you?"

Yes. She thought the same thing I did. I couldn't say the words out loud, I wanted so desperately to believe that I had imagined everything.

I tried to rationalize with her - with myself. "He said he's loved me for years. He never had any feelings for Leah - she betrayed him, anyway -"

She nodded. "Yes. So immediately after he sentences his ex-fiancee to death - he's going to start dating you? Does that sound like something he would do?"

No. No, he wouldn't.

She continued, "You've barely gotten better and he's already asking you to be his - doesn't that seem wrong?"

Yes, it did.

"You left the room for the first time today - today and he's already asking this of you? He wouldn't want you to be all right with yourself first?"

I placed my hand over my ears.

Yes, everything she was saying was true. Damien would make harsh, quick decisions all the time .. but not like this. He'd reflect first, he would have taken forever to ask me on a date. He'd want to make sure I was all right first...

"Stop." I could feel anger boiling inside me at her questions. The anger was more at myself for not having the courage to say what she had out loud, for not wanting to believe it. "Where are you going with this?"

She gnawed on her bottom lip. "The King is not himself."

Damien's violet eyes flashed blue in my memory. I gave no expression as she continued.

"He hasn't been himself since the day after you woke up." She rubbed her face with her hands in what looked like exhaustion. "The entire time up until that moment he was so worried about you- so worried, manic. He wouldn't leave your side the entire time you were sleeping. I even told him that what you were going through was completely normal - that it would happen after the power you exhausted. But he wouldn't leave you, not for a moment. He has a small council to see day to day tasks - for the first time ever, he just handed everything over to them, didn't question their decisions."

I shook my head. "I don't see why that's concerning - that seems perfectly logical given the situation. It's exactly what Damien would do."

She nodded as she looked at me. "Yes, of course, it is. The day after you woke up - he changed. He completely dissolved the council -the council that has been around since after Robyn was overthrown, took over the work and started planning attacks on neighboring queendoms for their role in having Robyn come back."

I tried to hide my shaking hands. "Did they?"

She shook her head vehemently. "No. The queens of the other courts, lands - they don't get involved in each other's queendoms at all - Robyn had asked the people of the dark kingdom only, no one else -"

I tried to scoff at her words but it came as a squeak instead. "You're wrong," I half whispered. "Damien must have some information against them. He wouldn't move to do that unless he absolutely had to."

Kymra met my eyes. "No, Emmy. There is nothing to suggest they knew about Robyn - and even then -" She took a deep breath. "The King - he's powerful. More powerful than his father, his uncle, all of his predecessors, he is the most powerful of us all - no one would cross dark magic. No court, not the Spring or Summer queendoms -" She shook her head. "They know his power, his true power - the men Robyn tried to rally with him, they were no one, small lords that barely have magic - they don't know the King's true power. It's why Robyn chose them, why his forces were so small. He only wanted to keep the army and the guard distracted while he carried out his own attack - to kill the King. No one that truly knows about the King is stupid enough to attack him."

I felt my breath caught. In all the time I'd known Damien he'd never suggested that he was the most powerful of them all. "He's not just a normal fae."

Kymra shook her head. "Not in the least. He's still young - he still has a lot to learn - but everyone knows that going against our king would be suicide. The queendoms that he's planning to attack now, they didn't know."

I frowned. "Then why would he want to attack them now?"

Kymra took a breath. "He's not Damien anymore, Emmy, he's Robyn. And I think he wants to be the King of us all. With your help."

I felt my heart stop as I watched her. She was apprehensive, careful in how she spoke and approached me. I watched her hands wring together under the long sleeves of the long robe.

I shook my head, my voice barely above a whisper. "You need to leave."

Kymra visibly blanched. "Emmy, please - I need you to believe me."

Empty. I felt so empty.

I was like a robot, my moves automatic. I turned to the door. "You need to leave immediately."

Kymra ran to the door and pushed it closed as I opened it. I watched her brown eyes harden as she watched me. I could see the resolution in them. "I am concerned for you, for all of us but mainly for you." She pushed back on the door as I tried to open it again. "Do you realize what would happen to you if it really is Robyn and not your friend?"

Yes. He'd use me to kill his enemies. Lay waste to those that opposed him. Use me, use my magic until I fell into pieces, lose my mind...

I shook my head, fighting against my own logic, my own mind. I wouldn't believe it. I couldn't.

To think that it was true was just too heartbreaking ...

"It's Damien, I know it is."

Kymra shook her head gently and placed a hand on my shoulder. "It may seem like he is but he's not."

"How then?" I asked with bite. "He is saying all of the things Damien would he's acting like himself for God's sake."

Kymra nodded. "I believe it's when you brought him back. He was dead - you cannot just create life - not in the state you were in. Robyn made you weak, he took away your magic before you could understand it. Weak fae, they have -"

"Weak magic," I interrupted.

Kymra nodded. "Yes. Instead of bringing the King back, you took the life from Robyn and gave it to him. Including his soul."

The room was spinning.

His eyes had turned blue just earlier ...

How he greeted Leah. Hello, dear.

Hello, dear.

Hello, dear.

I placed my clammy forehead against the cool wood of the door. "How is he doing this? He's using Damien's words, his way of speaking ..."

"I think he's using his memories, somehow they stayed intact," she sighed. "He knows I know."

I turned to her as she gave a small smile. "I was able to flee before he did could do anything - I've been on the run ever since."

I shook my head. "This isn't true. None of it is true-"

"I know, I'm so sorry, Emmy. After everything you've been through I don't want this to be true either."

I jerked my shoulder away from under her hand. Fury burned inside me. "You're lying. And if this is supposed to be a joke, it's not funny." I was being irrational, hysterical.

But it just couldn't be true.

Kymra looked as if I'd slapped her. "I would never joke about something like this."

I crossed my arms. "You can leave now."

Kymra paused then gave a small smile. "I understand how you're feeling but, at least, do this one thing. Just to clear up your doubt and mine."

I was about to say no when she interrupted.

"Ask him a question or tell him something that is out of character for you. Something that the King would know but Robyn wouldn't. He is using the King's memories so it can't be something that's happened in the past - he would know the answer."

When I wouldn't answer, she pleaded. "Please. I need you to believe me."

I nodded to the door. "Please leave."

After a moment, she nodded and slowly opened the door. She glanced down the hallway cautiously then disappeared through the door, closing it gently behind her.