Recap from Previous Chapter

Alexia is the princess from North Gate castle and arrived at Serotinus Castle for the Annual Rose Ball. She had visited the castle when she was younger, spending the summer here when she was seven years old and playing games with the six sons of the High King. Arriving at the ball she felt haunted and stalked for a short period of time. After greeting the king she danced with a man who frightened her towards the end.

"What is it?" he asked in a deathly tone.

"Your eye..." I managed to say. His face turned pale, but his glare turned darker.

"What about it?" he whispered, his sweet breath landing on my face.

"It's... it's blue."

"Hey Taecyeon," a cheerful male voice exclaimed from behind me. The man stopped staring at me and looked up to the approaching gentlemen. "I've been looking for you everywhere," he said with a relieved sigh. "Father is looking for you, come on. Sorry for interrupting this dance, my lady," the gentlemen gave me a small bow. Dazed, I let go of the man, whom now I knew to be named as Taecyeon.

"Oh... no, that's okay," I managed to say. My mouth felt dry and my voice was hoarse. 

Taecyeon and his brother walked away, without ever glancing back at me. Feeling a little light-headed, I began to walk off the from the dance floor. What the hell just happened? That awful, haunting feeling came back again and I swore... one of his eyes turned blue at a certain moment. Could it be my imagination? Perhaps it was the reflection of some lighting. Yeah. That's what it was. Let's stick with that.

"Oh my God," a girl squealed, grabbing my arm. "You danced with Taecyeon, didn't you?" Fei gasped. Jia appeared out of no where as well.

"What was it like? What did you talk about?" she demanded to know.

"Am... you know, stuff," I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Stuff? What stuff?" Fei pushed the issue.

"I'm starving," I tried to change the subject. "Where can I get a bite to eat?" I asked.

"Oh... over here princess," Fei led the way, disappointment filled in her voice. I followed along but honestly, I wasn't hungry. I felt like I had experienced an emotional rollercoaster ride. My first ball event in years and this happens... is this normal? I scanned the room several times to make sure I didn't run into Taecyeon again. I would have really appreciated avoiding him today, and if he avoided me too. For the rest of today. Or eternity will be fine too.

"Hey look," Jia pointed out something. I looked at the spot she was talking about where three men were talking amongst each other. One of the handsome men I recognized was Taecyeon. I gulped. I wish he just disappeared. 'Poof' into the thin air. He was talking to two other men... no arguing with them. What could he be giving out about? In that very single instance, they stopped giving out to each other, and all three of them turned around to stare at me from across the hall. They were giving out about me?! That horrible torturing feeling returned. I got up from my seat and turned around harshly. 

"Where are you going princess Alexia?" Jia called out.

"I'll be back," I replied, lifting the front of my dress so I could hastily leave. I walked up the stairs that led deeper within the castle. The guard politely opened the door and I stormed out in my heels. I was almost running, that is how quickly I wanted to get away from those glares. I was guessing those were his brothers. Did they recognise me from when we were kids? Was Taecyeon not allowed to communicate to other women and that's why his brothers were giving out to him? All these possible reasons... which one of them is true? I hadn't realized for a long time but I was running for a good while. I was in the dark lit hallway with large glass windows. The moonlight was the only source of light, flowing into the dark hallway. I stopped running and looked up into the night sky from one of the windows. The roses were all closing up a little for the night, their petals a dark scarlet colour. A fountain splashed and trickled from close by, giving out a soothing sound. 

"Beautiful," a male voice commented.

"Huh?" I spun around, finding a dark figure in the shadows, standing still. "Who's there?"

At that moment, he took a few steps forward and finally I could see him. I didn't recognize him at all.

"Did Taecyeon scare you?" he asked.

"Taecyeon?" I swallowed whatever saliva I had in my mouth. 

"Yes, he can quite... intimidating," he explained. "He doesn't mean to be, honestly," he attempted to defend him.

"And you are...?" 

"I'm his brother, Chansung," he explained. "And you're Alexia, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah..." I began to ponder. "Chansung... you were the youngest," I recalled. He was the youngest and chubbiest of the six brothers when we were kids. He smirked.

"You remember well," he nodded, approaching me further until he was finally in the moonlight with me. He too had dark hair and a tall strong-built stand. He had to be blood-brothers with Taecyeon. But he didn't have that dangerous glare in his eyes. They were soft and kind, almost welcoming.

"I don't remember much to be honest," I sighed, looking down for a moment. "You've all grown up so quickly." God, I sounded like an old woman.

"We've grown up?" he chuckled. "Take a look at yourself," he sighed, sitting down on the windowsill.

"Excuse me?"

"You were such an ugly duckling when you were younger," he laughed. I wanted to take offense to that common, but I couldn't deny the truth. I was honestly such a bad-looking kid when I was younger. Thank God for puberty.

"Yeah, the monster role suited me perfectly," I smiled to myself at the memory.

"You remember those games?" he asked, surprise in his voice.

"Well yeah, that's all we played that summer," I explained, shrugging in response. "How did you know I danced with Taecyeon? I didn't see you in the ballroom," I asked him.

"Ah well I blend in well," he replied with ease. I smiled at him. No, he wasn't blood brothers with Taecyeon. His tone was sweet, his eyes were gentle... he came off as a player also. I couldn't believe he was the youngest of the bunch. 

Suddenly, we heard something break. A vase broke from a near-by stand. I almost jumped out of my skin. Chansung was immediately standing upright, alert and cautious. He was scanning the darkness as if he could see into it. My instinct told me to run but I stood slightly behind Chansung.

"Do you think someone's there?" I whispered.

"Not someone..." he almost sounded like he was burdened with something. Did he mean, something? Something was in the hallway, stalking us?

"I came as soon as I could," another man showed up behind us. Chansung didn't flinch, as if he expected his brother to come the whole time. I, on the other hand, had a heart-attack and let out a yelp, jumping back towards Chansung. It was Taecyeon, standing tall over me. Chansung took his arm around my shoulders, so that I wouldn't fall over. 

"Where they hell did you come from?" I gave out in a hushed whisper. 

"Should I take her and come back?" Chansung asked his older brother, completely ignoring me.

"No time," Taecyeon grabbed my arm and pushed my into the curtain. "Sit down and don't move," he ordered me with a deathly tone. Again, I saw that blue glimmer in his eyes... no, in one eye. Frightened and in shock, I didn't know what to do. I didn't understand what was going on. Something in the darkness growled like a hungry beast. I gulped, horror covering my face. From one of the other moon-lit windows, a saw dark figure approach. It didn't look human at all. It looked horrible and horrifying. It looked something like a bug with human-like body shape. I wanted to scream but nothing escaped my lips. Chansung and Taecyeon had no weapon to fight this monster, and I was completely useless. 

The following event is something I'm not sure happened exactly in the way I described. It happened so quickly and I'm pretty sure my body was beginning to black me out.

Taecyeon and Chansung had disappeared, apparently. Instead in their place appeared a beast, a bear-like beast, and a large gray wolf with blue lingering eyes. I didn't watch what they had done to the monster. All I remember is the dark lit room becoming even darker. The blackness swallowed me and I fell into the this deep black hole, and that is the last I remember of it.

I remember having a dream. I was standing in a middle of a field, filled with wild flowers and tall grass. I was wearing a simple white dress as the wind blew past my thin black hair. In front of me sat a large gray and white dog. A husky perhaps? Or maybe even a wolf. He just sat their, looking at me with his beautiful eyes.

His big blue beautiful eyes.