He wasn’t the only one who entered.

  A beautiful girl with long, blonde hair, who looked maybe the same age of Andrea, was walking beside Baekhyun, her elegant, sapphire-blue dress looking like the night sky shimmering with glittering diamonds and highlighting the emerald-green eyes of hers. The green eyes that were focused on nothing but the prince beside her. She was chatting feverishly with him, and…

  And Baekhyun was smiling, the smile on his face one Andrea had never seen before.

  Before she could even register the ache in her heart, Lucas appeared beside her, pretending to just gather a few empty plates. “Keep moving,” he whispered, his mouth moving slightly. “Try not to draw attention by standing like a statue.”

  Andrea snapped back as Baekhyun greeted the guests at the table. He gestured to the girl beside him, and although she couldn’t hear his voice, she saw the words on his lips: Princess Celeste.

  She looked away from the sight. “Luke – “

  “It’s time. Go to Kang Dae’s chamber now.”

  “But he’s not even here yet – “

  “I can hear his footsteps, Andy; he’ll be here any second, which means his room is already empty.” Lucas locked his gaze with Andrea. “Get the Heritage Tree; now!”

***

  “Do you agree, your highness?”

  Baekhyun snapped out of his thoughts with an unnoticeable flinch, blinked, and smiled at the girl beside him. “Yes. Pink for the wedding is… appealing.”

  She giggled. “My daughter is blessed to be chosen as your soon-to-be-wife,” the woman across exclaimed with a broad smile. “The Gods have blessed us with such an honor.”

  “It is my pleasure, too, your Majesty. Princess Celeste is a very… kind and well-mannered lady. Any man who could have her hand would be very lucky.”

  Anyone but me.

  Princess Celeste and her mother burst into a fit of giggles. Baekhyun smiled politely in response, his eyes scanning the hall one last time.

  It must’ve been my imagination, he thought to himself. I couldn’t have just seen a flash of violet in the crowd… the same rich violet of her eyes. He mentally sighed. What now, has love turned me into?

***

  As Andrea successfully slipped into the large chamber on the end of the second-floor hallway, she couldn’t help but frown at how easy it was, and then Gillian’s previous words in the Woods, before she came to the palace, appeared in her mind again.

  “You’re WHAT?!”

  “Kang Dae’s advisor,” Gillian repeated.

  “B-but…” Andrea stuttered. “Why have you never bothered to tell me this?!”

  “My apologies, Andrea, but I do not see why I should – “

  “It’s very important!” She argued. “It… brings the whole thing to a new level!” This means you know Baekhyun, too, she thought but decided to keep that just to herself.

  “It does?”

  She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “First, this means that Kang Dae and you are close – “

  “He is not aware of me being a Stargazer, not to mention the one in charge of the whole Stargazer village. He does not even know I know the real cause of the Fire – I fooled him that I believe Chan Young had really lost his mind and killed Soo Jun."

  When Andrea spun around after closing the huge door – there were no guards, since Gillian had ordered them to go down and guard the front gates – a gasp escaped from her lips.

  The chamber was huge, maybe as huge as the dining hall downstairs – and it was elegant. But not elegant in a way she once imagined her mother’s chamber would be: golden, sky-blue, all of lights.

  Kang Dae’s chamber was the exact opposite. It was all but three colors combined: raven black, dark blue, and, in contrast to the black against the walls, white. Blinding, shiny white, to an extent as if it were mocking the purity of the heart of whoever staring at the white marble; an unnatural color of nothing.

  ‘Anyone who uses magic is never innocent,’ her mother had once said.

  Andrea shook her head, ignored the chill down her spine, and walked toward the desk next to the huge floor-to-ceiling window whose curtains were drawn, as Gillian had inspected her to do so.

  “Second, why don’t you got get the Heritage Tree anytime you like?”

  “Because he keeps it in his drawer,” Gillian replied. “And he put a spell on the drawer; anyone who Kang Dae knows cannot go near it. But you can. It does not require a touch to open, though; you must open it with your mind.”

  “My what?!”

  “Do not doubt yourself, Andrea. Just believe that you can do it. You are stronger than all of us,” Gillian said with a hint of pride on his voice.

  She frowned again when she approached the black oval desk with strange white patterns on. There were books, documents, a bottle of ink and a stamp on it, but when she looked down, there were no drawers.

  Is this a joke? Because I am not here to waste time on some sick joke of yours, Byun Kang Dae –

  A click erupted, and for a second of horror, Andrea thought it was the door. But the door didn’t open, and then she realized: it was the desk itself.

  The drawers could only appear and be opened by magic.

  Okay then. She took a deep breath. If this is how it works. Nobody had told her what to do; she just followed her instincts. Closing her eyes, she focused her energy on only one word, and spoke it out loud with such force it sent a vibrating feeling through her and to the desk before her.

  “Open.”

  Despite the wrinkles of age and years etched on the side of the Heritage Tree, it surprisingly remained firm and didn’t tear apart when Andrea rolled it up and hid it in a pocket under her skirt, in a belt strapped to her thigh. It could be folded into a small roll no bigger than her fist, but the power pulsing out of the parchment felt hot against her skin – just a touch and she understood what Gillian had meant by his serious ‘it’s not merely a parchment.’

  Now all she had to do was go downstairs, find Lucas, and sneak out of the palace.

  “Luke… Luke… Luke…” was what she was chanting nonstop as she rushed down the corridor of chambers of the royal family – she tried not to stop in front of one which she guessed was a particular brown-eyed, curly-brown-hair boy’s – and almost made it to the stairs for the maids to descend to the first floor –

  Until she walked right into someone’s chest at the corner.

**

  “Kai?!”

  “Andrea.” The tanned-skin boy looked equally shocked and bewildered to see Andrea standing in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

  She tried to stay calm. “I-I'm here to serve, since it’s so obvious I’m wearing a maid’s dress.”

  “No, I meant what are you doing here in the castle – “

  “Oh, so the banquet was actually supposed to be in my cottage? Forgive me; I must’ve gotten the wrong news.” Andrea rolled her eyes.

  Kai looked like he wanted to do the same thing, but didn’t. “Andrea, Baek is here.”

  “And I thought the prince lives in a well.”

  “This isn’t funny, Andrea!” Kai slammed his fist against the wall beside them. “Don’t you know what you have done to him – “

  Andrea made a sound of unbelief. “What I have done to him? He was the one who lied to me, Kai! He was the one who didn’t tell me he was engaged to some stupid princess and made me think that he loved me!”

  “He does love you.” Kai’s voice softened when he saw the glistening tears in the corners of her hazel eyes – Gillian had put a glamour on her eyes to cover the violet, for fear suspicion. “Believe me when I say that albeit his popularity with females, he had never seemed so… alive and energetic, until he met you.”

  Andrea looked away, mentally scowling at herself for letting the tears show. She had promised herself never to cry over Baekhyun again… but here she was, listening to his best friend telling her how much he really loved her.

  And she knew. Of course she, deep down in her heart, knew that Baekhyun couldn’t possibly had been lying. She was just clouded by the heartbreak, by the news that he was to be married to another woman, another princess, just because he was the prince and she was merely a plain villager.

  Was. Not anymore.

  She was now Princess Sabrina, the Princess Sabrina people thought had died in the Fire seven years ago. But she couldn’t tell Kai that right now in the middle of a mission; it would ruin everything.

  She couldn’t ruin the only chance of a revolution, the only chance of rightfully claiming back the throne, just for love.

  “I don’t care anymore,” Andrea said. “It’s no use; his uncle arranged the marriage and he’s too cowardly to say ‘no.’”

  “Andrea – “

  “Don’t worry; I’ll be out of his sight during the banquet.” I’ll be gone by then. “It’ll spare the both of us from misery, I guess.” With a bitter smile, she added, “Besides, I assume he’s having such a splendid time chatting with his fiancée.”

  “Wait,” Kai put a hand in front of her to prevent her from walking away. “There’s something I need to ask of you – “

  “Kai.” She tried not to let her eagerness of escaping show. Lucas must be starting to worry; she had been gone for a little too long. “I have to go – “

  “About who you are.”

  Her heart stopped, her breath freezing in . She stilled. “W-what did you say?”

  “I had this weird dream last night,” Kai said, studying her. “About… someone I once accidently knew existence of. She’s said to be dead, but… you remind me of her. Your eyes remind me of her – wait, why do your eyes seem brown instead of violet right now?”

  Andrea gulped. “Y-you’re speaking nonsense, Kai. Maybe it’s just the light.”

  He squinted, but bought her story. “Anyways, her name, which I once asked out of her brother, is Sab – “

  “Does Baek know about this?” Andrea interrupted him. Terrified though she were, she had to remain as composed as she could manage.

  Because no matter how shocking what Kai was inferring to was, she just couldn’t blow up the mission now.

  “An – “

  “Does Baek know?!”

  Kai stared at her. “So you really… are – “

  “Answer me, goddamit! DOES BAEK KNOW – “

  “You called me ‘Baek,’” a third voice said, a few feet behind Andrea. “You still call me ‘Baek.’”

***

  (three minutes ago)

  Where is she?!

  Lucas’ eyes surveyed the Grand Hall for the hundredth time this night, looking for a particular black-haired girl. Where in the bloody hell has she gone? Gillian said it would only take a few minutes – it was all he could drag Kang Dae down here before he excuses himself back to his room, to do who-knows-what.

  A wave of silence suddenly washed all over the Hall. Lucas whirled around, his wolf instincts heightened, only to see a serious-looking man standing up from his chair at the head of the table, his eyes hollow and ominous like never-ending pits, highlighting his dark-red robe.

  Kang Dae.

  “Thank you all for attending this feast, to celebrate my nephew’s delightful engagement with the lovely Princess Celeste.” His voice was like sharp knives, piercing into Lucas’ ears; however, when he glanced around, he realized he was the only one wincing in pain. All the others looked up at Kang Dae with a dazed look and nothing but overflowing admiration – a spell. A glamour, to be exact; he was fooling everyone with a glamour. And Lucas could see through it; he guessed it was because he wasn’t a normal human being.

  Kang Dae raised his glass with wine that looked as crimson red as blood, making Lucas shiver. He called on for the guests to do the same, to shout out their cheers and congratulations to the prince, and as everyone settled back down, he turned around to leave, with a brief excuse: “There is business I must attend to.”

  It wasn’t after the prince apologized himself, too, to the restroom – he looked like he were to go find out about something that had been bothering him – and dashed out the Grand Hall, did Lucas realize how urgent the situation had become.

  Kang Dae was heading for his chambers, where Andrea might still be in.

  Lucas cursed under his breath and dashed for the maid’s hallway, throwing his silver tray and cloth into a big vase beside, big enough to hide a person.

***

  “I knew I wasn’t imagining things when I saw your silhouette. I knew it was you in the crowd of maids.”

  Andrea couldn’t stop staring. Despite the clothing she had never seen him wear before, he looked so stunning, so breathtaking, it hurt her heart to even look. During the banquet she had done her best she could, turning her face away from the direction of Baekhyun; but she had peeked at him for a few times before she slipped away, and maybe – maybe had once, accidently, caught his gaze.

  Of all the thousands of people, he just had to coincidently see her, in the midst of chatters.

  “How – “

  The way Baekhyun was looking at her made her want to melt into his arms, to hug him, to stand up on her toes and kiss him. It was full of hope and… and love.

  It terrified Andrea, because she could feel the wall around her heart quivering.

  “I always know when you’re around, Andrea. It’s as if… we’re connected.”

  Andrea.

  The mere sound of him saying her name was the last straw.

  “No!” Her voice cracking on that one syllable, Andrea backed away from the two boys so abruptly that it startled all of them. She looked at the two boys with wide eyes, breathing heavily. “I can’t… I can’t talk to you – “

  Hurt appeared on Baekhyun’s face. “Andrea, I lo – “

  “STOP!”

  The moment she shouted, a pulse of energy pumped out of her like an invisible wave, making the two boys stumble and the paintings on the wall fall to the floor.

  “What – “ Kai looked around, bewildered.

  “Andrea – “ Baekhyun started.

  “I don’t want to hear anything anymore!” She yelled, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her ears with her hands. “Andrea… the Andrea you knew doesn’t exist anymore.” She opened her eyes, feeling the glamour around them vanishing, exposing her violet eyes. Kai gasped; Baekhyun just looked confused.

  “She’s gone,” Andrea said with such firmness it surprised herself. “She’s gone, for good.”

**

  When Lucas finally found Andrea, he was between outraged and shocked – or maybe both. He ran up to her and grabbed her by the arm, startling her. “Andy,” he whispered into her ear. Why is she talking to them?! “We have to go – “

  “A robbery has happened!” One of the guards appeared in the far end of the hallway and shouted. “A robbery of His Majesty!”

  Kai was the first to whirl around. “Andrea, you didn’t – “

  The sheer guilt and panic on her face was all he needed to confirm his suspicions.

  “We have to run, now!” Lucas started dragging Andrea away from Baekhyun and Kai. “They’ll find out it’s you in a matter of seconds – “

  “Wait!” Baekhyun called out. “Wait, Andrea,” his voice was filled with so much pleading it pulled at her heart, “don’t go – “

  With one last look of pain and heartbreak, Andrea turned and fled with Lucas.

**

  The guards were quick. Too quick.

  As Andrea and Lucas ran out of the back of the palace, as if they knew the two of them would escape from there, Royal Guards in their red uniforms appeared almost immediately when they stepped foot onto the grass outside.

  “Seize them!”

  Footsteps were heard behind her back, but she and Lucas didn’t stop; they just ran faster. It was easy to pick up speed for Lucas due to his wolf abilities; as for Andrea, she was suddenly so grateful for Rick once training her to run faster, to push herself harder when she thought she couldn’t anymore.

  As if he had predicted she would be in need of running for her life one day in the future.

  As if he had been preparing her.

  All of a sudden, Andrea ducked. She didn’t know why at first – her instincts just told her to do so – but then she heard the unmistakable swoosh of an arrow shooting across her head, barely scraping the tip of her hair.

  She didn’t need to turn to know that the guards had stopped running and resorted to shooting at them.

  “Andrea!” Lucas yelled beside her, picking up speed. “Be careful – “ Before he could reach for her, he suddenly cried out and tumbled to the grass, rolling for a moment until he stopped.

  “LUCAS!”

  Andrea stopped and ran to his side, her eyes widening when she saw the tip of the arrow sticking out of Lucas’ front left shoulder, shot from the back. Red blood started streaming like a river that had found a new route to the sea; in seconds, her own hands over his wound was covered with blood.

  Lucas' eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving.

  Another arrow pierced through the sky, toward Andrea. Screaming in agony, she knew she didn’t bring her bow and arrows with her, but she still put her hands into position –

  And there they were in her hands, as if they had magically materialized from thin air.

  She released her arrow, and watched as it struck the oncoming one aimed for her head accurately out of the air. But I need to get out of here! She screamed in her own mind. I can’t just sit here and shoot every arrow out of the sky!

  As if the guards could hear her, they started running toward her again, shouting and holding up their bows.

  Andrea began to panic, but then the most shocking thing that happened to her that day happened:

  A black smoke suddenly appeared in front of her with what sounded like a ‘snap’, and transformed into a human being, with his hooded back to the guards and brown eyes intensely on Andrea’s.

  It was Kai.

  Andrea screamed of shock. “Sshh!” Kai whisper-yelled, his eyes full of panic. “Andrea, we have to get you out of here!”

  “What – “

  He grabbed her. “Quick; grab onto me and Lucas and think of the place you were escaping to.”

  “How – “

  “Andrea! There’s no time! Do it now!”

  Without another word, she closed her eyes shut, gripping tightly on the two boys’ clothes.

  A second later, the Guards could see the arrow hit nothing but black smoke, where Andrea and Lucas had just been.

[A/N] Can't... really... say anything right now omg... becoz... so many things just happened... omg?

I actually was just going to end this chapter at 'Another arrow pierced through the sky, toward Andrea.' but then I thought if I were the reader, I would want to mentally shove the author into a washing machine and watch her spin around and around while yelling at her 'YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT THE CHAPTER HANGING THERE THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR DOING THAT!!' and... yeah. Something like that LOL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA JK.

Tell me what you guys think about this chap? <3<3<3

Oh and I can't update again in three weeks unless I make the next chap a little short... but then that would cut a few good parts into two and... no. Sorry in advance >_<