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Rae woke with a start. Her heart was still racing from the nightmare. She was not in a Kilian prison. She was in her rooms, in Leona. Sunlight streamed in through an open window that a servant had no doubt opened hours before Rae had awoken. Her body felt heavy and tired from the long night of celebrating her parent's 300th year of marriage.

The soft sound of a book page being turned tickled Rae's ears. She rolled over in her massive silk white bed to see Benjin, her mate, sitting by the fire. A different book than the one he was reading just the day before propped open in his hand.

As she sat up to look at him, his dual-colored eyes peeked over the book and looked back at her.

"Good morning," She did not have to see his mouth to know a cocky smile now traced across his lips.

"How are you up so early?" Rae yawned and chuckled at the same time. Benjin was no stranger to parties, and he had used the opportunity to get far drunker than Rae had ever seen him before.

"Because, unlike someone, I can handle my wine," Benjin said finally closing his book and rising from his seat. He set the book down sliding a piece of ribbon between the pages before abandoning it on his chair.

"You look beautiful this morning," He smiled as he crossed the room, coming to sit on the edge of her bed.

"That is a lie," Rae rolled her eyes and flopped back down on her pillow.

"I cannot tell a lie," Benjin chuckled before adding, "compared to a hollow you are absolutely breath-taking," He jabbed. Rae roared with laughter, and without warning, she moved to chuck a pillow at his head. Before she could, Benjin caught her wrist with his hand and pushed her back to the soft bed.

Thunder rumbled loudly outside. Rae's attention snapped to the sun still streaming in through the window.

"Is something outside more interesting than your own mate?" Benjin asked in an overly dramatic voice. He pressed his hand to his chest as if he were insulted.

"It is nothing, I just thought I heard thunder," Rae muttered looking out the window for just a moment longer.

Something about Benjin's eyes were wrong too, but when she looked again, they were just as they had always been.

An image of Benjin surrounded by a pool of his own blood flashed in her mind. Rae shook her head, trying to erase that horrible dream from her head. Pulling herself out of bed, Rae grabbed her soft robe from the back of her dressing chair, she wrapped it tightly around her body.

"They are just bad dreams, they are not real," Benjin came to stand beside her. He gave her a warm encouraging smile as he wrapped his arm around her. Was she that obvious?

Rae rubbed her finger over her smooth wrists. No scars from chains were there. She could not remember why she thought there would be? Rae stretched out her hand and willed her claws to form, but nothing happened. She frowned staring down at her hand in frustration.

"It will come back," Benjin smiled warmly. Like a memory had suddenly been unlocked in her head, the horrible memory of drinking the liquid iron burned through her mind. The pain that had run rampant through her body. Rae shuddered at the memories. Yet somehow, she had survived it.

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed wrong still. It had not been her that was poisoned, it had been her mother. Her mother had died over a century ago. Her father had spent what would have been their 300th anniversary sitting alone in the King's valley, where all royal's ashes were scattered, including her mother's.

"It is just the iron poisoning messing with your mind," Benjin turned Rae, forcing her to look him in the eyes. He was right. It was the iron poisoning messing with her memories, of course. Her mother was alive still. She had seen her just last night.

"You survived it," he smiled, "you're going to be okay,"

Rae forced a small smile and looked up at him, "You're right.” She had finally gotten everything she ever wanted. She was finally a normal fae. No shifter magic to make her different than the others. Though she felt sad at the loss of that magic, she had friends now, and she had Benjin. She would be okay, so why was Benjin so upset? Something was off about him, but she could not put her finger on it.

"How did you survive?" Benjin asked looking her over as if he could stare at her long enough and the answer would simply appear.

Rae thought for a moment and shrugged, "I don't know," she answered. It puzzled her too. It had been a full week since she was poisoned and there was no sign of her magic returning. No fae or Etherie survived iron poisoning, not when they lost their magic entirely. She should be dead.

"No, only you know," Benjin insisted, "What is your secret Railynn? What have you not told me?" He asked.

Rae frowned. Benjin never called her Railynn. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but again there were no storm clouds on the horizon.

"This is wrong,” Rae shook her head. She pulled away from Benjin. Benjin whose eyes were not quite the right colors. No, they were now purple eyes staring at her.

It was no longer Benjin standing before her, but the Prince of Kilian. He grabbed onto her arms his nails digging into her skin.

"Tell me!" He screamed.

As a thundercloud in the distance clapped, something inside of her erupted. An explosion of shadow and darkness chased away the dream, pushing the prince from her mind. The world tilted and spun. Rae squeezed her eyes shut, pulling herself from the dream.