Cerra stood in the middle of the Monerae Courtyard, her hazel eyes shining with a million stars. Even though the night filled with the cricket's chirp, it seemed strangely silent to her. She thought of Leo's eyes. They filled with a knowledge that scared her. She knew. He knew who she was, where she came from, what she cared about. She shuddered at the thought, rubbing her hands up and down her arm. A cotton jacket was draped upon her. She turned around, surprised.

"You seemed cold," Jay said, predicting her next question. Cerra didn't want to tell him why she was shivering. She could smell a gentle smell of citrus and sunshine on the jacket and slowly breathed it in.

"It's quiet," Cerra whispered. Jay nodded. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I was worried," he said. "You didn't look that good when we came back." Cerra laughed.

"Thanks," she said. A cool breeze drifted over them. It was unlike the one she felt when Leo was there. This one sent a pleasant shiver across her body and she smiled.

"These are one of those rare hours the palace is silent," Jay said with a strange longing. "I sometimes forget the feeling of calm." Cerra nodded slightly.

"Prince Leo... " she said. "Why is he like that?"

"He is his mother's son," Jay said simply. "And his mother is one of the cruelest people I've met." Cerra grimaced.

"Then I don't ever want to meet her," she said. Jay chuckled.

"You'll have to eventually," he said. "Just be ready." Cerra sighed. She knew she would, but she didn't feel ready. Leo's sudden appearance was already too much for her. And his mother? She wrapped the jacket closer to her. Jay noticed and smiled secretly to himself. They both looked up at the stars, said to grant dreams, yet hung helplessly in the sky. The stars winked back, watching them.

• • •

"You aren't seriously asking me to help you poison a prince?" a woman's shrill voice emitted from behind a tall rose bush. The man shushed her. His icy blue eyes piercing her.

"If you don't keep quiet, I'll cut your throat," he threatened. An ice shard danced along the woman's throat. The woman inhaled sharply, her green eyes following the shard nervously. She nodded slightly.

"I'll be quiet," she whispered. "Please." The shard burst into powder. The woman yelped, squeezing her eyes shut. The man rolled his eyes in disdain.

"Give me the poison and we'll be done here," he said, his hand expecting. The woman hesitated.

"Could you tell me... "

"Why I'm doing this?" The man chuckled. "Because I get what I want." The woman felt a gripping fear.

"I-I... " the woman stuttered.

"Who do you think your husband will trust when I tell him you poisoned his friend's wife?" the man said, his voice flat. "A prince? Or the second wife his own son would not accept?" The woman's face turned crimson. She wanted to yell, to scream at this horrid man before her. Yet, deep within, she knew she was the same.

Driven by jealousy and greed, she had poisoned the woman who seemed to have everything she wanted. She made excuses for herself. She hadn't put enough poison to kill her. Only to make her ill in bed for the rest of her life. She didn't expect the family's income to drop so fast after both parents lost their jobs.

With trembling hands, she reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a pouch, containing a snow-like powder. The man snatched it away, examining it. The woman shrunk away. She could see a twisted kind of attraction in the man's eyes. Attraction to the pouch, to the poison.

"Rose!" A different man's voice echoed from a mansion not far away. "Come in for dinner!" Rose's reaction to this voice was much different. She turned towards the voice, a blooming warmth in her chest. When she turned back, the icy man had disappeared. She hurried inside, a residual coldness inside her. What have I done? she thought to herself.

The dinner table was arranged with an array with wonderful foods, each filling the room with a mouth watering smell. Rose was used to seeing this display and sat down without a word of acknowledgment. Her husband sat opposite of her, the spot next to him empty.

"Why won't he eat with us?" she motioned towards her stepson's chair. Her husband sighed, his eyes contained a deep trouble.

"He won't talk to me about it," he replied, picking up his utensils.

"Hanson... If this continues... " Rose said. "I don't think I could stand it." Hanson flinched.

"This is natural," he said. "He just needs to get used to it." Rose shook her head.

"I don't think that's it," she said. Her mind flashed to the little boy she had stumbled upon those many years ago. His face was bruised and his clothes were torn. Her instincts took up. She marched up to the boy and sneered.

"What are you doing on these streets?" she said, spitting out her words. "You'll only dirty the ground." The boy glared up at her, and for a moment, she faltered. Those golden eyes seemed to stare through her body, into her soul. His eyes flashed, and Rose could not help put bring her palm down upon his face. A loud slap echoed to the setting sun. The boy did not move. As Rose began to advance, her foot raised for a kick, she felt a jabbing pain at her stomach, and looked down. her dress had conjured up a hole, and she gasped, grabbing at it, but touching something else.

She took what she had touched and brought it up to the light. The clear knife glinted sharply. Rose looked back at the boy, but he was not alone anymore. A little girl stood with her arms spread out in front of him. She clasped her hands together, and the ground started to rumble. A shimmering wall shot from the ground. The girl's eyes had pierced her, yet in a different way the boy's did. Her eyes cut into her skin, spearing her body. They were confident, determined.

• • •

Cerra had looked so strong from the back. At that time, he had been so afraid, that woman who seemed to have no mercy. As a noble, she should’ve known that one of the worst acts was to abuse a child. The wind slipped through the holes they had ripped in his expensive shirt. He would never forget the woman's bright red hair and sharp green eyes.

The next time he laid eyes on her was when he was getting ready to meet his father's fiancée.

"Where is your fiancee?" he has asked, hoping with all his heart that this was not the woman his father would be spending the rest of his life with.

"What do you mean?" Hanson had asked quizzically. "She's right here." Rose had smiled pleasantly, but her facade had slipped slightly when she noticed his eyes. They were so familiar. Yet, that boy had been a commoner. This was not that boy.

Gabe had recognized her right away. She had not changed. He had turned away immediately, walking back to the house where he had lived with his father, a house where he was happy. But the house soon turned into the place he least wanted to be. He found himself wandering the streets aimlessly, visiting Cerra or Jay. He would not acknowledge her. He would not eat dinner with her, if he could help it. He wished she would disappear, poof out of existence.

He didn't know what to do... until he saw her speaking to a man. The only man who could control ice.