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I stood beside the bed for aat the luxuries ere now afforded, and realizing that they changed nothing We still needed each other And we still had secrets

I lifted the heavy covers and slipped beneath the us, shielding us from all else Instinctively,out my sister’s warmth, just like I used to do before I was a queenand she a princess When ere just sisters, sharing a bed

I’d planned to wake her slowly, before asking for her help But the instant my skin touched hers, I felt her body spasaped athere?" I felt her shift farther fro herself "Can’t you just leave us alone?"

I frowned "It’s elina Charlie" My skin flushed, and I could both feel and see the glow colow that had all but vanished over the past several weeks Now intensified by Angelina’s presence

Her blue eyes squeezed tightly shut as she blinked at ain, focused "What--what are you doing here, Charlie?" she asked again, sounding confused and small, unaware of her initial reaction to me

I relaxed She hadn’t realized it was me, I told myself I’d ed, afraid I already knehat her response would be "Please Just try again"

In the light shi from my skin, I could see the tears in her lucent blue eyes If only it would stay that way If only it wasn’t losing its strength Then I wouldn’t be here right now, begging low, I believed, hat held Sabara at bayand only Angelina could bring it back

"I already tried, Charlie It didn’t work," she whimpered, and I was re to be burdened with ripped her hands tightly in mine This time she didn’t flinch away, and I squeezed her s the feel of the potential I knew she held The power she wielded, not yet fully realized I didn’t want her to kno badly I needed this I couldn’t tell her why it was so ielina For ue, but I was desperate

She sighed, her narrow shoulders sagging with the weight of my request I could see her reluctance, but she pulled her hands froerly laid a small palm on each one of my cheeks She inhaled and closed her eyes, a look of peace settling over her beautiful little face I shouldn’t be asking this of her, I reprielina I needed her to fix ht To ertips I jerked back, recoiling fro withall at the same time

My arms locked stiffly at led with myself not to strike my sister’s hands away froed between us Shrieks unleashed within me--not my own--like wails carried on a ferocious, icy wind They scratched atas they tried to find their way out But I bit led to hang on I refused to give up

The entire roohtly as I now did At least on the outside From within, my vision blurred and I clenchedlike a tidal wave, threatening to drownin a boneless heap on the feathery pillows of her bed I eating froelina’s fingertips grazed ic in her touch Just the tender concern of a sister

"How do you feel?" she asked softly, her voice brilance at low I’d been so desperate for Still, I sighed "Tired, Angelina I’ her head againstto the unsteady thru herself I was still alive That I was still me

I wished I knew the answer to that question esture, and I knew she was sleepy, that I’d probably worn her out Guilt suffocated elina’s breathing, while at the sa I was all alone now, that Sabara was gone Once and for all

I don’t kno long we stayed like that, wrapped around each other in the dancing light eelina, first princess of Ludania, had at last drifted off to sleep

It surprised , so quiet, fill the air around us "It didn’t work, did it?"

I squeezed , she had to be But I gave her the only answer I could, the truth "I don’t know," I whispered back to her

Angelina nodded "I wish she’d leave us alone"

Surely, from where she lay, she could hear my heart’s ache