Shining Armor tugged his scarf tighter around his neck. He adjusted the spear in its sling across his side; he’d been walking for an hour already, and it’d be sure to leave a sore if he left it there any longer. He rubbed his shoulder and exhaled into the crisp night air. Winter came even for the Crystal Empire, it seemed, though the Heart still protected them from the storms of the Frozen North beyond their borders.

He walked through the quiet streets, his hooves clop-clopping on the gemstone road. Here and there a lamp-post lit up the night with a solitary, flickering light. For the most part, though, the street was dark, the hour too late to keep even a single candle lit in one of the windows that lined the streets.

Shining grinned as the palace came back into view, the lamp-posts becoming more numerous as he approached the city’s center. The Crystal Pavillion was never dark, not even in darkest of wintry nights, and for that, Shining was grateful. The Heart itself exuded a constant cerulean glow, filling the pavilion with a gentle light that seemed to lift the soul and warm the body. It might be chilly, but at least he wouldn’t get frostbite.

He offered a salute to the two guards standing watch by the Heart, and they offered their own in return. Patrol duty was never really fun, but he enjoyed having the chance to see his soldiers outside of the usual discipline of the barracks.

Cadance hadn’t really been pleased when he’d informed her that he’d be on patrol checkup tonight, but she’d raised no objections. How could she? Any commander that wouldn’t sometimes get down in the trenches with his soldiers was no commander at all. In this once-foreign empire, Shining had been firm in emphasizing the need to prove himself to his new troops.

The great, vaulted ceiling towered above his head, each pillar holding it up immaculately fashioned, grown into place by ancient spells. The pedestal - a stalactite and stalagmite, each thrumming with a dim blue energy - was a darker contrast to the Heart’s own inner power, which glowed far more brightly, though it retained a softer, more welcoming light.

The night sky was bright with stars, each one perfectly visible from the icy wastes of the Frozen North. Shining looked up at the constellations and mouthed their names, as Twilight had once taught him. The Warrior; the Priestess; the Lover. He wondered whether Cadance was looking up at the same stars as he, from high above in the Crystal Palace...and chuckled half a second later when he realized he’d stolen that line from one of the romance novels that Cadance had taken to shoving at him as fast as he could read them. It seemed more likely anyway that she was asleep, blankets curled tight as she slept on in a cold, empty bed.

His hooves didn’t ache - his guard training saw to that - yet his heart did. He wished he could be with her, his hooves around her waist, his muzzle upon her shoulder...yet, sometimes, duty outweighed even love.

Yet he could allow himself to look upon her in his heart. He closed his eyes, remembering the warmth of her body against his, the feel of her breath against his face -

Something brushed against his cheek.

Shining’s eyes snapped open. He reached for his spear, but stopped halfway through the motion. No enemies greeted his sight, no disturbances or intruders. Yet there was something there, twinkling just on the inside of his vision. Shining blinked and refocused his eyes on the space over his snout, wrinkling his muzzle to get a better look.

A small, golden light hovered there, its glow reminiscent of a firefly. But no fireflies flew in the Crystal Empire, and none could have made it through the arctic tundra from Equestria. It was warm, too, Shining realized, like a tiny candle-light floating above his snout. He reached up a hoof to touch it, but stopped as he realized that there was another one floating mere inches away from the first.

Shining looked up and found the pavillion glowing like a Hearth’s Warming tree. Specks of gold filled the air like frozen rain as streaks of silver and crimson wove through the space above them. He felt his breath catch in his throat, his grip on the spear tightening as he watched the reflected light dance across the crystalline ceiling like so many tiny fireflies, the columns breaking the light into every shade of the rainbow.

A pink glow shimmered across the ceiling and Shining’s eyes widened. It came again but an instant later before fading and returning once more. Slowly, his eyes descended until he found the source of the light: the Crystal Heart, its depths throbbing with a dull, pink light.

He stepped forward, and then stepped forward again. The spear against his side slid and then slipped to clatter upon the floor as he approached the Heart. The pavillion was silent save for the sound of Shining’s hoofbeats and a steady thump-thump that came from the Heart with each flicker of light.

He stood mere inches away from the Heart, his breath misting in the air. It was strange: He felt warm, as though a blanket had been wrapped around his body, yet a thin sheet of frost had covered the base of the Heart’s pedestal. His muzzle was almost touching it now, the thump-thump of the Heart pounding with the blood in his ears as he leaned even closer.

Something clicked on the floor behind him, and he whirled.

A crystal mare stood at the other end of the pavillion. She wore a simple dress - silk, it seemed, with one length draping over her shoulder. A simple tiara sat upon her head, and her entire body was bathed in a glow whose shades and tones shifted like the Northern Lights. Her coat was perfect, unmarred by any spots or blemishes, and when he caught sight of her face, his own heart skipped a beat.

“Hello?” The bags under his eyes helped neither his appearance nor concentration, he suspected, but he did his best to stand a little straighter. Perhaps she’d come from a late-night costume party and was lost, or perhaps she wanted a look at her people’s most prized artifact. It was certainly a popular attraction during the day, though he couldn’t recall anypony coming to visit this late at night before. “Can I help you, miss?”

He blinked - and then she was standing directly in front of him. Her eyes gazed into his own, her tiara glimmering just out of his vision. He could feel her warm breath on his muzzle, yet he felt his body shivering as though a cold wind had just passed through the square.

“Miss, I -” A hoof touched his cheek, and he stopped mid-sentence. He shuddered as it slowly ran down his face. He felt like he was drowning in her amethyst eyes, pulled into her gaze by an inscrutable, unseeable force. Something flickered at the back of his mind, though, tugging him back. Why did he need to look into her eyes? Why couldn’t...he...look...away?

With a grunt, he managed to pull his vision downward - and froze. Her hooves weren’t touching the floor.

For an instant, he wondered why neither of the guards had reacted to the strange mare’s presence. It was only a split second later that he realized why.

Both of his soldiers lay sprawled on the ground, their spears and helmets fallen to their sides. His eyes widened, and without even thinking about it, he had his horn blazing a bright, searing blue -

“Hush,” he heard. “Fear not, my love.”

He tried to speak, but all that came out was a hoarse squeak. His horn sputtered and went out. A spark leapt to the floor and sizzled out, pathetically. He shivered again as she stroked his muzzle.

“Look into my eyes.”

He obeyed. A dull, pink glow shone behind her irises, beating in time with his heartbeat. Her chest was pressed against his now, one hoof brushing his mane behind an ear. He could feel frost gathering around his hooves and fetlocks, yet he’d never felt warmer or safer in his life.

“We’re going home, my love,” she whispered. “Will you come with me?”

All he could do was nod in response.

“Then take my hoof.”

He nodded again, his eyes glassy and unfocused. Idly, he noticed the shape of two wings curled up beneath her dress, and a horn poking out from beneath her tiara. Something about that seemed odd to him, but for the life of him, he couldn’t say why. Her hoof waited between them. He raised his own.

Wait. His eyes flickered to something on the ground, just beyond the mare before him. Its tip glittered with a metallic shine. It was important, he knew. But why?

He looked up into the mare’s face. Another mare’s features flashed across hers, barely for an instant. Who was that pink-maned mare? Was she important, too? He wrinkled his nose and tried to remember.

“Take my hoof,” the mare urged. “Please, my love.”

He looked helplessly into her eyes, searching for answers. The frost was at his knees, now, and he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He could hear a mare’s voice calling his name.

And then he knew his answer. He took her hoof, smiled, and watched as the world turned to white all around him.

Cadance tightened her grasp on the form beside her. It was warm and soft, and she let out a sigh as she cuddled into it. “G’morning, honey,” she murmured, eyes still closed. “How’d you sleep?”

A moment without a response was nothing new. If anything, she was surprised that he wasn’t snoring louder. The poor thing had had to stand outside for half the night in the cold. Maybe he needed a few more minutes to sleep.

She nuzzled his side and smiled. “You want to be lazy today, honey?” After another moment with nary a groan, snore, or mumbled reply, she opened her eyes.

A pillow sat in her hooves, held tight against her chest. A thin line of drool had stained the fabric, running down from where her chin had sat to the mattress. The pillow was white enough, certainly, but it bore neither Cutie Mark nor mane.

Cadance didn’t have to check, but she did anyway. It only confirmed her suspicions: The bed was empty aside from her.

She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, groaning as she sat up in bed. The covers fell away from her wings, and a few rays of sunshine scattered across her face. Across the room, her wardrobe stood tall and proud, its crystal face glimmering beneath the autumn sun. Sparks of light leapt across the crystal floor and ceiling, making her room every inch the fairy tale it was meant to be.

But the rest of the room was empty. No Shining Armor stood at the foot of the bed, giving her that signature good-morning smirk of his. He wasn’t beside the bed, a piping-hot breakfast floating in the air beside him. He hadn’t even - she’d checked - rolled off of the side of the bed and onto the floor, as he was wont to do after the occasional night of arduous drinking with off-duty recruits.

Cadance frowned. Her hooves hit the floor with a light thud. The sound of each step echoed off of the walls as she moved to the bathroom.

Empty. A quick glance out on the balcony proved that the same was true there. Cadance’s forehead creased, the corners of her mouth tightening. She slipped on a bathrobe - the good one, nice and fuzzy, with the green lining - and stepped out into the hall.

“Good morning, Princess.” A crystal stallion, his mane streaked with blue and white, offered a rapt salute from his place beside her door. A few beams of sunlight illuminated the carpet and tapestries around him, shining forth from the tall, wide windows that flanked the walls of the Royal Corridor.

“Good morning to you, Lieutenant Quill.” She’d followed Shining’s example and made it a habit to learn the names of each guard set to patrolling the hall outside of their room. “Have you seen my husband?”

Quills considered that. “Last night, I think. I saw him at the barracks, just after dinner. He had some kind of patrol duty, didn’t he?”

“He did,” Cadance said, her brow creasing. “But not for the entire night.”

“Might’ve fallen asleep,” Quill said with a grin. “Goodness knows he would’ve been bored enough.”

Cadance gave him a wan smile in return. “I don’t think Shining Armor would fall asleep at his post.”

“When he had your bed to look forward to? I doubt it.”

“I’m flattered,” Cadance said. “Could he still be somewhere along his route?”

“Might be,” Quill said. “Maybe the next guy never showed.” If that was the case, they both knew that Shining would be having some choice words with the soldier who’d been scheduled after him. It wouldn’t be for keeping him out in the cold, personally, but Shining had a tendency to view duty as a soldier’s highest obligation.

Cadance took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she held herself a little straighter, her stance firmer and her expression focused. “Send a guard to check there,” she said. “And the barracks.”

“Think he might be chewing out a new recruit?” When Cadance nodded, Quill went on, “Better check the kitchens too, then. General Armor always manages to work up an appetite after a good holler.”

“Yes. Thank you,” Cadance said.

“Of course, Princess.” Quill bowed. “Can I ask a question, though?”

“You may.”

“Why all the fuss? General Armor’s a grown stallion; he can take care of himself. Why not let him return on his own?”

Why indeed. Cadance closed her eyes and took a breath. She wanted to agree with him - to admit that it was likely nothing to worry about. Shining Armor had had late nights before, and there’d been nights where he’d had to spend the night in the barracks.

Yet every other time, he’d sent a messenger to let her know, or told her in advance that he’d be missing. As her husband, Shining had always attended her out of love - as she did for him. Yet as her prince, he had done so out of duty as well. And for Prince-Consort and General Shining Armor, duty was no trivial matter.

“Call it a hunch,” she finally said.

Quill gave a nod that contained obvious understanding. After a shallow bow and a holler to the butler to find the Princess something warm to drink - Cadance hadn’t asked, but she more than appreciated the gesture - he gave a nod and went down the hall toward the stairs.

Cadance lingered in the hall for a moment more, clutching her bathrobe tightly around her. Soon enough, though, she returned to her room. The bed was still warm enough, though the frigid air she’d let in from the balcony had begun to chill the blankets. She curled up next to a pillow and waited.

The royal butler, an elderly stallion named Ruby Gem, came up a few minutes later with a steaming cup of hot cocoa and a tray of pastries. She nibbled on one as she waited for Quill to return, though she found, to little surprise, that she wasn’t very hungry. The cocoa did warm her body, though, and soon she found herself at something approaching an acceptable level of alertness.

Quill did not return for another thirty minutes. When he did, though, he carried some sobering news: Shining Armor was not in the Crystal Pavillion, nor the barracks, nor the kitchens. In fact, he was not in any part of the palace at all. Not a single pony in the area, soldier, servant, or visitor could recall seeing him since he’d left for his night shift the evening before.

Within another thirty minutes, search parties had been sent out into the rest of the city. For a time, Cadance still harbored some hope that he might be found - that he was merely visiting a friend, or perhaps patrolling the outskirts of the city. Desperate hopes, she knew, but she clung to them all the same.

Four hours later, the city had been swept clean, and Shining Armor was still missing. Even worse, a messenger had come up not long after the first search parties had gone out with worse news.

The guards posted at the Crystal Pavillion had been attacked. The Crystal Heart had gone dark.

“Corporal, report.”

“No sign of General Armor in any inn in the city, sir!” Cadance closed her eyes as the soldier, a younger mare with a bright blue coat, gave Quill a salute. Quill dismissed the soldier and turned to Cadance.

“That’s the last place in the city we thought we might find him,” he said. “I’m sorry, Princess, but it looks like your hunch was right.”

Cadance glanced around the room. A few of her more active advisors, plus several of Quill’s soldiers, had joined them, each standing at a given position around the table that took up much of the Royal Meeting Room. Quill himself stood at her right side, taking Shining Armor’s usual place. Two of his soldiers flanked him, waiting for their chance to speak. The morning sunlight streamed in through the windows, though a chill lurked in Cadance’s limbs all the same.

She moistened her lips before speaking. “It looks like it. Sergeants Cerulean and Ardent, what did you find in the Crystal Pavillion?”

Sergeant Ardent spoke up first, approaching the table after a nod from Quill. ”Our findings seemed to confirm that General Armor left - or was taken - in the middle of the night, while his shift was still underway. His spear was found abandoned in the area, and the two guards posted there confirmed seeing him. However, there were no signs of a struggle.”

“Nothing?” Cadance asked. “Did he disappear into thin air?”

“Might be, ma’am,” Ardent said. “It was as if he’d just vanished. The guards were knocked out by an unknown assailant and are unable to make any report on anything they might have seen.”

“And you, Sergeant Cerulean?” Cadance turned to look at the other mare. “Does the forensics team have anything to report?”

“Yes, your highness. Three things, in fact.”

Cadance let out a sigh of relief. Finally. Some good news at last. “Go on.”

“First: Remnants of frost were found around the base of the Crystal Heart pedestal.”

“That isn’t that strange,” Quill put in. “Winter is getting closer.”

“Yes, sir,” Cerulean agreed, “but that was the only place in the entire pavillion where frost was found, and the first frost of winter isn’t due for another month, at least.” When Quill nodded thoughtfully, Cerulean went on.

“The second discovery is a bit more optimistic.”

Cadance and Quill exchanged a look. “Optimistic?” Cadance asked, a lump in her throat. “Has Shining Armor been found? ”

“I’m afraid not,” Cerulean said. Cadance bowed her head. It’d been too much to hope for, but still... “Nothing about General Armor, at least. But the situation with the Heart is, fortunately, not as bad as we feared.”

She cleared her throat. “The border patrol has confirmed that the walls are holding, even in the absence of any obvious indication of the Heart’s power. No anomalies or weaknesses have been found.”

“Good,” Cadance said, letting her shoulders slump slightly. Her horn ached sympathetically in memory of the last time she’d had to hold the Empire’s barrier spell in place. “But how is this possible?”

“We don’t know,” Cerulean said. “Our best mages have already begun to study the Heart’s new condition, but their reports won’t be ready for another hour at least.”

“Are we sure that this is a new condition?” Cadance asked. “Had there been any reports of a darkened Crystal Heart before last night?”

“Not that we are aware of,” Cerulean said.

Cadance pursed her lips. “What else did you find? You mentioned a third piece of evidence?”

Cerulean reached back into her saddlebags and retrieved a small pouch, which she placed on the table. Cadance’s horn flickered as she slid the pouch over to her side of the table and opened it.

“We found two crystal shards near the Heart’s pedestal,” Cerulean said. “Neither matches in either composition or structure to the surrounding area.”

Cadance retrieved the first shard - a piece of bright, glimmering white - and inspected it beneath the light. When she’d first arrived at the Crystal Empire, one gem had looked much the same to her as any other. With time, though, she’d picked up a few things from the crystal ponies. She racked her brains to try and remember what the crystal making up the Pavillion looked like, and noted that the color, at least, was slightly off from what she recalled.

This piece was familiar to her, though - she’d seen its color, its structure somewhere before. But where?

Putting that thought off for later, she placed the shard down onto the table and withdrew the second one. A chill went through her hooves as she realized what she held, and she quickly placed it down on the table next to the other.

“A dark crystal,” she said.

“To the best of our knowledge, yes,” Sergeant Cerulean said. “We’re not completely sure, but it does seem to resemble those samples that were collected following his return.” There was no need to say which pony he was. His name hung over the room like a dark cloud, rumbling like thunder in each pony’s heart.

“A powerless Crystal Heart and a shard of dark crystal,” Cadance murmured.

“The culprit looks obvious,” Lieutenant Quill said.

“But Sombra was destroyed when the Crystal Heart was restored to its place beneath the palace!” Ardent said. “How could he possibly - “

He blushed a bright red as Quill fixed him with a steady look. “Sorry, sir. My apologies.”

“If Sombra has returned in any form, then we need to be ready,” Cadance said. Her horn flickered a bright blue. “We can’t let Shining Armor stay under his control.”

“If King Sombra has returned.” Quill coughed as Cadance turned toward him. “Forgive me for interrupting, Princess, but I don’t think we have all of the answers we need. Not just yet. And just mentioning Sombra’s name might end up causing a city-wide panic.”

Cadance exhaled. “You’re right. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.” Not even if the evidence is lined up like apples in a barrel, she told herself silently. “We should wait for the mages to get back to us.”

“Yes, Princess,” Quill said. He turned to Ardent. “Sergeant! I want a squadron patrolling the castle and grounds, looking for any sign of General Armor. There might be something we’ve missed.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Ardent saluted.

“Dismissed!” Quill turned to Cerulean as Ardent left the room. “Sergeant Cerulean: You’re going to stay with us until the mages bring their report. Your forensic skills might help us when we look at their analysis.”

“Yes, sir!” Cerulean saluted.

The next hour went by uneventfully. Ruby Gem brought up some refreshments as well as a lunch for Cadance, who hadn’t eaten since her “breakfast.” Cadance did her best to lead the room in smalltalk, though the idea of forgetting about Shining Armor for even a minute turned her stomach. She asked Quill about his wife and Cerulean about her training; both ponies were happy enough to respond, but an undercurrent of tension was evident beneath everypony’s voice.

Finally, there came a knock on the door. Cadance swallowed the lump in her throat and said, “Come in!”

The door swung open, admitting a crystal stallion in fetlock-high robes. His mane was a deep lavender, his coat an even brighter shade of blue than Cerulean’s. An ornate set of saddlebags was slung over his back, and he carried himself with his head held high and his lip curled slightly inwards. A pair of horn-rimmed glasses rested upon his snout.

“Your highness,” he said, bowing low to the ground. “I am honored to be in your presence.”

Cadance’s mouth twitched. “And I, yours,” she echoed. “Are you the representative of the Order of the Topaz?” The stallion nodded. “What is your name?”

“Zirconic, your highness.”

“Very well, then, Zirconic,” Cadance said. “Tell us what the Order has found.”

“Gladly.” Zirconic reached into his saddlebags and nosed through the contents for a moment before withdrawing a crystalline prism in his teeth, which he placed gently upon the table. With a tap of his hoof, a glow sprang up within the prism.

“The border patrol has already reported that the wall seems to be holding in a consistent place,” Zirconic began, “and by our calculations, this seems to be true.” As he spoke, the light in the prism flickered, and then flared. In the blink of an eye, a model of the Crystal Empire and the surrounding area was spread out across the table, centered on the tip of the prism. Quill waved a hoof through one side and raised an eyebrow when it went right through.

“Parlor tricks,” he muttered under his breath, though not quietly enough for anypony to miss it. Zirconic ignored him, and Cadance shot him a frown.

“We did find one notable anomaly, which would have been nearly invisible to the average pony’s eye,” Zirconic said.

“Oh?” Quill said, frowning. “And what did you find that my soldiers couldn’t?”

“This is what the shield normally looks like,” Zirconic said, waving a hoof over the diagram. A wide bubble, light blue in color, sprang into existence over the city. “And this,” he said, waving his other hoof, “is what it looks like now. See the difference?”

Quill snorted. “You haven’t changed anything. It looks exactly the same.”

But Cadance was nodding. An alicorn’s eyes tended to be a bit more accurate than another pony’s, and it seemed that her gift would help her here. “It’s shifted downward.”

“Exactly,” Zirconic said. “By nine hundred feet, almost exactly.” Zirconic adjusted his glasses. “When considering an area as large as the Empire, nine hundred feet is negligible. However, in this case, it’s an important clue, as the barrier has never been known to fluctuate anywhere near that amount.”

“So what are you saying?” Quill asked. He leaned over the table, inspecting the model. The frown had largely receded from his face, though he still eyed Zirconic with a steady, mistrusting gaze.

Zirconic licked his lips and waved a hoof over the prism. The projection of the Crystal Empire disappeared. “Whatever it is about the Crystal Heart that’s generating the barrier, it’s moved. The power that protects our land no longer resides within the Heart, but nine hundred feet below.”

“And what might that power be?” Cadance asked. Zirconic shrugged and then tilted his head to the side, giving Cadance an odd look.

“Excuse me,” he said, gesturing toward the pair of crystals set before Cadance, “but is that a dark crystal? Where was it found?”

“By the Heart,” Cerulean put in, “in the Crystal Pavillion.”

“May I see it?”

Cadance nodded and levitated the crystal over. Zirconic took it in one hoof and raised it to the light.

“We’ve seen one of these before,” he said, turning it over in his hoof.

“Of course you have,” Quill said. “The entire Empire was littered with them after Sombra’s attack.”

Zirconic shook his head. “It appears similar to the others, but this piece is of a darker, deeper magic.” He set it back down on the table and met Cadance’s eyes. “This is a shard of the Door of Fears.”

In that instant, Cadance knew where she’d seen the other shard before. “The throne room,” she said, eyes narrowed. “That’s where I’ve seen that first shard before. It’s a piece of the throne.”

“So that means…” Cerulean’s voice trailed off uncertainly.

Cadance nodded. “My husband is a prisoner within Sombra’s castle.”

Shining Armor groaned as he awoke, his body stirring slowly to life. His limbs felt...strange. Awkward. How long had he slept?

His eyes flickered open.

A grand hall spread out before him. Pillars of crystalline glass towered up toward the vaulted ceiling, each column shining with an inner rainbow. Stained-glass windows filled the walls, depicting scenes of love and beauty, each one more magnificent and gloried than the last. The hall was filled with an enormous crowd of ponies. Stallions and mares alike glimmered like diamonds, their gemlike coats as bright as the stars.

Shining rubbed his eyes - and paused, finding an odd metal plate covering the end of his hoof. He held it up before looking down and staring, wide-eyed, at the great red cape that covered the floor around him, and at the harsh steel barding that covered his chest and neck.

He raised his other hoof and stared, glassy-eyed, at the charcoal-black leg that followed it, a scepter held tight in its grasp. There was a weight on his head, too, and he glanced up to see a circlet of black iron that rested upon his horn, bearing a simple crest of red and black.

There was a throne beneath him. It was a smaller thing, wrought and pounded from sturdier, rather than precious, metals, and very obviously out of place with the rest of the crystal-built hall. He glanced to the side, eyes widening as he took in a second, much larger throne that sat in the center of the hall, raised on a dais for each and every pony to see.

The second throne was enormous, towering far above his own. Great spears of diamond and sapphire jutted out from the sides, their depths glittering with beauty and danger. Atop the throne stood a cascade of gems not dissimilar from a peacock’s tail, with a single ruby of incredible size standing above the rest. It was toward this throne, this incredible piece of art, that everypony’s attention was directed.

Or perhaps it wasn’t the throne, for it held a single occupant. Though dwarfed in size by her seat, another pony sat proud and tall at the head of the hall. Her mane was a shining pink, her coat a shade of deep lavender. Her fur shone more brilliantly than any other’s, and a tall crown fashioned of opals and diamonds and emeralds rested upon her brow. A pair of wings lay folded upon her back, and a long, painted horn stretched into the air above her forehead, a single garnet decorating its tip.

As Shining watched her, his jaw slowly lowering, the mare turned to him and smiled. Her eyelashes fluttered, revealing in the space beneath a pair of bright purple eyes. They were beautiful, pools of amethyst color that he could lose himself in.

“Good morn, my King,” said his Queen. “And welcome back, my love.”

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