With everything going on, Lia spent most of the morning, throwing herself into preparations for the night.  She wanted everything to be perfect for the Earth Queen, a distraction from the disappearance of the Princess.  The tablecloths were an earthly brown with a forest green overlay.  The layout of foods was much more expansive than any of the previous nights.  An entire section of the table was dedicated to greenery, another to various sliced fruits, and vegetables.      Wines, and juices lined the far end to be served throughout the night.  

“NO!” She exclaimed, looking up to see the way that Ligea had arranged the flowers in the center of the table. “Are you blind?” she snapped, pulling ferns, and rearranging the flowers.  Eventually she just pulled the entire bouquet out, and threw them over her shoulder with a sigh. “Try again.” She said with an exasperated tone.  She turned to leave the room, heading towards her chambers.  The door slammed, and she saw a form stretched out on the bed.  Her heart skipped a beat, her breath catching in her throat.  There he was, finally.  He hadn’t returned after his outburst the night before.  She had worried herself sick, not sleeping a wink while He’d been gone.  An anger welled up in her, boiling to the point of rage, mixing with a relief that kept her from striking him.

“Where were you!?!” She screamed, smacking at his feet.  He jolted awake, turning so quickly that he rolled off of the bed and onto the floor.  Once He was on the floor, she began to kick at him her fists pounding on his chest as he jumped up to grasp her.  Her face buried against his chest, inhaling his scent.  Tears of rage and confusion began to fall down her cheeks.  Was she a fool?  Had she been completely wrong about him?  Was Ronan right all along?

“I went to the Sky Kingdom.  I wanted to get away to make sure that whatever was going on with me didn’t cause me to hurt anyone.  I felt like I was losing my mind, and I needed to get away.” He said, barely above a whisper. 

“Did you take her?” She asked, knowing full well that he was incapable of lying.

“What?” He asked, his tone confused, and offended.  His body tensed, holding her tighter.

“Did you take her?” She asked again, looking up into his eyes, her own tear stained eyes locking on his. “Was it you?” She asked more clearly.

“How could you even think that?” He asked, once again not directly answering her.

“It’s a simple question colman.  Yes or no?” She said sternly, beginning to pull away.  His grip on her tightened, not wanting to let her go.

“A question I refuse to answer because you should know the truth!” He said, pressing his forehead against hers.  The tears were flowing full force now, fury, and rage filling her.  There would only be one reason that he wouldn’t answer such a simple question.

“Yeah.” She whispered, reaching her hand up to cup his cheek. “I do.” She looked into his eyes, running her fingertips along his jawline for a moment before leaning in to kiss him gently. “That’s why I want you out of My chambers by the end of the night.” She whispered against his lips. “You can stay with your brother, or your daughter until the end of the celebrations.  I don’t care.  Just don’t come back here.” She said sternly, pulling away from his firm grasp.  She didn’t look back, only went to the bathroom to lock herself away.  She drew a bath, hoping that a nice bath would be all she needed.  She heard him outside the door, pleading with her, and begging for her to speak to him.  She stepped into the tub, ducking under the water, and letting it embrace her.  Water was all she ever needed, the soft embrace, and feeling of completeness that it could give to her was something she would never find anywhere else.  The water drowned out his screams until he left.  Once he was gone, it was only her and the water.  She began to wonder if she’d made the right decision, if she’d been right all along and he truly was innocent.  No.  Something inside of her had known.  Her hand ran across the scar on her stomach, the mark from the blade that had ended her child’s life, and kept her from ever conceiving another all those years ago.  It hadn’t been him that held the knife, but he had been the one to give the order, and she would never forget that again.

Colman slammed his fist against the hardened dirt that formed the wall as he returned to the room He’d hidden the Princess away in.  The Location had once been used for lightning harvests, a form of light to be used in the dark lands, much like the fyre Kingdom used their flames, and the Water Kingdom used eels,luminous plants and animals.  Since the destruction of the lands in the flood however, there hadn’t been a need to reopen them.  He paced the dirt floor, the sounds of the Princess taunting him were ignored in the beginning as his mind raced.  The more he thought about what had happened with Lia though, the more furious he became.  He couldn’t take her taunting anymore.  He lunged at her, hand on her throat.  He wanted nothing more than to crush the life from her, and in that moment he couldn’t see any reason to stop.

“You forget.” He hissed the words in anger. “Your life lies in my hands.” His grip tightened, only enough to restrict the airflow, but not quite cut it off yet. “Right now, I have no reason not to just end you.” He continued, tightening his hold more as he felt the remains of his sanity slipping away.  He was gripping to her throat as if it were all that held him above the pit of pure madness. “You have your Father to thank for that.” He whispered, leaning close against her ear.  She quieted for the first time He had ever known her, and he felt her begin to tremble as she struggled to breathe.  Thunder and lighting began in the forest above, lighting striking one of the harvesters, becoming trapped inside, and lighting up the room.  He could see her face clearly now, a grin forming as he looked into her desperate, pleading eyes.  He wanted to watch the life fade from them.  The lightning reflected in her eyes, just as they were beginning to fade.  Something in him changed.  A flash of an image, and the memory of Lia’s last kiss on his lips made him let go.  His hands moved to the top of his own head as she gasped for air.  She wouldn’t be able to speak for awhile at least.  He stepped back, looking over what he had done to her.  What was he doing?  How was he going to actually benefit from this?  He always planned everything down to the most minuscule detail, but somehow with this he’d gotten himself into such a state, He hadn’t even thought of the basic details of why, or what would happen after the fact.  Maybe he truly was going mad after all.  His fingers tangled in his hair, gripping it as if it were all that held him together as his thoughts raced.  The earth shook as she coughed, trying to regain her breath.  His eyes closed as he took a deep breath of his own.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.  A chunk of earth fell from the ceiling, and knocked him to the ground.  The ceiling caved in around them, and he faded into darkness, not fighting, just giving in and giving up on everything.  He was defeated, and he only had himself to blame.