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Alone in a grey, grey palace

           I had slept, or so I thought I had. I could feel the palace shifting with people and with a coming war that I didn't even have to leave my room to feel dreadful. Fear had turned into despair as my last candlelight burnt for the last dark hour of the night. Morning would come soon and some part of me wanted Erlan to come and wake me from a bad dream, but the other part wished my dad would come and tell me that the wizard was just one of my very bright imaginations this whole time. Had I noticed before that Erlan Dolos wasn't what he said he was, I wouldn't have become so attached, but now he was my price and a big betrayal had come to my reckoning. For a girl my age, there should be no dreams of foolish perfect princes, but I knew it wasn't all made up and Erlan was indeed the perfect prince in my eyes. What had gone wrong? It's not as if he suddenly changed. He had been a dragon this whole time, but why was it different than it was before I found out? I was done bending my neck to all these questions, so I quickly went through my hair with a brush and put on a regular dress, grabbing the candle for company. It flickered a vision of the palace walls enough for me to be able to find my way to the wizard's den. It was scary quiet, and I knew it was probably because he was sleeping. I took a deep breath and entered the shadowy room with a bit of mist coming in through the window. I didn't want to scare my prince by suddenly appearing, but I had waited all night to confront my feelings for the wizard. There was no warmth in the room, and I couldn't feel anyone's presence. The closer I crept to where the wizard was supposed to be sleeping, the more convinced I was that he wasn't there.

            "Be wary!" A distorted voice said from the corner, and it woke me from my thoughts.

            "Who's there!?" I pulled up my skirt to make my way faster to the sill of the window. Two tiny eyes looked up at me from a carefully made nest of branches under the window. "Rafael?" I could believe my ears. Of course, he had decided to speak for the first time when Erlan wasn't around. It lightened my mood, but I reminded myself of the bird's warning. "Rafael? Be wary of what?" I put my face an inch away from the birds and we stared at each other, but neither said a word. There was no reason to be paranoid, for the crow might have just heard someone say it and repeated it. I left the room with disappointment, for I hadn't found the one thing I was looking for. My dad had given him a chance, but I wouldn't test his trust and patience, therefore I had to find my prince before anyone else did. I savaged through the dark halls, but there was no warmth in this palace. He wasn't in any usual place and there were no traces of him in the library and garden. He was gone.

            I entered the main throne room exhausted and tried to think of anything else but my lost prince. I was desperate to find him, but it seemed I had reached a dead end. "You’re up early, dear," a familiar voice spoke. It was my father coming into the hall all dressed up in armour.

            "Where are you going!?" Fear rose up in my tired soul and what frightened me the most was that I knew what it meant.

            "Astra, I'm leaving for the border. Last night all the knights left after a messenger came," the king wasn't well rested either, but it was fear keeping all the palace awake, that I was sure of. "Questin started a war," I had known it was coming, but it still seemed impossible. Peace was all our small kingdom knew. I stood speechless as my father kissed me on the forehead and headed for the door.

            A war.

            But there was only one thought I'm my head that screamed louder.

            Erlan Dolos.

            Where was my prince?

            "Father?!" I yelled at him to stop, and he addressed me with a sorrowful gaze. "Dolos, where .  . Is he here?" I struggled to form a sentence.

            "They took him with them. He has a role in our made plan, that he promises to keep," that was the last thing he said before leaving the kingdom that day.

            I ran back to the wizard's den and cried myself to sleep on the cold floor. My prince was gone. The kingdom was at war, and I was left alone again in the grey, grey palace.