Fallas marked its arrival with a thunderstorm. When I opened my eyes, they were met with flashes of lightning and rain splattered windows.

I squeezed them shut, hoping once more to be lost in the blissful escapism of my dreams. But the events of last night flooded my consciousness, washing away all hope of sleep. I groaned and dragged myself out from under the covers, opening my eyes to get away from the look of hurt confusion on Ash's face as I'd left his room. The twins' warning of gold cages and deceptive outlooks echoed through my head; the only thing stopping me from running back to Ash's room at once to apologise.

Ash had called us a team. Were we? My head knew I should ally with my brothers, my people; but my heart... my traitorous heart was urging me to trust Ash. And then there was what I'd overheard Balmorez and the king discussing. How much did Ash know? Whose side was he on?

I wouldn't know unless I was honest with Ash, and I wouldn't be able to stop his step-father on my own.

Perhaps I needed to trust Ash enough to tell him what I knew. I went to twist my signet-ring, realising as my fingers touched smooth skin that it had vanished. Panic bubbled in my throat. It was the symbol of my 'freedom'. Where could it have gone?

I searched around the bedcovers, but couldn't find it caught up in the sheets. It had to be somewhere on the ground outside. I tugged at my finger anxiously, wondering how I was going to get it back without combing through the lawn, inch by inch.

With a weary sigh at the thought of the task ahead, I forced myself out of bed and into the bathroom to wash the remainder of last night's glitter and tears from my body.

As I was drying off, I caught sight of my auretis reflected in the bathroom mirror. What had started as a small, golden smudge now extended over almost the entire right side of my face. The original inch thick smear which had stretched from brow to collarbone had bled out in tendrils across my eye, nose, mouth and chin. It wasn't as pretty as Mari's, but it made me look strong, and powerful. This was me now and unlike when my powers had first appeared, I was okay with that. I was more than okay with that.

It wasn't just the auretis that made me look like a different girl to the one who'd arrived in the capital. Eating three decent meals a day had allowed my face to fill out. My skin had a healthy glow, probably thanks to my now frequent bathing, and my eyes sparkled with an energy, a contentedness, that I'd never seen in them before.

I was stronger: strong enough to face the king; strong enough to be honest with Ash; strong enough to handle my brothers. I nodded once at my reflection, got dressed, then climbed back through the broken remains of my door and knocked on Ash's room.

He opened almost immediately, his eyes puffy from lack of sleep, his hair dishevelled. "Kacia?" he looked confused to see me, but then I realised it was my auretis he was looking at. His own skin was unmarked. "You look... Wow... It's beautiful. You're... I mean..."

"Can I come in?"

It was still early; Aleela hadn't been up with breakfast and the queen had already said that she'd be late up today, as everyone would be having a lie in after the Bonfire Eve festivities. Everyone who wasn't too worked up to sleep, that was.

"Ash, there's something I really need to tell you," I began as he shut the door and gestured for me to take a seat. I sunk down gratefully into an overstuffed armchair, letting the arms cradle me.

I'd forgotten just how many weapons there were in Ash's room. Under the stark overhead lights turned on, the room looked like an armoury.

"First," Ash said, drawing my attention back to him. "What's Aleela's favourite food?"

"Erm, sweetbread." One of the palace chefs snuck her the leftovers at the end of each day and she ate them before going to bed.

Ash nodded. There was a pause. "Now ask me something."

Oh, right. He was checking that I was me; wasn't the auretis obvious enough. Mari didn't know what my auretis looked like, did she? Could she?

"Kacia?"

Question. Yes. "Um, how many Etealians did you rescue from the market?"

"Five." He sighed. "I'm paranoid every time someone comes to the door. I've asked Evanthe to come up after breakfast - we need to tell her what Mari can do. She might have been impersonating other people for years without us knowing. Not to mention how strong her powers must be; she could be even more powerful than Evanthe."

"Wouldn't that make her the rightful head of the altorae?"

Ash nodded. "Which might be why she's concealing it - Mari wouldn't want the responsibility of being head altora. It's too much work."

"Do you think she knows I'm an altora?"

"I don't know - it's one of the things I'm most worried about. Who knows what she could know if she's been wandering around the palace in disguise?"

Before I could bring up the topic of the Etealians again, we were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"That must be Evanthe. Come in!" Ash called out.

But when the door opened, it was Aleela who stood on the threshold, carrying two breakfast trays.

"Kacia!" her voice rose in surprise. "You're in here?" She broke off, coughing. "Sorry - I think I inhaled too much smoke last night. My throat's been scratchy all morning." She put both trays down on the table, having to balance them on open books due to the lack of space.

"We're just discussing last night's Bonfire Eve celebration," Ash told her, as if it was perfectly normal for me to be alone with him in his room first thing in the morning.

"Speaking of which - what did you tell me last night before I went to the party?"

Aleela coughed before answering uncertainly: "not to break the heels, because I wanted to try them on?"

I nodded to Ash. "It's her."

"Of course it's me."

"Sorry, Aleela. Things got a bit... weird, last night." I didn't know how to explain what Mari had done.

"The questions are a new security measure," Ash told her. "You'll need to do the same when you see us from now on - especially Kacia. You have to be 100% certain it's really her before saying anything about her status as an altora."

Aleela coughed again. "Of course."

"Aleela? Do you need a drink?" Ash asked, indicating to the glass of orange juice on his breakfast try.

"Oh no, your highness. I'm fine." This would have been more convincing if she hadn't coughed as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

"You're not fine. Please drink the juice," Ash pressed.

Aleela still looked reluctant.

"It's okay, Aleela, I'm not thirsty."

At last she nodded, picking up the glass of orange juice from Ash's tray and swallowing it in three mouthfuls.

"Better?" he asked her.

Aleela nodded. Then her eyes narrowed.

She reached out, as if she was going to grab one of the books from the desk, but her fingers curled around a dagger, which she immediately launched at Ash's head.

The shot went wide, but before Ash could react, Aleela had thrown another.

"Aleela!" I cried aghast. What was she doing? Had the twins put her up to this?

She paid me no attention, heading instead towards a crossbow on the wall, ripping it off and aiming it at Ash.

"What are you doing?" Ash cried, upturning a sidetable and using it as a shield.

Aleela was too busy struggling to thread an arrow into the crossbow string to reply. When she failed for a third time, she launched both the bow and arrow at Ash, then reached for a sword.

I moved towards her, bypassing a sword of my own - I had no more idea of how to use it than she did. "Aleela!" I stood directly in front of her, blocking her route to Ash. "What are you doing?"

"Move out of the way, Kacia, or I'll take you out as well."

"Take me out? Are you listening to yourself, Aleela? You wouldn't take anyone out! Put the sword down and talk to us." I wished I'd already been to see Michael this morning. Being a cor would have been useful at the moment. Instead, I used my vis strength to wrench the sword from Aleela's grip, tossing it to the ground with a clatter.

"Ash! Do something!" I called to the prince, who was standing dumfounded behind me.

"What? I can't hurt her - it's Aleela!"

"Well, she's trying very hard to hurt you," I replied, parrying a punch she threw at me.

It was as though she'd been filled with an insatiable rage. No matter how hard I blocked, how strongly I parried, she kept coming back. Not necessarily trying to hurt me, but desperately attempting to get through me, to Ash, who still refused to engage her in conflict.

She backed me towards the table, and I felt around for a book, wondering if I could knock her out without hurting her too badly. But before I could make up my mind, Aleela had grabbed the breakfast tray, hurling it at me: wood, glass, food.

I was knocked from my feet and Aleela leapt towards Ash.

"Aleela, stop!" Ash called, dodging her hits easily, but reluctant to fight back.

As I struggled to my feet, I saw the glint of silver in the hand Aleela kept behind her back. "Ash she has a knife!" I shouted, lunging towards her.

Before Ash or I could reach her, the door to Ash's room crashed open and everyone froze.