"She was clutching her heart, and then she passed out, from the pain I think." Cozette filled Tamsin.

"The closer the queen got to her, the worse it became. No offense," Tristan added.

"It's true," Cozette said, knowing that Sophie would be in pain with her own heart beating so close.

"Her chest has hurt for some time now. Months even. At first she mentioned it every week or so, until she left, then she complained of it more," added the young man who had entered with the foursome added.

"How do you know Sophie?" Cozette asked.

"I'm Henri. Sophie's best friend. I've known her forever," he stopped, and smiled humbly. "She is my forever."

"Well, maybe not forever, forever. She is my--"

"Your what?" Henri asked.

"She's my special friend," Tristan said, scoffing at Henri.

"I'm sure she is quite special to you," Henri said, shaking his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tristan asked.

"He means you only like Sophie because she--"

"Enough," Tamsin silenced the bickering. "We'll explain it to you, Tristan, when Sophie wakes. For now I need you two to move aside."

Tamsin placed the lit candle in Emel's hands and added several drops of a bottled concoction in the small bowl of warm water. The two walked toward Sophie while Emel centered the candle over her. Tamsin held the bowl above the flame and chanted low syllables that Cozette didn't recognize. The water began to boil. Instead of spilling on Sophie's face scalding her, the steam from the water caused her eyelids to flutter open.

"It's working," Cozette whispered, drawing closer to the bed.

"Stay back, Your Highness, please. You might cause her heart to react again."

Cozette hated the words Tamsin spoke. She hated that she needed to stay away from the one she longed to hold, longed to never let go.

She obeyed. She stepped back, and watched. She watched as Sophie's eyes opened, as she took in the room, confused, shaking her head, then gasping, clutching her chest, tears ... very different tears than the ones the others in the room shed. Tears born from pain.

"It hurts so ... need to stop ... away" Sophie spoke incoherently, withering in agony.

Cozette blinked back tears herself; it was difficult to watch someone in so much distress. The tension is the room felt sharp and fierce. It was clear everyone wanted the pain to stop. Just how to make that happen was unclear.

"I think I should try leaving the room for a bit, and see what happens to her pain? If it lessens, then we will know I am a trigger." Cozette spoke, as she inched way from the bed.

This was worse than she ever imagined, all she wanted to do was scoop up this fragile girl, nurse her to health, to life, but she couldn't. She could do nothing.

"Possibly. It could also be the fact that she'll be eighteen in a day's time," Tamsin spoke knowing the inevitable that Cozette didn't want to acknowledge.

"No, her birthday isn't for another few weeks," Henri said. Then looking at Tamsin and Cozette, he nodded his head realizing the truth. Sophie had never known her true birthday.

Also, Sophie was in pain because she was dying.

Cozette trembled as she left the room; she passed through the silent hallway lined with guards. She walked to the room she never let anyone enter, the room she went to alone.

She entered the nursery, the sanctuary made for her child, a child she never wholly grieved. If she had, the layette would be packed away, the gilded rocking chair repurposed years ago. Here it remained, empty and hollow as Cozette shut the door.

The diamonds on her bracelet chinked against the wooden frame, as she caught her breath. The floor caught her as she fell to the ground. She pressed herself against the door, giving in to the pressure mounting inside her.

She cried, knowing this room would always be empty, not only empty of an heir, but empty of the love between a mother and child. Between herself and Sophie. Marcus took that from her.

Cozette cried because she knew Sophie, her beloved daughter, would never have a chance to live.

That truth broke her heart in two.

Sophie Palace Royale, eclat, Gemmes She could breathe again. The pain was still there, but the throbbing subsided as she pulled a deep breath, trying to take in the people standing here.

Henri held her left hand, and Tristan held her right. She shook her head, baffled by the scene. Emel stood with a woman she didn't know and they were talking in hushed tones with a man she didn't recognize. Two women dressed in Palace grandeur watched her tensely. It was odd.

An opulent blue silk blanket covered her body and the canopied bed's heavy curtains were pulled open. It was something out of a fairy tale. It didn't feel like real life.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Henri, squinting in confusion. "Actually, what am I doing here?"

"You fainted," Henri said, letting go of her hand, as if he knew she wouldn't like it.

He knew her so well, she realized, in that one swift gesture.

Tristan still held tightly to her hand.

"Tamsin came with my Uncle Remy," Tristan said, seemingly as confused as her. "And Henri and your friend Emel were with them. Isn't that insane?"

Sophie sat in bed, feeling more like herself, and pursed her lips at Emel.

"Well, she isn't exactly my friend," Sophie clarified.

"Oh my Hedge. Really, Sophie?" Emel said, exasperated. "We saved your life, I mean, basically, and the first thing you want to do is argue with me?"

"You make it pretty easy."

"Sophie, there are some things we need to discuss," Henri said, softly.

"What?" she asked, now thoroughly perplexed. The bed, the people, her lack of memory. Everything about this scenario proved quite confusing.

"Actually, why don't we take Tristan to the hall to explain, and you and Emel can stay here and speak with Sophie?" the woman, apparently Tamsin, asked Henri.

"That's a good idea," he answered. "But, Emel could you maybe let us be alone?"

"What's going on?" Tristan asked the room. Sophie realized, for the first time, that he was equally as confused with the dynamics. That was comforting, a bit at least.

"That's fine with me," Emel answered Henri. No one answered Tristan.

"Come on, Tristan, come out with us," Tamsin and his Uncle Remy nudged him. Emel and the other women followed, leaving Sophie alone with her oldest friend.

Once the door shut behind them, they looked at one another. Sophie realized, with a thump in her gut, that Henri might ask for his ring back. She had a lot to explain. It appeared he did too.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"I've missed you, Jou-Jou."

She looked at him, his brown hair swept across his forehead, a face she had memorized. He was familiar, and every bone in her body knew it. He was home.

"I was at the village square," Henri began, seriously. "The King's Legion showed up, looking for an orphan, your age. They were on a hunt for you. Your moth Francesca was terrified. We all were." Henri paused, and Sophie understood why this was hard for him.

"I know Francesca died. The king's men, who found me on the road, told me about a woman who was hung for refusing to tell the king where I was. I put two and two together. I'm sure that was pretty ... umm ... awful." She raised her eyebrows, wondering if he would start crying.

He was.

Henri stifled a sob, covered his mouth with his hand. He hadn't known.

"Oh, Hedge. I thought you knew. I thought that was why you were freaking out."

"I didn't know, Jou-Jou. My mother must be a wreck. And you, I'm so sorry. What a terrible thing to hear when you were alone."

"I wasn't alone. Tristan was with me."

Henri tensed, and Sophie thought it was because she mentioned another man's name. She was wrong.

"That isn't why I'm here, although that news is shocking. Just listen for a second, okay?"

"Okay." Sophie didn't like what was happening. She thought she knew the reason for the intensity in the room. She didn't, apparently, and it unnerved her.

"After I heard who the king was looking for I ran away. I convinced Emel to take me to find you. I thought you had gotten yourself into trouble. Somehow we got lost and ended up at Tamsin's ... and she ... well ... she'd been looking for you all along."

"Me?" Sophie shook her head not understanding. "You mean looking for Tristan? Tristan was looking for her." Sophie tried to clarify.

"No. You. The reason Tristan met you was because of Tamsin. She led him to you, indirectly. I know it's confusing, but try to understand this next part without freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out, Henri."

"Yeah, but you might."

"I won't. Hedge. What is it?"

"You are the Princess of Gemmes."

Sophie looked at him, annoyed.

"Shut up, Henri. That's not funny. You know I want to find my parents. You know what Miora said in the reading."

"I'm not joking. Have I ever deceived you?"

"You haven't," Sophie admitted. She sat in silence for a moment, holding the silk between her fingers lost in thought. "How did I end up with Francesca then?"

Henri explained to her what happened the night she was born. Explained, with gentle care, the dark magic Tamsin used, the truth about her heart. That it wasn't her own.

She clutched her chest, hanging on every word. She knew that Henri, more than anyone in the world, would never fabricate a story like this.

"So that's why I'm such a bitch?" she asked with a laugh.

"Don't, Sophie. Don't joke." Henri cried, wiping away the tears.

"What's the alternative, Henri? I'm going to die. Die." She laughed, manically. Unreasonably.

Henri cried harder.

"And the queen, my mother, she has my perfect, beating heart?"

"She does. She never knew you were alive. Until the king needed to find you."

"Why would he wait till now to tell the queen, though? Why didn't he let me die, unknowingly, in a few weeks when I turn eighteen?"

Henri stiffened.

"What, Henri? What aren't you telling me?"

He shook his head, not wanting to answer. She narrowed her eyes unmercifully.

"Your actual birthday is tomorrow. Your father and Francesca must have guessed your age when they found you."

"Merde." She chortled. "Figures."

"There's more."

"Seriously?"

"Your stone heart ... it's the ... umm...."

"Just tell me already!" Sophie demanded.

"Your stone heart is the seventh stone for the Tresor de L'espoir," Henri blurted. "If you die, with it inside of you, it's useless. Like, not viable. The stone will disintegrate."

Sophie pulled in her lips and laughed. She wound her long hair between her fingers not having words for this revelation.

"Merde," she said again.

"I know."

"We should have our champagne toast, you know, like we wanted before I got all Boheme on you and ran away."

"Stop it, Jou-Jou. Don't make this into a joke. Don't...." he urged, holding his face in his hands, unable to stop weeping. "You are my favorite person ever, you know that? Stone heart or not, I would do anything for you."

"So you've said, but don't you see, maybe me being hard-hearted is the best thing. At least now I don't have to get teary in the goodbye."