"As the twenty-eighth day of the third month of summer wore on, Adria met with her commanders in the meeting tent. She stood in front of the five men and looked from one to the other.

“My sister is on the mend,” she said.

“Was Princess Anastasia injured?” one of the commanders asked.

“No. But evading the original vampire drained her of a lot of her strength.”

“But how, captain?”

     Adria narrowed her eyes.

“That’s none of your concern, soldier.”

      The commander nodded once.

“Yes, captain.”

      Adria took a deep breath.

“We’ll be back in Yanarra by tomorrow afternoon. Once we’re home, we’ll rest for a week. Afterward, we need to fortify the defenses around our home.”

     The commanders stared at her silently.

“I know that it seems unlikely. But Yanarra is in danger of being invaded.”

“Invaded? By Yanarra is protected by the barrier,” a second commander said.

“Yes. But that abominable vampire bypassed it and killed my mother, our queen. Don’t you remember that?” Adria responded coolly.

“Yes, captain Adria. I remember.”

“Good. So, don’t question me on this, soldier.”

     The commander nodded without saying a word.

“You’re all dismissed.”

    One by one, the five commanders left the tent in a single file. When she was alone, Adria took another breath and looked up to the top of the tent.

“O Light, thank you for keeping my sister safe. Please, help me to defend Yanarra to the best of my abilities. And…please help me to tell Adorian what I need to tell him.”

    She sniffed and left the meeting tent herself. Making her way over to the grand tent, she saw her grazing next to it. Adria smiled and walked up to her mare. She held out her hand palm up and her mare smelt it. She then petted her mare’s head.

“You’ve been great, old girl. These past several years, you were as brave as I ever was.”

     As if in response to her words, Adria’s mare shook her head and then continued to graze. Adria chuckled and made her way into the grand tent. The first thing that she saw was that Anastasia was fast asleep in her cot. She walked up to her cot and stood next to her. Staring down at her, Adria saw her sister’s chest rise with each breath.".