As I beheld the bewildered, half-vacant look of Brinae, I felt my hopes wane. The delicate, sweet woman I had known was gone, and in her place was the frightened, half-insane shell of a woman who wore her face.

Brinae trembled and spoke to herself, berating herself and slapping her own forehead as she clearly struggled to discern reality.

I came to her, kneeling at her feet. “Brinae, it is I, Pavar. Look at me, Brinae. What has happened to you? Where is my Mulkaro?”

Her amber eyes grew huge as she looked at me. “Shh! Don’t call him here!” She pulled back suddenly. “You’re one of them too, aren’t you? Get away from me! Leave this place!”

I released her hands, frightened by her reaction and not wanting to provoke her to hurt herself. She was heavy with child, further than I thought she could possibly be, considering she had not been pregnant when we were sent to our exile.

Awkwardly, she straightened and stumbled backward toward her bed. Her belly was so big and her state so weakened, it was a miracle she didn’t topple over.

I felt helpless as I watched her collapse against her pillows, looking up at the ceiling and crying, clutching at her stomach. “What is happening to me?”

“Brinae,” Denise began, to my surprise. Walking calmly to the bed and placing a hand upon Brinae’s hand, she continued, “It’s okay, shh, listen to me. You are a strong, powerful woman. You know this. But right now, you’re confused, you are scared, and you need someone to help you. We are friends here, looking for the same answers you are seeking.”

Her voice was calm, soothing, and even. To my astonishment, Brinae seemed to be responding to it. Her crying stopped as she tilted her head, looking at her.

“Who are you?” Brinae whispered meekly.

“My name is Denise. I am a human, and I have traveled with Pavar, your friend and brother-in-law, to Dragselia for a very important reason.”

Brinae looked to me then. “Pavar? Is it really you?”

I came to her then, sitting on the bed beside her. “Yes, Brinae, my Queen, it is I, Pavar.”

A tear rolled down her cheek then as she reached out and touched my face. She seemed to gather herself then and breathed in deeply.

“How happy I am for your return. You can kill him now.”

“Kill who, Brinae?” I asked, confused.

“Mulkaro, of course. Or the monster behind his face, that is. You must kill him. Cut off his head, drain the blood, and burn the carcass,” she said, looking half crazed. The she closed her eyes and sighed again, seeming relieved.

“Brinae, you’re not making sense. Why would I kill my brother?” I asked, frightened by the change in the kind, happy girl I had known.

She looked at me pityingly, her eyes filling with tears. “Don’t you see? He is already dead. Mulkaro has died. He was killed months ago.”

I was shocked. “Then who is king?”

She looked tired. “Don’t you understand? Mulkaro is king, but it is not the man I knew and loved. That man was murdered. The one who walks around the palace now is not he. There is a monster in these halls,” she said in a voice that shook me.

Suddenly, she sat up and gripped my hand with strength I didn’t think she was capable of, fear in her eyes.

“My baby. He’s done something to my baby,” she said, gripping her belly and rocking. “My poor, sweet baby is a monster, like his father. I swear, I thought it was Mulkaro, but this child cannot possibly be of my husband. There is something wrong with it, Pavar. I am so afraid it will be a monster like its father.”

She began weeping again, and Denise leaned toward her, bracing her as sobs racked through her.

Something was, indeed, very wrong. My first thought was that Brinae had been poisoned. If the Infernians were looking for a way to cut off the royal line of succession, removing the wife and soon to be born child and heir of the king was a natural step. Clearly, they were trying to be discreet in their methods though.

I wondered, then, if this was what had been done to Mulkaro, if he, too, was being driven insane by some kind of poison. It would have explained the order issued to destroy our ship. If that was the case, I was terrified of what would become of my brothers and the humans when they were brought before him.

Poor Brinae, half mad and weak, finally seemed to calm down again. She lay back against her pillows once more.

“Noooo,” she moaned miserably.

I watched, horrified, as she convulsed, her body twitching and contorting. Her face twisted into an expression of pain and her breath came in tortured gasps. At first, I thought it was some kind of seizure, but then she tore at the thin fabric of her gown to look down at her swollen stomach.

“Ahh! Get it out of me!” she cried.

The thin, pink skin of her stomach was stretched and straining to painful effect. Her belly was marred by deep blue and purple splotches, and for a moment, I felt rage flush through me at the thought that Mulkaro might have beaten her. But then the real horror began.

I had witnessed pregnancy before, certainly, but when an infant moved, it was not normally visible beyond a soft bump or twitch. Brinae’s stomach shifted suddenly, abruptly, as she moaned in pain. What looked like sharp points slid across the round curve of her stomach, and the soft surface was jolted by thunderous thumping.

Placing my hand to her stomach, it was incredibly hot, and I felt a maelstrom of movement and chaos inside. I closed my eyes, trying to sense the energy inside, and suddenly, the movement stopped, quieted down.

Brinae opened her eyes, wilted from pain. “You see?”

I wasn’t sure what I was seeing, but I doubted that it was just the effects of poison. No poison I knew could do that to a fetus.

Denise looked at me with nervous eyes, and I wondered what I had brought her into.

Brinae moaned again. “I need to eat. These episodes leave me starved. The Imposter has me restricted to a strict diet of only healthful foods at specific times, but my maid sneaks me treats. Under the bed, get the round pink box,” she instructed me.

I obeyed, feeling the dark space beneath and finding a round box that felt cold to the touch. Lifting it up, I presented it to her.

Her eyes lit up and she giddily opened the box. Inside, I saw raw eggs. To my shock, she cracked them open and slurped the contents out.

“Shouldn’t that be cooked?” Denise asked, taken aback.

Yolk dripping down her chin onto her flowing gown, Brinae looked at her and laughed.

“Silly girl, that ruins the flavor. I tried to get the maid to bring me the hens but she was caught and punished, so I settled for this.”

I stood up, rattled by what I was seeing. I paced the floor, trying to sort what was going on through my mind. The relief and enthusiasm I had felt upon entering our shining capital had been short-lived. There was much gone wrong in the Royal House.

“Brinae, in what ways is Mulkaro behaving differently now?” I asked, needing more information.

“What are you talking about?” she asked as she slurped another egg, looking confused and lost again.

Denise offered instead, “Does Mulkaro eat anything new? Does he talk to you the same, interact with your staff the same? Does he look different in any way?” Clearly, her experience as a reporter was better suited to this situation.

Brinae closed her eyes, looking scared. “The Imposter leaves me alone now that I bear his child. My maids tell me he has become more violent, shorter tempered. There are rumors that he has gone mad.” She giggled, then caught herself. “But he has finally stopped visiting my chamber,” she said, looking relieved.

My heart ached for the pain she had endured, emotional and physical. I had no idea what had happened to her in our absence, and I felt wracked with guilt that we had not been here sooner.

Still, I pressed on. “Does he ever give himself shots?”

She looked vacant for a moment, then answered, “You mean his energy therapy? Yes, he said his energy was being drained by his responsibilities because I was a terrible queen and his advisors were pathetic.”

Closing the box, she handed it to Denise. “All done,” she said, looking somewhat restored.

Denise took it from her and placed it on the table beside her. Brinae then reclined and closed her eyes. Denise watched her for a moment, then she stood and came to me.

“I don’t know much about Dragselians, but something is very wrong here,” she whispered.

“Very wrong indeed. I think Brinae was right. I think the man who is parading as our King is an imposter. Mulkaro was many things, but he never lacked for energy and he was madly in love with Brinae. He would not have treated her like this.”

Denise looked reassured. “Well, that’s good to hear, because this is not the picture of a happy home.”

“No, indeed, it is not. I don’t know how they could do this, but Infernians use a serum derived from Dragselian spinal cord fluid to appear human. What if they found a way to control the appearance of their human form?”

“You think one is mimicking your brother?”

“It’s possible, and it would be a smart way to stage a coup. No one would ever know until it was far, far too late.”

She looked around the room, looking unfamiliar and apprehensive. “So what do we do from here? Do you go to someone on his council?”

I led her to the window alcove, trying not to disturb Brinae, who appeared to have fallen asleep.

“No, there is no telling who we can trust at this point. We must expose him. If I can get my hands on his serum, I could destroy it, forcing him to transform back to his natural state when his dose runs out.”

I raked my hands through my hair, trying to determine where he was likeliest to store it, when a great crash came from the room behind us.

Before I could leap to protect her, I was hit with a shot that sent electricity coursing through me, freezing me in place. Both of us were seized by palace guards, and I watched helplessly as Denise was dragged away.