[b]Ella felt exhausted by the time she was fetched to eat supper, barely dragging herself to the dinner hall. Surprisingly, it was a little easier to face Marken, with her resolve now in place. By now, she'd completely convinced herself that killing him was for the best, and that whatever she did to him, it wouldn't be nearly as bad as what the maid had planned for him.

But now, Ella was starting to see that returning to her normal life would be impossible. Perhaps it was the overly-dramatic Shakespeare, she read, but Ella felt it would be best to die with Marken. The pain of losing him and the guilt of being his murderer would drive her insane before too long anyway. As she always believed, she was never cut out to take another person's life.

At the table, Ella sat in the seat next to Marken's, giving him a smile and pretending there was nothing wrong. Marken and her would enjoy their last night together, no matter what she was feeling on the inside.[/b]