Minutes to Midnight.

Isabelle's POV.

-Five Days Later-

Like usual, I awoke enveloped in Adrian's arms. And I know what you're thinking; no, every night we did not have 'hot vampire sex'. Though a couple of days ago he did find out that biting me during so is another of my 'weaknesses' as he calls it.

I took a shower - happily with Adrian - and we got dressed. Veronica's been quite chipper lately and actually gave us jeans and such. But dresses and skirts dominated my wardrobe.

Every so often she'd send Guards to fetch us for fittings and teas and blah, blah, blah. We went into the town once more, and apparently word got around so were the hottest couple.

But...were we even a couple?

I had two nagging voices in my head, that I couldn't seem to recognize. Maybe it was all the wine I've been drinking. Eh, who knows?

And I can't help but think about that girl who looked just like me. Lately I've been getting these strange sensations and feeling like something or someone is connected to me somehow. Could it be from the jolt that I felt when I grabbed her wrist?

Who was that girl? I feel like she's someone that I should look closer into...I know I've seen her face before, I am sure I've seen her face before...

I looked in the mirror and gasped.

Of course, I thought, it was mine...

Annaleise's POV.

I sat at my desk, sewing a dress together like always, and sighed. I could not help but think of that girl from a few days prior. She said her name was Isabelle...where have I heard that name before?

I finished my fourth dress today and hung it on the rack with the other's. I hated this. But I had to, for mother and father's sake. Mother was weak and ill and father's magic could only do so much.

I wish I could help, I thought, but I cannot use my magic...I must not...

"Four dresses, impressive for a wench such as yourself." Ms. Nolan commented as she checked up on me. So I was only a wench today. Big upgrade. She walked out and I stared out the window.

I couldn't help but feel a connection to that Isabelle girl when she grabbed my wrist. And her face...it looked exactly like mine!

"Now Anna," father began, "your mother and I think this is highly unlikely, but if you were to come in contact with a girl named Isabelle or Renee, you must run."

"But why, father?" I asked him.

"Because you both have half of my magic. Putting that together...who knows what would happen." Mother said weakly from the couch.

Of course! But...who could it hurt if maybe we just spoke...? But who was that boy with her? I pondered my thoughts for a moment before finally deducing that the girl and boy from a few days ago were Princess Isabelle Bourdain and her fiancé, Prince Adrian Cromwell - a.k.a. my sister and future brother-in-law.

And I had to talk to them one way or another.

Isabelle's POV.

"You seem so lost in thought, love." Adrian said as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Huh? Oh, I was just..."

"Thinking about the girl from the alley a couple of days ago?" I nodded and he sighed. "Belle, it's nothing to wreck yourself over."

"But she looked just like me!" I turned to face him. "There is no way someone can look exactly like someone else without being related or something."

"Belle, if your mom and Howl did have a child together, don't you think she'd be younger than you? And why wouldn't she be with you? Or here at Court?"

My face and hope faultered. Maybe he was--no. No he wasn't.

"Because they want to keep her a secret of course!" I exclaimed happily. "The only thing I have to figure out now is why. Why would my mom and Howl keep my twin half-sister from me?"

Adrian went to go be pessimistic, when Ivan came and said he had to do some family related thing. I waved him off and he kissed me goodbye.

For about ten minutes, I just laid on the bed pondering all of the possibilities, only creating more questions.

Obviously she was a witch since both my mom and Howl have magic thus I do too, but why wasn't she at Hogwarts? She was still a Bourdain princess too, so why wasn't she here? She would have to be younger than me, but why did she look the same age as me?

I groaned and got up to get more wine. Seeing the label peeling away at a corner, I shrugged and peeled it all the way off - only to find another one.

"L'amour au travail," I read the bold headline and squinted to read the little print under it, "Vin de sang pour faire ressortir la soif intérieure entre deux."

I paused for a moment, trying to remember my French, and gasped. "Love at Work...Blood Wine to bring out the inner lust between two?! Say what?!"

But I had to keep reading to find out more. "Utilisable uniquement lorsque la consommation de deux ont déjà un amour éternel et la soif de l'autre. Utilisez en petites portions et en temps utile le véritable amour commence à briller - peu importe combien il ya déni." Once again, I paused and then read it again to myself in English.

"Only usable when the two drinking already have an undying love and lust for one another. Use in small portions and in due time true love will begin to shine - no matter how much denial there is."

For a moment, I just stared with my lips parted. "Blood Wine..." I murmured. Then gasped. "Oh no, Draco!" My eyes grew wide, and there was a tap at the window.