AYLETH

Although the temptation was there to follow Etan herself and be with him, she'd heed the warnings he'd sent to them. She knew his heart, knew his strength. He wouldn't have warned them so direly if he hadn't meant it.

But that didn't mean she couldn't send her Knight Defender to pursue him and learn what, exactly, was going on.

She hurried from the room, Falek on her heels. It wasn't until they were in the curving corridor outside that she began to whisper her instructions.

"..you follow him while I am locked in the bathing room. I will not emerge until you knock—and in the meantime you can ask him what precipitated this."

"This isn't a good idea, Ayleth," Falek rumbled, his eyes scanning the corridor and even the ceiling—who he thought might be up there to harm her, she had no idea. "He warned us against contact for a reason."

"And I trust you to approach only if it is safe to do so, Etan would as well," she said simply as they reached the little privy and she opened the door. "Now, please don't leave me here forever, but do leave me as long as is needed to force him to tell you what has happened. Who knows? Perhaps we can help."

Falek's lips flattened, but she knew he too would be concerned about what might have moved Etan so far, so quickly. And clearly Borsche either didn't know, or wasn't telling.

Ayleth caught Falek's arm as he bowed and turned. "If it is.. the woman we think. Please reassure him from me that my loyalties have not and will not shift. Please?"

Falek's face softened, his strong jaw rolling as he patted her arm briefly. "I will tell him."

"Reassure him, Falek. Do not chastise him!"

His eyes flattened, but he nodded, then strode off down the corridor, his cape fluttering behind him like dark wings. "Lock the door, Ayleth," he called without looking back.

She scowled, but stepped into the privy and did as he said, sitting on the wooden bench within, her nose wrinkling against the smell.

This had seemed such a good idea when she had it. But now she realized that she was stuck here until he returned, which could be some time.

Ayleth sighed, leaned her elbows on her knees, and began to pray.

*****

ETAN

He'd barely reached the trees and stepped into the shadows before a voice appeared at his shoulder. "What the fuck are you doing, Etan?"

He whirled, drawing the sword at his hip half out of the scabbard before he realized it was Falek. Then he slumped, his heart thundering.

"Holy—you scared the shit out of me!"

The man stood with his back to the moon so that Etan couldn't see his face. But he could hear the pure fury in Falek's voice—the clench of his jaw as he hissed between his teeth.

"Why were you having a meeting in the dark with the Lady Playne?"

"I wasn't!"

"I saw you, Etan!"

"I mean, I didn't ask her to come out here. She followed me. I couldn't avoid her, so I spoke with her a few minutes to keep her from being suspicious, then sent her on her way."historical

Falek was quiet for a moment. "Why are you avoiding Ayleth and meeting another woman in the dark?"

Etan's control snapped and he stepped into the man's chest, shoving him back a step before Falek caught his own weight. But the warrior barely showed that he registered the touch, both hands on the hilt of his sword as if preparing to draw.

Not that Etan cared. "Do not ever—ever!—imply that I would betray Ayleth or.. or.. choose another over her!" So careful. He had to be so careful with his words. He couldn't lie to Falek, the man would smell it like fish gone bad. "She is the light of my life and has my heart, do not EVER imply otherwise!" he snarled.

Falek regarded him evenly, not even breathing heavily, though Etan's own chest rose and fell visibly.

"I asked you why—"

"Because the woman has a schoolgirl's crush on me and she followed me, and I can do nothing to bring attention to myself or my Kingdom right now! Nothing! I had to think on my feet, and I could not raise her suspicion either." He cursed and turned his back on Falek. His hands were shaking. "I cannot tell you the pain of being apart from Ayleth. It is.. eating me up," he said more calmly.

"She yearns for you also—but for answers as well, Etan. You have changed the plan. Why?"

"Because there are powers afoot that attempt to keep my Kingdom from signing the Accord." He was so grateful he didn't have to face the man. He still spoke the truth, but not all of it, and he wasn't sure if Falek would see that in him. "I'm sorry my messages were vague, but if anything happened to Borsche I couldn't risk the attackers learning.."

"Learning what?"

"Learning about Ayleth and I! What do you think?"

"So, the summons you received in the village? The call to return to the castle?"

"It wasn't my father, and it wasn't hers. I told you, I learned it was a trap we did not spring—praise the Father of Lights."

"Then who—"

"Perhaps the better question, Falek, is how did anyone know which region to send it? If that didn't go to the entire Kingdom, why did others not hear it? Why is everyone in the castle ignorant of it? They had to have known the region we travelled to. How would they know that unless someone told them the nearest settlement to where we camped?" Etan went on the offensive to distract Falek, and hated himself when the man's head dropped.

"I did speak to her father about the area we would be in."

"We weren't to tell anyone!"

"I had to," Falek growled. "He wouldn't have let me take her otherwise. But if the message wasn't from him, then it didn't come from me anyway. I only told him, no one else."

"Then how did they know where to send it?"

Falek stood over him quietly. "I will not be distracted, Etan," he said a moment later. Etan's stomach sank. "Why were you in the garden with—"

A great shrieking and male shouts arose in the banquet hall, audible to them even at this distance. They both startled, then looked at each other.

"Ayleth," they both said, before launching themselves to run back to the castle.

"Where is she?" Etan barked.

"Waiting for me to knock on the locked privvy," Falek snapped back. "I will get her, you get to the hall and see what the commotion is. But this conversation isn't over."

They reached the cone of light that fell from the torch next to the door into the castle. Etan grabbed the handle, then shot a look at Falek over his shoulder as he opened it.

"I am not the enemy close to her," he snarled. "Do not protect her against me."

"I will protect her against whomever appears to be a threat."

Etan got inside the door and whirled on the man, one hand to his chest. Footsteps thundered in the banquet hall—so many footsteps they could hear them there in the corridor. But Etan hooked eyes with the Knight Defender. "Ayleth is my life," he growled. "Do not be distracted by what I must do. There are snakes far closer to where she sleeps."

Falek went very still.. Etan nodded, then he was running again to see what fresh hell awaited them in the hall.