‘Set her there,’ Garrett instructed the pair of guards who had carried the Princess through the streets and back to the Palace. Part way through the journey she had awoken, twisting and their grip with a cry of despair. They’d subdued her, securing her hands behind her back before half leading, half dragging her back. Though they once bound, she’d provided little resistance.

With Elyna placed in the center of the room, she sank to her knees, head bowed. Blood trickled from behind her ear, down her neck and into the expensive fabric of her dress.

‘Thom,’ the Prince jerked his thumb to the door. The guard nodded, bowed to them both and left. Leaving Garrett and a second guard in the room. Garrett paced, stripping off his plate armor and throwing it down with a clatter of metal.

‘Get on with it Cai,’ he gestured to the second guard who had been lingering.

‘Sir?’

‘You’re a healer? Check her over.’ He ordered. He turned his back to the pair and started to unfasten his doublet, before that too was stripped from his body and abandoned to the floor.

It was an opulent room with beautiful high ceilings painted like the sky. Along one side was a raised bed, four postered with gauzy drapes. There was the main exit to the hallway and a second to a dressing room that the Princess never used; it joined the marital room to a second bedroom, Garrett’s space which she refused to enter. Where he spent each night in the arms of his mistress.

Cai turned to the small woman, her hair tangled and matted, wet with blood. Her beautiful dress was torn and each word from the Prince seemed to affect his young wife like a whiplash. One suffered silently as she suppressed her involuntary flinching.

The dark-haired guard looked back at the Prince and steadied himself. The man was broad shouldered, strong if lean beneath his clothes. He padded over the room now, to collect a pair of fresh trousers from the dresser.

Elyna kept her gaze fixed on the floor. The room was spinning and she knew that she’d taken a blow to the head. The guard knelt down before her, he had pale blue eyes, the color of ice under clear skies. He studied her features before standing again.

‘I need to untie her?’

‘Your choice,’ Garrett shrugged, he was bent over the dresser flipping through the pages of a sketchbook Elyna had left out.

Cai moved, kneeling behind the woman as he unfastened the binds around her wrists. Elyna shivered, as he pushed the sleaves of her coat up her arms to see then ties more clearly. If he thought anything of the rough pink scars that circled her arms, he didn’t mention it.

Hands free, Elyna pulled them to her chest. As Cai moved to circle her again, she forced herself to her feet. She felt as though she was on the deck of a ship in a storm, the floor swaying beneath her. She moved forward, intent on striding towards the door, only for her legs to give way beneath her. It was Cai who stopped her falling, catching her in burly arms. But it was Garrett who crossed the room and grabbed her. He pushed, pressing her till her back was forced against the nearest wall.

‘There is nothing for you there, Elyna,’ he hissed.
His fingers curled around her throat, forcing her head back against the painted plaster.

‘Let me go,’ she pleaded with the air he permitted, only to gasp as he squeezed.

‘Your worth to me, is to bear a child,’ he pinched her chin, pulling her gaze to his own. ‘Do that, and I will release you. I will keep my word.’ He released her, glaring as she stood, still and silent.

‘Fuck,’ he swung back without warning. The backhanded hit sending her sprawling sideways. ‘You best hope for a baby soon, every time I have to fuck you, is a time too many!’

She wiped blood away from her mouth with the back of her hand. Don’t listen, she told herself, don’t listen.

‘Even if your Malcolm Krome wasn’t dead, he knew your worth.’ Garrett massaged the knuckles of his left hand, ‘he sent me an offer in Blaze…100 krowns,’ Garrett laughed, ‘I should have taken it. You’ve been nothing but trouble. Just to think of you makes me go limp,’ Garrett sneered. He pulled her back to her feet then, looking over at the guard before he smirked.

‘He’ll need to see you, to make sure you’re healed,’ he murmured. ‘You embarrassed me tonight, trying to run. What will my guards think? What gossip will spread? You think I won’t humiliate you in turn? You are wrong.’ Without warning, he unfastened her coat with rough, deft fingers. He tugged it from her arms and cast it aside with his own clothes. He ripped the shirt from her back, leaving her with welts beneath her arms. Elyna refused to move or react, her gaze fixed on the distant wall behind him. He crossed the room, took up her sketchbook and tossed it into the fire. Elyna closed her eyes, focusing on her own breath, rather than the humiliation he made for her. The dressing room door slammed closed. Leaving her alone with the guard.

Shivering, she was aware of the stranger who touched her arm gently, then of the weight of a robe that settled over her shoulders. Elyna looked up at the dark-haired man who stood before her. With shaking fingers she pulled the robe closed across her front as Cai encouraged her with a kind hand to take a seat.

She felt the soft touch of a healer's power as it moved through her body. Concentrating first on the damage to the back of her head. Once the blinding headache had faded, she could breathe easier. Exhausted, she watched the man’s boots. A soldier through and through. She paid attention to the details, finding a way to ground herself. They were dark brown leather, serviceable, well-worn but regularly maintained.

‘Don’t listen to him,’ Cai didn’t look at her directly, and kept his voice low as he knelt and started tending to her other wounds. Notably the healing wounds around her wrists. ‘He is hard on you…and it’s not that we don’t see it, your Highness.’

Elyna felt her bottom lip quiver. She sniffled and looked down at her hands, wrapped in the man’s own. ‘You cannot defy your Prince.’

Cai scoffed then, ‘much longer, my Lady, and we will be forced to,’ he looked up then and pinned her with his intense blue gaze. He reminded her of Yvan then and her heart found a new reason to twist with agony.

‘You are very beautiful…’ Cai murmured. He finished his healing as he knelt before her. Watching her expression he lent forward and pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand. Brows pulled into a knot of dismay as she flinched, pulling her hands back into her lap.

‘It would be treason to think of me tenderly, to touch me so,’ she murmured, voice still slurred from the earlier blow. The healing had worked, she knew, but she felt as though she’d been through a heavy night of drinking. Her body was not quite her own. Limbs heavy and sluggish, words slow to form.

‘And I know half a dozen guards who’d risk such treason to help you.’ Cai searched her expression then, ‘all of us half in love with our Princess…’

‘Then they are all them, fools,’ she nodded, ‘I’ve no worth here.’

Cai slid his fingers along her jaw, holding her still as he watched her face. She tried to pull her face and found herself unable. Her eyes widened with panic as she watched his features.

‘To believe that, then you are the fool, highness.’ He offered a half smile before leaning in. Without warning he pressed a kiss to her lips, withdrawing just enough to whisper against her mouth. ‘Now I may die a happy man…’ he smiled.

‘Kiss me,’ she met his gaze, her heart hammering in her chest. ‘Please do that again…’

—-

Cai stared at the woman before him, his hands sliding around her face as he stood and tilted her features toward him. He kissed her again, slow and gentle but determined in his exploration of her mouth, leaving her trembling and breathless as he withdrew.

‘Sleep well, Lady.’ He smiled and tucked the hair behind her ear. ‘If it’s any comfort, I’ll just be outside the door.’ He didn’t miss the panicked glance at the dressing room door. Her fingers had curled reflexively around his tabard and he watched as she forced herself to release her grip and retreat within herself. Even if her lips were swollen from his kiss and her chest rose in short little gasps.

‘Good night,’ she replied formally and he slipped away.

The door closed behind the man and she struggled to remember his name. Her gaze lingered on the doors, and she knew that she dared not lock either of them. Though it was unlikely that Garrett would visit her this night, his anger felt palpable, even through three rooms.

Afraid she wouldn’t sleep, the woman slid into her nightdress and curled up beneath the covers anyway. Only to wake with the maid’s exclaiming over the state of her hair. She stood in the center of the room, certain her footprints would be embedded in the thick carpet long after she left this land. They drew her a bath, washed the blood from her hair body without question or comment. Only sighed over the stains it would leave in her shirt and the ruined coat.

Washed, dried, dressed she was presented with a light breakfast. The healing left her with a sense of sickness, and the maids had learnt on those days she couldn’t manage much more than a slice of bread or some fruit. A note was delivered with her tray, one that she studied carefully before throwing into the fire.

After eating, she lingered in the room before braving the corridors. Lined with guards she didn’t recognise Cai amongst the nameless faces as she trailed through the palace. The parlor door was opened for her and she was gestured into the cost room by a footman.

King Aron and his Queen looked up from their reading chairs beside the fire.

‘My dear,’ Aron rose from his chair as Cecile snapped her book shut. ‘You look quite exhausted,’ he moved to catch her hands between his own. For all she despised each breath his eldest son drew, she had found Aron to be kind. But it was a sentiment that she didn’t trust.

‘You look pale, are you certain that you’re not yet with child?’ Cecile tilted her head to the side.

‘Quite certain,’ Elyna curtsied to them both and found herself drawn to a seat beside the fire.

‘Ah, Cece -Enough,’ Aron scolded, ‘Elyna has barely been wed a season, these things can take their time.’

Cecile sniffed at that and returned to her book.

‘Now…I understand that you have been struggling to adjust to our life here, in Aramane?’

Elyna bit her bottom lip, unsure how to answer.

‘Nono, it’s alright,’ he smiled, indulgent. ‘I have done some research regarding you…I hear you were once a sky-flier?’ His eyes sparkled with mischief.

‘A skyrider, your Majesty,’ Elyna risked a glance at Cecile who she suspected would be less delighted with such news, ‘and not for some years now…’

Aron nodded, ‘well…Cecile doesn’t quite agree with my methods, but I would like you to feel comfortable here, Elyna. And what better way to welcome you to our family than with a member of our crest?’ He was grinning like a schoolboy.

‘I…I’m afraid I don’t understand?’ Elyna found herself smiling either way.

‘Well, I hear you are quite the expert with animals…’ he bent then and pulled open a cat basket at his feet, woven from strips of dark hawthorn.

Elyna could only stare as two paws extended, a kitten? She gasped as the creature poked its nose into the room and sniffed the air. A lion cub? Her breath was stolen as she slid onto her knees. The tiny baby griffin fixed her in its sight before sniffing her fingers, licking them in search of milk.

‘A project for you, my dear. As you wait for a child of your own. It was abandoned near the mines of Torben…I’m afraid it’s parents are quite dead…’


________

97th Harvest

Garrett was clear in his anger with the woman. Elyna no longer had his trust and was not permitted to wander beyond the walls of the Palace. In reality, it meant she didn’t move much beyond the bedroom, the large parlor that filled her with dread, and a small dining room that the family used each night. For the first few days, she didn’t mind. The hours devoted to caring for a small, ravenous beast. The baby Griffin was hungry, and noisy when he wasn’t eating. It took the first day to settle on a diet for him, lean strips of shredded chicken and milk. He was too young to be weaned really, but other than trying to milk one of the Palace cats for something more palatable, Elyna would use what was available.

After a few days, his downy feathers started to malt, leaving the bedroom a mess. A blessing in disguise as Garrett refused to enter, as they made him sneeze. As the days faded into one another, the malting fur and feathers gave way to brighter colors underneath.

Elyna named him Orin, and found that he was almost tame. She couldn’t trust him to roam alone, but when she handled him, he kept his claws to himself. Which was more than could be said, if anyone else approached the creature. He would hiss, spitting like a cat with his back arched, mottled wings outstretched. Except that he wasn’t a kitten, already as big as a small dog with large paws promising further growth.

There was a constant guard, either at the door to her room or following close behind as she moved through the palace. Sometimes, she thought she spotted Cai, others she wasn’t sure. However it reached the point when she felt Orin had regained enough of his strength, he needed more exercise than the rooms allowed him. She’d gone to Aron, rather than Garrett and suggested she might take the cub out when she rode. The King had approved the idea at dinner, and although Garrett had watched her carefully, he hadn’t interfered.

Was it freedom she felt as she rode through the forest? Or just something like it. She was escorted by a dozen guards, and well aware that half of those were magic users. Something which didn’t frighten her as much as it once had. Orin was perched on her lap, sitting up with his paws resting on the saddle pommel. He wore a leather collar, with a strap attaching him to her wrist. He sniffed the air as she trotted, giving little yaps of excitement as his wings outstretched, fluttering in the breeze.

The forest smelt fresh, if mulchy. All the autumn leaves gathering and starting to decay beneath the riders. A few evergreens preparing for the winter. It was a bright clear day and she ignored the guards, picking out her own path through the trees, following anywhere Orin looked with interest. The hours dragged on, until her fingers we numb with cold, despite her clothes and layers of warm clothing.

It was Cai who nudged his horse forward, ‘My lady?’ he smiled at her, regretful, ‘we should return now, if we’re to make it back before dark.’

Elyna peered out at the forest and the endless trees, she wished that she could just ride. Ride and ride to the end of Aramane to the grasslands of Emanys. Somewhere she had once called home. She could almost smell the grasses on the wind and closed her eyes.

‘My Lady?’ Cai prompted.

‘Of course…’ She turned the horses head and followed the line of guards back towards the city and the palace.

‘I don’t think the Prince would like you out after dark,’ Cai added softly, confident that the other riders couldn’t hear him. After a long day in the saddle, they were more intent on getting back home for something hot to eat.

‘I agree,’ Elyna nodded and kept her gaze ahead. She sucked in a breath as Cai reached out, laying his hand over her arm. She flicked a glance at him. He was too familiar, what if someone saw? What if they thought there was something to it? There wasn’t…there couldn’t be. She wasn’t that person anymore.

‘I need to check your injuries,’ he spoke softly, ‘I’ll visit tonight.’

She nudged her horse to the side, breaking his hold as Orin shrieked, wings flapping.

‘There’s no need,’ she protested. She glanced at the man, shook her head and encouraged her horse to run, catching up with the rest of the guards. For the first time, it was easier to breathe in their company, then without. She exhaled, pushing out all the air trapped in her lungs. Never had Renmere felt so far away. Life in Aramane was taking on complexities and she didn't appreciate them.

Cai did not visit her room that night, as he had threatened. Elyna wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. The next day, buoyed by her successful ride, she set out again with the same company of guards. Orin chittered with excitement, wings outstretched as he took small hops off the pommel, letting the air catch his wings before he landed again, catlike. She stroked his warm golden fur, happy to lose her fingers within it before he purred, curling up in her lap. His small pink nose nudged against her hand.

The King had planned an elaborate dinner and knowing she would need time to bathe and change, Elyna directed the riding party to return to the palace after lunch. As the others trotted ahead, eager to leave the increasing cold behind, a stranger stopped her again. She looked down at the hand that rested with such ease over her arm. His fingers curled and white with determination. Then looked up into his face. He had pale blue eyes and a shock of dark hair. He was familiar and she wondered if he had often been part of her security detail.

‘Come with me,’ he begged, earnest.

‘I can’t,’ she barely dared to breathe her reply. Certain that even if she had found a way to stop magics spying on her, in the bedroom, that her horse must be laden with tools to measure her movements.

‘I’ll take you home,’ the man lent in to whisper to her, ‘Krome offered a reward for you, much more than the Prince said.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Elyna felt the familiar spread of dread through her body. It left her fingers and toes numb, pins and needles raced up and down her spine.

‘You’re not happy here…please come with me,’ he urged. He pulled on her arm, and she yelped with surprise. His arm looped around her, his grip curling in his hair as he pulled her towards him. His kiss landed on her forehead before he let out a soft cry. He arched, stared at her in disbelief and fell backwards off his horse, dead before his body hit the ground.

Startled, Elyna kicked her horse aside and it jumped. Orin woke with a vicious scream and turned, his claws sinking into her hand as she tried to catch him. Pulling him close to her chest she could only stare as her horse skittered beneath her. A black arrow had thunked neatly through his chest. She looked up, seeing that the other guards had returned and watched her impassively.

Elyna swallowed her fear and kicked her horse into motion, racing back to the Palace, but knowing she would never escape the death of the man who had tried to save her. Not another one. Would he have lived, if she had gone with him? She blinked back angry tears. He hadn’t deserved that.

On shaking legs, she dismounted and hurried back to her rooms. The maids stripped her, guiding her to the bath. Orin huffed, clawing at the doors before running to hide behind a curtain as Garrett entered. The maids vanished, as if they’d been made of smoke as the Prince settled beside his wife, peering at her naked body beneath the water. Her hand was bleeding from the griffin’s claws, she clutched it against her chest, trying to find some modesty, where there was none.

Garrett watched her, ‘you’ll have to stop making friends,’ he warned. ‘It’s hard work to train a good guard. I can’t have them all killed for treason.’

‘He did nothing wrong,’ Elyna stared at her knees, poking out of the water like two small pale islands. She blinked, tears lined her lashes and she hated them. Detested any sign of weakness before this man.

‘He laid his hands on you, you will be Queen. No man may touch you, except me,’ he ran his fingertips over her face then, pinched her chin and forced her to look at him, ‘unless they’re under my direct order, Elyna. You are mine. Mine to use and mine to share with whom I chose.’

She watched him, dizzy with fear as she studied his expression. How had she ever thought there was warmth in his brown eyes? There was only a stony calculation and his determination to see her broken and bent to his will. She swallowed her tears as he slapped her cheek gently before he stood and rested his hands on her shoulders, ensuring she couldn’t move as he summoned a man forward from the door.

He gestured to a man that Elyna hadn’t dared to look at. Garrett sank his nails into her collarbone, leaning down to murmur into her ear, ‘he won’t fall for your manipulations my Lady…you’ve just been responsible for his brother’s death…’ He patted her again before departing.

‘Heal those wounds,’ he called over her shoulder, ‘then summon the maids to dress her before dinner.’

‘Sir,’ Cai nodded respectfully before standing with his head bowed in the center of the room.

Once the door was shut, Elyna scrambled out of the bath, she caught up a towel and wrapped it around her body. Her face flushed red as she stared across at Cai.

‘Your brother?’ She whispered, and her heart broke for the man as he looked up at her. His pale eyes twisted with anguish.

‘The plan was in motion for some time…’ he replied. He crossed the distance to take her hand in his own. His power easing over the bloody scratches. ‘I wish you had spoken to me yesterday…I couldn’t get word to him to stop…’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Elyna blinked quickly, hot tears building quickly. ‘Please…you have to stop this…’

‘Not until you’re safe,’ Cai replied. He pressed her hand back into her keeping, though his fingers lingered on her skin.

‘But your brother…’ she choked, her throat felt as though it was closing. She turned her hand in his, holding it tightly.

‘He wanted to see you home, just as much as I do…’ Cai met her gaze, his own eyes ringed red with unshed tears. He reached out then, curling his fingers against her face.

‘I didn’t know…’ Elyna pleaded. How could her life be such a cost to so many. It wasn’t fair.

‘Shh…’ He thumbed away the tears that spilled over her cheeks, his own voice catching, ‘it’ll be alright. It’ll be worth it in the end.’ He lent in, pressing his kiss against her mouth.

——-

After a quiet dinner, where Elyna struggled to speak, she retired to the bedroom. Refusing even then to claim it as her own. She changed into one of the elaborate, decadent nightdresses because she had been left with no choice, and crawled under the covers. Garrett had announced at dinner that he would be visiting friends overnight. Code if there ever was, for spending the night in the arms of his mistress. In her home, rather than in the Palace. The King and Queen, the serving staff and guards were all to aware that his young wife had displeased him in some way.

But with Garrett away, Elyna fell into an unusually deep sleep. Wrapped up and hidden from the world beneath the covers. Until a warm body pressed against hers. She stared into the darkness, suddenly awake. All the hairs lifted along the back of her neck. A rough hand groped over her body, curling around her middle. She felt the press of male excitement against her rear and struggled to breathe.

He pulled her onto her back and looked down at her, threading his fingers through her hair. Pinned to the bed with fear, it took a moment for her sight to adjust and to shake off the last heaviness of her dreams.

‘Cai?’ She struggled to breathe the word, staring at him in shock. ‘W-what are you doing here?’ Her eyes darted around the room as she edged up, trying to sit.

‘I’m sorry if I woke you,’ he sat beside her, his thumb traced the shape of her mouth in the dark, ‘its alright, the Prince won’t return tonight.’

‘It’s not,’ she tried shuffling away, pulling the blankets to her neck. She couldn’t look away from the man. ‘You need to leave,’ she hissed.

‘Elyna…please,’ he knelt up, naked from the waist up. ‘My brother gave his life today…my heart is broken…’

‘I c-can’t help you,’ she blinked quickly, hot tears rising behind her eyes, ‘you’ll be in trouble too,’ she tried to reason with him. How had he snuck in anyway? His knee nudged her leg as he closed the distance again. She flinched away, skin recoiling from the touch.

‘He will never know,’ Cai whispered and caught her face between his hands again, ‘not unless you intend to betray me?’ He nudged her face with his nose. ‘I need you…please? Help me forget?’

She closed her eyes as he kissed her, this at least was familiar even if it was unwelcome. ‘Please,’ she whispered, ‘I don’t want this…’

He slid a hand across her chest, pawing at her breasts beneath the fine silk, ‘then scream,’ he kissed along her jaw, ‘scream and I’ll be killed for the sin of loving you…’

‘I don’t want anyone to get hurt,’ Elyna hissed.

‘Then admit you want me…or say it with your silence.’

She held back a shout of surprise as he suddenly pushed her back, pinning her to the mattress. She struggled, finding her limbs weak with dread. This was a nightmare, one where her body refused to give voice to her terror. I’m a skyrider, she tried to remind herself, but it had been too long and her muscles didn’t remember anymore. Tears tracked her cheeks as the silk was bunched around her waist, his trousers crudely hitched down his legs.

At least it was brief, she told herself later in the dark. Long after he left and she found the strength to move again. She crossed the room, emptying the contents of her stomach into the chamber pot. Cai had been even faster than Garrett’s determined attempts to see her with child. The speed of youthful over excitement, at his lusty dreams come true.

Elyna backed herself into the corner of the room, the chamber pot at her side. Orin cooed, stretching before he jogged across the carpet to curl up in her neck. At least, she reasoned, she could see both doors and the bed from here. She shivered, shuddering as she wrapped her arms around the griffin, burying her face in his golden fur and sobbed. Quiet, so as not to alert any of the guards beyond her door. The last thing she wanted, was anyone inviting themselves in.

——

She woke with the curtains being thrown open. Barefoot, she stumbled to her feet, Orin yowled, displaced he sank claws into her thigh, drawing blood beneath the silk. Garrett stood, impervious in the center of the room. He looked her over, disgusted before beckoning her closer.

‘You will sleep in the bed, my dear,’ he rolled his eyes. ‘But for now… kneel.’

This never led to anything good. Certain she was going to throw up again, Elyna forced herself forward. She stumbled on legs that were numb from sleeping cross legged. Cringing, shoulders raised and head bowed, expecting a blow, she sank to her knees before the man. Her feet tucked on over the other, toes lost in the plush carpet fibre’s.

‘I’ve grown bored of seeing you moping around the Palace,’ Garrett sighed, ‘and I can’t afford to retrain all the guards to respect my property.’ He slid his fingers beneath her chin then forcing her head up. ‘So I need to control you,’ he circled her then and she choked, feeling something circle her neck. It didn’t hurt, but the sensation remained as Garrett fixed a fasten at the base of her neck. He stepped back then to admire his handiwork.

Elyna lifted her fingers, exploring what felt like a leather strap around her throat. Confused she looked up at the man, who merely smiled.

Beyond the Palace and the hunting forest, the world around you will rot and decay. The people who help you will wither… anyone who dares remove this from you.’ He tapped the collar he’d placed around her neck. ‘Will die, instantly at your feet. Unless you remove it yourself…but as I’ve said if you die, there’s no reason for your baby to survive you.’ He turned to leave.

‘I will see you tonight,’ he looked her over again, ‘wear a different nightgown,’ he ordered, ‘this one looks dirty.’


—-

The door closed behind him, and for a moment she remained still. The lush carpet beneath her knees, the stained silk that covered her body. Then she moved, with a shout she tore the night dress up and over her head. Dragging it from her body she tore it to rags and threw it aside with a scream. On her feet, she stood, bare with her head bowed. Hands placed on her hips she drew slow ragged breaths. She couldn’t live like this anymore. How many times had she considered throwing herself out the window, only to be frustrated by the iron bars beyond.

Elyna gathered herself before moving in a flurry. She dressed in the simplest dress she could find, then raided every draw and nook in the room, gathering up the jewelry that had been left in her possession. There was nothing too opulent, all the rich finery locked away. But she gathered a collection of rings and a necklace set with red stones. She bundled them into a scrap of cloth and hid it within her pocket. She hadn’t bought anything with her to Araname, there was nothing else the she was willing to remove from the Palace either. Except Orin. She whistled and he hopped onto her shoulder. Without hesitation, she strode out of the room, ordering her horse to be readied.

The guards didn’t like letting her leave alone, but after confirming with an amused Garrett, stood aside and let the Princess gallop out from the palace grounds and into the forest.

Garrett had been confident that the enchanted illusion would see Elyna running back to the palace by nightfall. When there had been no sign of her after three days, he was angry. He sent a party of guards to look for her. After five days and no success, he was apoplectic.

‘She’s a fucking pampered bitch from another country!’ He slammed the door to the barracks as he surveyed the collected soldiers. ‘How hard can she be to find! I want her back! Drag her by the hair if you need to!’