"I have a plan!" I exclaimed the next morning, sitting up to make sure the plot didn't fall out of my head.

Evie groaned, sitting up. "What time is it?" She tried to tie her hair back but seemed to lose her hands in the process.

Shrugging, I looked up towards the sun. It was already quite high so I didn't feel too bad about waking her. "The plan." I said confidently, turning myself to face her fully. She gazed back at me groggily, relatively uninterested. "We'll be in Raverly in half an hour at most. When we get there, I'm going to go and buy you a dress, the most gorgeous one I can find." She raised her eyebrow at me.

"With what money?"

Her question stopped me in my tracks. "Right..." I searched with my eyes for something of value. "How emotionally attached are you to your pistols? We'll just need one."

Evie looked across to them, lying on the grass near the horses. "Not hugely attached. I'd still rather not sell unless you have good reason."

"This is excellent reason." I took her hands. "You'll have to hide until then, we'll find a place, as the people in Baracosia do not think well of women in trousers. Next, we wait for it to get dark." Evie looked on, still unimpressed. "Once it's dark, you're going to go out into the Place Émeraude, there are normally nobles milling around there near Christmas time. I need you to talk to as many of them as possible, find out as much as you can about who they are and where they stand without giving yourself away as Ilragese. Is your Baracosian good enough?"

Evie swallowed and nodded, I rejoiced.

"Whilst you're doing that, I'm going to break into the Palais d'Or. I'm not sure how yet, but I'll manage. I'm going to make my way to the king's rooms. He should be asleep by then. I'll take a pillow to his head and suffocate him, to make it seem natural. Then I'll meet you back at our base. In the morning you and I will go into the court and get an audience with Henrietta, and we follow your plan from there on out."

I searched her face to make sure she was happy about it. Evie grimaced a little but then nodded.

"Are you sure you'll be safe?" She murmured.

I laughed, taking her head in my hands and kissing the top of it. "Of course I'll be safe. It's still your plan you know, I've just added a little bit." She nodded, reluctantly at first, but then seemed more cheery once she'd considered it.

"Alright." She nodded again. Then she went over to the horses' packs, taking out a knife. She bent and took a rock from the ground.

I stood up, intrigued. "What are you doing?" I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder as she tried to scratch the knife point into the rock, creating an awful sound. She didn't respond, but I watched as she finished etching in a calloused N and then an even more pointed B. Then she inscribed a heart and I understood. I found a different rock, a smooth grey one. Evie passed me the knife and guided my hand as I inscribed my own T.A. We put them at the base of a twisted lime tree and spent a silent moment in reverence to them.

The ride away from Gringle was hard, really hard, so we took it slowly. It was so soon though that we emerged onto clean roads, white brick houses with purple wisteria passing us by. They increased in grandeur until we got to the sign denoting the entrance to Raverly - past there it was an explosion of colour at every turn, swirling gates coated in silver foil, large mansions painted in house colour, with wide gardens and fashionably cut wildflowers which climbed magnificent fountains. Servants dressed in white uniform with the trim of their house could be seen behind pastel shutters and sweet faced old gardeners attended to the grasses. For the first time in quite a while, I felt at ease.

"Gan look there's an old barn over there." Evie called me to attention, I followed her direction to an old but still charming structure. The tiled roof had a hole in it, but the red brick walls were still intact. There was nothing inside, save for a lot of old straw, and it was surrounded by trees which had shed their leaves completely.

Pushing the creaking doors shut, we took down the horses' packs and let them wander free.

"Now are you sure you're alright with me selling one of these?" I approached Evie, one of the pistols in my hands. "If you're not I'll find something else." I hoped she was though. I hoped to sell it for enough to buy both a dress and a little rock set in silver.

Evie smiled gently, then passed me by. Right so I'll have to let go of the Schiavona. That's alright though, father gave me many other things and this selling is to avenge his legacy. But Evie came back again, the second pistol in her hand.

"Sell them as a pair." She said, her fingers tracing the gold embellishmemts. Either those were real gold or I would sell them as it. "You'll get three times as much for a matching pair."

"Are you sure?" I gazed down at her, making sure her eyes were focused on mine, making sure they knew how much I needed her input.

"100%. I'm getting my family back because of these. Plus if you've got spare money then you can buy me something sparkley." She grinned.

Oh I bought her something sparkley alright.

I spent the half hour after I got back from the marketplace picking straw off of my jacket whilst I waited for her to come out in her new dress.

The velvet box in my pocket was heavy.

The dress I'd bought was sapphire silk, patterned. It was plain enough to be sold cheaply but I knew it would flatter her no matter what. Plus it matched the ring. Plus it was the only one in her size, but I'll stick to the more romantic reasons.

"Ready?" Her voice floated out over the haystacks.

And I bent down onto one knee, reaching into the pocket and opening the box and holding it out in front of me.

"Ready." I called back, unable to tame my smile.

Evie waltzed out from behind the haystacks, her hair long and loose and her gait bouncy and her eyes sparkling and her smile shining.

Her eyes met mine and for a second they lit up even further.

For just a second they lit up.

Then her hands cupped and flew to her mouth, a pool of tears blessed her eyes.

She came forward and held her hands over mine, over the box, over the ring.

"Evangeline Bence," I began, my voice thick with emotion, namely pride, "will you-"

"No." She cut me off.

"What?" I chuckled, bringing my eyes away from our hands and back up to her face.

"No." She repeated.