The Ittal state gardens were still kept to the grand standards that they had been in under the kings and queens of old. They spanned thirty acres, so far that one couldn't see from end to end. A path of painted yellow pebbles led the serpentine way through hedges, small orchards, flower beds, and grass cut to make shapes in varying shades of green. The government had, when they took over, put a small entry fee on the previously free gardens, but it helped pay for the immense man-power required to keep it immaculate. Everyone knew of the Ittal Gardens, even those from as far away as Cameria. Morna never tired of walking amongst the flowers and catching glances of foreigners talking in their strange languages and displaying the best fashions of their country.

Morna wore a simple white day-dress. Her only impressive gowns were all for evening, and she lacked the appropriate accessories to convert them. So she looked humble and a little pale, but at the very least she didn't feel too out of place since the Glenfarrows still wore their slightly stained hunting clothes. Apparently Afton couldn't wait to see the gardens and had truly dragged his father and brother off to see them as soon as they'd handed their grouse to the servants.

Now, Afton walked by her side smelling of pine, his cheeks flushed from so much outdoors. The dark green of his hunting jacket did wonders for his eyes and Morna had to fight herself not to stare at them when she thought he wasn't looking. Robert and Robbin walked behind them, and Morna had to tell herself that she was just imagining their angry glares directed at her back. Although, the glare she felt from Brenna was all-too real.

The telling of the aunts and Brenna that Morna had been invited to go along with the Glenfarrows had gone over roughly the night before. The aunts were annoyed that all the planning they'd gone to the trouble of doing for Brenna's sake was being sabotaged left and right. Their disappointment was nothing compared to the screaming that Brenna invested in. Morna had never seen her sister that livid, barely making sense as she demanded that Morna mind her own business and stop trying to steal the one thing Brenna had marked as her own. Morna said nothing about the countless things throughout their lives that Brenna had jumped to claim before Morna had a say.

Surprisingly, Brenna calmed down by the time they awoke the next morning. She still delivered icy glares and a stony silence, but the passion seemed to have leached from her over the course of the night. She now seemed resigned to the fact and followed Morna and Afton as Morna's chaperone for the day. Afton had greeted her politely at the start, but had, since then, only really talked to Morna. She knew it would only make it worse with Brenna, but she couldn't help but feel a little happy that he wasn't entranced by her sister's charms.

"What's this, then?" Afton asked, waving his hand in the direction of a small hedge maze. Morna, her arm threaded through his, stopped when he did.

"I think my great uncle's grandfather commissioned that one," Morna said, casting back to all those lessons her aunts had put her through when she was younger. "It was in honor of the Queen of Grella at the time, who he admired very greatly."

"A hedge maze is a very strange gift," Afton said, pulling her toward it. Morna smiled as they entered, weaving through the easy-to-solve turns. They reached the center where a small fountain bubbled happily.

"There was a letter he wrote to his friend and advisor saying that the maze represented the complexity of his feelings for the Grellan Queen," Morna said. They both laughed at this.

As they wandered closer to the fountain, Morna suddenly found her eyes riveted to the bubbling surface. Afton's voice sifted out into barely a murmur as the water took over, the sink of the hook in her stomach pulling her toward the fountain. Her hands raised, her fingertips anticipating the cool feeling...

Afton's hand on the small of her back returned her to reality so quickly that she stumbled on nothing and he had to steady her. She blinked furiously, her emotions struggling to make sense of the input they were bombarded with. Her breathing came fast and she was forced to clutch at Afton's arm to keep from falling over.

Afton's eyes traveled to the fountain, a crease along his forehead. He steered her away from it, back through the hedge and out the other end from where they'd entered. As they walked farther and farther from the sound of tinkling water Morna felt stronger. She eventually straightened up and released her iron grip on his arm. He didn't retract his hand from her back, though, and she frankly didn't want him to.

They walked a few more steps down the yellow path before Afton paused, glanced behind him to confirm that his father and their siblings hadn't yet caught up to them, and then quickly lead her across the grass and into the copse of trees that hid the border-wall from view. Morna, confused, watched as Afton examined the shoulder-height brick wall. He walked along the side of it to their left and Morna followed, her attack momentarily forgotten.

"What are you doing?" she asked, hiking her skirts up a few inches to avoid the fallen branches and mud. Afton turned back with a grin, finally stopping. He offered his arm and she took it.

"I was looking for this," he said, and as Morna came around she saw he was pointing to a wooden gate that ran flush with the garden wall. Morna smiled uncertainly, looking to Afton.

"There's always gates every so often on these walls for the gardeners to get in and out of," Afton said. "And I have the sudden and intense inclination that I need to see what the fine woods beyond this wall are like."

"Why in heaven's name would you want to go out into a bit of woods that you could easily find a match for in Anjeluund?" Morna asked.

"For one, woods are completely different when one is with the superb company I am now lucky enough to be enjoying. And for two, I think being trailed and glared at by three angry family members isn't the ideal way to spend the morning. They won't find us out there, and we'll have a few moments without their nasty moods dragging at us."

"Oh, but won't be missed?" Morna asked, her thoughts immediately going to Brenna.

"So what if we are?" he said. He must have seen the look of anxiety that crossed Morna's face, for he quickly followed it with, "We'll be back before they realize that we haven't just outpaced them on the path."

Morna doubted that particularly optimistic prediction, but she followed him through the mossy wooden gate and into the shadowed woods beyond.