It was daybreak Kyald and Alleyni finally grew tired of staring death in the face and Kyald escorted her back to her chambers. The sun started to dance across the sky, scattering rays of gold through the black, shattering the dark. Just as day broke, Alleyni fell into exhausted sleep. In the middle of afternoon, when she finally awoke, she sent a message to Kyald telling him she would meet him in the evening. As much as she dreaded seeing Varyn after their most recent fight, she knew that a way out of the castle might someday be necessary. Part of her wanted to apologize to him—she had been unduly hard on him and had perhaps managed to break through his hard exterior and cause him real hurt. Regardless of their differences, they would have to tolerate each other for at least another afternoon.

She slept restlessly throughout the afternoon, her raging thoughts allowing her little rest. Daylight brought a return to the incessant questions. If she escaped the castle if or when Vinrys took over Savyl, would she have to leave Kyald behind? Would she be divorcing herself from happiness? Could she stay with Kyald and let Corrina defend herself? Regardless of the answers to these questions, she relied on Varyn's uncharacteristic helpfulness to find an escape route.

When the knock came on the door, short and abrupt, she braided her hair into a plait that fell down her back and fastened her sword to her waist. She opened the door and found Varyn leaning against the doorframe, his eyes hard.

"Milady, are you ready for your training?" His icy voice terrified her more than any of his ill-natured jests.

Alleyni's eyes jumped to the guards at her door. "Yes...yes, of course."

He nodded and strode down the hall, forcing her to run to catch up. As they rounded the corner and were out of sight of the guards, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a narrow staircase used by the servants. Varyn said nothing but handed her a large shawl.

"Varyn, we need to talk."

"Quiet. Wrap the shawl around your face and hair so no one will recognize you. The easiest way out is through the servant's entry."

"I've escaped the castle before," Alleyni responded crossly.

"But the guards were well aware. Don't you think your father had you watched? You don't really believe that you've been gallivanting across the country unchaperoned, do you?"

Alleyni met his gaze, his eyes still stone cold. "What are you saying?"

"They watched you. Every time you left the castle. When you and I and Evyn went to your aunt's, they followed us. Don't think you've ever been alone, princess. Every second of your life you've been watched."

Alleyni felt her head grow dizzy as she steadied herself against the wall. Memories of movement in the distance and strangely relaxed guards and metal glinting in the sunlight seemed to come to her all at once. I've never truly been alone. She gritted her teeth, unable to say a word. Every moment that I thought I was free, I was being watched and governed. Varyn's face softened at her obvious surprise.

"Torments, you don't know, do you? I was certain you knew."

Alleyni shook her head. "I...I had no idea. I suppose I thought that no one cared what the unpopular princess did. Varyn, I'm sorry."

Once again, she raised her gaze to his. The hallway was dark and quiet and their voices echoed off the stones. His eyes, so impenetrably dark, bore into hers.

"I'm sorry that I took out my frustration on you. You didn't deserve that." Alleyni wanted to say more—she wanted to tell him that he had been right, that he had understood her far more clearly than she liked, but the words would not come.

He looked to the ground once, then down the stairs. "I understand...and I'm sorry. I'm not a good person. I'm not like you."

Alleyni eyed his averted gaze, unsure whether this was an actual apology or a confession. But she was determined that they had to tolerate each other for the sake of her escape. Her trust rested in this mysterious swordsman from the east.

"We need to go. Wrap the shawl around your head."

Alleyni disguised her features with the shawl and followed Varyn down the staircase, their footsteps echoing in the vacuous chamber. After winding in and out of the labyrinth of secret passageways, Varyn led her to a door that opened adjacent to the stables. Their escape had taken hours and the sun was just disappearing behind the horizon as they emerged. They had barely spoken two words to each other beyond simple instructions about where to go.

"This is where I can't make your escape smooth. You will have to steal a horse. I've hidden a sword and a knife underneath this loose slat in the floorboards." Varyn showed her a loose board under which were hidden the weapons. "You will have to use those to get your horse. However, if you can do so without being seen, it's far preferable. If they see you, even if you make your getaway, they'll be after you in moments."

Alleyni peeked around the corner, glancing through an open window into the stable. There was a guard at the far end of the stable, looking away from them and leaning sleepily against the door frame. A spirit of adventure coursed through her like an easterly wind. She glanced at Varyn, who remarked her with little expression, and grinned.

"We should try out your plan."

"What?" His voice was quizzical but his eyes sparkled.

"Let's go. What use is an escape plan if it can't be used? Besides, since when have you passed up a good adventure?"

Varyn's lopsided grin was encouragement enough. Alleyni tugged on his wrist and they opened the back door and tiptoed to the first two stalls.

"Bareback?" Varyn whispered, gesturing to the tall thoroughbreds that awaited their thievery and flashing an audacious smirk, no hesitation in his voice.

Alleyni nodded. "Of course."

Varyn grabbed the horses' bridles and pulled them out through the back door. The gate creaked once as Alleyni pulled it open, but the guard still did not turn. Finally, they exited out the back, exhaling and laughing in one breath.

"We can't go all the way to Corrina's tonight, but we can at least make it to the border, I suppose," Varyn calculated. "Your father is going to have my head on a platter."
Alleyni laughed, throwing her head back. "Hah! Since when has the threat of any king stopped you?"

Varyn grinned and offered his hand to mount her horse, but she ignored him and pulled herself up by the bridle, sitting on the whinnying horse's bare back. They galloped recklessly across the plains. The wind rushed through Alleyni's hair, scattering it to the wind as they thundered on. The horses were frothing at the mouth by the time the pair finally pulled them to a stop, panting from the thrill. Not a word spoken, they both dismounted. They had not quite reached the border, but dusk grew nearer and the horses were exhausted.

Finding a seat on a nearby rock, Varyn remarked, "You're quite wild, your majesty."

"You are not so tame yourself, title-less Varyn."

He said nothing, but turned and looked into the distance. With the setting sun behind him and his dark, noble profile so outlined, the cold mysteriousness washed over his face. Alleyni's questions returned, and she sat next to him.

"Can you tell me now?"

"What?"

"Can you tell me why you're here? Don't you know I trust you now?"

Alleyni looked imploringly into his dark, flashing eyes, begging him to confess. His eyes were tumultuous, a cyclonic hurricane of indecision, but he finally spoke, voice as low as the ground beneath them.

"I've been commissioned here to infiltrate your castle and murder Vinrys."

His eyes were on his hands, unable to meet hers, as Alleyni stood speechless. All thoughts vacated her mind and she could only stare at him in disbelief. The words made sense—his acclaimed training, his enigma, his distaste for the king. She sharply inhaled as she tried to swallow his declaration.

"Kill...kill Vinrys? Who are you?"

Varyn looked at her quickly, anger in his eyes, and continued unabashed, "I'm certain you will turn me into your father as soon as we return for the sake of your future father-in-law. And if you don't, you will reckon me as immoral as you first suspected. But while I do not claim to be good, I can promise you that he is deserving of what will come to him."

Alleyni tore her eyes away from his dark gaze and looked at the setting sun, "I...I'm not going to betray you. How could I? But you can't kill him. You have something good in you. I know it; I've seen it. You have to save whatever is good inside of you. Don't become like him."

He scoffed. "You have too much faith in me, your majesty. I didn't bring you here to get a lecture in morality."

Alleyni frowned, sorrow seizing her. She had come to trust something in the foreigner, and his impending sin haunted her.

"Why haven't you done it yet? It's been weeks. You surely could have killed him by now. What's stopping you from completing your...your mission?"

Varyn gritted his teeth and found the dirt clenched in his fist fascinating. "We must return. Your father is probably in an uproar."

He stood up and stalked to his horse, his shoulders squared. Alleyni followed after him but knew better than to inquire further. She only watched him as they rode back and said nothing. She steeled herself for his impending death when his purpose was found out. Though she tried to condemn him, to vilify him as a murderer and a sword for hire, the strength in his eyes could not escape her.

By the time they found their way back to the palace, only a few streaks of light remained in the sky to illuminate their way. The horses stumbled over rocks due to exhaustion and the darkness. As they dismounted, returned the horses, and made their way back to the secret passageway, silence reigned. Varyn was taciturn, and Alleyni did not dare to break his reticence. As they returned to the door, however, low voices broke through the tense silence. They traded a glance and without speaking, walked closer to the voices. One was male and one was female, and Alleyni wondered at who would be out of the castle at this time. The gates were closed before dusk, the servants not permitted to leave the castle, and there were no female guards.

As they drew around the wall of the castle, a dim torch reflected shadows on the wall. Curiosity piqued, Varyn and Alleyni stealthily tiptoed closer to the pair, expecting some forbidden lovers' tryst to await them. The two figures came into shadowy view, a man and a woman standing close, arms around each other. Their words were whispered and quick, and as they drew nearer, the light illuminated their faces. The girl faced them, and her face was young, pretty and excited. Her clothes were fine and, while not fancy, made of finer material than those of a servant girl. Her bright eyes were evident even from their distance. Suddenly, the man pulled her close and they began to kiss. Her arms intertwined about his neck and his about her waist. The torch flickered, illuminating the two more clearly, and a gasp of horror escaped Alleyni.

The face illuminated by the torch was Kyald.

Her gasp gave them away, and the unsuspecting couple jumped at her voice, the torch light falling on Varyn and Alleyni. Alleyni grew weak, unable to process the image before her. Kyald's eyes, searing blue in the torchlight, found her face and regret colored his expression. Hot tears threatened to escape Alleyni's eyes as the anger and pain and disbelief and love swirled within her, a tornado that threatened to carry her off the ground. Her soul felt as if it had sunk to her feet and the emotions screamed in her ears, drowning out every rational thought. No...no. It can't be.

Alleyni wandered toward him as if in a dream until she stood only a few feet from him. The girl and Varyn seemed to disappear as she looked into his blue eyes, apologetic yet guilty. I risked everything for you. For a moment, she stood there, pleading with him even though it was already too late.

"Alleyni, I can explain. It's not what it looks like—" Kyald stuttered.

She exhaled, her voice ragged and low. "How could you?"

"No...stop, Alli, you don't understand. You don't know-"

But Alleyni turned and walked away as if she were still asleep. She heard Varyn's midnight voice cut through the glowing light, sharper than the sword he bore.

"You've destroyed her soul. Don't tell her she doesn't understand when she can see you betraying her in front of her eyes."

The emotion in Varyn's voice escaped her perception, and all she remembered was stumbling into the passageway, sitting on the stairs, and allowing the grief to take over. She wept bitterly, her body shaking in a pain that was so foreign to her, so utterly controlling that she seemed to become someone else. As soaring as her love for Kyald had been, that much more devastating was his betrayal. Varyn sat next to her, accepting her head to his shoulder in a foreign display of kindness. Silent tears fell from her eyes and only one thought echoed through her mind: How could he? I love him. I loved him. Why was that not enough? Why was my everything not enough?  

~~~~~

SO MUCH ACTION! First, what do you think about Varyn? Who does he work for? Why do you think he hasn't killed Vinrys yet? (Would anyone complain if he did?)

And Kyald! Are you surprised that he betrayed Alleyni? What happens now? 

Stay tuned for chapters next week and thank you for reading!

~ Hannah