-William-

It killed him that he had to leave Jade behind with his mother around. As he walked to his chamber - to get the last of his things - he started considering moving Jade to his own castle. It would have been a compromise for them both but maybe she would have known that he listened to her. Would she agree to it? Being left alone in a different stone cage?

Hardly... He thought and ran his fingers through his hair.

His father was already sitting in the saddle when William came out to the stables. The soldiers were preparing their own horses and some of them were fidgeting. A neigh awoke him from his thoughts. It was Dimma, his own horse. The stallion was saddled and waited for him with the reins in the hands of a servant. The black stallion was eager and it brought a faint smile to William's lips. At least he would have Dimma.

Dimma was as black as obsidian and his mane was long and wild, but now it had been braided tightly to keep it out of William's face. There was no horse as majestic as his - not even his father's horse Sten. Sten was a mélange of shades of grey but not as beautiful as Dimma.

The muzzle of his four legged friend searched his pockets as soon as William was close enough. He gave the horse a piece of an apple. He had done this since Dimma was only a foal and he wanted the horse to trust him. William's father had given him the pitch black foal on a foggy morning when William had recently turned fifteen. The stallion had been hard to ride in but it had been worth it. They were almost equally stubborn and the horse had a temper just like its owner.

"Get me back, alright?" he mumbled as he examined the halter. If the servants didn't make sure it was just right, Dimma would be hell to ride. The almost black eyes studied William shortly and then the muzzle dived down to his pockets again for another treat.

"You're greedy today..." William muttered but gave his horse what he wanted. He deserved it, he always did.

William got up in the saddle and grabbed the reins. He had a very bad feeling in his stomach. There was nothing else he'd rather do than make sure that Jade was as far away from his mother as possible, but there was no time.

"We ride!" His father's voice echoed and William motioned Dimma to follow. He threw a gaze towards the castle before it was too late.

I should have put her in a carriage and sent her away. Loren could have gone with her. Elizabeth as well. He thought in remorse as he knew that the time he would be away would without a doubt be torture for Jade.

-Jade-

The following morning Jade made sure that Loren wasn't far away from her. As soon as Elizabeth came to collect Jade's breakfast she told her governess to fetch him. For the first time she wanted him around her. She was able to admit to herself that William had provided her with something that showed just how much he wanted her to be safe. She felt stupid that it had taken her this long to understand that Loren's presence wasn't to spite or annoy her. It was - as William had said - for her protection and a way for him to reassure himself that she was safe.

They were walking the gardens in complete silence. Loren never said anything to her unless it was to tell her something on William's behalf. The air was crisp and Jade could see her breath turn into a white cloud as she exhaled. The coldness of winter had arrived sooner than expected. There was still no sign of snow but there was a thin layer of frost in the grass and on the foliage around them.

Jade was wearing a thick black coat over her normal clothes, and a pair of gloves. Elizabeth had proudly presented Jade with her new garment that William had had the tailors create for her. The edges of the hood was clad with snow white fur and the inside was covered with what Jade assumed was soft wool.

He really doesn't want me to get cold or sick if he personally made sure that they made this for me. Jade thought as the fur from the hood tickled her cheeks. It wasn't drawn over her head but it still provided her with warmth around her neck and jaws.

"Can I ask you something, Loren?" Jade said after she had grown tired of their silent walk. If she was to be alone with the guard and her governess for an undetermined amount of time, she should be able to talk to him like she was Elizabeth.

"What would you want to know, your grace?" Loren answered kindly. Jade immediately frowned at him.

"Did you just call me 'your grace'?" She wondered and couldn't hide her dislike in the title being used for her.

Is this how William felt when I addressed him like this?

"Yes." He answered as it was the easiest question he had ever received.

"Why?" Jade urged him and crossed her arms to keep warm. "I am not one of them."

"Not yet." Loren said kindly. "It would be-"

"I don't want you to call me that." Jade interrupted. "How would you feel if I called you guard all the time?" she retaliated. Loren shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows indifferently. He clearly didn't care what she called him.

"I am your guard, so why not?" he answered half-heartedly.

"You're William's guard." Jade corrected him annoyed.

"I was, but he assigned me to keep you safe. Therefore I am your guard."

You are a bit lippy as well... Jade thought annoyed.

"Fine, be my guard but don't call me by a title that I don't even have." Jade said sternly.

"As you wish, but I will not call you by your name." Loren said and Jade could almost see a hint of a smile in his face.

"Fine..." Jade sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Do you ever smile or is this all I get?" Jade asked curiously. "Never mind, I saw how you smirked in the training grounds the other day." Loren nodded slowly.

"What was it that you wanted to ask me?" He reminded her as they rounded some rosebushes and went into the next garden. Jade had forgotten and was quiet for a moment. Her memory brought her back to what the person had asked Elizabeth in the kitchen the other day. They had asked her if they were to save Loren food...

"Do you know my governess?" Jade asked even though he knew who she was - but did he know her? The guard squirmed in his armor at the question. He does... Jade thought.

"Why do you ask?" He asked back in an attempt to get Jade on other thoughts.

"Why don't you just answer me?" She responded and narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she waited for his answer.

"Because I don't think it is my place to answer that question. I am just your guard. Maybe you should talk to your governess?"

"I can't." Jade confessed and bit her lower lip. "If I ask her I will have to tell her how came by the information... And she will know that I lied to her."

"She doesn't like liars." Loren chuckled and seemed - just like William - to have firsthand experience of making this mistake himself. "Trust me." Jade pouted her mouth into a pensive expression and threw a glance at Loren as they walked.

"You are the second person to say that about her... Are you going to answer me or not?"

"No." Loren said with a clear voice. "If you don't want to expose yourself, I suggest that you ask the Prince." He said.

"I already did, but someone told him that his father was waiting for him so I never got an answer out of him." Jade said and narrowed her eyes again when he looked at her. He smiled at her gesture. "He also said that Elizabeth doesn't like lies."

"Too bad. You will just have to wait or accept the fact that you might have to confess to her that you lied. If you want to know the answer to your question." Loren said and chuckled amused.

"I think I will just... keep it to myself." Jade said pensively even though she never gave it a second thought. If both William and Loren had bad experience from getting in the crossfire with Elizabeth, she wasn't going to try her luck. She would just have to wait until William came home...

A couple of days passed and nothing happened. Jade kept to herself and made sure to always have Loren by her side when she went for a walk or merely suspected that there was a chance that the queen could show up...

-William-

"Father, there is no need for us to stay." William said in a low voice when they came out from his father's tent. There had just been a meeting held with the advisers and the handful of commanders that had made it in time.

"There is nothing we can do here. Let's go home and call on our banner men and then discuss with them whether or not to go to war. If you can even call it a war..."

It is more like a rebellious group of rapists and murderers. He thought to himself.

The raiders had done very meticulous job in burning a whole village to the ground and then moved on as soon as they had gotten what they wanted - which seemed to be just chaos and blood. The villagers wouldn't have had any impressive amount of cold or riches, so this was just a bloodbath made for someone's sick entertainment. All that was left now was charcoal and burned bodies.

"No. I have sent word for them to come here." His father said with a bitter tone to his voice. "I will not let those bastards think that we are retaliating. You must think three steps ahead, William. We cannot go back just because you miss her."

William got offended by the sudden insult from his father. Of course he missed Jade and wanted to see her, but he wouldn't go home and risk that another village was destroyed.

"I didn't suggest it because of Jade." He muttered. "I understand that I have to-"

"Good, then there is nothing to talk about." His father interrupted him and kept walking. He was apparently stressed. He usually never interrupted William - as long as he hadn't annoyed his father - so there was something that weighed especially heavy on his mind. William inhaled annoyed and swallowed the rest of his explanation. Clearly, his father wasn't having it.

William followed his father to the saddled horses. His father still had a pensive and worried expression on his face. They rode out from the camp without a word. A small group of the cavalry they had brought followed them. Dimma was irritated and William knew that it was a mirror of how he was feeling.

Ever since he had left Jade at the castle he hadn't slept well and his temper had been unusually heated.

Unfortunately, a soldier that had made a joke about Jade's origin had gotten a taste of William's bad temper. William wasn't supposed to have heard it, but tragically - for the soldier's nose and jaw - he just happened to walk past as it happened. He hadn't even thought twice about ripping the soldier from his friends and beat him until he begged for mercy. William's father hadn't been impressed by his action either, and William had spent a fair amount of time in his father's tent getting verbally reprimanded for what he had done. His father did not care so much about the soldier's health, just that William couldn't make their numbers lesser than they already were.

"If you want to beat the life out of someone, save it for the battlefield. There will be raiders you can take your anger out on there - don't touch the soldiers." His father had said.

Half an hour later or so they arrived to the village. William's father slowed the pace of the group and they took in the scene. William threw looks on the bodies scattered around them. They were burnt and the smell was so wretched. He had never felt the smell of burnt flesh before and it wasn't an experience he wished to relive.

"They even killed the children..." his father muttered when they passed the corpse of a child, not more than five years old. William turned his eyes away and wondered what good this was for.

"We've already been here." William stated. "Shouldn't we give them peace and bury them?" he asked his father but didn't look at him.

"You need to see this." His father muttered. "It-"

"I have seen it!" William interrupted. "Can we make a decision or discuss what our next step will be? For every day we stay here there is a great chance that they will do this to another village!" He explained his outburst with an argument his father couldn't ignore.

"We still have to wait for our banner men and we don't have enough soldiers to meet them yet. Especially not if you are going to beat half of them to death. We are waiting for reinforcements and we will be here for at least seven days or more..." William wanted to object and scream. He was so frustrated by the fact that he was stuck here while Jade was miserable back home.

-Jade-

The days went by slowly but Jade couldn't relax. The queen's words had left her scared and wary of another attack. Jade was always on edge as soon as she left the safety of her chamber. Which she thought was a bit ironic since it was in her chamber she had been attacked.

Jade spent most of her days in the library reading. Mrs. Coen barely wanted her to work on her posture anymore. Jade had apparently mastered it - as much as she could. It still felt very strange to walk so strictly like her teacher instructed her. Mrs. Coen was also very pleased with the amount of time Jade spent in the library and she had stopped coming to see if Jade was there on the fourth day. After that Jade was unsupervised.

"If you need me for something, just send your governess." Were the last words her teacher had spoken to her. "You don't need me for your studies at the moment." Jade had smiled gratefully but had actually wanted Mrs. Coen to stay. Then there would be one more person there to keep the queen away from her. Or at least witness what would happen.

If something will happen... Jade thought and opened her

Loren was either just outside the door or he stood inside while Jade read. He still hadn't answered her about Elizabeth even though she asked him every day, hoping that he would cave. The guard never caved unfortunately. He seemed to inhibit some deep rooted respect for her governess and honored her by not talking behind her back with Jade.

Elizabeth still did not know that Jade had left her chamber the day she went to find William in the training grounds.

If she does know, then she has kept it a secret...and the woman kept it very well. She hasn't said a word about it. Jade thought when she took a break from the book she was currently reading. She turned her attention to the ceiling and admired the artwork. Like she did every day since William had left her here. She hadn't noticed the ceiling until now - when she had a lot of free time. The ceiling was covered with the images of different flowers, angels and what looked like some creatures she had never seen before. They reminded her of a large cat but more majestic. One of them had a large mane and eyes that exuded power and pride. Their hide was a deep orange and they always made Jade feel a little bit safer. Why she did not know.

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Note: If I used the word melange wrong, please tell me. I know how to use it in Swedish but was a bit unsure how to use it (grammatically) in English!

Translations:
- Dimma : Swedish, meaning "fog".
- Sten : Swedish, meaning "rock" or "stone".

I hope you liked this part, it is a bit shorter than usually but I am going away over the weekend and can't bring my laptop so I still wanted to post something!

Love Jenny