I spent the entirety of my afternoon searching for Beatriz. I rushed back to Genevieve's, where she assured me that neither Beatriz nor Rafael had returned since we'd left after breakfast. She'd tried to convince me to stay awhile and calm down with a cup of tea, but nothing could have pinned me in place. Not even her assurance that Frederico would be returning soon and would know what to do. The crown prince was the last person I wanted to see, with my nerves as frayed as they were, so I set out again.

I checked every healer's tent and staked out the apothecary, certain she'd turn up for medicines since the apothecary denied having seen her that day. When waiting proved fruitless, I debated sneaking past the Bazeran sentries to see if Beatriz was somewhere among the brightly coloured tents. But right as I approached, Shahnaz and Nisha sauntered past, deep in conversation.

Hatred bloomed in my chest at the sight of her, striding around unharmed. She hadn't even bandaged the nick in her arm from Beatriz' sword, so shallow was the wound. Instead, she wore it like a badge of honor as she grinned. My stomach turned as I thought of Beatriz, of her gauntlet shorn through by Nisha's sword, of her torn open thigh. Such pointless, idiotic violence over some stupid knife in the dirt. If I could have, I would have gone back in time and plucked the accursed blade from the ground, traditions be damned. I was more practical than prideful, and if I'd known what that blade would have brought about, I'd have had no trouble kneeling before Nisha to hand it back. Beatriz might not bow, but I would have – and gladly, too – if I could have prevented such a mess.

I chewed my cheek, debating the merits of accosting the pair of Bazerans and demanding to know where Beatriz had gone, but the risk of Nisha claiming her time early, or even chaining me to a tent pole until sundown, seemed far more likely than either of them helping me. I hastily snuck away before they spotted me, with futility simmering under my skin.

The afternoon sped past far too quickly. I frantically circled through the camp and the entire town to no avail, before giving up and turning to Frederico. I found him at the dining room table again, studying the map with Rafael's uncles.

"Where is she?" I demanded, storming into the room. The sun had already sunken too far. I had less than an hour before I was expected at Nisha's tent. Wherever that was.

Frederico surveyed me and I hated the way his calculating gaze read everything on my face. But I was too unnerved to do anything about it.

"She lost?" he asked.

"Why the bloody hell do you think I've been searching the entire camp for her? Yes, she lost. And now I'm some feral cat of a woman's prize."

"Is she hurt?" Frederico asked, his tone sharp.

"Again, why the bloody hell else do you think I'd be so agitated?"

"Is Rafael with her?"

"If I'd found her," I began, through my teeth, "Then perhaps I'd be able to tell you."

"We haven't seen him all day, your Highness," Josepe ventured. I glared at him, but Frederico simply nodded, his jaw set.

His nostrils flared as he stared down to the map. "You said you were the prize. Were you told sunrise or sundown?"

"Sundown," I snapped.

He pressed his lips into a line. When I realized he was attempting to stifle a grin, my hands curled into fists. Glancing up at me, he said, "Then you've been won until the sun rises. Fortunate, considering the days are longer than the nights this time of–"

"I don't care whether she wants me for a night or an afternoon or a bloody decade. As it seems I'm the only one worried enough to go searching for Beatriz, I won't be going anywhere until I find her!"

Frederico studied me, then sighed. "She's probably off tending to her wounds with Rafael, like she always does after these ridiculous things. She'll turn up, but probably not before sundown. She doesn't like losing, Thomas. Just let her heal in peace."

I ground my teeth together and pressed my hands against the table. "Where. Is. She."

Frederico shrugged, but it was a helpless, genuinely apologetic thing. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen her."

"You do realize they hurt her, right? And you'd said–"

"I know what I said," Frederico said firmly, with a glance towards the door behind me.

I went on over him. "–that if they sent her back battered and bloodied, that you'd–"

"Have I interrupted something?"

My back stiffened and a scowl twisted my face as Shahnaz entered the room behind me. She was no longer in armor, but still just as imposing. She was nearly three inches taller than me and, even though she was attired in loose-fitting attire of draped lengths of fabric, the predatory way she moved and her easy, catlike grace commanded as much space as if she'd been swinging a sword.

"Not at all," Frederico said smoothly, gesturing to a chair. "Prince Thomas was just leaving. Would you care for any refreshments before we begin?"

"Tea, please." Shahnaz' keen, dark gaze remained on me even as she strode across the room to sit in the chair to Frederico's right. Beatriz' chair. I ground my teeth.

"You should hurry, little prince," she said, leaning back in her chair. "You don't want to learn what kinds of things Nisha can demand if you renege on Beatriz' agreement. It's more than just her honour and right to walk among us at stake, you know."

"I'll kindly remind you that I'm a prince of Pretania and no one's servant to order about," I snapped, so furious that I forgot to speak Ardal.

Shahnaz merely blinked, then looked at Frederico. "What was all that prattling about?"

"It was nothing." Frederico fixed me with a warning look as he slipped into Pretanian. "Leave. Before she realizes what you've just said to her."

It was an effort not to bare my teeth at her. As it was, my lip twitched in time with the pulse of my jaw muscles. I pounded my fist against the wood and whirled to leave, scraping a hand through my hair. On the sideboard, the polished dinner utensils sat in neat piles. Heedless of what the others might be thinking, I swiped one of the knives and shoved it into my boot.

"There's a reason duels are outlawed in Pretania," I grumbled, unable to leave without bestowing a parting word upon them.

My petulance earned no more than a hearty laugh from Shahnaz. "Because Pretania is full of soft little men like you."

I halted in the doorway and turned, slowly, livid. Frederico pressed his eyes closed and massaged the bridge of his nose. Shahnaz stared at me as if daring me to say something or make a move. What was it with these Bazerans? Were they all itching for a fight? I drew myself up to my full height, opening my mouth to say something, when she lifted her hands and began methodically cracking each of her knuckles, her eyes still on me. She didn't have any weapons on, but one look at her bare arms was all the convincing I needed that she could separate my head from my neck with her bare hands.

Her laugh followed me when I stormed outside, kicking a rock so hard it smacked against the stone fence encircling the house. The clouds were ablaze in a riot of orange and pink. My traitorous memories dragged me back to the last sunset I'd watched, wrapped up in Beatriz' cloak before Frederico had called her away.

My stomach twisted. I could only imagine what was going through her mind, wherever she was. Humiliated in front of her people, at the hands of her best friend, all because of some stupid duel over me. I would've been mortified, absolutely mortified, if I'd lost in a duel with her as the prize. I wouldn't have wanted to face her either, but I worried more for the wounds Nisha's sword and fists had inflicted. A foreign, awful feeling pinched in my chest. Guilt that I hadn't found her, that I had done something as idiotic as let her think I was keen to leave. Jealousy that Rafael was the one bandaging her wounds and comforting her injured pride.

But there was no sense in being jealous of Rafael. Had I been in her shoes, I would have turned to a friend, not the person who'd barely protested when ordered to leave. Perhaps it really was my own damned fault that she was avoiding me. At least she'd chosen Rafael and not Frederico, though, for the crown prince wouldn't have hesitated to drive more of a wedge between her and me.

I scowled and grumbled the entire way across the camp, bitter and resentful and dreading what was about to happen. The desperation that had flashed on Beatriz' face – the last real time we'd locked eyes – haunted me. What had it meant? Did she think that in losing, she'd lose me? I scrubbed a hand over my face, my chest tight with longing. I would have traded a great many valuable, irreplacable things – or parts of myself – just to have a few moments alone with her, before whatever hell Nisha had planned for my night.

The bright, Bazeran tents glowed in the golden light of the sinking sun. I stalked towards them, brooding and bitter as I approached a pair of sentries. They interrupted their conversation at my approach. One of them elbowed the other and whispered something in Bazeran, which set them both to giggling.

"Where is Nisha?" I demanded in Ardal, holding my chin high despite the lecherous looks the pair of them ran over me.

"Come," the one who'd whispered said. She didn't even bother to smother her sly, knowing smile.

My jaw worked as I followed her through the tents, away from the center, towards the edge of the camp. I don't know what I'd expected from Nisha's tent. Perhaps something flamboyant and bright, like the palatial thing at the center. Instead, hers was made of two tiers of somber, deep blue fabric, and lit brightly from within. Ropes of bronze coins tinkled as the sentry shifted them aside for me to enter. I inhaled to steel myself, and took a step inside.

**A/N: So this was all originally supposed to be one chapter, but it ended up being nearly 3k words which is almost double what my updates usually are! So instead of making you all wait another week, I decided to drop a little Friday surprise :)

Do you think Thomas should have stood up to Shahnaz? Would Frederico have helped him?

More importantly, what do you think Thomas is about to walk into? 

As always, if you enjoyed it, please take a moment to vote and comment! The next update should be posted on Wednesday :)**