The girl said nothing and instead gave him an ugly stare, narrowing those blue eyes to convey her fury.

"She's been told to keep quiet, my Lord."

Allist ripped his gaze away from her to look upon Ridley Sargent, the man he had thought all but lost to him, "Sargent? Well this is a surprise."

Ridley bowed low, "I have been in contact, my Lord but I had limited time and so it was anonymous. I was the one to give your soldier the name of the town where you found Julius Baudille."

"And now you have brought me this?" Allist raised his eyebrows and looked again down at the Princess.

Ridley was not of noteworthy appearance. He was plain-haired and grey-eyed. As simple as you could be except for the dried blood on his upper lip that had been smeared across one cheek and spotted down his shirt.

"Did you run into much trouble?" Allist asked simply, taking his time and drawing out this pleasure.

"We had another, my Lord," said one of the other soldiers who received a furious glare from Ridley, "We had the girl, Ella Dias. The mother of the Heir's child."

"We did," Ridley said, quickly and before Allist could say anything, "But my Lord, I can assure you. I have been living in the same place as this Princess and the Heir as well. Ella Dias is not the mother of that child and nor is Micah Baudille the father. The Baudille Heir remains childless."

Allist pursed his lips, "And yet...I asked for her and her child to be brought to me. Whether they are who they are suspected to be is irrelevant now. The accusation has been made and I intend to be safe, rather than sorry."

"My Lord—" Ridley tried again.

"This is a discussion for another time. As is the rest of the information that you have, Sargent." Allist said, dismissing him and looking back down to the girl, "Now I have a prize and I would like to deal with it."

Ridley nodded and bowed his head. Allist crouched down on his knees in front of her so that he could examine her properly. Without being asked, he felt the nudge of a hilt in his side as Captain Renwix offered him a dagger. He took it without a word.

"You may speak freely here," Allist said quietly, his eyes alight, "We can start with your full name if you'd like?"

The girl seemed to hesitate for a second before speaking, looking him up and down with as much built up defiance that she could seem to muster.

"I think you smell like the dregs of Lake Madath and would very much appreciate it if you got your hideous mug out of my face." She was yanked back roughly with the words by the soldier that was holding her hair but Allist held up his hand, stopping anyone else from retaliating on his behalf. She spoke like royalty but her voice had been tainted by the hatred she had.

"Let her waste her breath, men," Allist said, "She only has so much left."

"It's not being put to waste," she snarled, "I've been waiting to tell you what a pig-headed bastard you are for a long time."

Allist narrowed his eyes, feeling his own anger stirring, "You'd be wise to consider your words, Princess Cataleyah."

"And you'd be wise to save me the trouble and stick that dagger through you own neck," she said, lightly, "It's all in the wrist see? But I suppose you might need some help with it considering how fat your neck is. But I can hardly blame it; there had to be some way to hold up your magnificent pig head."

Allist slapped her then. Hard. His hand connected with the soft flesh of her cheek, throwing her head to the side and making her grunt in pain. He stood up as she reeled and let himself feel better about it but as she angled her face back to him, there was a great smile stretching across her lips.

"I've been hit harder by children," she said and spat on the floor at his feet. The unsheathing of a sword sounded as Captain Renwix growled but Allist raised his hand again to stop him and angled the dagger with his other one.

"I will enjoy ending your pitiful life, Cataleyah," Allist said.

The Princess only shrugged, "I'm going to go ahead and call your bluff. I am the Quel-yanian Princess, daughter of Anton Charamain and I'll bet all the High Kings that you don't have the stomach to slice that dagger across my neck."

Allist knuckles tightened around the hilt and his anger rose, running like wildfire as he looked down on the Princess. And then he saw it. It was nothing really, maybe the relaxing of muscles in her neck or the flicker of her lashes. She seemed to sigh.

She wanted this. The thought startled him.

Allist looked down at the dagger in his hands and then sheathed it in his belt, "You think you're quite smart, Miss Charamain, don't you?"

She seemed to struggle for a second, "Oh I am. I've already made you put your weapon away."

"And smarter than I had thought. You almost had me, I will admit. But," Allist placed his hands on his hips and grinned at her, "You wanted me to kill you so that I couldn't dangle you in front of your friends. So that I couldn't bribe the Heir with your freedom."

Cataleyah's nostrils flared with a quick intake of breath but she said nothing, confirming what he had said.

"He was staying under your protection, wasn't he?" Allist asked, barely a whisper, "In the hole where you keep all your little worker ants. Rats and whores you picked up off the street. Boys who think they're battle-ready because they can beat their friends in a fist fight and girls who you've been teaching to shoot arrows and throw punches, all the while knowing they will never be strong enough to take on a man; let alone a soldier. And you promise them a better world anyway; but you are fully aware of how you are sending them all to their deaths."

The room was utterly silent and Cataleyah had gone very still, her head pulled back so that her long hair dangled down her back and her bright eyes bore into him, having lost the defiance they had had before. Oh, this was so much better than spilling her blood. In this way, he was gutting her.

"And the best part of it all," Allist said, laughing now, "The best part is he came back and he still cares for you."

"He left me to burn in his castle," Cataleyah said, saying words that seemed to die on her tongue as though she had said them a million times before in a blind justification to herself, "You don't know him. And you don't know me."

"You forget I am only guessing," Allist said, his joy making his chest swell, "And I will keep you alive because I know he will come for you. And when he does, I will kill him. And then, I will drive that dagger through your throat, putting you out of your misery like the animals you are."

Amazingly, the Princess took a shaky breath and the pride returned to her face. She was stronger than her had thought that it occurred to him as almost a waste of such a pretty girl.

"You can take your threats and shove them up your arse, my Lord," she said, politely.

"Bring up a cage of some sorts," Allist ordered, not taking his eyes off her, "The smaller the better. But before we put her in it, we might give the Heir a reason to think we're serious."

He had expected fear on the Princess's face then. But the narrowed, defiant eyes had returned and she wore them like war medals. It was the kind of look a person wore that begged you to give it your best shot.

And oh the fun Allist would have doing just that.

*****

"How dare you!"

The door to Leyah's office swung open so hard that Micah had half expected it to shatter as he jumped with the fright of it. He watched Lexie barge in like she carried the power of the Season Fire with her and was prepared to burn the whole world.

"You thought that you could send Gupta because you thought he would be able to convince me to stay there? To convince Imara to stay there? Who the hell do you think you are?! Don't play mind games with me, Baudille or so help me I will knock an arrow in your throat, Heir or not!"

"Lexie," Micah said, palms up in defence, "We need to keep moving, we don't have time for you to be mad at me. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision because I didn't know what else to do."

"So they've really got her then?" Lexie asked, her hands on her hips shaking slightly, "Allist and his bastards have Kitty?"

"The Tribesmen betrayed us," Micah nodded, solemnly, "They handed her over. Them and Ridley."

Lexie's eyes bulged, "Ridley? Holy Kings, that son of a bitch should consider himself more dead than a man facing the diamond sword of High King Tydorian!"

"Lexie, please," Micah said, "I'm angry too, but we can't do this now."

She finally looked up at him then. Her fists were balled on her hips and she was quivering with the wildness of her anger. But as the seconds past, her anger became less strong and dangerous and more of an uncertain shake.

Her eyes flitted back and forth, avoiding his, "What am I going to do?" she whispered.

"I can fill you in on what I've gotten done," Micah said, looking back down at the lists scattered over Leyah's desk, "Everyone reports to you now, don't think that I didn't know that, but I figured you could use some help and—" he stopped as his eyes returned to her.

She had gone incredibly pale and as he watched her, her eyes swept back through the room and found his. And that was when they started to fill with tears.

"I can't do this," she said, a bare whisper, "I can't do what she does. I can't do this without her."

Micah rounded the desk, striding forward to put his hand on her shoulder, making sure that she wasn't about to collapse, "Hey, listen to me. Yes, you can. You're her second. You know all this stuff. And you won't be alone. You've got me and Gupta and Felix and Elex and Imara. We'll do this together."

"No," she said, weakly, "You don't understand. I am her second."

"And when she's not here what do you do?" Micah asked, "You step up in her place. You've done it before."

She shook her head, "This is different. This is her life. If I screw it up, I'll lose her."

And with the saying of those words, the situation finally hit Micah and he felt his own heart stutter and his toes curl. But he swallowed the leaden feeling in his throat and brushed off the weight that seemed to settle on his shoulder. They couldn't afford both of them losing it. Not now.

"What if you did it?" Lexie asked suddenly and Micah felt his throat constrict, "You're the Heir after all."

"But I'm not the one taking the Kingdom back," he said quietly, "I'm not getting the throne."

"Micah, if you still believe that then you're as dumb as I thought you were the first time I saw you." Some of her strength returned for her to be able to say it with the condescension needed.

Micah didn't say anything and just looked at her. But her face didn't crack into smile and she didn't back down from what she'd said. She wasn't lying.

"So will you do it for me?" Lexie asked, quieter now.

Jules appeared at the stable door, rubbing his hands and not meeting Micah's eyes. Micah rounded the horse he had been tending to to see his brother and the awkward feeling that was hanging in the air between them.

"What's wrong?" Micah asked, seeing Jules's ashen face.

"Will you do it for me?" Jules asked.

They had never spoken about it before and though Micah had known his brother's dream never lay with the crown, he had never expected him to ask this. And yet, without context, Micah knew exactly what he was talking about.

Micah lowered his eyes, "I'll take care of it."

*****

The first course of action was sending care off to the maidens that the Tribesmen had been kidnapping. Micah guarded and opened the north-eastern entrance himself to show them through. There was always the risk of Tribesmen interfering or Bardern soldiers being there because of Ridley's betrayal, but Micah was efficient, the entrance concealed well, and the clearing where Ella claimed they had been betrayed, was curiously devoid of Tribesmen.

Micah had watched the maidens as they had stumbled by, helped along by Chasin, Elex and Felix. They had been skinny and bony, a body type that couldn't just have been gained over the past couple of months but one that looked to have been working away at them for years.

Three years.

The common people weren't Allist's concern. He would stem the flow of the markets without a second thought. He didn't care whether they lived or died. And it made Micah so angry. He had lunged forward to help up one girl who had collapsed when it had really hit him. She had looked at him with surprise and then fear. She was younger than Nell. She wouldn't have remembered much about what it felt like to have people in the castle that were trusted.

Micah had made sure that each girl was escorted home safety and if they hadn't had a home, or that home had been a brothel, Micah had sent them to Old Montague to be given a room in the complex.

By the time he had done that, everyone had been contacted and were waiting in Leyah's office for him to come and tell them what to do.

As he pushed open the heavy wood door, he looked upon the several worried faces. There was no big table here, nor a cape he could hide in. This was not a formal meeting and Micah still had mud splashed all up his pants from walking through the north-eastern entrance.

"So you're in charge now, hey?" Jaegar asked, "I thought the Heir was giving up the crown."

"Jaegar, this is not the time nor the place," Micah said, "If you're going to make this harder than it is, I suggest you leave because it won't be long until I draw swords."

Everyone seemed to go a little quieter with that.

Micah walked over to one of Leyah's boards and pointed to the enlarged map of the city, "This is our battleground. The enemy has made its first move against us. We have no element of surprise and no bargaining chip to offer them."

"If the odds are already so out of favour, then why fight at all?" Chasin asked, "Surely we could draw them out? Or else take a bit of time to find allies to help us match them?"

"Time is what we don't have, brother," Imara said, "They'll kill the Princess if we wait too long. They won't risk holding her long enough for her to find a way to escape."

"Then why haven't they killed her already? How do we know she isn't dead?" Troy asked, but he was looking more shaken than apathetic, "They could have killed her and be drawing us in thinking they still have her."

"She's too valuable," Micah responded, "She's a great source of faith for a lot of people. If she was dead, the entire country would know within an hour."

"That's why we have to rescue her," Nell said from the windowsill, her brother sitting up beside her, "Because people still believe in her."

"So this is what I've got," Micah said, "We take the castle. Now. They'll be four main groups; one to attack each side of the castle. Imara and Jaegar will lead the legions we have in the attack from the northern side. This is where we want most of the battle to take place. From there, we divide the rest of our people into the three other groups. Chasin and Kadi Margaret will lead the eastern side, getting in through windows and kitchen doors. Elex and Felix will take the second main entrance on the western side and Niram and Troy will take the southern side, getting onto the wall and taking the bridge."

"And me?" Lexie asked, her hands on her hips.

Micah was solemn, "You're with me and Kerrick and Gupta. We're getting our Hehpe."

It all made sense in his head. Imara and Jaegar were brute force and would probably end up in the castle courtyard, fighting with everything the rebels had. Chasin and Kadi Margaret would lead those better skilled with their hands than with steel or arrows because the eastern side was all windows and close corridors. He'd trust Elex and Felix's skill to take the western side; an entrance just smaller than the main one, and they'd do it with half the numbers. Then there was Niram and Troy taking the southern side. The bridge should be the least protected because it was hard enough getting up onto the wall to get there. Ella would go with them since Micah knew she wasn't about to be left out of this. She would be safer there.

As for those would wouldn't fight? Micah would put them to work as well. He would get them to set up a temporary camp at the edge of the forest and outside the city. The people who lived too close to the castle to be safe, out of the city.

Micah wasn't going to let innocent people die without trying to save them.

That wasn't the kind of Heir he had been.

And that wasn't the type of King he was going to be.

*****

Kerrick made sure that his steps were silent as he padded through the narrow landing. He was a skilled pickpocket and knew how to sneak up on someone and he thanked the Kings for that skill now as he descended the short, narrow flight of stairs into the dimly light room.

Callie was sleeping. She was tucked under a couple of warm-looking blankets, on a mattress that looked way to comfortable to be placed behind the bars of the cell she was in. Her dark hair was sprawled across the pillow and Kerrick thought quietly to himself that she was the most like Ella when she slept. She was beautiful like this.

"Callie," Kerrick said, but his voice came out weaker than he wanted, forcing him to repeat himself, "Callie."

She frowned, eyes still closed, "Unless you're here to give me my child, I'd rather not be interrupted."

"If you don't get up, the next thing down here will be a bucket of ice water," Kerrick said, his voice sounding foreign, even to his own ears. It was rare that he was angry with anyone, frustrated was more common, but he rarely had reason to be angry. Yet, he felt it now, the low squirming in his belly and the pumping of blood in his ears.

Callie opened her eyes and looked up at him. A second past before they widened with recognition and she was suddenly scrambling to get to her feet.

"Rick?" she breathed, "What are you doing here?"

Kerrick wasn't going to waste any time, "What did you tell Ella?"

Callie was standing at the bars, her knuckles going white as she gripped them, "Did Ella call you here? Or are you one of the Princess's contacts?"

"Callie answer the question."

"You could answer mine."

Kerrick ground his teeth, "If you won't then I'm going to leave."

Callie's face hardened, "Whatever she said to you, she's overreacting."

"She said you had a baby, Callie. She said it was mine."

"She guessed," Callie said, shrugging off the accusation.

Kerrick shook his head, "You're unbelievable."

"She believed it," Callie smiled, sweetly, "She believed it was yours."

"Well for that to be true, I'd have to be stupid enough to fall into your bed." Kerrick spat.

"You almost did."

"No," Kerrick said, "I would never have done it."

"Because it would have wounded my little sister so?" Callie taunted.

"Yes," Kerrick spat at her.

"Why that's awf'ly good of ya." Kerrick looked around to see Ella at the top of the stairs, her expression sour but guarded. Her eyes were still a little inflamed from her crying and she was dressed in her robes but they didn't hold the baby this time. Her arms were crossed firmly over her chest and she was leaning up against the wall.

"What is it, you'd never had done, Kerrick?" Ella asked, sharply, "Or should I leave ya two to the catchin' up?"

"Actually, Rick was just leaving, Ekmal," Callie said.

Kerrick turned back to her and ground his teeth once more, "I was. But now that Ella's here, I think I might wait to accompany her back up to where everyone else is. Everyone that isn't locked in a cell, that is."

"If ya think I needa escort anywhere then ya lost more ta Callie than I thought," her words were like a punch to the gut, placed as perfectly as she'd intended, "And I'm only here ta say goodbye to ma sister. I leave at noon tomorrow ta kill Conrad Allist."

"You're what?!" Callie pressed her face against the bars, "You're attacking with the rebels?!"

Ella just smiled, "Am. And if I die then at least, I'll be rid of you, Callista."

The hate in her eyes extinguished whatever had been igniting in Kerrick's belly. The Ella he had known had loved her sister, despite their differences. The Ella he had known had been hurt that she had turned to the brothels for money, but the Ella he had known had been able to get over that. And it made his stomach turn to see her look at Callie like that; the younger version of her flicking in front of Kerrick's vision.

"Ella," he said quietly, "If you hate her because of what she said about me, you don't have to. The baby isn't mine."

"Ya always were too Kings-shunned attached to family, Rick," Ella snapped, "Sayin' anything to redeem the kind o' relationships there. But I'm tellin' ya; not all families are happy."

"Callie, tell her I'm speaking truth," Kerrick pleaded, turning to the other sister, "You can still fix this."

But Callie just pursed her lips and looked at him with eyes of triumph, "The years haven't changed you, Rick."

"That's wha' I thought." Ella said, quietly and turned on her heel, "If I never see ya again, Ekmal, I'll tell our father ya said hello."

A/N

Heyyy! Hope you're having a great day! In the next chapter, the battle begins. Micah launches his attack on his own castle, trying to take it back from the clutches of Lord Allist. Leyah is suffering from her imprisonment but I'd urge you not to write her off as the damsel in distress. First of all; she's a Princess. Secondly; I'd back her in any situation.

I hope you're enjoying it and please don't forget to vote if you are, it really helps me out! 

Much love,

Ruby,

XXX