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People were stillaround and noise levels rose at our appearance out of the woods Wolfe held a hand up to us and the Lieutenant stopped; I pulled on Midnight’s reins to halt her We watched quietly as Wolfe approached a tall man who stood with his sleeves rolled up, his face dirty and sweaty At whatever Wolfe said he nodded quickly and disappeared off into the door of the factory Only minutes later and he was followed by an equally tall, strapping rinned broadly at the sight of us He spoke to Wolfe for a ht him over

"My Lady Lieutenant," Wolfe addressed us quietly We were all a little tired today It had been especially hot "This is Jac Dena And this is the village of WoodMill Jac owns the largest lurinned proudly and nodded his head atover me, wide and astonished "Nice to make your acquaintance, my Lady"

I nodded my head, unsure what to say And to be truthful too tired to think

"Jac has graciously invited Lady Rogan and Lieutenant Chaeron to stay with hi to prevail upon the rest of the village to give the Guard shelter for the night"

"Thank you, Mr Dena," I acknowledged softly, desperate for some food and sleep "That’s extremely kind of you"

"Oh not at all, not at all,"We are honoured to offer hospitality to the Royal Guard and the Handlared at Wolfe Da that stupid nickname He smirked unrepentantly back at me

Not too much later, I found myself seated beside the Lieutenant at a homely table, in a homely kitchen, onderful homely aromas that made my stoe but it was cos it was clear his fa they needed His wife, a pretty, petite woman who stammered in my presence (bloody Wolfe!) flittered around us like a little butterfly around too uing quite profusely, I sat across from his two sons instead of at the other end of the table where Mrs Dena nor like so Kralovna Mrs Dena finally took a seat and we all began serving ourselves I beca My cheeks flushed under the scrutiny The eldest, Jac Jnr, looked to be est, Leon, perhaps Haydyn’s I had never before been the target of such open attention and I squirrip his knife a little too tightly

Thankfully, Jac began asking questions about Silvera and I tried raciously and articulately After all they had opened their hoers and I was more than thankful to be off ht was equally thankful

"By gee…" Leon suddenly exhaled, sitting back in his chair, his dark eyes fixated on me I stopped with my fork halfway to my mouth, my eyes ith surprise The boy looked as if he was picturingI’ve ever seen And that’s including Shera Shera’s the prettiest girl in WoodMill, but she isn’t as pretty as you"

"Leon, don’t-"

But Jac snr’s reprimand was cut off by Jac Jnr, who slapped his brother across the head "Don’t be speaking to royalty like that, Leon And don’t be speaking about Shera at all I told you to stay away fro purple with anger very quickly I unconsciously slid towards the Lieutenant as the boys argu as their parents deressive in light of some personal revelations

"What do you mean you kissed her?!" Jac Jnr bellowed He dove onto his brother, the two crashing to ground I jerked back froes of Kir on theover hi hot shivers cascade acrossJac snr, as very little use considering his size, out of the way He grabbed the two boys as if they weighed nothing and shoved theh!" He shouted at the two and then glared at Jac Dena "I suggest you discipline them"

Jac nodded, his face red with embarrassment "I am so sorry, Lieutenant I’ve never been so asha at them as they disappeared from the room I looked at Mrs Dena who looked so confused and alaran to draw from her panic

My eyes clashed with Lieutenant Chaeron A silent ic was beginning to fail in Sabithia People ere inclined towards teer be affected and soothed by Haydyn’s evocation They would react as they would do naturally, without thought, only with the heat of anger no longer taic It never even crossed e, to fight so To Phaedrians, under the Dyzvati spell for so long, natural was to curb any instincts that er, passion or violence

That night, Chaeron insisted on sleeping on a pallet in the rooht

Wolfe was visibly upset when Chaeron told hi as we readied to leave He glanced around tonearby and then looked at aze "Are you alright?" He asked tightly

I nodded, perturbed by his see, his eyes telling me he orried by the news Instinctively I wanted to reassure him somehow

And then I reht

It rained in Raphizya Not light showery rain to ease our hot skins Hard, pelting rain that fell down on us in large drops, furious at having been do My cloak was soaked tomovement on the horse difficult Not toination as it plastered ht and I stood nad by the fire for so long the backs of s were blotched red I didn’t care I was blissfully warm

The next day the sun was back out but not so hot, and we gathered ourselves together again for a milder,from the men behind me and prayed that none of them were very ill

When Wolfe stopped us for lunch it was in a wide open field In the distance s and sheep in neighbouring farreen as a le, beautifultree attracted theand laughing as they sipped thirstily froht froht an apple and then left her to graze by thea h so that their voices were bells on the wind Wolfe sat laughing with Chaeron and a few others, ed off an uncorow on this trip with Wolfe Like I had ed him somehow, unfairly blamed hi and fair Hisage Surely that told ht of s If I felt this strongly, this hateful towards Syracen for what he done, surely Wolfe felt the sa, I pulled rew interested in two of theoff to the side They parried and thrust at one another with their swords; easy, fluid, strong My heart skipped a little as a sudden interesting idea took hold I lifted up my skirts and strode towards them

"Officer Stark, isn’t it?" I enquired softly as I came upon them "And Officer Reith?" They seemed surprised that I knew them by name but I had an excellent memory

"My Lady" They both offered little bows, their eyes still wide on an Or," I noted their appalled looks, "Miss Rogan, if you an," Officer Stark cleared his throat, "How can we assist you?"