Rescue

Breakfast was served in a rather broad ornamented chamber, and the commander overseeing the wall accompanied Katherine and Nathaniel. With a dishonest smile, he excused the behavior of his soldiers toward Nathaniel. Then he asked for his name.

This was the moment the couple noticed that, strangely, nobody in the wall structure seemed to recognize Nathaniel's face at all. Had their messenger not informed them? In an instant, Nathaniel saw the opportunity. The messenger was one of the children that knew Katherine. This guy named Frey. Aston said he was quite witty.

"Raymond", Nathaniel gave his third name curtly and replaced his plate, prepared as far from Katherine as humanly possible, right next to his wife with a clattering noise. "Apology accepted."

The commander looked slightly offended, but Nathaniel didn't care, especially since Katherine pulled at his sleeve with a worried face. "Dear, did you sleep? You look..."

Taking her hand and kissing it, Nathaniel's gaze asked her to postpone the questioning. But that was obviously answer enough, as her eyes widened shortly, before filling with a determination that told him she had made a choice. But what choice was there to make?

Irritated, Nathaniel took his seat and watched Katherine's black hair fan out when she turned to the commander with a smile that seemed strangely innocent and eager. Nathaniel's eyes narrowed as she started speaking. "Actually, there is something that bothered me for a while already. When I left this country, I left something behind that was very dear to me. I thought it was lost until my dearest cousin the... well, the new duke... proved quite unconventionally, that this was not the case. I wondered if I might go and retrieve it now?"

The middle-aged man that sat at the head of the table looked unperturbed as he swallowed a mouthful of egg with bread. "You may ask the entourage the duke sent you to help retrieve it. I am in no position to expose your ladyship to the dangers outside of this wall without proper company. The latter of which, I'm afraid, I can't spare at the moment. However, if it is very urgent, you could send someone for it."

"Send someone for it?" Somehow, Nathaniel had the feeling that this was exactly what Katherine wanted to hear. Her smile had deepened until it was almost sincere. "But I can't trust just anyone with it. It has to be someone I can trust completely. Someone like..."

Only when Katherine turned toward him did Nathaniel's muddled head catch up with her intention.

"No!" His reply was firm, though the shock reached deep enough to project into his voice. "I will not leave your side."

Her violet irises hid behind dark, long lashes, before meeting his eyes again. They seemed to see right through him, and an apologetic kind of sorrow painted them in a darker hue as she gently brushed her fingers along his cheek to rest them at his temple. "Honey, you need a rest. I can not stand to see you like this and, honestly, it will help no one. I will come to find you as soon as I can, but I realized last night that actually, there is only one person my cousin wants. So, whatever you need to do here in Dragsa, you and Ella can leave first."

She looked at him as if she expected him to be okay with her choice if she explained it like this. Out of the corner of his eyes, Nathaniel saw the commander watching them with interest while graciously eating another leaf of bread. He was sure that this man wouldn't stop Katherine from sending away the 'nuisance'. Maybe he believed as well, like the guards on duty last night, that Katherine was not really married. Or at least, and that was the true side of the coin, that this duke that was her cousin would rather have her unmarried.

Nathaniel's face hardened. "I will not -"

Before he could repeat his statement, Katherine broke him off with a hand on his arm and the pleading glitter in her eyes. "Please. If not for yourself, then can you please help me retrieve what I thought to be lost? I might not be strong enough to get it myself, but since we are in Dragsa already, I could not stand leaving without it a second time."

The request confused Nathaniel. He didn't remember her telling him that she missed anything from Dragsa, only that she wanted revenge. Something that she wanted to retrieve... something she thought lost... it might be his brain slowing down due to fatigue, but there was nothing that came to mind. Maybe some object of her dead parents?

When the silence lengthened, the commander was the first to finish his breakfast. With a scratching noise of a chair against stone, he stood up. "If your ladyship will excuse me, my duties start at 8 am sharp. As for your request, please send anyone you like. The duke of Sleipnir as well as I are both only concerned with your ladyship's personal well-being."

With a nod toward Nathaniel, he left the room. Katherine stared after him quite perplexedly. "I didn't expect him to leave us alone so easily. I thought so hard about how to convey my intention in flowery words but now..."

She looked so lost that it amused Nathaniel a bit. However, his headache prevented a smile from forming. To cure it, he took a few sips of tea. "Maybe he wanted to give you a chance to throw me out in private. Now, tell me clearly. What exactly do you want me to do? I won't leave you here alone without a good reason."

"I..." Blinking, Katherine slowly found her train of thoughts again. Her gaze stabilized and her chin rose a notch as she breathed in deeply. "I realized some things tonight. I realized that I might not come back to Dragsa any time soon, and therefore, that there is no opportunity as good as this one to archive what I want."

Noticing the disapproval forming in his throat, she fastly shook her head. "No, not for revenge. I would be a fool to stir up more trouble right now when we can hardly manage the one we have. But I don't want to run away anymore either. If I meet Ethan, I want to stand tall without fear and tell him what I think he is. My revenge can wait a bit longer, it will only ripen. But if the... the children aren't picked up soon..."

She stopped. Her throat seemed to be blocked by guilt and anxiety. Laying down the bread in his hand, Nathaniel reached over and pulled her against his side. His lips touched the crown of her head softly like a breeze. "You want me to go and save them."

She nodded, then shook her head. "I want you to get well before that. I want to heal you but..."

"It is not the magic", Nathaniel suddenly broke her off. He didn't want her to blame herself for his weak constitution. It was his fault, his fault alone. "My mental fortitude is not what it used to be. I'm having... nightmares."

Startled, she wanted to raise her head, but his palm pressed her back against his chest. He didn't want to see the pity in her eyes, not for such a mundane weakness any soldier had to overcome. "It's okay. I will do something about it. Tomorrow, I will be better."

"How?", she mumbled against his chest, but he pretended not to hear it, returning to their former topic instead.

"I still see no reason to leave you alone in

a nest of enemies. We can rescue those children after we escape from the entourage together."

Yet, Katherine shook her head and pushed away from his chest with a hand. Reluctantly, he let her go. "We don't know who is in the entourage. The soldiers here don't recognize you, but Ethan or his people might. You attacking from the outside when they think themselves safe is the better option. Besides, you said you know a safe place here. Doesn't that mean you have a few people on this side of the border as well that can help our escape? Please find them and bring them to help us and the children."

She looked at him so expectantly that it was hard to reject her. Yet suddenly, her eyes turned mischievous, and she tapped her lips with her finger. "Now that I think about it, I suppose it will be easier to rescue the children before me. He will guess we will come for them as soon as I am free. So, please rescue me last, my dear husband."

"Katherine..." Despite shaking his head, Nathaniel knew that he could hardly reject such a well-thought-out plan. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you desperately want to separate us."