They rode for hours before Ty finally suggested that they take a break.  Ildri was happy to get off the horse.  Ty helped her down and she felt disoriented for a few seconds.

"Here," he said, giving her a piece of bread.

Ildri took the bread and carried it over to a tree, where she sat down.  Ty was taking care of the horses before eating anything himself.  For as much as he could be overbearing and bossy, he was kind to the animals.  The horses and Farrel all seemed to be quite taken with him.

As if knowing that she had been thinking of him, Farrel turned and looked over at Ildri.  There was something uncanny about the wolf and it was not only that he did not seem to like her.  Or perhaps it was all in her imagination.  After all, there was no reason for his pet to dislike her.  She had never done anything to him.

His golden, intelligent looking eyes continued to bore into her.  She watched as he walked closer to her.  He looked menacing.  She swallowed deeply past the nervous tension that was gathering in her throat.

"Farrel.  What are you doing?" Ty asked from over by the horses.

Immediately the wolf abandoned its aggressive posture and made his way back over to Ty.  Ildri watched him as he walked away.  His tail was between his legs but even that humble pose made him look resentful rather than remorseful.

She did not know what the half wolf's problem was.

When Ty finished, he came and sat beside Ildri.  She looked at him from the corner of her eye.  His red hair seemed to be darkening and she could just see the faint trace of a scar across the side of his face.  She had thought it a feature of his first disguise, but was the scar something that marred his true face?  Was it the real reason that he hid behind all his disguises?

She was probably reading too much into it.  She looked down at her own hands.  They seemed to be losing age, but they retained the lined and veined appearance of someone four times her own age.  She wondered how bad her face still looked.

"How will they know who we are in the capital if we don't look like ourselves?"

Ty nodded towards her saddle and the bags tied to it.  "I've a potion which will remove the lingering effects quickly."

Ildri was not surprised.  He did not seem like the sort to leave things to chance or to wait around for something to wear off.  She only knew him for a few days but she suspected he would pick the most expedient choice available.  He was probably ready for anything.

She felt a grudging admiration for him, then realized what she was thinking.  Was she insane?

"We'll travel until nightfall.  I have a place that we can stay tonight."

"Really?  Where?" she asked, hoping that the place involved a bed instead of the uncomfortable ground.

"Just with an old friend."

"Oh."

"Her name is Maxine and I'm certain she'll put us up for the night.  She's not expecting us, so I don't know what state we'll find her in.  Try not look surprised at whatever we find."

It seemed a strange warning.  "What do you think that we might find?" Ildri asked cautiously.

"I can't say.  She's a bit eccentric but she's quite brilliant, really.  I think you'll like her."

Ty certainly liked her, Ildri could tell by the look on his face.  She wondered what Maxine was to Ty and she felt an uncomfortable uneasy feeling.  She pushed it aside.

But at least there would be a proper shelter.  She had only been lucky that it had not yet rained while she was sleeping outside.  "Will there be a bed?" she asked hopefully.

Ty looked at her sideways.  "A cot, at least."

"It sounds wonderful," Ildri smiled.  A cot would seem like the furniture of kings after the last rough couple of days.

He grinned.

"How long until we get there?" she asked eagerly.

"Four hours."

"I am so tired of travelling," she complained.

"We're getting much closer.  We'll be in the capital in the afternoon tomorrow."

"Really?  I've never been there before."

"No?"

"I've only ever been at Wildwood since I was little," she explained.  "I never wanted to leave again.  But now I don't think it's such a bad thing."

"Ildri—"

Ty was interrupted by a low growl.  They both looked at Farrel.  Ty spoke.  "You're right, Farrel.  We should get going."  He stood up and ate the last bite of his bread.  Ildri mimicked him.

As Ty helped her onto her horse, Ildri spoke to him.  "I don't think Farrel likes me and I don't know why."

Ty smiled slightly.  "He's just very protective.  You don't have to worry.  He may growl and scowl but he knows better than to hurt you."

Ildri did not feel much better.  The wolf seemed at best resentful of her mere presence, but she did not argue.  Surely he knew his pet better than she.

Ty mounted his horse and they started riding.

Sarabella instinctively took her place behind Dark Demon.  Ildri urged her forward again.  The road was more than wide enough for them to ride side by side.

"Where did you get Farrel?" she asked.  Farrel's head came up and he watched her with his intense stare.  Ildri ignored him.

"A wolf got one of our hunting dogs pregnant.  We never did figure out how that occurred.  Farrel was one of the puppies, the one that unfortunately looked more like his father than his mother.  We probably would have assumed that it was just another of the dogs if he hadn't been so wolfish in appearance.  The rest fit in fairly well in temperament and appearance, but poor Farrel was the odd pup out.  So I decided to keep him."

"That was kind of you."

Ty just smiled ruefully.

Ildri did not talk for a while because she was thinking about Ty.  He intrigued her; there was no other word for it.  She did not know why and she knew she was foolish for feeling that way.  Even if Saul had not been everything that she had believed it still did not diminish the time she had spent with him, even if that time had been built on a lie.

She searched her feelings again to locate the grief that she knew she should feel.  In its place was guilt that she was so unfaithful to Saul's memory, but grief itself was distressingly absent.

Ildri sighed.  Had she really constructed everything in fantasy?  If she really cared so little she had probably been lucky that she had not ended up marrying Saul.  Then she felt guilty all over again.

She did not want to think about it so she turned to Ty and said the first thing she thought of.  "How much longer until we arrive?" she asked.

"We've been travelling for about fifteen minutes, so three and a quarter hours," he said flatly.

Ildri realized that she already asked him.  She wondered if he was annoyed at her for asking again.  "Sorry, I forgot," she said, feeling embarrassed.  "I was just thinking about..."

Ty looked at her as if waiting for her to finish.  "Don't worry about it.  I know you're anxious to get there.  Truly, I am too."

Ildri nodded.  There was not much journey left before them.  She figured that they would go directly to the castle, tell their tale to the king and then they would...  What would they do?  She would probably go back to Wildwood and continue with her life as it had been before she had met Saul or Ty.  Ty would return to Viersen or continue with the king's business or whatever it was that he did with himself.

Everything would be back to normal.  It was likely that she would never see Ty again.

Why did that bother her?  It had only been a couple of days since he swooped into her life and upended everything.  How had someone like him become someone that she might actually miss so quickly and easily?  Perhaps he was a sort of the excitement she had always hid from in the safety of her home.

He was nothing like the sort of man that she wanted to find.  She wanted someone who was kind and safe and steady.  He was unpredictable and secretive and sometimes quite rude.  She wanted someone who wanted to live and work and grow old with her at Wildwood.  He was too busy rushing around the country getting into dangerous situations to stay put in one place. 

It was clear that Ty had a home and a family yet for some reason inexplicable to Ildri he eschewed the comfort of his own people to run about and involve himself in the affairs of state.  If Ildri's family were still alive she would surely never want to leave them.  He did not realize how lucky he had it.  It was sad that his father was dead, but his mother and brothers remained.

But perhaps his home life was not of the idyllic nature she imagined.  Not all family loved each other or treated each other right.  She had only to look to her own aunts, uncles and cousins to see the truth of that.  But when Ty spoke of them there was a clear thread of affection in his tone.  She sighed.  How jealous she was of such a life.

It was very clear to her now.  Any fascination she felt for Ty was simply because he had the very thing that she had missed most in the world, her own family alive and with her.  It made perfect sense when she thought about it.

Sarabella had been slowly shrinking back into her preferred place behind Dark Demon while Ildri had not been paying attention.  Ildri noticed but she did not care.  As unusual as it was for her, she just did not feel like talking.