And there it was. All that she had left. All that she truly possessed. Turned over to a Leoth. The same Leoth who'd taken everything else from her.

He said nothing as he observed her, his expression unchanged - cold unforgiving eyes that burned with a dark malignant fire. 

'Leyif osk,' he said shortly. It sounded like a command. A command she did not understand. When Mor bent to retrieve the fallen jug Fara realised it had been a command to the Leoth woman, not her. Before leaving the room she turned to Fara and gave her a long curious look, clearly seeing her now anew.

'Lumiya,' she said with a slight dip of her head before disappearing back out through the chamber door. 

Silence stretched, tight and thick in the space between them before Theodan filled it.  'Lumiya means royal child,' he said finally, his voice quiet, weighty. 

'Lumiya..' she whispered to herself, trying the word on her tongue.  His eyes narrowed on her, and then, quick and sudden he strode towards her.  She tensed as he neared, her breath freezing in her throat and her eyes widening with fear.  Now he would kill her.  Now that he knew who she really was. She would die exactly as Galyn had. Her next thought was that Death at the hand of a great warrior was not so terrible. 

Then - a voice from without whispered against her ear.

Show him no fear.  You are a Princess of Calate & Azura. Show him no fear. 

Surely he would not slaughter a Princess of Calate & Azura where she lay? 

She forced her eyes to meet his, forced the fear from them.  His scent hit her first - forest pine and something exotic that warmed her ice-cold blood - and as he reached out his hand she braced herself. Prepared for the feel of claw cutting through her flesh.

But he did not strike her. He opened his palm. 

Galyn's pin glimmered blindingly in his large hand, the rare yellow gold moving like liquid fire, the jewel blinking against the sun's light. Glancing up at him, warily, she was met with a stony expression.  Then, reaching out - marvelling as always at the heat that emanated from within him - she curled her fingers around the pin and retracted her hand from his quickly.  Crushing the pin tight in her grip, she folded her hands in her lap. The jewel felt changed somehow, altered. It still bore the heat from Theodan's hand. 

'Where is the child?' he asked, his expression guarded.

For a moment she thought he meant the child from whom she took the pin, and she thought briefly of little Saira, but then she understood what he meant. 

She looked down, unable to look at him directly as she spoke.  'It died inside me some moons later.  I could not carry it.'  She felt the burn of his eyes for a few long moments before he turned and paced back to the great fireplace. 

She lifted her head slowly and saw Theodan let out a loud sigh, his shoulders deflating.

'What will you do now?' she asked, tentatively. 

He tensed again, turning to glare at her once more. 'Now?' He asked, frowning.  Could he not see that this changed everything? Surely he could not mean to keep her as his spoil now that he knew the truth? 

'You are required to hand me to the Zybar as conquerors are you not?' She pointed out. 

His eyes narrowed.  'Zybar did not conquer Azura. Leoth did.'

She sniffed at his indignant pride. 'Then you are required to deliver me to your council. Where I will be bartered away for weapons or ships, I presume?' 

She saw his jaw tighten, but he did not offer an answer.  A moment later she saw a light come into his eyes. She did not know why, but to her, it looked like hope. 

'Tell me this,' he said, taking a few steps toward her again. This time she did not cower.  'How am I to believe a word that comes from your mouth when you have done nought but lie to me from the first? Four moons past you told me with conviction that you were the daughter of a stablemaster and a kitchenmaid, sent to work in the palace as a girl.  Now I am to believe you are the second daughter of a king? That your brother is the ruler of the largest realm of Ethis?'

She met his stare, defiant.  'You know I speak the truth.  In your heart, you know it.'

'Again you speak of my heart as if you know something of it, female.' he said, sharply.  'I assure you, you do not.'

'My name is Fara, Leoth,' she fired back.  'You will use it.' 

She saw a small whisper of a smile echo across the curve of his lips before it disappeared just as quick.  'Tis true you say so with conviction, but surely you can see that to I there is so little difference between your lies and your truths that it is impossible to tell them apart.'

She sighed with frustration.  'Fine.  Then why not take me to your High Visier, have her confirm the truth of it since hers is apparently the only word that holds any weight with you?!'

He considered this, his expression turning thoughtful.  'Perhaps. But only the brave or pure of soul would willingly submit to such an inquiry. For in order to know a single truth, she must open the door to all truths. Is that something you're prepared for?'

A deep chill swept over Fara at the thought of it. To have her sins revealed and spread out before the prying eyes of those who knew nothing. No. She could not bear it.  Panic settling deep in her bones, she glanced around the chamber, desperate to be free of his eyes. 

'Spare me your witch, warrior,' she said.  'I will tell you any truth you wish to hear. It is your choice whether to believe it or not.'  

He said nothing for a moment and then: 'Who is Cassine of Achaeia?'

Her heart pinched, guilt coursing down her spine.  She gazed unseeing at her hands, skimming her thumbnail over the nails of her other hand, finger by finger. The heat from Galyn's pin had begun to fade.   'Cassine was my sister,' she replied when she felt able to speak. 'I believed she would not mind me using her name.'

'King Stefforn was survived by two sons and a daughter,' he said, sure of himself.  'There is no other Princess.'

She nodded. 'My sister died some years ago - she was but a child when the Gods took her. Her unveiling was never done,' she told him, her throat thick with emotion.  'She is little remembered outside of Calate. We do not worship our dead as the other realms do.'  Calate burned their dead and scattered the ashes out across the Alo. Fragments of life turned to dust, carried onto the immortal realm on a soundless wind.  When she glanced up at Theodan she found his eyes wary with doubt.  

'What guilt hovers in your eyes?' He asked, surprising her with the direction. 'When you speak of your dead sister your eyes shine with guilt. Why? Had you a hand in her death?'

'Of course not!' she gasped, horrified.  'My sister died of an illness no healer could cure.  My father sent for healers from all over Ethis to try and save her - but none were skilled enough.'

'He did not send to Leoth.'

She opened her mouth, closed it again. He was correct of course. Her father would not have sent to Leoth.  For all knew that the Leothine did not heal - they killed. Her father would not have dared send an emissary to Leoth. Would never have dreamed of entrusting the life and soul of his daughter to a Leoth. Yet, here Fara was now. How strangely this world worked to show us our Folly. Could a Leothine Laakari have saved Cassine too? Gods, it was almost too painful to consider. To imagine Cassie alive, smiling, happy. A woman grown. A life lived. Tears rushed to Fara's eyes.  She blinked to remove them. 

'She was not meant for the mortal realm,' Fara whispered, desperate for it to be the truth. It was the truth. It had to be. 'No healer can fight the desire of the Gods.'

'Such blind and misplaced devotion...' he muttered, derision clear in his tone. 

Fara flinched as though she had been struck. 'I pity you that your own God is so unworthy of such devotion. I am sorry that you are forced to worship at the altar of a monster who does nothing but destroy,' She fired.  She waited for the reprisal, for him to explode with anger at her insult of his God. But he did not explode.  He remained calm and still, his breathing soft and his eyes composed. 

'Only weak and false gods require worship, Fara.' He said calmly. The sound of him saying her name for the first name had a stunning effect on her she found.  He continued:  'The power of The Dark One lives inside the Leothine, we need not go looking for it in prayer or idolatry. He does not require words to be whispered from the knee in darkened temples, or for effigies to be erected in his image. He is eternal because He lives within us. We are the strongest race of the realm because He lives within us.  We do not follow Him blindly - He follows us. We are a part of Him as He is part of us. His blood flows in us all. That is His gift.'

Fara sat astonished, moved by the raw passion in his voice.  He was not ashamed of his God as she had always assumed the Leothine must be.  He was not repulsed or horrified by what his God had wrought upon Ethis and the Goddess in the darkest days of the realm. On the contrary, he adored his God. His loyalty to Him was fierce and quietly abiding. It put her own to shame. Breaking through the heavy silence that had filled the space was the sound of a loud chime, like the bell of a great clock. It echoed up through the house and into the chamber, and it caused Theodan to stiffen.

'What was that?' she asked, as a sudden creeping dread began to crawl over her. 

He sighed, sounding tired. 'I had hoped to have longer,' he said, before crossing the chamber to the door. 

'Longer for what?' She asked, confused.

Ignoring her, he disappeared out of the room into the corridor. Panicked, Fara threw back the sheets and climbed out of bed just as Theodan reappeared back in the chamber. There was an alertness to him now, a new tension she had seen before - back at the camp when the king had requested his presence. Serious eyes, determined expression, shoulders pulled back in readiness for some unseen threat.  Something was here.  Something dangerous.

When he caught sight of her out of bed he stopped, drawing his dark gaze down her body, grimly seriously eyes filling immediately with hunger. With desire. Fara felt unbidden pricks of heat stab at her stomach and in the space between her thighs, and when she glanced down at herself she understood what had caused his reaction.  The material she had been given as a bed dress was thin, too thin, whisper-soft sheer silk that offered only a bare suggestion of modesty. Flushing, she threw her arms around herself quickly.  Theodan blinked, his eyes returning finally to hers.    

He moved to the chair where his large sword and battle harness lay, her heart rate quickening when he lifted it pulled it on with an expert swiftness. It reminded her suddenly of the warrior he was, of how many times he must have done this exact same act. A preparation for slaughter. He lifted his sword and slid it into the holder, securing it in place. 

'Please Theodan, tell me what is happening?'  She pleaded, panic coating her words.

He stilled and turned to face her, moving past her in three great strides to a large ornate chest in a corner of the room that was almost as tall as he. Pulling it open, he reached in and without thought pulled from it a swathe of rich green fabric interspersed with flashes of bright gold.  Closing the chest, he came towards her and handed her the fabric.

'It was my mothers.  It should fit you well,' he told her, his voice strangely gentle, so at odds with his serious demeanour.  She took it from him, confused, staring helplessly at him.  'I will protect you as long as I am able, as I swore to you that I would. But you must trust me.'

Terror pierced her heart as she observed the look of concern in his eyes. 'What do you mean? Protect me from what?'  She asked.  Behind her, she heard a noise and turned to see Mor stood in the doorway of the chamber. The leothine too had a grave look in her eyes.    

'I will be there presently, Mor,' he said before she had the chance to speak. 

'Councillor Paeris awaits within, Theo,' Mor advised him.

Theodan nodded, clearly unsurprised by the announcement.  'Did he request you deliver any message?'

Mor's eyes flooded with fear, and Fara felt a chill settle over her. 'He bid me advise that you are to be accompanied under guard to The Ebon Reach, where you are to present to the council your reason for abandoning your command.'

Paling, Fara turned to Theodan, her hands trembling. A small smile flitted over his mouth, his eyes almost warm as he looked down at her. Fara herself could not breathe, could not look away from him, fear clutching her heart in an ice-cold grip.

She was shocked to realise that the fear was not for herself.  It was for Theodan. What had he done? For her? I will protect you as long as I am able, as I swore to you that I would. But you must trust me.

'Anything else?' He asked Mor, not taking his eyes from Fara's. 

'Your spoil is also to be brought before the Council,' replied Mor. 'Your claim to it is renounced - henceforth it belongs to the realm.'