Rhiannon winced as her lady's maid, Ailla, brushed her hair a little harder than necessary.

"You let him leave here without you," the other woman was grumbling as she pulled the brush through the long tresses. "First you barely spend any time with him when he's here, and then you allow him to leave!"

"I cannot help that my husband doesn't wish to spend time with me," Rhiannon lied. "You cannot expect too much from an arranged marriage."

Ailla scoffed scornfully. "You're not trying enough. Men are slaves to their desires. Use it to your advantage."

It was becoming harder to excuse the lack of information she got from Baudwin, and Rhiannon wasn't sure how much longer she could avoid him. Her lady's maid might soon realise that it wasn't Baudwin making sure they didn't spend any time together.

"He's busy with the affairs of the kingdom," she mumbled, making a face as the hard bristles of the brush caught her ear.

"Then invite him to your bed to relax in the evenings. Make him talk about his long day."

The other woman made it sound so easy. As if she could allow that sort of closeness with her husband and not feel anything towards him. Maybe once upon a time that might have been possible, but she cared too deeply about Baudwin to spend the night with him and feel nothing. Orc's ass. How had she gotten herself into this mess?

"He should be back soon," Ailla muttered. "He's been gone nearly a fortnight. When he is, you had better make sure you get us something useful or we will no longer have a need for you or the king."

Rhiannon looked up at the other woman's reflection in the mirror. No! It couldn't be time to divest themselves of him already? She would have to begin feeding them some information, just to keep him safe.

"I will do my best. What information do you want?"

"Anything." Ailla moved away to grab whatever clothing she was to wear for the day. "But especially if you hear anything about Son of Deva. We will decide what is important."

Helping Rhiannon into a dark green dress with a scooped neckline and cinched waist, she leaned in close. "And I have been told to remind you he has not forgotten about the item you stole from him. He will want it back soon."

"I told you, I don't have it."

"We all know that's a lie."

"I don't have it on me," Rhiannon clarified. "I'm not stupid enough to travel around with it."

"Once your business here is concluded, you and I will travel to wherever you stowed it and retrieve it."

Over my dead body. She'd been a coward in the past. Hiding from the world. Hiding from her mistakes. No more. She would no longer stand idly by and let Son of Deva plunge the world into darkness. If this little piece of resistance was all she could contribute, then so be it. But she'd play her role for now, to waste their time as long as possible.

"Of course." Her voice was demure, masking her rebellious thoughts. She would never let him have it back.

Leaving Ailla behind, she walked to the upstairs parlour to break her fast with Braithe, as had become her habit, especially with the men away. During their time alone, the princess had told her about the mistreatment the kingdom had suffered under her parents' reign, and how Baudwin had come to take the crown from them after a big showdown. Her husband was a good man. She truly did not deserve him.

When she reached the parlour, it surprised her to find Aurelian sitting next to his wife, stuffing his face with scrambled eggs. As if on their own volition, her eyes strayed to the empty spot where Baudwin would sit on the rare occasions he joined them.

"Rhiannon!" Braithe smiled. "Good morning."

"Good morning." She nodded towards Aurelian. "I didn't realise you had returned."

"Late last night," he said between forkfuls of egg. "We would have stayed at an Inn a few hours from here, but Baudwin decided to press on and get back."

"Silly of him to have you all travel in the dark," Braithe muttered. "Even with torches and good roads it's dangerous."

"We made it back fine." Aurelian chuckled. "I think he was eager to get back, what with everything going on."

Rhiannon sat down at the table, and a servant quickly brought her a plate of food. Beans, sausages and eggs, a freshly baked piece of bread. It was far superior to any breakfast she had ever managed in the swamp.

"Where is Baudwin?" she asked casually, not wanting to sound too interested.

"I haven't seen him this morning." Aurelian shrugged. "I imagine either still in bed, or he's gone to see Sir Ioan about the preparations. My coin is on the latter."

"The preparations?" Maybe she could glean some information to trickle back to Ailla in an effort to keep the woman off her back.

Aurelian stopped what he was doing and looked over at her, his face serious in a way she had never seen before. "Oh, right," he said soberly, "I guess you wouldn't have heard. I assume Braithe hasn't told you?"

"Told me what?" A feeling of unease travelled up her spine. Seeing the usually flippant envoy look so sombre was unsettling.

He clasped his hands together and met her gaze. "Have you heard of someone calling themselves the Son of Deva?"

She had to clasp her hands over her mouth to prevent a startled laugh from escaping. It wasn't what she'd expected him to say, and the ludicrousness of being asked if she knew of Son of Deva picked at her already frazzled nerves. Aurelian seemed to think her reaction was due to shock and fear, nodding with his lips set in a grim line.

"There have been rumours for a while," he explained. "But the High King seems to believe they have confirmed his existence after his people attacked them. We don't know what his intention is, but they have asked us to keep our eyes on the northern border."

So this was why they wanted her to spy on Baudwin instead of just killing him. They wanted to know what measures were being taken against them. She frowned. What were they planning? Attacking the High King seemed like a stupid thing to do, giving them too much attention. They must have been desperate to take that step. Unless they somehow thought they could do it undetected, but it seemed unlikely.

Misunderstanding her frown, Braithe reached over and placed her hand on hers, squeezing it reassuringly, just like her brother had done before.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. We will deal with this long before it becomes an issue."

Rhiannon wasn't so sure, but she nodded nonetheless. None of them knew Devin the way she did. He was devious and intelligent, a dangerous combination. He was also stubborn. If he wanted to free his father, then he would do so or die trying.

"Yes," Aurelian nodded and smiled encouragingly. "We've got this. Four years ago we defeated the Dark Disciple, I'm sure his son won't put up nearly as much of a challenge."

One would hope so. But there were things they didn't know. Things that had tipped the scales in their favour only because Deva had realised he wouldn't be able to open the portal to the Nether Realm yet. He'd entrusted his son with the one thing that had allowed him to take Messina and defeat the sorcerers present, handing them the win, knowing that his son would escape and free him later. If she couldn't keep Devin from retrieving the item she'd stolen, the scales would tip back.

She fingered the medallion her mother had given her. It was a locket, and inside was where she'd hidden it. The Godstone. She'd lied when she said she didn't have it on her. There was nowhere safe enough to hide such a powerful magical object. Once they'd found her, she'd decided to never let it leave her sight. Her mother's locket was the perfect hiding place.

To an ordinary person a Godstone looked like any old stone or gem, but anyone with magical powers could easily sense its power. And use it to boost their own. Imbued with some of the power of the Gods themselves, in the hands of a powerful sorcerer like Deva, it had been a force of destruction. Had he not given it to Devin, she doubted Sorceress Isobel could have defeated him, even with the help of Goddess Dhim. 

Most people didn't even know of the existence of Godstones, or only knew them as an item of myths and legends. Rhiannon knew better. She'd seen its power. Seen what it could do. And it was terrifying. Once she'd truly realised who Devin was and what he planned, she had stolen the stone and escaped, staying hidden ever since. Until Baudwin found her in the swamp, unwittingly putting both of them in danger.

Or putting the world in danger, should Devin retrieve the stone.

"You look very concerned," Braithe said, breaking her train of thought, and she forced a smile.

"I'm sure we'll be safe," she lied, feeling less than certain of this. Wanting to change the subject, she looked down at her food. "The eggs are good today."

Braithe and Aurelian shared a glance, realising what she was doing. They weren't stupid. Fortunately, they indulged her and the princess skewered a sausage on her fork. "Oh, Aurelian! You were just about to tell me what happened during your trip when Rhiannon showed up."

His face lit up at the reminder. "Yes! So, I think we may have a rebellion brewing as we couldn't come to a consensus with the western lords. But I think your brother may have angered Lord Delen so badly that there will be no going back now."

"How so?" Braithe rested her chin in her hands as she watched her husband speak.

Trying not to look too interested, Rhiannon kept her head down and continued eating. But she was curious. What had Baudwin done to displease her stepfather?

Aurelian chuckled. "Well, he chopped down the whipping post."

Rhiannon's head shot up. "He did what?"

"He had me fetch an axe, and he chopped it down." Aurelian was still chuckling at the memory. "I do not understand why, but he was very adamant about getting it done. Lord Delen was furious. Oh, and he outlawed whipping."

Feeling a prickling heat behind her eyes, Rhiannon blinked quickly to stave off any embarrassing tears. She couldn't believe Baudwin had done that. The repercussions of angering her stepfather would be steep, but he'd still done it. For her?

~~~~~~