A knock woke me the next morning.

I blinked trying to take in my surroundings.

Tartus.

Vyssen's estate.

Right.

I placed a hand behind my neck and stretched my back. I looked over to the large windows that overlooked the back of the dead grounds. Past sunrise, late morning by the look of the sun in the sky.

I sighed, resting my forehead against my knees.

It had been days since I last had a nightmare.

This one was different than the rest. I wasn't in Robyn's mansion, I wasn't watching Damien die.

I was in Blackdown Keep - trapped. The feeling of being utterly alone and trapped was overwhelming.

It was crushing me.

Damien was there and when I looked at him I felt no comfort. I saw Robyn in him as he spoke, as he took my hand and smiled.

But I behaved, kept my head down smiled when I thought it was necessary. I acted as his broken doll - just like he wanted me to.

But at the same time, I could feel myself fading ...

Another knock on the door of the room pulled me from the bed. I looked down at my clothes, I'd passed out before I showered or changed. I was still in the clothes I was riding in the day before, still dirty.

How tired had I been?

On the third knock, I pulled the door open and found Nella standing there with a mug and a bowl in each of her hands. She bowed quickly just like the night before. "Lord Julian said to give you this." She handed me the mug and I recognized the coffee aroma instantly.

I frowned as I looked at it. The fact that he would send someone else to give me coffee of all things perplexed me. The bowl had great smelling oatmeal.

I grabbed them from her hands. "Uh, thank you."

She nodded. "The Lady and Lord would like for you to join them downstairs as soon as possible. Dress warmly as you will be joining them at the Gates."

The famous Gates where the Hounds had come from, I presumed.

I smiled as she left and closed the door after her.

I set the coffee down on a nearby table and began to get ready for the day, as I gobbled down the oatmeal.

I practiced spectering objects as I got ready. I also practiced the barriers bringing them up, taking them down then bringing them up as fast as possible.

Not knowing what I would come up against, I dressed in similar clothes from the day before. This time, they were black. I paired it with some of the accessories from my training clothes.

In the end, I wore the black tights with the layered black shirt and bodice with fingerless gloves that reached my elbows. I even used the leather cuffs I used mainly during our training exercises just in case I'd need to soften some sort of fall with my arms. I tied them tightly to my arms after I finished lacing my tall knee-high boots.

I wasn't taking a chance with the Hellhounds again.

I'd prepare myself as best as I could.

The house was eerily quiet as I made my way downstairs and no one met me as I rounded the stairs.

"In here."

I followed the familiar voice and met Julian in the same room I had walked out of the night before. He was hunched over a writing desk, writing a short letter on expensive looking gold foiled paper. The letterhead had a large drawing - a large shield with a three-headed dog or wolf in the middle.

"Vyssen's coat of arms?" I asked as I watched it.

He nodded. "Yes. This is a letter to Robyn. He will want to know I arrived."

I read over the letter as he signed it, an elaborate opening full of titles addressing the King followed by a short worded letter that he had in fact arrived to Tartus and his investigation was already underway.

He signed it quickly and held his hand over the end of the paper. I watched as an image burned on it, small sparks flew over it as the lines moved independently of each other then met. As soon as it fizzled out I could see the image of a mountain and a wolf.

The seal of Skryen.

He quickly folded it and placed it in an envelope then sealed it. He wrote something quickly on it then walked over to the corner of the room next to a small pedestal. As he approached, he flicked his hand igniting a small white flame on the pedestal. He placed a corner of the envelope in the flame and I watched as the fire consumed it making it disappear from his hand. "Direct delivery to the palace."

I watched as the fire settled then died. "Amazing."

He finally looked at me and I noticed a small smile play on his lips. He took in my clothes, the glamoured brown hair pulled up into a ponytail, the padded cuffs.

"What?" I looked at my ensemble. "Should I have worn something else?"

He shook his head. "No, it's not that."

"I wanted to be prepared for whatever those things bring."

His smile didn't fade. "You're looking more like us every day. I hardly recognize you as the girl I first saw in Robyn's mansion."

That made me smile and without meaning to I put a hair behind my ear in a nervous gesture. "Thanks. I don't feel like her anymore."

He smiled. "Good. Because today you'll be joining Vy and me at the Gates. We've retrieved the hounds this morning, we just need to help her take them back to the Gates. They've been difficult today. You have defensive and offensive capabilities now - you're more powerful than the both of us combined. I have to put you to work at some point."

I sighed, smiling. "Finally." I suddenly remembered the last words that were said before I left the room the night before. Vy hadn't been convinced, still not accepting the real danger we were all in. It was crucial that she believed Julian if for any other reason than if the time ever came, we could use her on our side. I cleared my throat. "Were you able to convince her?"

As the words left my lips, I realized how stupid I was for asking. There was no denying what she had meant with her words, what she said it would take to convince her. I knew I wasn't jealous, I didn't let the sting hit me.

He was no one to me just as I was no one to him. He only flirted like he seemed to do with Vy. Vy was his lover. She was his. He was hers.

Frankly, I didn't care if they did spend the night together.

Or at least that's what I told myself.

He cleared his throat as he walked out of the room. "At some point, she listened, yes."

I let out a long breath. "Good."

"We still have to see what we find when we get to the Gates."

"How will we get there?" I asked as I followed him.

"Vy can specter us as close to the gates as possible without the Hounds freaking out. Your job and mine will be to keep them in a barrier as soon as we get to the Gates just in case they lash out afterward. Vy will be too exhausted to help. She barely kept them contained this morning on the way here. The Hellhounds are not meant to be spectered this way but it is the fastest and safest way to get them home."

I blanched. "Okay, I think I can do that."

He turned to me as we reached the main doors. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "I will be with you the entire time. You can do this."

It was the complete resolution in his eyes that made me believe him.

I can do this.

Even then I held my breath as he pulled the front doors open.

Thank you again for your support!