Laya awoke in the infirmary, her leg swathed in bandages. Eric sat in a small wooden fold out chair beside her bed. His hair was unruly and disheveled and he had dark bags under his eyes, and although he was still wearing his tuxedo from the wedding, it was awfully wrinkly.

Laya coughed and Eric bolted upright.

"Wha.. Laya your awake!"

Scrambling to his feet, Eric anxiously hovered above her, relief something out the worry lines in his face. Laya rubbed her aching head.

"How long was I out for this time?"

"A day."

Laya groaned and flopped back down onto the bed.

"Where did you get that scar?"

The question caught her off guard. Laya glanced down at her leg, undoing the bandages.
The scar glowed red, but it didn't hurt.

"It was from when Narthals' shadow beast latched onto my leg. Why?"

"It's a curse link mark," Eric said darkly, "It connects you to Narthals, allowing him to pass into the elf realm."

Laya jerked backwards with a strangled gasp.

"But...but...that means....I basically have a tracker...on my leg!?"

"The fairy folk have already administered a potion to you to reduce the pain in your leg. And because it is a tracker, it means that he can track you, and we can track him."

Laya stared at her leg, the rune smiled up at her daring her to try and remove it. Laya felt tears well up in her eyes. Angrily, she blotted the away with the palms of her hands.

Eric placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a soothing tone,

"I then no you need a retreat."

Laya looked at him imploringly.

"A retreat?"

"Yes, a lakeside retreat."

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"Your sure that smoke will be ok at the castle by himself?" Laya asked with some doubt in her voice.

"Positive." Eric replied casually as he leaned his head back against the seat of the carriage.

"Ok, then."

Dressed up in a soft, cashmere blue dress that laced up the front and back, Laya stared out the carriages window at an enormous lake, shining in a thousand different hues. Fish jumped through the water, trailing small rainbows behind them.

White sand glittered around all sides of the lake, like diamonds. An iridescent turtle swam lazily through the water, it's shell changing like a mood ring to all assortment of different colors.

Laya even thought she saw fairies dancing in the swaying branches of willow tree's that dotted the lake's edges sandy beaches.

"Look, a sphinx!" Laya exclaimed as she grabbed Eric's arm and pulled him over to the window. A majestic sphinx was sunning itself on a mossy rock in a small clearing of asp trees.

The sphinx looked at them lazily, it's golden eyes drooping in sleep.

Suddenly, a small cottage appeared in front of them as they rounded a turn in the road, it's white sides and red roof standing out against the dark green of the oak trees.

The carriage slid to a stop a few feet from the cottage.

Laya skipped down the small rock path that led to the dark red door, Eric strode behind her, enjoying the warm sunshine.

Behind them, the carriage quickly turned around and sped off, quickly disappearing behind the many trees at a much quicker pace then before.

But neither one paid any heed to the carriage. Laya had flung the surprisingly unlocked door open and stepped into the small space.

Although it was smaller than Laya had imagined it would be, the cottage was just right. Upon further inspection of the house, Laya found that it only contained three rooms, a rather ordinary kitchen, which held a granite island complete with two wooden stools, a stainless steel sink, and a spacious refrigerator that burgled softly. Off of the kitchen, was a small living room with a stone fireplace and a spacious red couch complete with a bookshelf filled with books. And then there was the bedroom.

Laya stopped short at the bedroom, it wasn't that it was lavish, so much as the fact that it wasn't.

Instead of a regular bedroom, this bedroom was designed to look like a waterfall. In the corner, a surge of water sprayed down, creating a almost impenetrable wall of water. Upon closer inspection, though, Laya found that she could step through the "water" without even getting wet.

Striding over to the bed, Laya sat down on the edge of the soft blue bed sheet.

"So, how do you like it?"

Laya looked up, startled, to see that Eric had joined her, lugging a big suitcase in hand. His white shirt and dark pants made of an a soft elfin material did nothing to cover up Eric's bulging muscles.

"It's lovely."

Eric smiled and laid the bag down with a thump. Then, Eric glided over to the bed a sat down besides Laya. Raising a tentative hand, Eric stroked Laya's hair.

Even though Laya knew that she was safe and in good arms, she still shivered as Eric's cold hand gently combed through her hair, but soon found that she was leaning into Eric's careful touch. Suddenly, Eric stopped and looked at her with a mischievous smirk on his handsome face.

"Want to take a dip in the lake. There's still a bit of light left, after all."