Yelena stumbled, nails drawing more blood as they dug into the stone wall beside her. She fought to keep her eyes open as her legs became useless piles of sand.

She reached the double doors but something kept her from knocking.

In that moment of indecision, fate seemed to force its hand and she crumpled to the ground. If logic had still been a factor, she would've known that Valek would have eventually known her plight given how it was always the case. It could have even possibly softened the blow…

She no longer heard the shuffling of footsteps that came from her captors. Nor did she feel their rough hands on her as she was accosted and blindfolded.

"We had an agreement, Pazia." Valek snarled as he began pacing the living room of his suite.

"Yes… Which was that I was going to help you." The woman flipped her braid over her shoulder and draped both arms over the back of the couch. "And right now I'd correctly argue that I am."

His hand went dangerously to the knife at his hilt.

"We tried it your way and now we are running out of time." She tried another tactic. "Yelena was already going to leave you, Valek, and I have a feeling it was going to be a hell of a lot longer than seven months this time."

"Then I could have gone to her."

"And done or said what? She's a politician for Sand's Sake. What could you possibly say to her at this point that she wouldn't have heard before?"

"This won't solve anything."

"Skies above, of course it will." Pazia rolled her eyes. "Fight them off, be the hero, and then be even more gallant by letting her keep the damn artifact. This isn't difficult. Kingdoms have been built on less."

"And when she finds out that it was all a setup?" But his tense shoulders visibly dropped.

"It wasn't technically one." She went to pour herself tea. "And besides, there won't be anything to find because you, my dear, are going to see to and make sure of it. "

"Yelena talks to the dead as a parlor trick."

"Surely I shouldn't have to remind you that there are far better and easier ways to keep people in line." Pazia approached him. Her eyes caught his and flickered towards the door.

Valek tore the door open and went out.

Pazia shrugged and drank her tea. "It really isn't difficult."

It helped tremendously that this wasn't her first time, nor would it be the last. Yelena opened her eyes to a storeroom lit by a tiny crack in the stone wall. If winters meant late sunrises then she had to have been gone all night and then some. Knowing Valek, it was strange he didn't have the cavalry out looking for her by this point.

A soft voice of reason rang out in the darkness. "Killing her won't solve anything. Unless you were prepared to confront Valek as well."

Her partner cursed. "You know I didn't mean it. I'm on edge."

"Just breathe and remember what we are here for. Breathe. "

Yelena felt the cold tingle of her arms as she tugged at the knots behind her back.

It was almost a cliche at this point.

A shadow cast over her.

The Reasonable Voice appeared before her. A single scar marred her otherwise youthful face. "There is no reason that this should be any more difficult than it has to be."

Yelena felt the knots loosen with her blood. "Agreed. So you're going to let me go, get lost, and we can consider letting bygones be bygones."

Her other captor cackled a laugh, his bloodshot eyes determinedly different from the mellow ones of his partner's. "For a season until Valek decides to end us."

Yelena felt a knot of consternation she couldn't quite place but opted to focus on healing her freed hand and untying the other. "What do you want?"

"You have something." Reasonable Voice began again. "An ancient artifact that does not belong to you. Hand it over and you will be more than free to go."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Her hands palmed hidden darts.

"Very well." She stepped aside and looked at her partner. "We will do it your way then."

Yelena hurled the darts and threw her mental defenses up before they could move. She resisted the urge to slam both hands to her ears when a claw scraped at her walls and instead ducked and faked left before swinging to the right, toppling a barrel over. Unfortunately, the room was cramped even for her small size. She was accosted again by the woman and the claw returned with twice the force. Yelena took a breath and screamed, using the momentary lapse to punch her in the face.

The man cursed and charged her. Yelena began reciting Bain's lessons on clan legislation in her head as she stumbled to the door and, instead of pulling desperately on it, directed her gaze to him.

He fell to his knees on command, turned his knife so that he grasped the blade and looked to plunge it into his neck. "Stop her or get the damn null shield on her!" His hand trembled wildly but was desperate to obey.

His partner was no longer listening to him. She was frantically digging her own fingernails into her chest meaning to rip her heart out.

Yelena closed her eyes as theirs rolled to the back of their heads and they fell to the ground, the knife clattering to the stone floor.

She pulled out her lock picks to wrench the door open and walked out to a morning that was too bright and too busy. Servants bustled by, not paying any mind to her disheveled and bloodied clothes.

She wandered in the general direction of Valek's suite but stopped at one point on the stairs and leaned against the wall to stare into the empty space. The woman screaming as she pulled at her own breast rang in her head and mingled with the desperate command she had made to make the scraping stop. Claw at your own soul.

Yelena squeezed her eyes shut and slid down the wall onto the floor.

A soldier hollered to his friend from somewhere about the food being atrocious today.

She pressed her palms into her eyes. Anything to block out the sunlight.

His friend replied that there was a cook several years ago by the name of Rand who could make gourmet meals out of the most slapdash of ingredients.

This was apparently fascinating because the soldier began to ask more about this Rand fellow.

His friend promptly gave a brief history of his career complete with an epitaph.

The soldier declared it was because Valek did away with anything that got too close to a food taster of his. He chuckled and made a bad joke about how someone that obsessed with poisons couldn't help but be unduly fascinated with someone who had the privilege of tasting for them everyday.

Idiot. She began to recite legislation amendments again. This time to prevent that one thought from expanding into something more concrete. Be quiet and go throw yourself into the oven.

"What was that?" Nervous shuffling sounded as the soldier moved in place to find his bearings again.

"What was what?" His companion asked.

"I thought...the kitchen and for some reason I was about to...ovens-sir!"

Valek's reprimanding voice cut in, demanding why they weren't running their circuits yet.

Yelena opened her eyes as they hustled away.

"One of these days you're going to stop feeling the need to defend my honor from that cook." He had sat down next to her without her hearing him approach.

She gave him a tired smile. "One of these days I'll have better control."

"You already do."

"I almost had someone rip their own heart out."

"Almost."

"I shouldn't have had that thought in the first place. I don't even know where it came from."

"From the prospect of torture or worse, no doubt." Valek touched her hand. "It was violent. But there were extenuating circumstances and what's important is that you stopped. The result is all that matters."

Yelena wiped tears away and drew a shaky breath.

"And a conscience that's more than intact." He couldn't help but smile. "That makes you better than me."

She interlaced their fingers together as her heart warmed. "You always know just what to say."

"The logic of it all spoke for itself." He helped her to her feet. "Come, it's too bright here."

Yelena went with him toward the baths. When they eventually returned to the suite, all of her mind turned towards sleep as safety ensconced her.

And it may have slipped her notice in that state of mind. But the intimacy that was in regularly prepared tea sets wasn't something soon forgotten.

Her eyes fell on the used teacup again.

...That and the fact that Valek didn't drink tea.

Valek's arm blocked abruptly blocked it from her view as he lifted the teapot. "It's cold but there's still some left. Or I can go brew a fresh pot while you sleep first."

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