Lithia shrunk the wider my grin grew. "Mi'lady…?"

The tremor in her voice jolted me from my revelation. Smirk deflated, I faced her and reached out to pat her shoulder. She flinched at the touch.

"Why are you so skittish, Lithia? I have never harmed any of those who served me. And you have labored well." I moved to hold the curves of her shoulders, but she stepped back, giving an apologetic smile.

"Forgive me, Princess, I shall do well to act more appropriately," Lithia said. "Your Highness should not worry over the livelihood of those who are below her." She sunk to her knees as if in prayer.

I frowned. Somehow, her words pricked my nerves like an instrument string – but the melody was coarse and sharp. Though the woman bowed as I was accustomed to seeing, the environment clashed too greatly. Never had I brought Evelyn to her knees in the midst of my own chambers. She curtsied far more often.

What does it matter? I resolve to leave; she will puzzle me no more.

Aloud, I said, "Fear me not, Lithia. Continue as you will, but as for me, I have an engagement I must attend to. We shall meet again in the evening."

Lithia gaped at me as I left the rooms, remaining on her knees. Meeting her brought to mind a dusty issue that had no plagued me for some months. It reminded me of the servant boy who had been beaten to death by his master when his meal had not properly warmed.

She must have been bruised and broken.

Abusive treatment was tolerated among the nobles due to stuffy pride and elevated esteems. Mother and I never practiced it, and perhaps that was more because our servants were the most disciplined. But regardless, I found the abuse distasteful.

The spiral tower which held Caden presented an issue: if I were to take Caden with me, how should he escape his imprisonment? It was the only true enigma, for we had snuck from the castle grounds once before.

I touched the column of my neck, feeling the tight soreness from using my voice the night before with so much vigil and strength. Swallowing, I winced at the brief pinch of pain it produced. It would take much more energy to command every guard in that tower to complete silence.

Peering up the side of the tower's gray, dark length, I decided Caden was too high for him to jump, and it would take too much time for him to scale down.

As I had the past times I visited, I convinced the guards my father gave me entrance to the dungeon and to gain me access to a particular prisoner. Within the spiral edifice, I walked the stairs to the stomach of the dungeon, mid point, where Caden's door resided.

Caden, you daft.

He slept crunched on the bench.

My cheeks went hot. Caden had forgone his scratchy shirt, and his chest stared at me with stiff, hard, muscular plains – a chest obtained from a life of hard work.

Caden's mouth was slack… relaxed. One hand fell over the side of his bare torso, dangling empty in the air. His other fell behind his bent knee. He breathed quiet air as if he were dreaming something pleasant.

Suddenly, I realized another important concern I had flown by in my haste to plan. Caden could very well refuse to accompany me, not matter how I enticed him. He cares too much for his family to leave them.

I gasped quietly at the thought that hit me then – the connection that rang with a resounding thud. I have to; he'll… he'll understand. He wants to save that village. There's still time….

"Caden?" I grasped his shoulder and attempted to lift him, but his dead weight overcame me, and his bone smashed my hand against the wall. Yelping, I pulled back. Just below my index finger, pain bellowed and buzzed.

My squeaking stirred him. Caden groaned, rolling his shoulders and twisting his torso towards the wall. The muscles in his back stretched, and his joints popped as he cracked his neck and arched his back. He blinked away the sleep in his eyes and looked up.

"Gah!"

Caden jumped upright, startled and searching with a dizzy frenzy for an article of clothing to cover his chest. Then he sighed and settled for bringing his knees up to his chin. "I… I apologize, Princess."

"Why do you not wear your shirt?" I had not meant for it to be the first words I spoke, but they flowed from my lips without consent.

He offered a crooked smile. "It was rather… hot last night. There is no window for the cool air to breeze me, and it made it difficult for me to sleep. But I did not expect you to return so… soon." He blinked again, as if dazed that I existed.

Awkward silence spiced the air (which did feel a tad stuffy) until Caden swore to himself, scooted to one side of the bench, and motioned with chained hands for me to sit.

"There must be a reason for you to return so early, Princess," said Caden when I consented to his silent request.

I nodded but felt unsure of how to proceed. My gut bubbled and gnawed with angry teeth.

Caden frowned. "I supposed, then, you know the fate of my sister and Ayame?"

We met eyes, and his were hopeful; they bowed to me as Lithia did. There was little depth to the green because his soul had thrown itself to the forefront and bore its weaknesses that I may heal them.

I took a deep breath, tearing my gaze away.

It. Is. Worth. It.

"Tell me," Caden encouraged, unwinding his grip around his knees and moving closer to me.

I managed to lift my head when he had spaced half the short distance between us. Striking his pleading eyes, I formed my lips to say the words I had to say: "It grieves me to say so… but they fare not well."

His answer was but a silent cry. "No."

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. "Aye…. Upon hearing that I had left the castle, my beaux Sir Edrolph went into… a rage of sorts. When I returned safely to him, he had already heard your name and believed that you had kidnapped me. In retaliation, he sent some of his soldiers to… be rid of your family."

"No!" Caden recoiled from me, clawing at his scalp and clenching his jaw.

Though tears bit me, they were not the same as his. "Caden… I tried to do all I could, but he told me too late. The deed was done." Hesitating at first, I moved beside the weeping young man and extended my arms to him. His wet irises narrowed into slits at the gesture, but then they softened, and he fell into my embrace.

I laid his head upon my shoulder, and he erupted into a wave of sobs that shook our bodies. So broken was his grieving, I nearly took back the lie. But, as I had told him, the deed was done.

Caden's arms wrapped around my back, pulling me into him. His body was very warm, his skin rough and scarred. I pressed my hand into his scratchy hair and smoothed it as I would a child. But he remained grief-stricken for most of the hour. I had to muffle his moans into the fabric of my dress in order to keep away the attention of others.

When the emotion seemed to pass him, Caden pushed himself out of my arms and sat against the bench wall. He sniffed and whipped his running nose, and excess tears still streamed his red cheeks. In a cracked, mumbled voice, he said, "Forgive me, Princess; you should not have had to endure through that." He swallowed loudly.

I let the comment drop, shrugging and keeping my eyes away from his. "Caden… I know this is much to ask of you, but… I am in need of your assistance."

Caden glared, lips vibrating in a low snarl. But he caught himself. His jaw went taut. "What would you take of me now? I have nothing left to give."

Perhaps I did not think this through…. "I am leaving the castle grounds. Only you are so adept as to sneak without notice."

"Not so, Princess," Caden said with a bitter edge. He threw his arm to cover his eyes. "For if we had left so easily, then why were we caught?"

I had not an answer for that. Instead, I went around it. "This is different, for I want to leave not just for a day but… permanently."

Caden did not move for a long moment. Then, his arm slid off his face, and he stared at me – calculating the nature of my words. "What would possess you to leave all that you have?"

I bit my tongue, bracing my raging conscious for the added deceit. "You convinced me, Caden, convinced me of my folly. I wish to right the wrongs of my father. But I need you to help me. Together, we can warn the Varden so they may protect the ill-fated village."

The hardness in his face began to relax. "Why can you not stop it here, before the soldiers ever leave Urû'baen?"

"I tried to do so," and I had, "but I am only a woman; my opinions are not of high value."

Caden frowned, eyes falling to the cell floor as he became deep in thought. He said, "I know not how we should find the Varden were we to succeed in escaping your home."

I pursed my lips. An eyebrow curved deep into my skin at the curiosity he arose. "Father said you were affiliated with the Varden, yes?"

He shrugged. "I only snuck supplies to a designated hole in a wall. I never even knew the face of whoever retrieved it."

"Could we not go to that spot, pretend as if we are delivering a package, and find this person?"

Caden shook his head, the hay-like stalks of honey blonde hair sticking in random, strange ways. "I have not been to that alcove for three months now; that they need me still is highly unlikely."

I sighed, feeling a fog descend like heavy lead on my elation. "Then… perhaps it is impossible."

Caden made a noise akin to a snort. "You intrigue me, Princess. No, 'tis not impossible, and we will do it. There are children the same as my Kharisa prancing about that village, gay as a gaggle of geese – cripples the same as Ayame who have talent still left to give the world. If they truly are sent to the void as you say, then I will let their memory live on." He sniffed and mashed the heel of his palms into his eyes.

"But how?" I smiled inwardly at the turn of events, watching the stone that stiffened Caden's back and held his head high.

"We go south; we find the Varden; we rally their support; we save the people."