(/Mare/)

I jerked awake, almost smacking my forehead against the ceiling of the room. My chest rose and fell rapidly, and my vision was still blurry with sleep. Rubbing at my eyes, I tried to chase down the fading tendrils of my dream. A nightmare, just a nightmare, I told myself as my vision cleared and my thoughts began to settle. I hadn't had a nightmare like that in a long time, and I did not miss them for obvious reasons. Even now, I could feel the goose bumps on my arms from the horrifically realistic sensations. In fact, the voice, I knew that voice, the one that had been whispering to me in the dream. It had been like a forgotten lullaby, something that had been sung to me as a baby and that I only remembered bits and pieces of now. I felt like I should know it though, like I should know exactly who had been speaking to me in the dream. The more I tried to remember it though, the more it faded away. I shook my head to clear it completely then, and glanced to the side. A pair of amber eyes watched me carefully, the darkness making them all the brighter.

Cal was silent, his expression expectant as he watched me slowly return from my nightmare. He was waiting for me, waiting for me to explain to him what had happened. I laid back slowly then, feeling his arm slide around me and pull me toward him. Inhaling around the tight band that had wrapped itself around my chest, I closed my eyes and whispered, "Nightmare, it was just a nightmare."

"I know," he whispered against my hair as he rested his lips there. I breathed slowly and easily, the band around my chest slowly fading as I gripped his forearms like they were anchors. I could feel his chest rising and falling against my back and I set my breathing to his pace, hoping to fall asleep again. Dreams eluded me though, and they did the same for him.

"The mission we're going on tomorrow," he murmured, his breath stirring the hairs on top of my head as he spoke, "was it part of your nightmare?"

I shook my head slowly, and then squeezed my eyes shut as I replied, "There was a room, and I was alone, tied down at this table…" I hesitated, the band coming back and squeezing as I spoke about it, "and there was someone, whispering, telling me things about myself, rumors and truths."

He didn't move, simply listened, his breath hot on my ear. Eventually though, when my breathing settled again, he whispered in my ear, "It was just a dream."

I nodded, agreeing with him, happy that that was the truth. He sighed softly behind me, and then tried to fall asleep again. I still couldn't though, the fear of that nightmare kept me up. Instead, I watched the others in the room.

Julian and Sara had tried their best to make ends meet in the tiny bed, but they were more squashed than Cal and I were. Mostly they slept back to back, it was the easiest way for them to have space. Sara slept with her face toward me, and I watched her cheeks twitch in her dreams. Did she have nightmares about Elara ordering her tongue cut out? Did she dream about screaming for help that didn't come because no one could hear her? I wasn't sure I wanted to know, but it looked like tonight her dreams were pleasant. I tried not to be jealous of that, and was only partially successful.

Below them, I could just make out Maggie platinum blonde curls in the dim light. She was strewn across her bed like always, and was snoring softly. I felt a small smile tug at my lips at that fact. No matter what happened, I would always be happy that everyone was safe. We were together too, not scattered across the country like we could have been. I squeezed Cal's forearm one more time as I closed my eyes and settled back against him. Whatever came, as long as we faced it together, I had no doubt in my mind that we would be able to get through it.

(/)

"Mine moved," Maggie moaned, accentuating the vowels of her words, as she laid her chin on her forearms and grimaced at her bowl of breakfast. I sighed from where I was standing behind her as she pulled away from me, causing the braid I was working on to unravel partially from the end. I lifted her head back up and then said, "It didn't move, stop saying that."

She glared down at the oatmeal in her bowl, and then pushed it away in disgust. "I'd rather eat my foot," she grumbled as she crossed her arms.

"That can be arranged." Shade teased, his threat fell on deaf ears though. Maggie simply pulled forward to rest her chin on her forearms again and I sighed as I just tied off her braid to just be done with it. She wasn't going to sit still anytime soon and I really didn't feel like wrestling her this morning. I slowly sank into the chair next to her and picked up my spoon to eat my own breakfast. Maggie shoved hers in my face though, and cried, "See! It moved!"

I watched the jelly like substance shift a little bit at her shaking, and then glancing up at her, unamused, I replied, "Because you're shaking it. Just eat it, Maggie."

She made a face and then set it down as far from her as possible. I sighed as I spooned some of my own food up and took a bite. I swallowed around the sandpaper taste and then forced myself to take a few more bites. I wish it had moved so that I could complain about something, but there was nothing to complain about except for the complete lack of anything truly edible. That wasn't anything new with the Guard though.

Cal sank down into the seat across from me, his own tray still full. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms and then said, "Loading dock in half an hour Mare."

I nodded and Maggie's head lifted off the table as she asked, "You guys are going on a mission?"

Cal gave her a tenuous smile and a tight nod, and then winced as her face slowly turned bright cherry apple red. She stood up, but still barely came up to Cal's eye line as she did so. Her lower lip bounced for a moment and she whined as she demanded, "Why don't I get to go?"

"It's not even really a mission, Maggie," I assured as I wrangled her back into her seat so that she didn't cause a spectacle in the middle of the mess hall, "It's just a short supply run."

"But you guys get to go outside!" She whined again, fighting off my advances as she went to crawl under the table and toward Cal who might just cave and find a way to take her with us. That was a very bad idea though. We needed her here, keeping an eye on things, and letting us know if the council arrived. Especially now, after Evangeline told us about her strange run in with Westin.

She managed to wiggle under the table, and then out the other side. Grabbing Cal's hand and bouncing up and down, she said, "I want to go outside!"

He winced at her plea and then sliding his arm out of her grip and slowly wrapping it around her shoulders to pull her close, he said, "And we'll find a way to take you outside, but the Colonel has only allowed Mare and I on this mission. If we could take anyone though, you would be first on the list, you know that."

She puckered her lips like she tasted something sour, and then argued, "You're lying, you would take Shade first, then Evangeline, then Sara, then Julian, and I would be the last choice. Which is totally unfair, because Evangeline's pregnant and you would still pick her before me."

Cal blanched and Evangeline choked on her oatmeal next to Cal, her expression paling as she looked at Maggie in surprise. I set my head in my hand in response to the whole situation, but didn't say anything. I personally would have taken Maggie if we could, just to keep her out of trouble, but it was true that in a pinch, having my brother there to teleport us out of a situation was the best weapon.

"Maggie," Cal began, obviously trying to think of a way to smooth over Maggie's bruised ego without promising that we could get her out on a mission soon. As he began to speak though, Maggie's eyes landed on a point over his shoulder and her jaw dropped as she gasped, "Wait, what!"

Cal flipped around in his chair to see what she was so horrified about and everyone at our table looked over as well, all of us curious as what had drawn such a reaction from Maggie. For a moment, I thought I was mistaken, that I was so tired that my eyes were playing tricks on me. I rubbed at my eyes with my fingertips and then opened them again, but I wasn't hallucinating.

The knife on Evangeline's tray was in her hand before any of us could really react, and she raised it to throw it. Cal launched himself at her though, and grabbed her wrist before pinning it to the table. She screeched in fury and Shade pulled the knife out of her hand as I stood so quickly that my chair hit the ground. The noise we had made drew most of the mess halls attention but the man walking through the rows of tables drew the rest.

Smirking at us, like he had just been announced the winner of a prize, Maven strolled through the mess hall toward our table. My mind scrambled to try and form some resemblance of an understanding, but all I could understand was that Maven was walking around as a free man. How was this possible? It shouldn't have been, he should have been dead by now, he should not be walking around the compound. He should not be walking around alone, and… unshackled.

He approached us with a swagger that rivaled even Shade's and taking in our expressions he tilted his head to the side and then said, "How kind of you all to save me a seat at your table."

The breath I released was like a hiss of air through my teeth. Everything was just starting to look up, and here he was again. Without another word or breath, I leaped at him, my hands closing around his throat. He choked as we both collapsed on the floor, and reached up to grab my wrists. His sleeves fell back and revealed two bands of metal around his wrists. They weren't like his bracelets though; they were just a simply piece of metal pressing against his skin. I glanced at them hesitantly, wondering what the hell they were. Suddenly I felt the woozy effect of silent stone and I collapsed backwards off of him, only to feel the effect vanish.

Cal had caught me with one hand as I fell back, while his other hand was lit with a small flame that rolled lazily along his palm. Maven eyed the flame with a starving expression, as if he hadn't seen anything like it in eternity. But he quickly contorted his expression into something close to boredom before climbing to his feet to look down at me and Cal. My skin crawled as I looked up at him for the second time. How many more times would he stand above me like that, while surprise and horror coursed through my veins? I had thought that the last time that would have ever happened was when he had first turned his back on me and shown me his true intentions. Apparently, he wasn't done with surprising me though.

"Miss Barrow, Mister Calore, I do hope everything is okay?"

I looked up to see Westin standing over us as well, her expression anything but worried. She looked Maven over for a moment, as if looking for damage. Turning back to us, she looked us over with the same expression. I leaped to my feet before Cal could say anything and then pointing at Maven I cried, "Have you lost your mind? He's standing right next to you!"

Westin looked at Maven for a moment, and turning back to us she said, "I can see that Miss Barrow."

"Why isn't he in a cell?" Cal demanded, his voice wavered though, his surprise exploding out at Westin's calm reaction to the situation. Maven smirked at us and our reactions before saying, "Perhaps I got out early because of good behavior."

Westin huffed at his words and then turning her attention back to us, she said, "His Majesty has agreed to assist our efforts in exchange for his freedom, which will be limited at first."

"No!" Evangeline cried as she leaped to her feet, only to wince and place her hand on her stomach before sinking into her chair again. Shade immediately began to ask what had happened. I turned my attention back to Westin and Maven though and spit, "You're insane if you think he can be trusted! He'll try to kill us all!"

Westin sniffed and then recovering her sparkling smile she said, "His Majesty can do no such thing," she grabbed his wrist and pulled his sleeves back to reveal the bands of metal on his wrists, "not as long as these are on his wrists. They act like the silent stone you are all so familiar with. In this alloy form, it can become portable, and is light enough to be worn. They are impossible to be removed unless done so by a magnetron."

I wasn't in the least bit settled by her words, or by the explanation she provided for those odd little bracelets. I could still remember the sparks dancing off of the shackles Maven had ripped out of when we had been brought before his father and his mother. I could still remember the cool smile that he had given me as he realized he had played me like a deck of cards. I couldn't bear to think of the havoc he could wreck on the Guard in the Command hub.

Taking a step forward to voice that opinion, I glared at Maven as I spit, "He'll betray us, don't let him fool you Westin, he will betray you."

Maven gave me a secret smile, as if my words were very much true. I wished they weren't though. Westin was in a high position of power, someone who had control over Colonel Farley, and who fed information to the Council. Maven could compromise all of that. I couldn't let that happen though, Westin had to understand, had to know that Maven would betray all of us. Maybe her calm demeanor housed worry and fear though? She had to be acting on the Council's orders, and they had to have a plan. Maybe they thought they could play him too, could manipulate him into giving them information when we could not. I wouldn't be surprised, they were a council of probably some of the smartest and more prepared men and women from the Guard. All of their decisions dictated the direction of the Guard. They wouldn't purposefully put us all in jeopardy.

I took a step back as those thoughts slowly crossed my mind, and felt Cal set his hand on my shoulder and pull me back a little further. Maven glanced all of us over then, his eyes settling on Evangeline who sneered at him. Cal squeezed my shoulder gently before asking, "And how you like us to deal with… this?"

Westin simply raised her brow and said, "Well you're all adults, I'm certain you can handle being around someone you don't like."

"I'm not an adult," Maggie said bitterly from behind my elbow, and I glanced down to see her glowering at Westin. The woman simply smiled though and said, "Of course not child, I was referring to the other members of your little group."

Maggie made a noise that sounded half like a snort and half like a curse word. I watched as she slipped back around the table toward Evangeline, and gripped the magnetron's arm tightly. As if Maggie's attitude could spread with the touch, Evangeline also narrowed her eyes and whispered something to Shade, who looked back with his mouth agape in surprise.

"Now," Westin said with a smile as she gestured for us to sit back down, "please go back to enjoying your breakfast, His Majesty will be sitting elsewhere."

I tugged on the bottom of Cal's jacket, giving him the signal to sit back down, and although he hesitated for a fraction of a second, he still took a step back as well and went to sit down. I took my seat and watched with narrowed eyes as Maven walked by our table and remained with Weastin.

"Yeah well, you're just a bottom feeding bi-" Maggie began only for Cal to glare at her and hiss, "You finish that statement Magdalene and I will find a bar of soap for you to suck on for a few hours."

(/)

The truck Cal and I were in only a few hours later was relatively new, even by Scarlet Guard standards. At first I had been awed by the whole thing, but after a few hours, I had already adapted to the new seats that were separated and not connected in a bench like I was used to. Cal hadn't been surprised at all by all the new features, but I had a feeling his mind was in another place entirely.

I watched the rolling landscape of lakes and green fly by us as we made our way to a smaller city outside of Trial, the capital city of the Lakelands. Cal had told me it was what Archeon was to Norta, highly protected, near impossible to infiltrate. I hadn't bothered to mention that Farley's group had managed to infiltrate Archeon before. This wasn't an infiltration mission though. We had been charged with moving supplies, along with two other people who had elected to sit in the back and play cards while Cal and I sat up front and handled the navigation portion of the mission. I had a feeling that Cal would have chosen to drive anyway. He always seemed to calm down when he drove. Evangeline had said it probably acted like a rocking chair, with the gentle sway of the truck as we bumped over the road adding to that soothing mothing. The repetitive movements of pressing the gas and the brake also probably lulled him into a sense of peace too.

His lips twisted in distaste at something he was thinking about and taking that as my cue to jump in, I asked, "What are you thinking about?"

He narrowed his eyes only slightly and when he responded he was obviously still angry about the turn his thoughts had taken. "I'm thinking that it's going to be hard to get this whole damn truck into this city without someone seeing us and identifying this thing as stolen."

I sighed and then turning in my seat to face him a little more I reached up and closed the little slat that would allow them to hear us in the back. I reached out then and slowly tangled my fingers in the hair near the base of his neck and began to stroke the skin there with my thumb in slow circles, as I whispered, "The truth would be nice, Cal."

His face pinched as he recognized that he wouldn't be able to put me off track, and leaning back into my touch, he whispered, "Maven being out of a cell screams trouble and that something is up. I don't like it."

"I don't either," I replied softly as I ran my fingers up into his hair and then back down his neck, letting my nails run softly along his skin. I felt the shiver that ran through his body, and he gave me a sideways glance. It was such a quick look though, that if I hadn't been watching his profile in the first place, I would have completely missed it.

We were quiet for a little longer, my fingers mostly staying in his hair now as I tried to keep from pulling his eyes off of the road again. He went deep into his thoughts again, his lips drawing into a tight line. Eventually, he seemed to gather his thoughts completely, and said, "Maggie can't read Westin."

I looked at him in surprise, and horror. Maggie, the girl who could hear the thoughts of people on the other side of the compound, couldn't read the thoughts of a woman directly in front of her. I tried to reason that out, but my explanation was a poor one. "Well we assumed she was a New Blood, perhaps her ability is being able to counter others?"

"Like an Arven?" Cal asked as he slowed a bit more and eyed the dark clouds that were starting to gather a little way ahead of us. I shook my head though, pulling my hand out of his hair as I brought my knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly. "No, something much more powerful, like Torin compared to you. An Arven has to actually focus on countering someone, like you have to rely on your bracelets. Westin might simply have to exist." The thought was chilling, someone who could not be affected by an ability was a dangerous person. I could vividly remember the sound of that metal pipe cutting through Arven as he fell behind me in the Bowl of Bones, and I could also remember the influx of power that had led to me creating my first storm. Before I had only made small sparks or thrown bolts of electricity. In that moment though, I had commanded a storm into existence. I wondered if Cal knew that that had been me, or if he thought the storm had already been building and I had simply coaxed it on, or stolen the power from within it. There were times when I woke with that power drumming through my veins, but I had never dared to see if I could call such a storm into existence again.

"Another little part that we know nothing about," Cal grumbled. Lately we had been trying to piece everything together, but we had mostly been failing. There was so little that we understood, and that did not sit well with the two of us. We had always been in the loop with Farley, but now, we hadn't seen head or tail of our captain. It terrified us more than not knowing what was going on around us. The rumor we had heard was that she was already out on a mission for the Council with her friend, the girl who she seemed to spend all her time with, Ellie. Neither of us had bothered to try and dig any deeper. We owed Farley her privacy. After all, she had always given us ours.

"We'll eventually figure it out." I offered the comment, hoping that it would bring him out of this strange mood he was in, but it only seemed to spurn him on.

"And if we don't?" His words were brittle and cold, and his tone drew my eyes like a magnet. I raised my brow at him and said simply, "There won't be an if. We will figure this all out."

"Ah yes, is that before or after the Colonel stops throwing glances at Julian for asking questions? Perhaps it will be after everyone stops throwing surprised glances at Shade when they learn he is the father of Evangeline's baby and not me?"

"Don't be so bitter," I murmured, but I knew he had a right to be. No one had thrown a dirty glance my way. The Reds had actually treated me with more respect than I probably deserved actually. They wanted to hear all the stories, they wanted to know how I had managed to tame the monster that Cal was supposed to be. I'd even heard more than a few giggled whispers from girls, who asked whether he was as good in bed as any other Red man, or if he was as dominate as he was when he trained. It felt like we were back at the beginning and everyone was poking at the two of us with a stick to see what would happen. I wanted to snap at them more than anything, but Cal had insisted that we would simply be giving them permission to keep poking if we did that. So, I withstood the uncomfortable questions and ignored the girls who came to watch us train and who watched Cal like he was some prize that they might be able to grab from my hands if I wasn't looking. It made me sick that they objectified him like that. And it worried me that they bothered me. I had nothing to be worried about.

Cal glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, his lips quirking up just slightly at the corner. I gave him a look to keep him from saying anything else, but he broke into a full smile, his mood apparently fleeing for just a moment. He looked forward once again, and I slowly twisted in my seat again to face him. I poked his arm then, and when he glanced at me I said, "What are you thinking, spill."

He smirked and then said, "Forget it."

"No spill, what are you thinking?"

He glanced at me for a moment, and then looking forward again he said, "You're so persistent," his lips curled up in a smile though as he continued, "I knew what you were thinking about, and it was the blonde that you almost fried yesterday."

"You mean the idiot who came up to the edge of the sparring ring and got in my way?" I asked as I feigned innocence. I certainly hadn't been thinking about her, but now that he mentioned her, she certainly fit the bill for one of the girls who ogled Cal a little too much for my liking. She had started coming to the trainings when she had been passing by with a group of the girls. She would normally just sit off the side and pretend that she wasn't staring at Cal openly. He had been the one to notice it first, his trained senses picking up the odd sensation of someone looking at him when his back was turned. Still, she had kept to herself and hadn't been an issue. I'd ignored her, which was probably my mistake. Not even two days later, she had come up to the edge of the sparring mat where Cal and I were working on a specific technique that I had been thinking about developing. She'd gotten a little too close to Cal at one point, and she had kept her eyes on me the entire time, as if we were two animals in the middle of the jungle about to go at it if she took one more step. I'd decided that I'd had enough of her games, and so, I'd thrown a little bolt her way. Nothing that would have seriously hurt her, but just enough to snap at her toes. She'd yelped in surprise and had sprinted off to her friends who had all laughed at her fear. I'd smirked to myself, prouder than a peacock for defending my territory. Cal had given me a look before saying that he had kept track of her and everything had been just fine. I'd glared at him and accused him of liking the attention. With a smirk he had told me that the only attention he needed was mine.

My lips curled up even now as I remembered that comment, and he returned the look as I saw my reaction. I turned my face away though, remembering the look he had given me in the truck that we had first been riding in on. There had been something there, something that I wasn't entirely sure we were ready for. And even if we were, the quiet voice in my head whispered, when he becomes king, you will have to leave. Shut up, I growled at that voice. We weren't even close to that point, there was still time. Besides, I thought, if we were ready… we were ready.

He was pretending to not be watching me, and I threw a knowing glance in his direction as I leaned toward him and whispered, "You know, we're in charge of this truck, and they're in charge of moving everything. It'll be pretty quiet…"

Without even missing a beat, he raised his brow as I trailed off. My heart began to pound in my chest, as that look slowly began to bleed back into his eyes. It did the same thing to me as it had before, and I felt myself slowly pooling into a puddle. If he hadn't been driving, I would have probably grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him across the divide between us. It certainly wouldn't have been pretty considering how long his damn legs were, and how small of a space we were in, but it would have happened.

The radio, which had been spewing little bursts of information as we went in and out of the signals, chose that moment to explode in a burst of static before an official voice began to speak. Cal broke eye contact with me, and I leaped forward to crack the volume. The voice was speaking quickly and in a language I didn't recognize. I shook my head and then went to turn it off, muttering, "It's probably-"

"Shush," Cal whispered as he grabbed my wrist and held it tightly in his grip. I looked at him in surprise and then hissed, "This isn't even English!"

"No, its French, now hush," he said as he turned up the volume a little more. I frowned and pulled my wrist away before crossing my arms childishly and pouting. After a few seconds though, I heard something that was completely unmistakable in English or French. Cal slammed on the brakes, and I heard the two Guard members in the back cry out in surprise as they probably fell from the benches.

"Cal!" I cried in surprise as I caught myself on the dashboard, but he was listening to the radio, his expression horrified as he breathed, "No, what is he… what is he doing here?"
"Is it Samson? I heard his name." I whispered, as I leaned closer to the radio, as if that would make it possible to discern what they were saying. Behind us, one of the men had opened the tiny slit and hissed, "What the hell happened?"

The radio feed faded to silence before being replaced with static again. Cal's grip on the wheel had turned his knuckles almost black, and I could see his brow creasing as he began to process what he had heard. The Guard member demanded to know what had happened again, only for Cal to say, "We need to go back."

"We can't, we have to stay on course Silver!" The man screamed before Cal reached out and began to adjust the radio, looking for the broadcast station that the Guard used. He found it after a few adjustments and we all heard the loud, blaring claxon that came though followed by a female voice demanding that all units return from the field. The man cursed before saying, "That's the black alert."

"Black alert?" I exclaimed, before turning to him in confusion. The man shook his head again and then said, "That's the message they put out when shit's hit the fan. They have only sent it out once before, and that was when the King went and flooded the banks of the river near our biggest operation base. It's the highest level of alert they can send out."

I looked at Cal in surprise, having tuned out the man who was telling Cal to turn around and take us back. Cal looked to be in the same state as me, until a strange coolness entered his eyes. I'd seen that look before, when we had been running through the palace after being rescued, when he had been powerless, and we had been in danger. Without warning, he said, "Hold on," and then floored the gas, before turning the wheel sharply. I cried out as we skidded across the old pavement of the road. For a moment I thought we were going to flip, but the truck righted itself and Cal put it into a different gear before pushing top speed as we sped back the way we had come.

The Guard member in the back told him to take a side road, so that we could pick up the small operation we had paused at earlier to refuel. They would need a ride back to the base, and we would have to bring all their gear in for them. Cal simply nodded, his eyes dark as he looked dead ahead at the road that seemed to stretch on into oblivion.

"Cal, what happened? I'm confused." I whispered, and his eyes only left the road for a fraction of second before he said, "Samson is in the capital. The broadcast was to let the citizens of capital know that the King of Norta had arrived for his visit."

My skin crawled, and I blinked for a moment before saying, "Why would he be here?"

"I have no idea," Cal growled, "but if he is here, it's not to just sit down for a nice dinner with the Queen."

(/Shade/)

They had sent out the black alert and not even an hour later people had come pouring into the compound. Most of them were not happy either, shouting that they were in the middle of high level operations that had been months in the making, that members of their group were still in the capital, deep undercover. There was nothing that could be done for them though, they would have to remain where they were until the Guard could figure out how to pull them out. No one was entirely sure why they had sent out such an alert, but rumors had begun to fly around the compound as more and more people came back. The biggest one was that Samson Merandus was in the capital, having a private audience with the Queen of the Lakelands. It was rumored he was making a marriage proposal. Julian had sniffed when I'd told him that rumor, and had said that Samson wanted to share power about as much as he wanted to abdicate. He had come to take, and he would not leave until he had what he wanted, Julian had warned before proceeding to return to Maggie and her reading. He and Sara had been working hard to get the girl up to speed with children her age, because she'd never truly learned to read, and Julian hadn't stood for that. He'd actually gone after Cal when he had learned about Maggie's illiteracy, saying that he should have been focusing on more than just combat with the girl.

Now, I wandered the compound, looking for my sister and Cal who had gone out earlier that morning on a mission near the capital. I wondered if they had turned around yet, if they were on their way back, or if they had already arrived. No one had seen head or tail of them though.

I paced toward the medical center where I knew Evangeline had gone half an hour ago, saying that she wasn't feeling very well. Sara had offered to take a look at her, but Evangeline had insisted that she wanted to walk. She seemed to have gotten it in her head that if she walked around, her ankles would stop swelling. Sara had insisted that she was doing the opposite of what she needed to do, but Evangeline wouldn't hear anything of it, and had kept doing as she pleased. I tried to stay out of it, especially since she had snipped at me earlier this afternoon when I had made a comment about getting her something to eat since she needed to keep eating. She had sneered at me and said that she knew how to take care of her own damn body, and she didn't need me feeding her and making her put on more weight than she had to.

She was getting bigger though, her shirts could no longer hide her stomach, and she had started stumbling around more recently with that odd amount of weight. I knew she hated it, and I knew she was frustrated that everyone was coddling her. I wasn't helping either, I knew that too, but I couldn't help it. I was worried sick about her, and when she had made the comment that she wasn't feeling well, that had set me on edge immediately.

As I approached the medical center, I could hear the nurses chirping voices, and I poked my head in the room before seeing Evangeline off to the side, probably waiting for someone to come help her. I advanced slowly from her blind spot before saying, "How are you feeling?"

She jumped slightly and then glaring at me she hissed, "By my colors Barrow! Can't you not sneak up on someone!"
I smirked, and she sighed before rolling her eyes. Eventually she said, "I'm fine, you can go run back to the room."

"I can walk you back," I offered before taking her hand. She glanced at our interlocked fingers before glancing up at me. I raised my brow in question and she sighed before looking over at the nurses. "They have a device that allows them to look at the baby, I wanted to see if they could tell if something was wrong."

Nodding silently in understanding, I stepped in front of her and whispered hesitantly, "Do you think something is wrong?"

Her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly before glancing down at her stomach. She set her hand on top of it and smiling to herself she whispered, "No, I don't think anything's wrong. I suppose I'm an impatient person and I want to see it already."

I felt a smile creep to my lips and I pressed a light kiss on her forehead before saying, "Would you like me to leave?"

She was silent for a moment, and she rubbed her stomach for a half second before saying, "No, I want you to stay."

Looking up at me, she slowly laid her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders in response, feeling those hard muscles that she was so proud of. I pressed another light kiss on her hairline and rested my chin on her head. I could feel each soft breath that she exhaled, and I let myself enjoy every one of them. I didn't want to think about a time when she wasn't next to me anymore. I didn't want to think about waking up and being alone. I had been alone for most of my life. My brothers had always been bigger, and my sister's had always been smaller. I had been stuck in a strange limbo between them. I suppose that is why my mother babied me so much while I grew up. It was hard to get beaten up by your brothers and then not turn around and reciprocate that same treatment on someone else. Perhaps that was why Mare and I had been so close. We had always been stuck in that limbo together. We had always been chasing something greater, and now we had it, whatever it might have been.

I had once told my parents that I didn't plan on getting married, or even so much as settling down until I was much older. My mother had laughed, had said that she didn't believe me. My father had narrowed his eyes and said something similar. This whole situation with Evangeline had changed everything though. Now I was thinking about how to keep Evangeline around, how to keep her and the baby safe. What I would have to do after the war to support a child and her. I had started subconsciously looking for where my talents could be used. I didn't want to keep fighting, I didn't want to stay on the front lines. I had lost too many things on those lines, and I refused to stay there for my whole life. Maybe Cal and Mare could handle it, but I didn't want to think about what would happen if I didn't come back from a mission one day.

One of the nurses coughed to get our attention, and when we pulled away, she inclined her head respectfully. With a gentle smile she gestured to an open table and then said, "If you're ready Miss, I can take you."

Evangeline raised her chin slightly, not in disrespect I noticed, but because I could feel her hands shaking. She was scared. Before she could follow the young nurse though, I wrapped my arm around her waist and whispered in her ear, "Come what may."

It had become sort of like our little catch phrase, something to calm the other when they began to worry about the baby, or anything else for that matter. I had started saying it after we had been reunited, and she had slowly begun to adapt it too. It always seemed to calm her when I said it, and she always whispered it when it when I woke in a panic and reached out for her in the middle of the night. Her dreams were haunted by her family, mine were haunted with Samson Merandus coming after her, or of Silver healers taking the baby from her, while I was tied down in a corner, powerless to stop them. But that phrase was always there now, and it had always played the part of the perfect calming presence. I wondered if it would become something permanent between us. I wondered if we were even permanent. Would what we had survive after the baby, or would we slowly drift apart? The thought made my heart plummet and my skin crawl.

Evangeline slipped out of my grip, strangely solidifying my fears as she followed the nurse. I hurried after her, just barely avoiding another young nurse as she turned with a tray of syringes and tiny vials. She huffed when I didn't apologize, but walked toward another group that was huddled around a table. I turned away from her, and then placed my hand on the small of Evangeline's back as I caught up. The nurse in front of her was babbling about something or another, and I tried to pay attention to what she was saying. Whatever she was going on about might be important in the future. I couldn't focus though; all I could hear was the pounding in my ears as my heart started a staccato drumbeat beat in my chest and ears. We had nothing to worry about though, the baby was supposedly very healthy, according to Sara. If Evangeline was anywhere near nervous though, then I should be too.

I felt Evangeline's cool fingers slide between mine and glancing at me over her shoulder, she whispered, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

"You're not much of a reassuring person, are you, blondie?" I teased as she sank onto the table and sent me a withering glance. I gave her a smile though and continued, "You have your inspiration quotes to reassure you, and I have my sense of humor."

"No matter how horrible it is." Evangeline replied, but I saw the way her lips quirked up at the corners. At least she wasn't as worried as I was now. If I could make this whole process at least the tiniest bit easier for her, then I could live with that. If I could make the entire situation easier I would. I had no idea how to do that for her though. Evangeline had only whispered her concerns to me once, and it have been in a moment of utter terror when no one else was listening. She had told me that she was afraid of how our baby would be perceived, what people would think of a baby that had been born out of wedlock. They were hated so profusely in the realm of the Silvers, and she had expressed that to me. I had told her that our baby would be loved by us though, that it wouldn't have to worry about such a thing. She had given me a pleading look though, and I had realized that it didn't matter, because her family would learn about our child eventually, and as bad as it was, it would be worse if they knew the baby would have to bear their family name. Such an abomination would be disowned by house Samos and then our child would have no name at all. I knew more than anything, that terrified Evangeline. There were things that our child would have access to if they carried the Samos name. They would have property, a home no matter where they went, and a title that would save them from war from pain. I could never understand those things, because I'd never had them, but Evangeline had, and she wanted them for our child. She thought they could keep it safe. I thought that I knew better, but I would never admit that.

The nurse returned and after a few minutes of setting up everything, she began her real work. I had no idea what was going on, let alone how the Guard could have possibly gotten their hands on technology like this. If we had had anything remotely like this while we had been hounded by that virus, perhaps we would have been able to save more people. Westin had said that it had been unfortunate that they hadn't been able to send help, that the Council had deemed it unnecessary to send help until it was almost too late. For a group that was constantly preaching that it wanted us to be equal to Silvers, and to save all of our lives, they certainly didn't have a hard time leaving us to die.

Evangeline watched the little screen though, apparently unbothered by the whole thing. I tried to be like that, but my mind kept pulling back to the earlier worries, and I couldn't stop them from arising again and again. Eventually, the nurse began speaking, saying something to Evangeline as she pointed something out on the screen. I forced my mind to come back, to return to the present. My mother had always warned me that I thought about the future too much, that I needed to learn how to remain in the present where everything was happening around me. She had always warned me that if I ignored the present, I would simply be a spectator in my own life. So, turning my attention to the screen, I watched as the nurse slowly pointed out the tiny head that was forming. My heart skipped a beat at that, and Evangeline sat up a little straighter, her eyes narrowing as she began to rapid fire questions at the nurse. The poor thing tried her best to keep up, but she couldn't get answers out fast enough it seemed because Evangeline eventually huffed and sank back on to the table.

I was speechless though. It was easy to pretend that nothing was really happening when there was little to no physical evidence. I certainly wasn't growing another human being between my hips, but Evangeline was, and this whole thing had probably begun to feel very real a long time ago for her. Seeing that faintly human outline in a sea of black though, that had changed everything for me.

The nurse seemed to assume we were done asking questions, because she removed the machine, bowed her head and whispered her congratulations before she disappeared. Evangeline watched her the whole time before going to climb off the table saying, "Well that was utterly pointless. I could have had Sara tell me all of that." She huffed in annoyance as she went to slide off the table, but I grabbed her arms and forced her to stay put. Raising her brow at me she growled, "Move Shade."

"This is honestly happening. We are having a baby." I mumbled as I looked down at her stomach in surprise. Our child was growing in there, something so perfect and innocent. It was a small miracle, something I never thought I would be able to witness.

"No, I am having a baby, you are standing by and holding my hand while I have said baby." She corrected as she pushed my hands down and slid off the table. She readjusted her shirt and pants, grumbling about how they fit, but I grabbed her hands again and said, "I've been thinking a lot about what you said."

"Shade, I talk to you at least five times a day, you're going to have be more specific about what I might have said." She murmured as she tried to pull her hands away to keep adjusting her shirt. I held fast though and whispered, "About the baby, and about it needing to have a family name. It has to have a family name, and you are worried that if it has yours it will be disowned."

She froze, and her eyes narrowed as her gaze turned icy. She glanced around us, as if checking for eavesdroppers before saying, "I told you that while I was in the middle of a panic attack."

"I know, but you were so afraid, and so worried, and I… I have a solution to everything." I whispered as I pulled her closer. She looked up at me as he lips twisted to the side at my tone. Giving her a small smile, I whispered, "The baby can have my last name."
"Yours?" She said with a raised brow, but it eventually dropped and furrowed with the other as she continued, "But it can't have your last name. We're not married."

"Then marry me." I said quickly, the words stumbling over each other on their way out. Her eyes widened in surprise though, and in that moment I realized that I hadn't just given the baby a family name, I had also offered to tie her to myself. Marriage was serious for Reds, it meant for eternity. Maybe with Silvers it was different, but she would be tied to me until the day that one of us died. I slowly lowered her hands to her sides and whispered softly, "If you'll have me, I will marry you Evangeline. I'll take you into my family and you and the baby can have my family name. I know it doesn't come with much. I don't come from a High House, I don't have any land, or any wealth. Hell, I barely had enough to get by on my own. But I do have an undying love for this child, and for you. I will give you everything I possibly can, whether it is the clothes off my back, or the bread off my plate, or my own breath, I will keep you happy. I will take you as you are-"

"You're serious," she breathed as she slowly sank back to sit on the table. I watched her face then for any sort of answer, but all I could see was the surprise at my admission, at my offer. I slowly crouched down taking her shaking hands in my own, dragging her attention downward as I whispered, "You don't have to answer now, you could think it over-"

She seemed to think about it for a heartbeat before replying softly, "I'll marry you, if you'll take me," she smiled weakly, and I felt my legs shaking in surprise at her reply, "and I won't marry you to save face. I'll marry you because I love you, and because I couldn't imagine anyone else raising this child with me."

My face broke into a wide grin and as I rose slowly I encased her lips with a kiss. She reciprocated, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smile as we kissed softly. Eventually she pulled away and rested her forehead against my own, her eyes closed. I simply traced her cheek bone with the tip of my nose though, and listened to her breathing before she whispered, "You'll have to marry me soon though, I don't want to look like a whale in a dress."

I laughed softly and then teased, "Whose humor is bad now?"

She chuckled and then pulling away she gave me a knowing look and said, "I'm serious, you better marry me quickly."

Grinning, I pressed my lips against hers once more and then whispered with breath stolen from them, "I'm sure the Guard can whip up a proper wedding. I'll ask Westin if she can put it together."

I felt Evangeline tense at the mention of the woman's name, but she didn't make any effort to refute me. Instead she slid her hand up my chest to my neck where she tangled her fingers in my hair. She nodded softly, but she didn't need to say anything else, her touch said everything.

A/N

Sorry it took so long, again. I feel like it should just be expected now that I take forever between chapters. I completely agree with Queen V though, writing weddings is literally such a drag. Now if ya'll will excuse me, I need to come up with what a red wedding would look like.

Question time:

Any predictions for what's coming? (I'm running out of questions as you all can see XD)