"It's the spiced apple torte," the prisoner gasped. Everyone pushed their servings away. "It has crushed walnuts. I'm deathly allergic to walnuts. May I have some water, please?"

Everyone pulled their servings back and carefully began eating the dessert.

"Best batch ever, especially with the fresh vanilla cream," Leon said. "Nothing like a good dessert after a good fight."

Luna swallowed her bite of the torte, and told the prisoner, "You'll have water after you answer some questions. Baroness, you know this man well?"

"Not very. The emperor assigned him to be one of my escorts just before we left the capital. He said he was very loyal and would serve me well."

"The emperor just didn't say how he would serve you, did he?" snorted Neda. "In our entourage we had a mazoku, a sorcerer, and at least three assassins you didn't know about. Then there is the one you do know about who is a disguise master. I bet his orders weren't only from you."

Luna held up her dessert knife, which glowed menacingly, and with her other hand fisted up the collar of the prisoner's tunic to draw him close, "What do you know of our missing fingered assassin. From whom did you get your orders?"

The man gulped and croaked, "The emperor told us to follow that man's orders. Ignore the baroness' when it came to killing. We were plan B if the maid didn't succeed in killing her, her daughter, and the traitor. All we knew of him he was a very successful assassin and master of weapons and disguise. It was follow his orders or else..."

"And the orders were?" Luna growled.

"Kill the baroness, her daughter, the traitor, his son, and you. Kidnap the queen. We thought the traitor might be difficult given his training and experience, but the rest of you would be too soft, being female and others not from Elmekia. We also should have known better about Lady Neda's skills and Sir Leon's being here."

Gourry turned very pale when hearing these words and took Anila onto his lap. He was very glad he had sent Merko away before the arrival of the Elmekian party.

A worrying thought came to Leon. With the failure of the day's assassination attempts, the assassin would be desperate. He might try finding an important hostage to help him make an escape. Leon rushed from the hall to his and Bessmorta's quarters to make sure their own daughter wouldn't be knew the babysitter very well, but if the the man was such a master of disguise, she could be fooled.

"I must go make sure our daughter is safe," he excused himself.

"I have a little of Gourry's talent," Neda said. "I'll go with you to make sure there are no surprises on the way." They rushed out of the hall.

Luna gave a crooked smile to the prisoner and told him, "You and I are going to see to your alternate accommodations and have more of a little talk. I'll see you two later, Your Majesty and Knight." She hauled the unfortunate would-be assassin off with her to the dungeons.

Gourry gathered his daughter in his arms, and with his senses alert, strode rapidly toward their quarters. Anila, tired out by the excitement and big meal, yawned and nodded on his shoulder. He was met by a maid he thought must be a recent hire.

"Lord Gourry, the Princess Bessmorta sent me to help you put Her Majesty to bed, because she is busy with the prisoners. While waiting for you, I've also drawn your evening bath."

A glance at the maid's hands showed Gourry she had all her fingers, and put to rest suspicions she was the assassin in disguise. However, he told the maid, "That's alright. I'll prepare Her Majesty for bed myself. She usually wants me or her Aunt Luna to tell her a story about her mother at bedtime after she is tucked in. The princess usually gives her a mother's good-night kiss so she won't feel like she is missing something by not having her real mother here."

The maid curtsied and, turning to leave, expressed the hope that the bath wouldn't get too cold.

Gourry laughed softly and replied, "Her Majesty is almost asleep now. The bedtime ritual will definitely be shortened tonight."

After placing Anila on her bed, he removed her tiara and golden boots. He found It was a little difficult getting the sleepy, limp child out of her robes, but he managed. He chuckled as he remembered how she had reassured him during the assassins' attack and bent down to kiss her. "You have your mother's spunk and optimism, my little queen. It will help you face down your own demons and monsters," he whispered.

He then quietly left her room and shut her door. He disrobed and sank gratefully into the sweet smelling bath, which was still hot. His eyes were just starting to close in relaxation when he felt a presence. Jumping out of the tub, he grabbed the Blast Sword. "Damn it, Luna! Not tonight!" But then the blood lust hit him, and the maid suddenly fell dead in the doorway to the bathroom.

"Gourry, your reflexes and body are still in excellent shape. Yup, looking good, but you're also still a jellyfish brain," Luna declared as she wiped off her knife on a handy towel. She bent down to remove a garrote from the dead maid's hands. "Lucky for you I finished interrogating that prisoner and came here."

"But she didn't look anything like the guy Leon and I saw, and she has all her fingers!" Gourry protested as he grabbed and put on a bathrobe, after putting down his sword.

"Master of disguise, remember, Mutton-head?" She squatted down and held up the assassin's right hand. "Here. Pull the ring finger."

Gourry gave her a raised eyebrow.

"No joke. Pull the damn finger!"

He cautiously complied. "Oh, it's a very good fake!" he exclaimed as it came off in his hand.

Luna snatched the wig off the dead assassin's head and pulled away the very flexible mask. "He was very professional and dispassionate. He neither enjoyed or hated killing. That made him very scary because he could hide his human blood lust almost up to the actual kill most of the time. Your skill at sensing presences and my timing saved you."

A search of the "maid's" pockets produced a gag, blindfold, and special bindings, "He definitely planned to kidnap Anila, once he killed you," Lina observed.

Tears filled the swordsman's eyes. He strode across the sitting room area to the little queen's door, opened it, and gazed at his sleeping daughter. The tears began to trickle down his face.

Luna came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "She's safe and still with us, as are you." She gave him a comforting hug. Gourry was startled at the rare show of affection from reserved Luna and reflected how, even after working and sparring with her, she could still surprise him. Quietly he shut Anila's bedroom door and turned to thank Luna. She dropped her arms to her sides as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Thanks to you," he replied and impulsively kissed the hair on her forehead. They both reddened and stepped apart.

"Ahem," Luna nervously cleared her throat and looked steadily at his face rather than the gap in his robe. "Guess we better do something about the body and blood. I'll go find some real servants to handle this." She quickly left the quarters.

Gourry crossed the sitting room back to the bath and gingerly moved the body from the doorway onto the bathroom tiles, where blood could be easily wiped up after the body was removed. He sighed and emptied the tub. Then he dressed again and awaited the arrival of the servants. When they arrived with stretcher, body bag, and cleaning equipment, he asked them to be as quiet as they could. The little queen must not be awakened. The servants quietly and efficiently took care of everything, and left. Gourry threw himself on his bed and, emptying his mind, fell into a fretful sleep.

As he and Anila ate breakfast with Leon, Bess, and their daughter, Darla, in the sunny morning room of the castle, Luna and Neda entered together to eat.

"Greetings, Cousin! I heard you had a visitor last night! Thank goodness he didn't kill you. I am so looking forward to our sparring this morning!"

Gourry thought to himself, "Well, things are improving. No insults about being an old man or traitor. She's even kinda cheerful." He swallowed the big bite of blueberry muffins he had stuffed in his mouth and said out loud, "Yeah, we don't have to worry about that assassin your mother hired anymore. She and you are also safe now from him as well as us. By the way, where is your mother?"

"She's sulking in our rooms. It isn't easy for her to realize she's been discarded by the emperor and regarded as disposable."

Bessmorta asked, So, what are your plans now? I assume going back to Elmekia is out of the question now."

Neda responded, "It's a little early to say. Right now, it's eat breakfast and spar with Gourry afterwards."

"From the way you handled the would-be assassins yesterday, I can tell I'm going to get a very good work-out," Gourry said. "I hope I won't be too wiped out when Bess and I take the afternoon shift at the restaurant this afternoon."

"I'll give the boss a warning you might not be so energetic this afternoon," Luna told him. "Well, I'm off to the restaurant. Have fun beating the crap out of each other. See you later!" She rose from her seat and gave Gourry a slap on the shoulder as she exited.

"You all work at a restaurant?!" Neda exclaimed. Her mouth dropped open.

"Teaches humility and keeps us in touch with ordinary people," Bess explained. "Good for taking pulse on what's going on in the kingdom. Wanna waitress job, if you're going to be sticking around?"

Neda shook her head and responded, "I have no plans yet. I'll think about it."

Meanwhile, Leon noticed the ring on Neda's finger. "Interesting ring you have there."

Neda's demeanor changed, and she responded coldly, "None of your business right now." Her face softened a little bit. "Maybe later, you'll know about it. I need to talk to Gourry first. Mmmmm. This tea is delicious!"