It was like history had repeated itself. Keiro and Attia rode horseback in the darkness with no clear destination in mind. One difference from their experience on the Inside, however, was that the horse they rode was not mechanical. Second, and perhaps the more glaring difference, was that Attia actually liked Keiro and vice versa. They weren't constantly at each other's necks, and when they were they didn't really mean most of what they said.

It was so easy for them to pick up and leave Court behind. It had, in it's own ways, become a second prison to them, forcing them to play by its rules and dictating how they should be. The only connection they had at Court was Finn, but in his absence, they were like two out of place misfits. Casper and Anne had slightly complicated that, but nevertheless, the pair left it behind.

Once they'd gotten to a wide open clearing past the nearest villages to Court, the sun had begun to rise. Keiro tightened his arm around Attia when he felt her balance beginning to shift. At the slight movement, her head had shot up, eyes wide open. "It's alright," Keiro mumbled to her and she relaxed back into his body as she let her eyes drift shut again. He'd slowed their pace since they had gotten quite a ways away from Court. And he knew they wouldn't even notice their absence for another few hours at the earliest.

"Where are we?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," Keiro answered. "Should we take the road? It's all open space for a while."

Attia stirred as she sat up on her own to look around at their surroundings. Eventually, she nodded as she focused her gaze on the dirt road. "I doubt anybody could recognize us out here, anyway." Keiro didn't respond, but nudged the reins towards the dirt road. He felt Attia relax again against him, but she kept her head up and eyes open.

For over an hour they traveled in silence, neither really sure of what to say. Attia knew Keiro believed Finn was dead. He never would have abandoned Finn had he carried even an inkling of belief that Finn was still alive somewhere. If that was why Keiro had been unusually affectionate, she would never know. Keiro was quite talented at locking away any emotions and the pieces of the ones he did express she always supported.

"Do you know why she did it?" Keiro eventually asked. Attia could tell from his voice that it had been a question that had haunted him, probably since before they even left Court.

"He was King. He didn't pay her attention. She blamed him for… anything. She didn't like him. It could be anything," Attia replied. She knew she wasn't able to offer him any real insight, but she was also surprised he'd asked at all. Inside there was almost never a reason for a death. In her mind, Keiro knew that best of all. Only after he'd asked did she realize that the first reaction anybody had to her discovering who had been the traitor was a question of motive. Motive never occurred to her as something to consider. Perhaps that was just one of many things that so dramatically set her apart from the other women of Court. Why she so often felt alienated by them, preferring to remain in Finn's household despite social custom.

"I'm sure we'll hear eventually," Attia said when Keiro didn't respond. "It'll spread like wildfire once word gets out." She diverted her gaze to the open farmland where she could only make out small moving specks of people beginning their day.

"Did you call your father to Court?" Keiro asked curiously.

"No," Attia answered, turning her head up to peer up at him curiously. "Why?"

"I think that's him," Keiro answered as he narrowed his eyes. Attia turned around to look forward, her eyes following the curve of the road until she saw the large wooden wagon coming towards them. Two figures sat in the front of the wagon, but she couldn't really make out who they were.

"Are you sure?" she questioned.

"Get my knife," Keiro said strongly. "In my left boot." Attia took only a moment to decide whether or not to indulge his worries before she leaned forward. Her hand followed Keiro's leg until she reached the top of the boot and felt for the handle of the knife. After retrieving it, she hide the weapon in her jacket and sat up straight again. "It's another man next to him," Keiro said once they'd gotten closer.

Attia could now make out her father's face in the distance but she had no idea who he would be with. Only then did she let herself give into Keiro's concerns. Slowly the pair got closer and closer to the carriage, Keiro's arm tightening around Attia's waist again.

Once they were relatively close, Keiro slowed the horse to just a walk before he looked up at the two men. He did not recognize the other man seated beside Attia's father.

"Good morning," Ronan said, wearing a forced smile, his eyes settling only on Attia. "Quite a beautiful morning, isn't it?"

Attia narrowed her eyes at her father before she sifted her gaze to the man beside him. When Keiro realize she wasn't responding, he did. "Yeah it is. Where are you headed?"

"Anyone ever teach you to mind your own business, young man?" the mysterious man beside Ronan snapped, his eyes narrowing as he glared down at Keiro.

"Afraid not," Keiro replied, actually sounding cheerful. He pulled on the reins of his horse to step in front of the horses pulling the wagon. The man pulled on his reins to stop the horses from colliding, his face contorting as he grew angrier. "Maybe you want to answer the question," Keiro suggested.

"Just let us go," Ronan said quickly as his eyes landed on Keiro then on Attia. Both stared up at him with narrowed eyes, neither sure what to make of the situation. "We're heading into the city to sell some crops."

"Can't do that, unfortunately," Keiro replied as he let go of Attia's waist. She had quickly dismounted the horse, but when she walked around the other men's horses to approach the man's side of the wagon, Ronan stood up quickly.

"No, Attia! Don't," he yelled as he tried to get between the two. The other man had been too quick, however, and had pulled his own weapon pointing it at Attia. While he was concentrated on her, Keiro had produced his weapon and approached the wagon from Ronan's side. Pushing the man back to his seat, Keiro pulled on the other man's arm. As they fought, their knives coming dangerously close to each other's skin, Attia left Keiro's immediate attention.

"You might want to stop that," a male voice called. The man beside Ronan had stopped and Keiro had taken the opportunity to slash a shallow cut across the back of his hand. "Hey!" the voice yelled and Keiro looked up to find another man had Attia at gunpoint. "Unless you want your girlfriend's brain all over the road, of course. Hand over your weapon."

Keiro stared at Attia, recognizing the defeat in her face, before he sighed and tossed his knife the floor. The man he'd just fought with landed a hard punch in Keiro's stomach, causing him to double over.

"Keiro!" Attia had called out. She tried to go towards him, but the man beside her had quickly tangled his fingers in her hair. A scream like screech had left her throat as she was yanked back by her hair. Keiro looked up at her before the man who'd punched him pulled him down from the wagon.

"Now, why must you have interrupted us?" the gun wielding man questioned as he narrowed his eyes, first at Attia, then at Keiro.

"The man knows her," the driver said breathlessly before he motioned to Ronan with his knife. "He said her name."

"Great. Wade, put our new friends in the back," the gunman said as he let go of Attia's hair and shoved her towards Keiro. After colliding into him, Attia felt Keiro move in an attempt to strike the man.

"No, don't," Attia called out as she put a hand on his wrist, her other arm wrapping around his waist. Keiro only groaned as he shook his arm out, but held the man's heavy gaze.

"Smart woman," he commented drily before the driver pulled on Keiro's arm. The pair willingly followed the man called Wade since the other man still pointed his gun at them. On the other side of the wagon, Wade unlocked the hatch before the doors swung open. Shocked, Keiro and Attia stared into the wagon to find Finn and Claudia seated against the back with what appeared to be shackles on their wrists.

"Have another pair?" Wade asked as he looked to the woman who sat along the side of the wagon on what appeared to be a makeshift chair. She stared in disbelief at Attia and Keiro before she quickly nodded and reached down to retrieve another couple sets of shackles. After forcing them into the wagon, Wade put his knife to Keiro's throat to force him to hold his arm up. The woman had forcefully grabbed Attia's wrist to chain the two together before Wade pushed Attia down, effectively pulling Keiro down with her. On instinct, however, Keiro had kicked his leg out, managing to clip Wade on the arm before he left the wagon.

"Are you kidding me?" Finn demanded as Attia and Keiro settled into the space beside the royal couple. "This is how you went about rescuing us? No army? Guards? Knights? Nothing?"

"Well, if we had been rescuing you we would've brought all those things," Keiro commented.

"You're right. You're clearly not rescuing us. You're getting held hostage with us," Finn replied sharply.

"What do you mean if you had been rescuing us?" Claudia questioned as she leaned forward to narrow her eyes at the two.

"You know what, I prefer to be a prisoner in silence, if you don't mind," Keiro said with a shrug as he leaned back against the back of the wagon. He'd tried to put his hands behind his head, but Attia had pulled on his arm. "Sorry," he told her simply, having already forgotten they were chained together.

"You weren't planning on rescuing us, were you?" Finn asked as he stared from Keiro to Attia. Keiro had shut his eyes as he leaned his head back, but Attia simply diverted her eyes to the woman. "Were you?" Finn repeated more forcefully.

"Alright," Keiro groaned as he looked to Finn. "No. We didn't know you were here."

"Then what were you doing?" Finn asked. "You weren't just leaving, were you?" Silence followed as Keiro and Attia stared at each other. "You were just going to leave me? And you're Regent, Attia. You left my kingdom with Casper?"

"We thought you were dead, Finn," Attia finally explained as she sighed heavily and leaned back against the wall of the wagon.

"I can't believe you were leaving me," Finn commented as he shook his head but stared forward. The chains jingled as Claudia slipped her fingers into Finn's.

"Well, we didn't leave you," Keiro replied, but Finn groaned as he reached up to run his free hand through his hair. Claudia reached across her body to touch his shoulder, practically the only physical comfort she could provide in the situation. For a while, nobody said anything, but Keiro always had something to say. Turning to the woman, he flashed his smug smile and Attia rolled her eyes as she looked away from. "So Karen? How do you like being a traitorous bitch? Does it treat you well?"

Karen only narrowed her eyes at Keiro, her face contorting into a scowl. Keiro returned the look before he dropped his head back against the wooden wall. "We're never going to get out of this," Finn concluded with a heavy sigh.

"Maybe Casper will do something," Claudia said hopefully. Finn and Keiro scoffed at nearly the same time. "Does he know anything about what's happened?"

"I left him a letter," Attia admitted.

"I can't believe you," Finn scolded as he turned to her. "I pick you because Keiro and Casper would in a heartbeat leave. I thought you would stay."

Attia didn't reply right away since she could tell from Finn's tone of voice that he really was quite upset. She almost felt bad for abandoning the position he'd given to her. The guilt, of course, went away once Finn continued. "And you left with Keiro? Last time I saw you two, you almost killed him with your butter knife. You two just decided that my having gone missing was what your ridiculous relationship needed to get back on track? And what about Morgan? Please tell me you discarded the body well."

"I didn't kill her," Attia replied sharply, actually offended even though Claudia and Keiro had been able to tell Finn was kidding.

"What did you tell her?" Keiro asked curiously.

"What you never tell the girls you sleep with, Keiro. The truth. I don't understand why you can't just tell them upfront."

"Women don't have sex with men who don't like them at all when they know that," Keiro answered as he stared at her. "It's a little mean to say that to them, Attia. And what exactly is the truth, according to you?"

Attia narrowed her eyes at him, still feeling defensive from Finn's earlier comment. "That she was one of your mistresses and I am not." Claudia, Finn, and Keiro collectively laughed, all three thoroughly enjoying Attia's retelling of her encounter with Morgan.

"See? And you broke her heart, Attia," Keiro managed to say between his laughs. "That's just mean."

"What? Opposed to your leading her on?"

"Well, she didn't know until you told her."

"You kissed me, Keiro. She wouldn't have even known!"

"It's not my fault. It's habit after a year. I still sleep on one side of the bed. Do you know how uncomfortable that is?"

"You didn't mind the night before."

"Nothing is uncomfortable with a naked, willing, woman."

"You're a shit, Keiro."

"And yet you ran away with me."