Erik returned that evening having nearly made it the entire day without anyone else wishing him a happy birthday. The only exception was Kaveh, and even he had known better than to directly announce the special occasion.

"Forgive me for bothering you, Sir," he'd said casually soon after Erik had arrived, "but unless I am mistaken, today marks the first year anniversary of the day last year during which you nearly broke my nose for a careless gaffe of mine."

Erik had chuckled at his creativity, surprisingly unbothered by the subliminal birthday well-wishing in the statement. He had indeed nearly struck Kaveh the year before when his head architect had found out from Nadir that it was his birthday, and kept asking him whether he should bring flowers and blessings to work with him tomorrow to make up for his not having known the day of. Erik had consistently told him not to bother, but the man had persisted... needless to say, Erik had not been very happy with him.

"You are not mistaken in the least," Erik responded smoothly, "and to commemorate that very anniversary, I daresay I must apologize once again for my short temper. But I am not very fond of... anniversaries. As you learned."

"Well, nevertheless... have a happy one," Kaveh winked.

Besides that, it was a normal day of hard labor and chipping away at sculptures in the making. The only other occurrence that was slightly out of the norm was his actually taking a break from his work at lunch to sit down and run through his braille alphabet once again. He had forgotten several of the letters over the course of the morning, and meant to regain them before he returned home. It was still unusually difficult, with the resource that he had, but he managed to rememorize all that he had lost before his hiatus had ended.

And his pride over that little accomplishment lasted the entire rest of the afternoon.

That is, until he called out for Serena to tell her of his feat, and he received no answer.

Now, he had learned a thing or two from the last time something like this had happened, and so this time, he continued to call out her name and searched the bedroom (after knocking, of course) first. Then he moved onto the library, the kitchen, the garden... but each time, her name fell not upon her acute ears but on lonely walls.

He began to worry, but pushed back his panic and tried to retain a clear and sensible mind about the strange situation. He began to look around in the more obscure rooms of the wing, even the ones that he was nearly certain she was not aware existed. Perhaps she had stumbled upon one and found herself hopelessly lost in her own home— but no, every room in the house turned up vacant of any sign of her.

That is when he began to panic.

He searched the entire house once more through, running his hands through his hair as his breathing and his heartbeat accelerated exponentially. At one point, he even had to remove his mask; his breath had stopped in his throat and he thought he might choke if he did not tear it from his face... then commencing to turn it over and over in his hands anxiously.

'Where could she have gone?' he screamed inwardly as he paced, still worrying the mask in his hands, 'She may resent the fact that she is not allowed to leave the house without me, but she knows that I forbid such for a reason... how dangerous it is...'

He froze then, his knees beginning to shake as a new possibility struck him to the core: 'Unless she did not leave on her own accord.'

Erik had made many enemies in his time here: everyone from the poorest peasants to the most influential princes cursed the very ground he walked upon for his work as an assassin alone. But he had never allowed himself to become vulnerable enough for them to strike back at him, never so much as made his affections for another human being even somewhat detectable. But now, he had a fiancé-to-be... and the entire city knew it, thanks to the Shah's sadistic delight at his discomfort in public.

"Oh God..." he said aloud in a trembling tone barely over a whisper. He could see it; he could see it as clearly as if it were happening right before his eyes. They had burst into the wing while she was lounging with her tea, dragged her off to some dark, dank location where no one would hear her screams... then torture her for revenge or ransom...

He could hear her screaming, crying... the confusion in her voice as to who was doing this and why, the torment and pain, the betrayal as she shouted out for him to come save her from this agony... that he had promised to protect her... that this was all his doing, his fault, and that she would never forgive him for this...

He burst out the front doors, sweat pouring down his forehead as he put his mask back on, calling for her once more in the quickly dying hope that she had snuck out to go on a walk somewhere other than within the safe walls of the garden. He had found in his thorough searches of the wing that there was no sign whatsoever of a struggle, so perhaps this all was just a big misunderstanding, and she was just happily wandering the grounds somewhere. But still, his cries went unanswered. So, he sprinted to Nadir's section of the wing, pounding on the door. "Nadir! Open this door immediately! Serena is missing, and if you do not have some evidence to offer as to where she could have gone—"

The door swung open with a groan, resulting from the abuse of his pounding fists, cutting his demand off prematurely. But his heart nearly stopped when he saw that no one, not even timid Darius, was standing behind it.

He took a few steps inside, looking around for any traces of activity. Perhaps his friend had simply not yet returned from his rounds... but no! He had seen him leave this morning, and he always returned before he did from the day's work! And besides... even if he was still out, why was Darius not patiently awaiting his arrival home?

There was something terribly wrong, and it appeared to involve the only people he had fully trusted in his entire life. In fact, the only people he had ever trusted, including a woman who had done nothing but accept him since she had arrived on his doorstep, terrified and far from home. A woman he now realized he had come to care for more than he had ever imagined— he was no longer simply trying to make the best of a situation neither of them had wanted in the first place. In the few weeks he had known her, his entire life had come to revolve around protecting and interacting and caring for Serena... she was a sunlit window over days that would otherwise be shrouded in black shadows. And he was finding it harder every single day he spent with her to imagine a life without her by his side... harder to deny that his heart leapt at the thought ofgetting to marry her...

And with that in mind, his thoughts snapped into cold, efficient action. He knew that there was only one man in the kingdom powerful enough that he could make the chief of police disappear without being questioned about it... and it was the same man who had looked upon Serena with lust since the moment he had brought her here. And that would explain why there was no sign of struggle throughout the wing; the Shah's manipulation skills had been well learned from his dreadful mother. A few threatening words from him— perhaps even ones promising the jeopardizing of his own safety— and Serena's generous heart would have had her marching out the door without a fight. Erik's trembling turned from terror to utter rage as he envisioned that toad of a man getting anywhere near his beautiful blind companion, let alone what he could be doing to her at this very moment...

The remaining blood in his veins drained from his cheeks as those horrific images danced across his imagination. He had to find her and protect her from any of the harms her captors had planned for her. And though he did not yet know for certain who was responsible for the disappearances, he was going to find out, beginning with an investigation of the most likely culprits... and oh, would they pay.

~o~0~o~

The little girl led Nadir and Serena to a dilapidated little cottage with no glass windowpanes. The second they got within a hundred feet of it, Nadir knew with a shiver that the child had been telling the truth, from the agonized moans and sobs he heard drifting through the air.

The entered the house and beheld a sight which made both of their stomachs turn. Just as the girl had said, a woman lay in the middle of the floor, one of her legs stained almost entirely red from blood apart from a splash of white where the fractured bone protruded. Nadir was completely unprepared for such a sight, his only experience with mutilated human flesh being the unfortunate occasions in which Erik revealed his face to him. But Serena, on the other hand, did not bat an eye before running to the young woman's side, putting her hands down gently onto the wound to begin inspecting it.

"Nadir, I hear several very frightened children in the corner. I need you to tell them that everything is going to be fine, and that their mother will be on the road to recovery in no time," she demanded over her shoulder without turning her head away from, "Then continue speaking to them, invent anything and everything to keep them from hearing me set the bone."

The Daroga felt slightly lightheaded as he watched the woman's blood cover Serena's soft, white hands, but he quickly sighted the three children and the little girl who had brought them here and hurried over to them.

"Do not worry, children," he started soothingly, speaking just louder than his normal speaking voice in order to mask Serena's work, "My friend here has the skills of a doctor, and she has taken care of many injuries like your mother's before..."

As Nadir began to ramble on to the children, Serena leaned down and whispered to the woman, "Hello, Madame. My name is Serena. I am going to fix your leg, alright? I am very practiced in the field of medicine, and I do not require any payment in return. But your bone is misplaced, so I need to set it back in its correct spot. It might hurt a little when I do. Do you think you can keep yourself from shouting, so as not to scare your children?"

The woman had reached out to grip her hands tightly as soon as she had knelt down, and because of this, Serena felt her silent agreement without having to touch her face or otherwise reveal to the woman that she was blind. That was usually a detail she preferred to share after the procedure had successfully taken place...

"Very good, Madame. Alright, I'm going to count to three then. Squeeze my shoulder if you get uneasy," she instructed the woman softly.

The woman's trembling body shifted with another nod as Nadir's assurances persisted behind them... "She is a very smart lady, from a country far away called France..."

"One..."

"And she came here to meet my friend Erik, who now would very much like to marry her..."

"Two..."

"They would make a good pair, I think. For my friend Erik is very smart too, and knows about medicine just as much as Serena does!"

"Three."

There was a sickening pop and a strangled moan as Serena set the bone back into the woman's leg, but Nadir somehow managed to keep the children transfixed on his storytelling through his queasiness. But he did not have to keep it up for much longer before Serena once again called back to him. "Thank you, Nadir. Now, see if the oldest child would be able to run and fetch me some warm water. As soon as you see him or her off, I need you to go purchase a few herbs for me. Quickly, we do not have much time," she ordered, then carried on by tearing off several strips of cloth from her sleeves. Nadir averted his eyes, unwilling to shame her by looking at her torn clothes. But he made no movement towards the door.

"Serena, I cannot just leave you here on your own! It is not safe!" he objected firmly, trying not to look at the confused and beseeching eyes of the children.

At this Serena did turn, her face flashing with sparks of frustration and wrath that reminded him so much of Erik that he practically shivered. "Nadir, you know that I appreciate how you have constantly looked out for me in my time here. I value your friendship very much, but this woman may soon develop an infection, and if you are not out that door in the next minute to get me my herbs, I will be very, very angry with you."

And if "very, very angry" meant similarly to what it did when Erik was exercising it, he was not about to push the normally docile woman any more than that. She gave him the a list of the necessary treatments, and he was off as fast as his legs could carry him. But all he could think as he hunted for the herbs and balms in the market was, "Allah help them once they are finally wed... imagine the couple's arguments..."

~o~0~o~

"Enter..." drawled the Khanum, staring in boredom at the practically shriveled Venus Flytrap on the table next to her.

She had hardly finished voicing the admittance when Erik stormed into the room, the rage in his eyes brewing like a deadly storm. "Khanum," he spat spitefully.

At this, the fat old queen perked noticeably, "Erik, my pet! To what do I owe the honor of your visit—"

"Ser— my concubine is missing," he interrupted her in a low growl, bile gathering in his throat as he was forced to correct himself.

Now he had the Khanum's full attention. "Missing?" she breathed in near disbelief.

"Yes! Gone without a trace, with her daytime protectors, Nadir and his manservant, gone with her," he explained irritably.

The Khanum raised an eyebrow, but then sat up and smirked. "All three of them absent, hm? Perhaps she has eloped with one of them."

"I am in no mood for joking, woman!" Erik roared suddenly,taking a few threatening steps toward where she was seated on her throne, "And if I find out that anyone within the palace is responsible for this—"

"Erik," the Khanum hissed, her face darkening abruptly, "is that an accusation?"

"Who else would have such easy access to my quarters in the broad daylight, Madame?" he rumbled boldly, refusing to break from her acidic gaze.

The Khanum swelled with ire, but then stopped herself before she could retort and say something which might affect her greater plan negatively at a later date. Erik was reacting very strongly to the unexpected loss of the sickly little white girl... perhaps he had already fallen in love with her, as she had expected he would! Never mind that the despicable child was now missing... if she had finally had the sense to run away, Erik would no doubt be wounded in the coming weeks... and more importantly, vulnerable...

And who would be there to comfort him?

She bit back a triumphant grin, retaining a practically impeccable poker face that she had perfected after years of shrewd, treacherous diplomacy. "Fine. If you do not trust that neither I nor my son, nor any of the guards or diplomats, had anything to do with this outrageous heist, then you may keep searching for her on your own. But, if you come to your senses by the morning and still have not found her, I would be more than happy to offer you some troops to help you search."

Erik was not daft; he knew what the old snake was playing at. He would not fall for her falsified sweetness, and damned would he be if he accepted her assistance in finding the very woman she had more likely than not whisked away!

He turned on his heel without acknowledging her offer, stalking back towards the door. "I am very sorry to have disturbed you," he uttered in biting, mocking sarcasm, "Have a peaceful rest of your evening."

"Good luck finding your whore, Erik. Give her my regards when you do," the Khanum called after him in feigned innocence.

His hand stopped on the edge of the door, gripping it so tightly that she was surprised it did not splinter beneath his clutch. He did not satisfy her with any further response other than slamming the door behind him.

The Khanum grinned wolfishly. Whether the girl had run away and done her dirty work for her, or whether she would turn up and allow them to continue the courtship, it would appear that Erik had fallen in love with her. There had been times in the past few weeks when she had feared for her scheme... that their relationship was too strong and much too friendly for her to successfully manipulate them. But now, everything was falling into place... perhaps even sooner than she would have hoped, if the blind idiot had gone and drowned herself in one of the courtyard fountains.

She turned her attention back to the Flytrap, noticing a tiny flash of green toward the bottom of its stalk... it was not dying at all, was it? Simply preparing to be reborn into a magnificence of improved and greater proportions...

A/N: Uh oh! Sounds like the Khanum's nasty schemes have only begun to set in place. That cannot be good news for our already so worrisome couple! But hey... she thinks that Erik has already fallen in love with Serena (cough cough IT'S ABOUT TIME!). And if she can see love in the air, in her heartless state, it's got to be there! ...Right?

How about Erik's reaction to finding Serena gone?

Serena's medical skills? I mean, where did that come from? Phew! She is one tough lady. I would not have been able to do the same in her shoes while staying so gosh darned calm!

Tell me your thoughts! I was even a good little author and got you an early chapter this week! Any predictions... suggestions... concerns?

QOT(mid)W: Have any useful little/secret talents like our dear blind friend?

~DonJuana