The throaty crowd rumbled incessantly, its swarm-like timbre shuddering through the fibres of the heir of Noxus. A cacophony of female shrieks, childlike whoops and masculine roars of anticipation wrapped around her, deadening her brain and reducing her resolve to a quivering wreck. She snuck a tense breath in, trying to ignore the uncomfortable trickle of adrenaline prickling under her arms, and chanced a glance at her future husband. Darius seemed unfazed by the drum of expectation outside; if anything, he had a disinterested expression on his cragged face as he gazed onto the crowd from afar. She studied his disinterested face curiously: a small, bizarre part of her was irritated and offended at his lack of emotion, but a larger part was terrified of his foreboding presence. His wolf's face was permanently gnarled into a snarl, one peony battle scar slithering across his left eye. The ranger knew that the scar had come from Garen, and she felt a surge of pride in her former commander as she surveyed the painful groove in her fiancé's profile. She fought to prevent her wan face from crumpling as she realised he had been right all along. The captain had always warned her that her free spirit and hot-headedness would get her into trouble one day; she had always put his acerbic comments down to his elitist attitude and out-of-touch morality, but she could not deny their truth.

'Honestly, when will you ever grow up? When will you learn to not put yourself and those around you in unnecessary danger?'

'I, as your commander, will have no blood on my hands, because I know that you'll only have had yourself to blame. I've warned you enough times, but it never seems to get into your head.'

'You always were trouble, Quinn. I can't believe I let Xin sucker me into ever hiring you. Good riddance.'

The tears of shame came before she was ready for them, their salt burning into her clammy skin as she turned away to hide them. She knew nothing – not even being half-Noxian – had warranted Garen laying into her so spitefully as often as he had. Yet also she knew she had often been at fault for stoking his wrath in the first place. What on Valoran would he say once he found out that she had married his arch enemy? The man who had caused her people so much pain over the years? He was the true antithesis to the proud, loud, bolshy Demacian: hardened, quiet and entirely unreadable. The ranger's eyes curled down to her delicate hand resting in the rigid crook of his left arm, wondering if he could shatter its vulnerable bones if he folded it any tighter. Though he rarely missed a chance to voice his disdain, he had not yet raised a hand to his fiancée. Would that change once they were married? Would she ever leave Noxus alive if she betrayed him? She trembled as his right hand sharply readjusted her slackening grip of his arm, desperately trying to hide the tear tracks glistening on her thin cheekbones. She knew chivalry was an alien concept in Noxus; true equality came in all forms, and that made her fair game for his fury.

'Stop it! You're showing me up,' the Hand of Noxus snarled under his breath. Her dulled eyes cautiously flickered back up to him and silently caught the frosted green glass of his own, though she could not suppress one disloyal sob from wracking her small frame. 'Tears are for the weak, little girl. They'll do you no good now.'

'Crying is not a sign of weakness,' she hiccupped through her tears. 'Shutting down to the world and not accepting your emotions is, though.'

'What do you mean?' Darius asked snippily, ripping his intense stare away from her to look back at the rowdy audience ahead as he tutted at the delay.

'You told me I wasn't born here – that I didn't struggle here. But I know you did. Is that why you are so horrible to people? Because you've never come to terms with your past?'

'Don't try and pretend I'm some horrific monster to everyone, Demacian,' he growled back, though she was perversely satisfied with the sudden defensive tension in his bulky shoulders. 'Only to those who deserve it.'

'But what have I done to deserve your wrath?' she pushed despite herself, her tears soon evaporating on her steaming face with her boiling anger. 'I was only rude to you when I met you because you were rude to me first. If it's because Jericho prefers me to you, then is that not more of a problem between yourselves, rather than you and I?'

'Try and get into my mind one more time and I'll destroy yours,' he hissed, his quieter tone placing Quinn even more ill at ease than his bellicose anger. He seized hold of her skinny forearm and dragged her towards him until they were nose-to-nose, the spit from his gnashing sabre teeth splashing against her face. 'I'm not afraid to break you down and build you up again until you're the perfect pawn. I will dismantle your personality and individuality inch by inch and bit-by-bit if necessary - and I won't stop until you've lost sight of yourself and all the pathetic, fantastical beliefs you currently stand for.' Quinn squirmed under his rough grip, but he butted his bull's head against her forehead and refused to relinquish the titanium hold on her arm. His narrowed eyes suddenly blazed in derangement and she shrunk away from their almighty power. She knew she had awoken the demon inside and wished she could lul it back to sleep, her heart jolting with the sudden flip in their conversation.

'You want to know what I've seen, Demacian?' Darius roared into her scrunched face. 'You want to know why I'm not marrying you for love?'

'Because you don't love me?' she offered meekly, not quite daring to meet his gaze.

'Because I'm not capable of love,' he corrected sharply, though his locked jaw did not match the flitting vulnerability in his deadened eyes. 'No one is if you grow up an orphan on the wrong side of Noxus. I don't love. I don't even like. I respect someone or I don't. End of.'

'I grew up an orphan too,' the ranger replied quietly, trying to hold onto the vague humanity that had glinted in his haunted stare. 'I know what it's like to struggle. I know it hurts.'

'Do you know what it's like to slit a man's throat at the age of ten?' the Noxian countered roughly, unable to contain the shadowed memories that screamed in his intense stare. 'Do you know what it's like to fend off lecherous madames and lonely sailors trying to take advantage of your younger brother on the streets? I fought and clawed and scrapped for every slither of food we ate; for every stich of clothing we could find. I took care of him when I didn't have to – when I could have left him starving and freezing on the kerb with all the other Noxian kids impoverished by wartime Demacian blockades. He was holding me back from finding work, but I did everything I could to keep him alive because I knew he wouldn't survive the Noxian winter without me. I kept him safe from all bad influences.'

'That sounds like love to me, Darius,' Quinn whispered painfully, trying to fathom what he had just told her without triggering his volcanic temper. 'You put him ahead of your own needs. You didn't even think about it - it was instinctive. It was love.'

'It wasn't love, little girl,' the Hand of Noxus mocked, though he loosened his grip and stood back from her, his heavy shoulders dropping. 'It was fate. Jericho met me through him.'

'But you weren't to know that when you were keeping him safe,' she protested quietly. 'I don't get it – you've made it. You're the grand commander of Noxus, second only to my grandfather. You've fought your way to the top and are respected and feared in equal measure across the land. Why do you need to marry me?'

'I didn't need to marry anyone until I realised the direction Noxus could be going in under a war floozy,' he snapped, ignoring her bristle of anger at the jibe. 'I would never, ever kill Jericho. I owe everything to him and would kill myself before I let anything happen to him. But I also can't kill you either because it would destroy him and the regime might be handed down to someone even less suitable than you. I can't take that risk.'

'What if I just give Noxus to you when he passes?' she breathed tensely, indicating the blood red ruby glimmering on her slim hand. 'We can still undo this if you'd just let me go. We haven't announced anything officially yet. Please, Darius. It's not too late.'

'Jericho named you as the official heir to Vladimir as soon as you called him your grandfather,' the Hand of Noxus growled, shaking his head as his icy gaze fixated on her small form. 'It's in the record books now – and I don't know the magic to undo it. But what's there to say that you won't lay dormant until his death and then try to usurp me with your blood line? God knows what you would do to this country. I'm not letting that happen.'

'Please?' Quinn mumbled, desperately seizing hold of his hand as his nose wrinkled in disgust. 'You know I'm of no real threat to you, Darius – you said so yourself. I'll renounce my claim to the Noxian High Command and use my power to rewrite the succession order.'

'It doesn't work like that,' Darius mused, his fat lip curling in disapproval as he listened to her naivety. 'The only way a new heir can be named is if the old one dies. And much as I would savour your death,' he added darkly, sending a shiver jittering down her spine, 'I can't kill you without automatically losing my right to rule Noxus. Jericho put a spell in place with Vladimir to protect his daughter – to ensure that if any future rival tried to topple her as the heir, karma would be swiftly delivered. Damn primitive Vastayan blood magic – crude but effective. Because you are her only living heir, that protection moves on to you.'

Quinn perked up briefly at the news that she was more use to Darius alive than dead, but was puzzled by his sudden candidness. 'Why are you telling me all of this? Do you just enjoy toying with your prey before you kill it?'

'I'm telling you because I want you to know that marrying you really was my last resort,' he muttered, his demonic mood having finally ebbed from his body as he turned back to gaze towards the audience. 'Now stand to attention – we're on next.'

Suddenly, the aforementioned blood mage scurried through the tent's curtain towards the betrothed couple. Quinn immediately clocked the strained expression on his ethereal face, and she felt Darius subconsciously grasp her hand harshly. 'Vladimir? What's going on?'

'Grand Commander,' he acknowledged tersely, his white orbed eyes fixing upon the hulking Noxian. 'Blue skies. I repeat, blue skies. It's what we feared.'

The ranger noticed how Darius' heavy jaw slackened at the coded news. He cleared his throat roughly, ignoring the sweaty mush of his hand over Quinn's as he glared at the Crimson Reaper. 'Why couldn't you send someone else to tell me? Have you not told the High Commander yet? We're wasting time here!'

'The General is not here, Darius,' Vladimir confirmed gravely, seemingly desensitised to his temper. 'The guard have taken precautions are being taken with him, but that is making him exceedingly hard to locate. Quinn is meant to take his place to represent the Swains.'

'I need to speak to Draven,' the Hand of Noxus muttered darkly, dropping Quinn's hand to the side as he began to take off through back passages of the Fleshing Arena. 'Keep an eye on her!' he flung over his bulky shoulder as he disappeared down a corridor.

'Blues skies- a Demacian code word, I presume?' Quinn asked curiously, trying in vain to douse the hopeful fire that had ignited in her belly. 'Have they been spotted in Noxus?'

'They're here right now,' Vladimir responded, though the ranger was confused as a rare toothy grin spread across the blood mage's pointed face. She was astounded by the transformative powers of his warm smile, before he winked one of his milky eyes behind her. She spun around on her heel and her heart jackhammered in shock as her eyes befell upon-

'Lux?'

Crownguard sapphire eyes gazed back at her as the mage nodded her head, her golden ringlets bouncing animatedly. What stunned the ranger even more was the slim, pink hand extended out towards her, Lux's uncharacteristically dirty nails gleaming in the firelight. Quinn stood rooted to the spot, unable to take her hand even if she wanted to, and the Lady of Luminosity let her hand wither to the floor, though she did not look surprised.

'Hello, Quinn,' her syrupy voice uttered softly, her eyes flickering in uncertainty to Vladimir, who nodded encouragingly at her. 'I never thought I'd say this, but it's…good to see you.'

The ranger remained dumbfounded, startled at having seen a real-life Demacian in the flesh for the first time in months. Granted, it was not particularly the one she wanted to have met, but seeing Luxanna Crownguard materialise in front of her served as a startling, concrete reminder of life outside of Noxus. Quinn cleared her parched throat and attempted to say something, but the words stuck in her pallet and she simply turned to Vladimir. 'What is this?'

'An opportunity to get you out,' the Noxian confirmed, his pearly eyes settling on her in excitement. 'Luxanna and I were contemporaries at the College of Magic when Demacians and Noxians were still allowed to train with each other. I would never refuse to help her.'

'But…this is treason,' Quinn whispered starkly, her widened golden eyes roving between the two unlikely allies. 'On both parts, surely?'

Lux tittered, her pealing laughter suddenly less intimidating when not laced with malice. 'Oh, no! Don't tell me we're too late, Vladimir – she might call her fiancé back to execute us.'

The ranger shook her head firmly. 'No, I mean…Vladimir, I thought you were one of them?'

'I was,' he shrugged, moving to stand nearer Lux as he placed his hands on her thin shoulders. 'Until I studied alongside Demacians. Until I saw that the 'enemy' and we Noxians are two sides of the same coin. Lux showed me that the Demacians were not to be feared, but to be admired. Katarina's not the only Noxian who wants Swain gone, you know.'

'And you?' Quinn enquired of Lux, her overloaded mind slowly trying to piece the puzzle together. 'Why are you here?'

'I'm here to make amends,' the light mage admitted nervously, and suddenly her youth shined through her normally haughty face. 'You were right. I let my personal interests get in the way of what's best for Demacia. Missing a Wings of Demacia is not worth marrying a man who doesn't even love me. As we edge closer to war, that's becoming apparent.'

The ranger was not sure if she was more stunned by Lux's appearance or her admission that her archnemesis was right. She blinked in a momentary daze before her soldier's training kicked back in. 'We've not much time until Darius comes back. What's your plan from here? Do I cause a distraction? How are we getting home?'

'Vladimir is staying here for as long as he needs to,' Lux explained quickly, throwing the blood mage a look of admiration. 'He recognises that he will need to keep chipping away at the Swain regime from within until it topples. I will cause the distraction, and you need to run straight to Vladimir in order to smuggle you out. We have a certain accomplice who will take you back to Demacia, but I can't reveal them to you because Swain may find out.'

'So we're going to let the engagement be announced?' Quinn asked in horror, her eyes flitting nervously between her saviours and the Fleshing Arena in the distance. 'But that'll be too late. The crowd will know who I am then. That will complicate things.'

'It needs to seem as if you're safe to the Noxians in order to avoid any further suspicion. That's why you'll be running straight to Vladimir, who is still a trusted member of Swain's inner circle.'

'But what about the Demacians?' the ranger asked Lux. 'They'll think I'm a Noxian.'

'No, they won't. I've seen the truth – they will too,' she responded firmly, the alien emotion of pity washing over her sapphire gaze. 'They know I'm not going to defend you without good reason. I know this is hard, Quinn, but you're going to have to trust me. We may never be the best of friends, but we are Demacians. Ultimately, that counts for more than anything.'

She turned to Vladimir, who patted Lux's shoulder and nodded at her, and to the dainty Demacian. Shaking her head, the ranger threw caution to the wind and finally shook Lux's hand. 'I have nothing to lose, but everything to gain…if you are both telling the truth.'

'I'm sorry for everything,' the rainbow mage uttered sincerely, tears brimming in her eyes.

'No time to be sorry,' Quinn replied sharply. 'Getting us all out alive is the perfect apology.'

I I

The heir to Noxus kept twitching on her wooden seat as she tensed during today's Fleshing session. She tried to not give away the fact that she was searching the crowd for any sign of Lux's diversion, but her heart thudded as she thought Darius caught sight of her jittering eyes once or twice. He leant back in his own seat within the V.I.P. box of the Arena, letting the adrenaline of the engagement announcement and false alarm sap from his sinewy limbs.

'That bloody vampire,' he spat in annoyance. 'Causing a scene and a delay for absolutely nothing. The crowd's restless and bored now.'

'I don't know how they can be bored with this,' Quinn replied in disgust as she watched her future brother-in-law slice yet another screaming soul into ribbons. 'Or maybe they just tune out the horrors of unnecessary bloodshed now because they're so used to it. The perfect priming for the next generation of Noxian bloodlust and conquering.'

'Keep your voice down,' Darius growled into her ear as he pulled her head onto his shoulder in a faux show of affection. 'The announcement went down better than I expected. Don't you dare jinx it with your sour face and incessant moaning.'

'No problem, darling,' she hissed at him, snuggling into the crook of his arm simply for the warmth of his solid torso against the bitter Noxian winter.

Her grandfather was nowhere to be seen following Vladimir's false alarm regarding a Demacian invasion. She knew that Noxian intelligence had not taken the risk of exposing him to an unsafe environment, so the ranger replaced him. Quinn wondered, however, how the audience would have reacted had they known her Demacian heritage, but she was grateful that Darius had adopted an uncharacteristically measured way of easing Noxus into the news of a new potential heir to Noxus. Removing that potential bounty from her head made her successful escape even more likely, and the flicker of hope dared to lick her gut once more.

'Now, ladies and gentlemen-!' her abhorrent brother-in-law drawled, wiping the slick blood off his shimmering axes as his latest victim crumpled to the Arena's dusty ground. She had only met Draven once prior to the engagement announcement, and did not approve of the way his wild eyes had roved down her body as he was introduced to her. She found a sick irony in the fact that the little boy who had been preyed on so much would turn out to be the predator; her empathy had been stretched to breaking point as his smudged hands brushed against her chest and curved along her bottom when he hugged his new 'sister'. She shuddered as he now raised an axe to his brother and sister-in-law during his announcement.

'In celebration of my brother and his beautiful bride's engagement, I have a special treat for all of you beautiful people today!' Draven called out, stoking the excitement of the braying crowd. 'One for each of the happy couple! I give you – the timely death of two Ionians!'

The crowd buzzed like locusts as the two unfortunate prisoners were flung out of the arena gates onto the ground. The blood in Quinn's veins froze over as she recognised the matted mane and chocolate locks of the two Ionians, and she spun furiously away from Akali and Yasuo to glare at her future husband's smirking face.

'No! NO! Darius! What the hell is this?'

'Pragmatism,' he mused thoughtfully as the fighters were kicked by the guards into standing up, causing Quinn to clasp her hands across her mouth in distress. 'That little Ionian tart has been distracting Jhin from his work too much since she was captured, and we all know the warrior's affect on your silly little heart. Best to kill two birds with one stone.'

'They are my friends, and they are innocent,' she whispered painfully, scrabbling at his massive hands as she tried to get him to relent. 'Darius – please. Please don't do this.'

'You need to learn to stop caring,' he replied coldly, his hand clamping down on hers as he pulled her closer to look at him. 'You won't make it a day here if you care about every unjust life that is lost. Face it, Quinn. This is your life now. Get used to it.'

She wriggled in his vicelike grip, trying to prise his sausage fingers off her wrist until he grabbed their intertwined hands with the other and flipped them underneath his armpit. Trying to contain the building hysteria in her chest, she hoped and prayed that Lux would make herself known before Akali or Yasuo got seriously hurt. She watched in fear as Draven ordered for the guards to nudge the competitors closer together with their swords, her heart breaking at the terror in Akali's face. One man gesticulated wildly at the warrior, who appeared to keep his mouth pinned shut despite the overt encouragement to hit Akali. Losing his patience, the other guard seized hold of Akali and painfully dug his fingers into the knobbly gristle between her collarbone and shoulder. Her squeal of pain was loud enough to raise goose bumps on Quinn's covered skin, and her heart was in her throat as Yasuo made to check on her; it sunk back into her chest as the man slashed across his face with his sword.

With the agitated crowd booing at the lack of action in the Arena, Draven's arrogant smile drooped into a disapproving frown as he shoved the guards aside. He began to spin his deadly axe in his wrapped hand, his dark laughter beginning to cascade across the cheering crowd as he pushed the guards aside on the way to his next kill.

Before the hunter could aim, however, there was an audible gasp as a third competitor emerged from the wings of the Arena. Kitted in nothing but a loincloth, armoured breastplate and a spear, the amphitheatre shook in delirium as the figure closed in on the battle. Quinn thought she would faint as she recognised the familiar flame of chocolate hair, build frame and suffering eyes of an old friend from back home. She felt weak as her head bumped against Darius' chest, before it lolled off as the Grand Commander leapt to his feet.

'That's not possible!' he roared incredulously, looking around at the equally confused Noxians in their box. 'Viscero?'

Quinn steeled herself to look at the unfolding scene as she saw Xin painted in his old war paint, trying to look as familiar as possible in order to seize the Noxians' attention. Wielding his spear, he strode forward to defend Akali and Yasuo. He was silent as recognition burnt into Draven's face and the Executioner stood still for once, unsure of how to react.

'For fuck's sake!' Darius bellowed into the tense air, his head snapping from left to right as he tried to locate the blood mage. 'Vladimir was telling the truth! Where is he-'

Suddenly, an explosion in the ground rocked the stadium and forced Darius to hold himself steady as he was nearly thrown onto Quinn. Spotting her chance, she dashed up and away.

Among the disorientated howling and panicked exodus, she fought through the crowd and tried to find Vladimir. More explosions of light popped throughout the stadium, and patches of seats smouldered as Lux flung spell after spell to cause the evacuation. She knew Lux would only be capable of keeping herself hidden for as long as her mana held up, and this pressing concern drove her leaded legs towards finding the blood mage. The ranger snuck a peek at the Arena battleground and was horrified to spot Xin being pounced on by a Noxian guard as Yasuo tried to help him. She nearly bounced straight off a stone of chest in front of her, and she yelped in fear until she saw it was Vladimir who was trying to get hold of her.

'Great, you're here!' he yelled over the ruckus. 'Come on, Quinn – we have to go. Lux will meet us at the prearranged spot to get you home.'

'Not yet!' she called back in panic, her eyes darting back to the overwhelmed Seneschal. 'My friends are down there – we have to get to them.'

'No time!' Vladimir called back, tucking Quinn under his arm as he frogmarched her away from the fighting. He was distracted, however, by a protracted, blood-curdling scream; Cassiopeia had located the source of the magic energy and now revealed Lux to the word as she convulsed in agony, dropping to the floor and frothing at the mouth.

'Lux!' Vladimir and Quinn both yelled out at the same time. Quinn wriggled out of Vladimir's weakening grip as she raced over to the light mage, her hating gaze boring into the serpent's lemon eyes as she laughed at the Demacian's pain.

'You vile, sick, twisted creature!' the ranger spat at her, gesturing down to the screaming Lux as she thrashed against the magic piercing her cells and bleeding into her veins. 'Let her go!'

'She's the one threatening innocent civilians!' Cassiopeia barked back, though she relented her spell for a moment as Lux spluttered and sobbed. She looked behind her towards Xin, who now began to stalk behind her with fury rippling in his cragged face, but she soon spotted Vladimir in the crowd and visibly relaxed before starting to slither away. 'Well, looks like my problem in keeping order is solved. See you both in prison, my darlings…'

Quinn ducked down to assist Lux as she passed out from the snake lady's torture, but the Noxian guard who had jumped on Xin knocked her out of the way first and slouched down to scoop the light mage. She protested and clawed at his iron-clad arm, until the warning snarl he gave her stopped her in his tracks. Peering through the narrow slit of his Noxian helmet, she was not sure her feeble heart could take another shock like this.

'Jarvan?'

The Prince did not acknowledge her hoarse cry as he held Lux close to his chest, but she knew it was him; what she was less prepared for was his familiar azure eyes blazing with disgust as they caught hers. He turned away from her and headed for the Arena exit.

'Jarvan! Jarvan, what are you doing? It's me, Qu-'

'I don't know who you are anymore,' he spat under his breath, supporting Lux's floppy head as she vomited and more foam splattered onto his shoulder. He shrugged off Quinn's hand from his shoulder as she tried to grab onto him. 'Let me tend to the wounded.'

'Aren't you Vladimir's accomplice? Jarvan, we have to go-'

'There is no 'we'!' he bellowed. 'There are Noxians and there are Demacians. And it's pretty obvious to me what side you're on.'

'What – no!' she shrieked, trying to keep up with his bustling speed as she grabbed at his arm. 'Jarvan – Jarvan, stop! I've been waiting for this moment ever since I got here! Why are you acting like this? What have I done wrong?'

'Oh, I don't know, Quinn!' he growled sarcastically, finally stopping to turn on her as the noise of the crowd throbbed around them. 'Marrying an enemy to the Demacian crown? Luring a Crownguard into danger? Being in cohorts with that demented serpeant?'

'I was shouting at Cassiopeia, not at Lux!' the ranger protested, her clammy face suddenly flushing with indignation. 'I've been held captive here for months and you're blaming me?'

'What am I supposed to think?' the Prince roared, ignoring Xin's frantic gesturing at him. 'I saw you cuddling up to that Noxian monster. I find out that you're here in place of your grandfather. I see you run over to Lux and suddenly she's in pain – but why is she even here? She's nothing to do with our rescue mission. You convinced her to leave us and go on the run just to exact your revenge because you were jealous of her.'

'Jarvan…!' Quinn began hysterically, her shoulders quaking as she tried to suppress tears of frustration in making him understand. 'You don't understand. I'm a Demacian! To call me a N-Noxian is an insult! I love our country! I love you! Please, Jarv-'

'Do not say my name again!' he thundered, his fury jolting Lux awake as she began to murmur incoherently. 'You are dead to me, Quinn, understand? Now get out of my way.'

'My Prince…' she muttered dazedly, pawing at his forearm, but he swatted her hand away like a irksome fly and pushed her away.

'Garen was right,' he declared huskily, as if trying to hold back tears himself. 'You really aren't worth the trouble.'

She let him slip away that time, her small hands closing on thin air as the Prince marched away from her, tilting the stirring Lux up to let her breathe as the ranger watched him reconvene with Xin. The Seneschal threw a concerned look at Quinn, his eyes creased in pain, but Jarvan shook his head and refused to look back as Twisted Fate suddenly appeared with Miss Fortune. She vaguely watched as Shen and that decrepit demon from Gangplank's ship also teleported into the scene and seized hold of Akali and Yasuo respectively. Rather than attempting to communicate with them, she was numb to the Arena brawl, and she did not even flinch when steel hands wrapped around the back of her neck.

'This is the last time you will ever leave my side again, Quinn,' her future husband murmured darkly into her ringing ear. 'The little fiasco that has transpired has you written all over it. This isn't what I would call being loyal to your husband. Come with me this instant.'

Having given him no response, Darius then span her round aggressively to face him, his forest green eyes swirling with malevolent intentions. 'No more games, little girl. We're getting married tomorrow. Midnight, in the High Commander's chapel. Be there.'

He relinquished his grip on the silent Quinn as he caught sight of Vladimir and stalked off, leaving her to crumple to the ground as the last flicker of hope drained from her frail body.