Valek shut his eyes briefly and tilted his head back. "You compromise me. He made it clear that if you were to continue with whatever it was you were doing, that that had to be fixed."

"So that's why you were always so adamant about knowing where I was and what I was doing at all times."

"If you ever did anything I didn't predict, like, say, steal an artifact that could tip the scales in Sitia's favor," He snuck a furtive glance toward her, "to the Commander it would mean that I'm either enabling you or growing careless. Or both."

Yelena found it difficult to breathe. Her hands clenched as her very lifeblood seemed to drain out of her.

She tried to think about it from his perspective. He had made a tactical decision in order to prevent committing treason and to keep her working over the years. Her gaze turned inwards and suddenly all she could see was his undying patience as he took her railings over the safehouses and undercover operatives. She imagined there was a dilemma in him as he schemed to let her believe she was making real progress in her work. Work that he knew was so dear to her.

And yet he had unwoven that very tapestry while continuing to whisper encouragements into her ear that she was close; that she only needed to work at it a little longer; a few more nights of working herself blind into details he'd undo before the coming morning.

"If you had told me all of this from the start I might not be this angry." Yelena swung her legs over the bed and stood, bracing against the cold of the floor. "We might have even been able to come up with a mutually beneficial solution and I wouldn't have had to start building my own spy network."

She frowned and watched as he stood as well and went to the balcony doors.

"I wanted to many times." He shut his eyes and rubbed his temples. "But there was never a good time or place to do so."

"Is that supposed to be an excuse?" Nevertheless, seeing his remorse made some of the fire die.

"No. There's nothing I can do to make this better." Valek turned to face her.

"I never needed you to protect me like this, Valek." Yelena said quietly, crossing her arms. "You've been going at this the wrong way."

"Don't be ridiculous. The Commander-"

"...Has decided to threaten my life. As had the Sitian Council. As had even my own clan at one point if you'll recall." She took his hands, her eyes searching him intently. "There will always be someone. That doesn't mean I can just go run and hide and call it a day."

"And I'm just supposed to stand by and let you put yourself in danger?"

"It isn't too different from me watching you do the same. Even if you did become more of a desk jockey the last couple of years with Ari, Janco, and Maren's respective promotions." She said it with a smile but he didn't return it.

"This is not the same." Valek pulled his hands away. "I can't think of a greater danger to you than the Commander."

"Because you've never beaten him in a knife fight?"

He gave her a look that was an odd cross between dismay and resignation.

"And he will never send you after me." She approached him. "At this point I believe it is quite obvious that killing me will be a great deal more trouble than it's worth. Even if Sitia goes to war and Ixia has the upper hand, the result is still the same: meaningless loss of lives. Ambrose will always care about his people, no matter how ruthless he becomes."

It worked, at least partly. The mask had begun to crack. Valek shook his head regardless. "What if you're wrong? What then?"

"Then we'll regroup. The way we always would for an undercover mission that went wrong."

"You make it all sound so simple."

She shrugged. "I can be pretty good at getting what I want."

Valek smiled in spite of himself.

Yelena took his face in hers. She pressed her forehead to his. "You have always been in an impossible position because of your love. I understand that now. And I am sorry for the grief I must have brought you."

Valek snatched at her hands and urgently pulled her into his arms. His heart drummed rapidly in her ear. "I would still choose this, Yelena. I would choose this every time."

"But I can't stop." Her voice caught. "I need to do this work."

"I know. That's why we are going to find a way to ensure you will…immaterial of whether or not we stay together."

Yelena pulled away abruptly.

Valek tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I can't have you be with me out of obligation."

"It's not an obligation, Valek. I love you. Even when I was furious, I never stopped."

"It would appear that the Commander was right about one thing." Valek smiled sardonically. "This is beyond our romance."

Yelena nodded her agreement. "And we need to start acting like it is."

Arcane sat up slowly, cursing. They hadn't bound his hands but they did leave him face down on a dungeon floor that reeked of piss and other unmentionable things. "You'd think being a General's son means a fella would be able to get a bit more respect around here." He muttered.

He blinked in the unmitigated darkness. The barred window was too high up for moonlight to be able to effectively stream in and the torches had not yet been lit.

Arcane stood up and did a precursory sweep for anything that could be used as a means for escape or defense. He placed his hands on his hips. The sound of flickering torchlight from the left caught his attention.

He pressed tightly up against the wall, making every attempt to remain still in spite of his thundering heartbeat. How Yelena managed to do this every other day for kicks and giggles will never cease to amaze him.

"Well, this is interesting." A familiar, disembodied voice rang out in the darkness. "I ask for a Soulfinder and you bring me this instead."

Arcane's eyebrows pulled together as he searched his pounding head for the owner of that voice.

"She was with Valek at all hours of the day." A woman's voice answered in the most reasonable of tones. "He even personally escorted her across the border. Going after her prior to that would have been suicide and capturing her in Sitia would have ignited a war."

"That voice of yours may put Tesso on his hands and knees at your feet but I find it perfectly grating." The man spoke again. "And at this point, I am feeling quite...short tempered." There was a whisper of a blade being unsheathed.

Arcane shut his eyes as he strained to remember. A flash of medals and the door of his father's office closing. Years ago when he was still young enough to beg for paternal attention with a ball held between two hands. A vicious, muffled argument that was quickly escalating.

"Patience." The Reasonable voice continued, unperturbed. "It is not difficult to understand. You will have the Soulfinder. She will come for him."

He barked out a savage laugh. "If you believed any of those rumors, then you are clearly more incompetent than I thought."

"Rumors so persistent often have more than a little grain of truth in them, do they not?" She pressed on. "The fact that any of Valek's second-in-commands would have been more difficult to capture and retain aside, it would have risked unwanted attention."

There was a sharp intake of breath and drag of feet against the floor. The torch light flickered violently. The man spoke again. "Let me make something perfectly clear. Every breath you take at this point is a risk to me. You have one more week. Fail me again and I will drop your gutted body within an inch of its worthless life on Valek's doorstep."

A rough rustle of fabric as the woman was released.

"This won't bring him back." She spoke in a low voice. "Your son is dead and nothing will ever change that."

"No. But I want her dead all the same." Footsteps receded.

Arcane's eyes widened at last with shattering recognition. He clutched the bars of his prison helplessly.

This was bad. This was very, very bad.

Brazell.

So it's really been a couple of years since I wrote anything. Life and pandemics really do have a way to make just about everything to do with writing difficult. Anyways, for people who have been reading or who may have kept this somewhere on a virtual shelf somewhere, I'm committed to finishing these stories, especially, gasp, Sieges Weathered. I still appreciate and love all reviews. 3