So that's why I ended up in his dim, shadowy office, sitting on a chair and breathing heavily, containing myself and pinching the insides of my palm very hard as Lord Wyldon sat calmly in his chair across me.

'Reem,' he said with a gruff, buggered voice.

I sucked in my breath and wished for patience and looked up to meet dangerous, stubborn eyes and I just couldn't look into them without breaking into tears. I was just so whacked out. The adrenaline rush that had surged through me before had dwindled to nothing and I slacked back into the chair and my mind spinning at a dangerous rate.

'Reem,' he repeated more sternly, causing my head to spin further.

I groaned and looked up. 'What?'

'I—'

A knock on the door interrupted the beginning of his lecture.

Roald came in and I knew it was Roald before turning around because let's face it, his alluring smell could be recognized from the other side of town. Well, no, not really. But I was calming down. Thanks to my exhaustion.

'Lord Wyldon,' the Prince began with a soft but stubborn voice, 'I saw all that happened'—really?—'and it's not really her fault. My friends were having a rather personal conversation when a fight between them broke out and one of the boys ended up unconscious—and that boy happened to be Reem's closest friends. What was she to do but knock on our doors and demand they be opened so she could hear what he had to say for himself? I find no err in what she did.'

Why thank you, Roald! Now I'm worse than in deep shit. I'm going to be the shit.

Lord Wyldon raised an "I'm-so-totally-not-impressed" eyebrow. 'Really? Well it happens to be that I find a huge "err" in what this young lady has done, but I am far too busy to deal with such idiocies, send the squire—the conscious one—to me, I'll leave the King to deal with her. The squire I can deal with without getting headaches.'

I smiled mock-gratefully and got up and sourly left the room, muttering curses on my way. Roald was ever faithful at my side.

'Can you believe him?' I snapped. 'I "erred"? I'm not the one who threw punches at my mate and got him unconscious and—'

'No, you're the one who nearly choked the squire to death,' Roald pointed out so unnecessarily and if that was his way of winning my poor maiden's heart, he was in for a big shock. Not that he was and not that I was thinking he was.

So I did what I do best, I growled at him. 'I do not bloody think that I could have stayed by Khalil's side and thought "Oh, my best friend's been bashed, why don't I go give that squire a big, nice hug! He did such a neat job after all!"'

I rolled my eyes with utter impatience at him and entered my room, to find Sandry talking non-stop to Khalil and I did not like the look in her eyes one single tiny microscopic bit. Where was Serena when you needed her? And where, in that matter, was Hayley?

To cut myself some slack, I stood there quietly for a few seconds and then let myself go. 'Hey, you, cow. Get away from him and get out of the room. I'm very tired at the moment and I don't have enough strength to kick you out, but my friend here, yes the Prince, will gladly kick you and your silly, embarrassing face out of here.'

Her face turned red and her eyes widened in outrage. So I nodded to Roald and he so reliably went over to the cow and dragged her out, just as she called me a very nasty name I am far too innocent to remember.

Khalil merely lay there, breathing calmly.

I went over to him and dragged a chair to his side, forcing a smile. But he could see right through me, being my best friend and all.

'Don' smye if you don' wan' 'oo,' he said, which I understood, again being his best friend and all. He'd said 'don't smile if you don't want to'.

But I wasn't interested in smiles. 'What the hell happened Khalil? Why did you guys get so macho on each other?'

'I hur' you ouso go' 'n'oo a—' (I heard you also got into a—)

'Don't you dare change the subject!' I snapped. 'Now tell me.'

'It wath nothin'!'

'Oh, sure, people start bashing each other cause like, its so totally the rage of today! Better start talking, Khalil, or I will break a few of your bones,' I assured him aggressively.

He made a face—well he couldn't really, but he managed to get me to notice that he was making a face and not just squinting at me. 'I wath talkin' no'mawy to him 'bout you 'n' then he thtarted makin' fun of you and thayin all thith bullthit and I let my tun' thlip and he let hith thlip 'n' we go' into eesh other'th throath,' he explained patiently.

(I was talking normally to him about you and then he started making fun of you and saying all this bullshit and I let my tongue slip and let he let his slip and we got into each other's throats)

'Oh, wonderful, glad I have such a tough, you-run-I'll-fight, I'm-so-tough- I-could-take-on-a-dinosaur-and-only-end-up-in-a-gazillion-pieces, best friend! But I can fight my own wars thank you very much. If your jaw wasn't already wrecked, I'd break it for you! I'm not a coward you know.'

I turned around to see Roald till hanging around near the door politely looking away from us. So Princely.

'Hey, Prince Charming, you can go. Thanks a lot—you know about the Stump thing.' I put on my fakest, most grateful smile.

'I thaid don't thmile if you don' mean it!' Khalil croaked in a burst of anger.

Roald left with a grin as I turned around to glare at Khalil. 'Shut up, will you! God, couldn't the Healer have ripped out your vocal cords up to make you and everyone else happy! And no, don't give me that hurt look, I know you'd love to rip mine out any day!'

The poor thing had to try to grin nastily, which ended in the pain shooting through his mouth again. 'Take it easy!' I said, my voice full of worry. 'Ok, I won't be the hilarious me again, I'll be boring.'

'That'th not vewy hard for you,' he said.

I shot him a warning glare before smacking his head. 'Fine then, I'm a gorgeous, boring babe!'

He rolled his eyes.

I felt a hand rest over mine and squeeze gently. I looked up at him and smiled, brushing away the strand of escaped hair from over his eyes. 'Don't get into fights too much, will you? I'd like to keep my sanity around this place.'

'You know I couldth hear you thcreamin' your ath off from over here?' he told me. (You know I could hear you screaming your ass off from over here?)

I laughed and blushed. 'Yeah well, I got my punishment for that,' I said, remembering Lord Wyldon and shuddering at the thought of what he would have done to me if Roald hadn't saved me. Again.

So I ended up borrowing someone's bedroll and slept on the floor, allowing Khalil—who I thought owed me big time—to sleep on my comfortable, soft bed. It wasn't an easy choice but you didn't seem to have a choice when it concerned your best friend—or so I found out anyway.