AN: I am so, so sorry for not updating this in a whole year and a half! But real life is real life. And I've had the worst writer's block with this story. Anyway, this is only a preview of the chapter to come. I'll try to make it longer than the last two updates but I just wanted to get something up so you guys would know that this story is still alive and kicking. I repeat, this is only a preview of chapter six. I'll get it up sometime in the next few days. I'm starting school on the 18th but I will squeeze some writing time in. Again, I apologize for the long, long, extremely long delay and I hope someone is still reading this.

Chapter 6

He heard her sigh for the third time in as many minutes and closed his eyes in annoyance. He didn't feel like talking right then but she wouldn't stop fidgeting. It was still a while till they reached the castle, it had taken him two hours to get to where he'd found Nadja, but he had ridden his horse as fast as he could. Walking as they were, it would probably be another hour or so before they reached the castle. He glanced ahead of him at the horizon and saw the rays of the sun peeking over the mountains. Nothing he wanted to eat would be awake at this hour but he still asked her if she wanted to eat something.

"I am hungry, but I can wait a little longer. How long until we reach your castle?" she asked innocently. She was very confused as to what had compelled her to ride off into the darkness with a total stranger, but she guessed there was no turning back now. And this stranger claimed that he had known her before. She bit her lip. Could she trust him? Should she trust him? He was nothing more than a stranger to her after all.

"We'll reach the castle in about an hour, but I still think that we should let the horse rest. I rode him all the way to your village and didn't really give him a chance to rest."

"We should let the horse rest for a few minutes then. Maybe we can find some water for him as well. What's his name, by the way?"she asked as Milliardo swung himself off the horse.

"Pietro," he answered and reached for her. She gave him a quizzical look before swinging herself down form the horse without his help. They were standing very close to each other and for a brief moment, he could almost see the child-like Lucrezia he'd married as a teenager. She looked at him with appealing blue eyes and he could almost taste the innocence radiating from her. He lowered his gaze and stepped away from her, afraid of what else he would be able to see or feel in those expressive eyes. Whatever had happened with his cousin, he knew she was no longer the same person.

She watched him walk away from her and felt something akin to sadness. There was a lot of pain and distrust in his heart. It was all directed at her and she had no idea why. When she had looked in his eyes she had seen something that made her trust him. Something that told her he was telling her the truth.

She walked a few feet and sat down underneath an old tree while Milliardo led the horse to a small pond hidden by some tress. He came back a few minutes later and sat across from her underneath a tree of his own. They sat like that without saying a word for ten minutes. She wondered briefly, out of boredom, if it was time to go yet, and had to bite her tongue to keep herself from voicing the thought aloud. She sighed loudly and got up from her sitting position. She looked back at Milliardo and found him watching her. He caught her gaze and she looked away guiltily, a nice dusting of pink on her cheeks. "I'll be right back," she said and almost ran into the forest in her haste to hide her blush from him.

Milliardo closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He hadn't had much time to think when he was talking Nadja into leaving with him, but now that he had a minute to himself he was starting to wonder what had gotten into him? What were people going to say? He shook his head. He knew there would be quite a stir in the palace and the country, and with war about to break loose he wasn't sure whether Lucrezia's sudden reappearance was a good thing or a bad thing.

His train of thought was broken when he heard Nadja step into the clearing.

"Ready to go?" he asked, getting up and dusting himself off.

She merely nodded her head.

Tbc...

AN: Remember that this is only a small preview of this chapter.