The night she chose to leave her room was the first day of midwinter.* The Daughters scolded her for not getting dresses earlier, and she spent the rest of the day being fitted. Naturally, by the ball Alanna was feeling murderous.

Dressed in a gown that would make the Sugarplum Fairy jealous, Alanna appeared at the entrance of ballroom scowling. She found herself escorted down the stairs by Sir Andechéque, a brainless knight who had not left her alone with his bad poetry all autumn. He was tall and fair-haired, and most ladies though him almost as good a catch as the prince. Alanna was not one of them.

She looked for Jonathan and found him flirting with a new lady, Delia of Eldorne. Alanna felt a sudden unexplained pang of jealousy. The Duke was not in sight, to her relief.

She was jerked out of her thoughts when she realized that her escort was talking to her.

".a danz, fair lady?" He spoke with a thick Gallan accent** that most ladies found romantic. Alanna found it annoying.

"Certainly. Nothing would please me more." She looked at him from underneath her lashes, wondering why she was flirting. It wasn't as though she liked the man. And she had never been a tease.

She stole a glance at Jonathan. Apparently he had just said something funny - Delia was laughing as hard as ladylike behavior allowed, and a few men around were chuckling. Quickly Alanna turned back to Sir Andechéque.

"You are recovered, zen?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Alanna was very aware of how she was leading him on.

"Yes. It was just a cold, but I didn't want to infect anyone else. I feel most excellent tonight, though," she added, glancing at him through lashes again. Goddess, what am I doing? I have to leave this place before I do something really stupid!

She didn't need to find an excuse - it came to her. A pageboy delivered her a message after their dance was over.

Alanna-

Come to my chamber. We have much to discuss.

Duke Roger

Dread crept over her, but she had an idea that she wouldn't be able to stay at the ball if the duke did not wish her to. Reluctantly she made her excuses to Sir Andechéque and left the ballroom, earning herself curious glances from other ladies.

As she walked through the hallway, the noise from the ballroom fading, she heard giggles from around the corner. She turned the end just in time to see Delia and Jonathan disappearing into his room. Life just gets better and better, she thought miserably.

Although she had walked as slow as she dared, Alanna still reached Duke Roger's about five minutes later. Resigned, she rapped sharply on his ornately carved door.

The door opened almost immediately. She noted with surprise that he had chosen to receive her himself, instead of making his servants get it. As she entered the room she realized that there were no servants - they were entirely alone. The door creaked ominously shut.

"Whatever you have to say, make it fast. I very highly doubt that it's anything I want to hear, and I'll have to make excuses to the Daughters if I stay much longer." She tried not to let him see how nervous she was.

He laughed. "Stay the whole night," he offered. "Then you won't have to make excuses."

She barely resisted slapping him across the face in her fury. "You are a very twisted man," she told him through clenched teeth. "I would not even consider it."

"Not yet perhaps. But in the future you may change your mind. And I think that you won't want to become an enemy of mine." He smiled. "Now come in. I have a.proposition to make to you."

"No. My answer is no."

"I think you'll want to hear the terms first, my pet." He led her into a sitting room and poured her a cup of what may have been tea. Alanna did not trust him enough to drink it.

"I think you have some idea of what I want." He waited for her to guess.

"You want the throne."

"Not just the throne, pet. Power."

"You are a very greedy man."

He laughed. "You have a talent for making anything sound bad, sweetheart. But you see, to get the throne I need the help of someone that no one would suspect. You."

"I told you before, I won't do it." She stood up to leave, and he walked across the room towards her, pushing her back onto the couch again. "Patience, darling. I'm not finished.

"I have always believed that punishments work better than rewards. Not that I won't reward you, when you help me. But if you don't help me.Do you know where Thom is right now?"

Thom. She had forgotten about him.*** "What have you done with my brother?" she demanded.

"Oh, he'll be perfectly safe, if you work with me. And don't count on other people to save him. The entire court is under a spell so that unless his name is mentioned, they will completely forget about him. And I wouldn't try mentioning his name. It would mean his death. And we wouldn't want that, would we?" He looked falsely earnest. "What's is your answer now, pet?"

"What do you want me to do?" she asked heavily.

*According to me, midwinter lasts for 12 days like Christmas used to. I don't think it's like that in the books, but just work with me here, k?

**Gallan is my substitute word for French.so he's like this hot French jock that's incredibly stupid.

***Yeah, I kinda forgot about him too.

Woohoo!!! Long chappie (for me). Uh oh.Alanna's in trouble now.