Three days later, on a sunny yet snowy day, they got ready to head back to the palace. Kaden was in her rooms when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in." She called. The young man who walked through the door was dressed in plain brown breeches, black boots and a brown sweater. He smiled at her warmly before walking over to kiss her gently on the lips.

"You ready?"

"Almost," She said as she stuffed a pair of breeches in her pack and swung it over her shoulder. "Okay, I'm ready to go." He walked out into the hall before her and she followed him down a flight of stairs and through a hallway. When they finally reached the stables outside, Kaden shivered and pulled her own crimson sweater up higher. Her own brown boots crunched on the snow under her feet.

In the distance, she saw Ambrose saddling her horse along with one of Allan's brothers, Siam, and his family. Allan came out of the stable with only one horse, Moonflower. Kaden frowned at him when he came over.

"Where's Nosey?" Kaden asked, naming Allan's gelding. He cleared his throat uneasily and looked at his fiddling hands. Kaden took his hands in hers and made him look into her eyes. "You're not coming." She said, reading his hazel eyes. She released his hands, took Moonflower from him and headed to where Ambrose was, who was almost finished saddling her horse by now.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked, concerned. Kaden smiled and nodded, hiding under her mask of happiness.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you ready to leave?" She inquired. Ambrose just nodded.

Edvard came over to talk with Ambrose and Kaden left them alone while she prepared for her ride back to Corus.

"Let's go." Siam said from behind her. She smiled when she saw the young mother on a gelding with her sleeping son in a carrying pack. "Ambrose?" He asked, serious faced.

"Coming!" She kissed Edvard once more and mounted her horse, ready to leave.

The Duke, Dutchess and their daughter Ilona came out to say their farewells to all of them. When they had kissed Siam, Gana and Reiti, they came forward to Kaden.

"We appreciated your company this past week. Thank you for coming." The Dutchess informed her and hugged her tight. The Duke shook her hand and said a simple 'nice to meet you'. Ilona came up and embraced her quickly, then walked away smiling at her. Kaden smiled back and mounted her own gelding. Her joy ended when Allan came to say his farewell to her. She forced herself to be calm and collected.

"Kaden, I-"

"No sweat. I'll be fine." She smiled and they gallopped away.

"Kaden, are you okay?" Ambrose asked after a few hours had passed by, riding on the rocky terrain. Kaden was thinking about Allan. How did she do it? How did she leave him there, with that hurt look on his face and nothing but 'I'll be fine'? It sounded cruel, now that she thought about it. "Kaden?"

"Oh, sorry." Kaden smiled pathetically at her friend. "What were you saying?"

"Kaden, you look like someone you loved died." Her friend put an arm on her shoulder and smiled sympathetically.

"Do I? Oh, Gods..." She put her face in her hands and breathed deeply, to get herself under control.

"What's bothering you?" Kaden didn't bother to hold on to her problems, but let them slip and told her friend all about the horrible thing she'd done.

"I feel so terrible, now! I can't beleive I ever did that, and now I don't know when I'll ever see him again!"

"Don't beat yourself up about it. He should've told you. It's not your fault." She smiled at Kaden reasurringly. "By the way, I liked how you dealt with him. It was cool and calm and very sassy..." She giggled unconciously, and Kaden managed to smile for what felt like the first time in years.

"Thanks for the pep talk, Ambrose. I needed it."

"No problem."

Allan sat in his room, his head in his hands, holding back very persistent tears. He gave in, and let the warm, wet emotion fall from his hazel eyes. How could he have been so stupid? He lied to her, and she backfired, really hard. He couldn't believe how good she took it afterwards, but knowing her for as long as he did, she was probably just hiding behind that mask of hers.

He got up from his writing desk, crumpled up the letter he'd tried many times to write to her, and went to go for a walk.

He never knew if he would see her again, his only love, the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. If he ever did find her again, would she love him the way he loved her? Would they ever be able to go back to the way things were?

There was still hope, but it seemed so small. He kicked a rock down the path in the woods and crossed his arms over his chest; it was cold, and he hadn't worn much.

He saw his brother in the distance, and turned to walk the other way, back to his room. He needed to be alone for a long time, and he never knew if he would come out of hibernation.

Kaden shuffled her feet as she walked at night around the village they had stopped in for the night. The air was cool. It was going to snow again soon.

Midwinter was coming up, and she hated the cold, but that festival wasn't so bad. It would be horrible this year, though. She had no one to spend it with. No one, because she was all alone, with no Allan. Would she ever get to see him again? Better not to think about him.

'I'm just going to get on with my life and have a good time, without him. I mean, who knows? Mayeb we weren't supposed to be together...'

A/N: evil laugh muahahahahaha! I knowA LOT of you will be asking about Allan, but you'll just have to wait and see...