Disclaimer - nope still don't own it! Everything belongs to the great tamora pierce!

Recap - He leaned over the table and whispered his plan into her ear. Her grin widened as she listened to his plan. As he finished, she laughed out loud. "Yes" she said with a gleam in her eyes , " Yes , that will do quite nicely!"

Kel went over the plan in her mind. She was meant to lure Neal out of his room so that Dom could hide a mage ball in Neal's bathroom. When Numair had first invented the mage ball she had thought they were pretty much useless, why voice record a meeting when you could jut get a scribe to write down what happened? But now she thought quite differently, mage balls do come in handy, especially when exacting revenge against Neal. She heard the watch tower strike midday. Now was the perfect time to lure Neal out of his rooms.

She walked to Neal's room , hiding her revenge behind a calm yamani face. Kel knocked on his door, yelling " Hurry up Neal! Its time for lunch and I would like to get there before supper." Neal opened his door cautiously, " What , no bucket to cover me in honey?" he enquired dryly. He closed his door, forgetting to lock it. As they walked away , Kel caught sight of Dom behind them. She turned slightly , signalling to Dom with her hands that he was free to sneak into Neal's rooms. Kel grasped Neal on the shoulder and propelled him forward , "We wouldn't want to miss our meal , would we?" she said in return to his questioning look.

They walked into the mess. Kel grabbed to trays and filled them up while Neal looked for a place to sit. "There" he finally said pointing to a table filled with the third company. They walked over to the table, everyone there greeting her with loud cries of "Lady Kel!" . She slid onto the bench , noting that she was sitting beside Raoul. "So, Protector of the Small , How have you been?" Raoul boomed over the top of the chatter of the rest of the table. "Fine my lord but I would be even better if you stopped calling me that gods cursed name!"she grumbled. "If you will top this 'milord' nonsense then I would be happy to , protector of the small" Raoul retorted, amused. "Fine then mil- Raoul" Kel consented with a grimace.

Just then the messes door opened, and in strode Dom, a satisfied smirk on his face. He grabbed his tray and filled in, heading over to the third companies table when he was done. He slid onto the bench beside Kel and gave her the thumbs up. "Everything went exactly to plan " Dom said quietly to Kel, sparing a pitying glance into the direction of the oblivious meathead..

Dom grasped her hand underneath the table and intertwined it with his own, Kel giving him a small smile in response .However (unknowingly to them) Raoul had seen this exchange and chucked quietly,he had wondered how long it would take those two to get together. Now if only he could find Gary so he could get his money for winning the bet , silly man for thinking it would take them more than 2 yrs after her sheild for them to get together. The meal passed in an exuberant manner with much laughter and chatter. Before she knew it , Kel had somehow been roped in to participate in the third companies combat competition. So had Neal luckily, so the revenge was still going to plan.

Kel stumbled up to her room after an exhausting afternoon of competition. She had lost the swordsman's meet to Dom (luckily the lioness was away) and had won the hand to hand combat (being brought up in the Yamani Isles' certainly comes in handy!). Raoul had won the jousting hands down, though not without a little competition from Kel.

Kel opened her door and flung herself onto the bed, too tired to move. After a few minutes she dragged herself into her bathroom where she noticed a servant had already filled her bath. She sank into the bath, vigorously scrubbing away the days dirt. She soaked for well over an hour , only getting out when the water became cold. She got dressed and walked towards the mess.

Dom ran towards Kel's room in the palace, grinning with pride. His plan had gone perfectly!

He rushed around the corner, colliding with a lady in his path. He hastily helped her up without looking at her, "Sorry milady, Are you ok?" he babbled, anxious to tell Kel that the prank had gone to plan. "Yes i'm fine but why are you in such a hurry Dom?" the lady asked

Dom finally gave the lady a proper look and was relieved to note that it was Kel. "Oh good Kel it's you" Dom sighed in relief, " The plan went perfectly! Perfectly I tell you!". "Really?" Kel asked excitedly. Dom nodded ,pulling the mage ball out of his pocket. Kel grabbed it and lead Dom to her rooms. After she shut the door , Kel placed the mage ball face up in her palm and listened to it, giggling slightly as she heard Neal's voice. "Well when and where are we going to use it?" Kel demanded. " Well uh" Dom looked slightly embarrassed as he answered her , "I haven't really thought of that yet ". "Dom! How could you not have thought of that yet?" Kel cried in exasperation. Dom looked downcast for a moment then brightened " Well consider it your chance to add to the prank, after all I did do everything else!" he said smugly. Kel considered the idea thoughtfully, "That's not actually a bad idea" she mused. "In fact I believe I have the ideal solution" Kel said, clicking her fingers , " We play it in the mess at lunch"

A slow smile crept over Dom's face , " You know my dear protector of the small" he said , ignoring her growl at her nickname , " I feel I have been a bad influence on you" pulling her close so that he could plant a kiss on her forehead. Kel twined her arms around his neck , "Maybe so , but it can't be all bad if its gonna help me get back at Neal "

She leant close to him , brushing his lips with her own , "Bu this makes it all worthwhile" she murmured before succumbing to the enticing sensations of kissing dom. Kel closed her eyes as Dom deepened the kiss. He ran his tongue over the edge of her lip before tentatively probing into her mouth. He felt Kel stiffen then relax as she got used to it. She ran her hands through his hair, gasping slightly as she felt him rub her back beneath her shirt.

Kel playfully nibbled his lip then reluctantly pushed him away , " We can't do this right now Dom" .

"You're right but that doesn't make it any easier to stop" he said thickly.

Kel straightened her shirt and helped Dom to neaten his appearance.

"come on , we'll be late for lunch' she told him gently, leading him out into the hallway. She locked the door behind them the set out with Dom for the mess.

A curious sparrow perched on Kel's dresser puzzling over what it had just seen, failing to understand, it flew off in search of Daine so that she could explain the puzzling incident.

AN - I would like to give a special thanks to all of my reviewers Mage of Dragons, Dragon Lady, Commander Rhade, On top of cloud 9, limabean839, thingy of um thingyness, NazgulGirl, Domroxmyjox, Anime-Emina-Anime, DOMLUVR4EVER, Soccer101, limegirl62, Immortal Moon, Angel of Dream and gsdmy

oh and here's a little contest for you. If any of you can guess what Kel and Dom's revenge will be, you will have a small cameo in the next chapter.

thank you for all of the lovely reviews guys! They really made my day! there's nothing better than a nice review when your feeling down. So remember to read and review you guys!

Tortall Princess