The day Jeord returned to the palace to take Katarina away started as peacefully as any other that she had spent in Alan's wing of the palace.

Indeed, the day had begun with the cheerful warmth of their celebration still hanging over them, Katarina launching them into the next stage of their planning. As she had said at the very start of the day, as they took part in their usual breakfast, "Now that we have finished composing our operetta, we need to get ready to showcase it to the world. Which means we shall have to secure some financing for our efforts, find a decent stage, hire an experienced theatre crew and good actors, and then figure out how to market it toward the world. Good lord, simply having the operetta finished is only the start of our efforts!"

So for the rest of the day, Katarina and Alan had found themselves immersed in a series of exciting but nerve-wracking discussions about how they would even launch their first 'child' out into the world. At times, Alan even ended up feeling as though he were trying to hold Katarina back from moving with too much haste, even as she impatiently ran forward.

"I really do not," he suggested at one point, "want you to spend your own money to finance this effort, Katarina. I may not be much of a prince but I am not a pauper either. I have some income of my own coming from estates willed to me, and I will not have you indebt yourself to a… well, to an uncertain bet when I can cover all costs."

Katarina looked conflicted for a minute but then, shaking her head, moved on. "I thank you again for your kindness, Alan, but I will not have you take on all the burden of our effort together! Buying or even renting a theatre, hiring a stage crew and a troupe of actors, publicizing our operetta… all of that will take likely more than a year's worth of income from you. It is unfair to ask you to be the only one who spends all of that when I am no pauper either!"

"I am afraid I still cannot agree to use your monies," Alan replied, mulishly. "It just feels unfair to ask a lady in such… dire straits to put her own income on an uncertain venture. Especially when you might need such monies to provide for yourself if…"

He trailed off, uncertain of how to admit that she would need as much income as she could hoard in case she decided not to marry him after all. And after a long fraught moment in which Katarina's face wavered through so many emotions that he could barely tell one from the other, she finally managed a fierce, brave smile.

"If we are to be partners," she said at last, "then we need to share equally in both of our glories and our debts. Though if you are worried about me, perhaps we can sit together to find a way to make a… a kind of… proposal, I guess, to your dear queen mother. Perhaps she can at least help us lower the costs but allowing us to present ourselves as a national theatre in the making. Perhaps a theatre group or crew of actors might be willing to work for us at a reduced rate if we can promise them royal patronage or favors or even just continued work in the future."

After a little more debate, Alan had accepted her proposal that they would share the burden of costs fairly if they could find a way to persuade his mother to issue a royal fiat declaring them as a national theatre in the making. But just as he and Katarina had begun writing their initial proposal to his mother – putting forward as many details as they could to make it clear that they had a detailed plan of action and were not just trying to indulge a silly whim – they were interrupted by Alan's loyal and long-standing butler.

Indeed, poor Jeeves looked as though he rather had the wind blown out of him when he came into Alan's parlor to interrupt his avid conversation with Katarina. And from the look on Jeeves' face, he no more enjoyed having to say what he was going to say than Alan enjoyed hearing it.

"Prince Alan," Jeeves said, "and Lady Katarina. Forgive me for interrupting you both but I am afraid that Prince Jeord has come to call on us most unexpectedly. And what's more, the third prince is asking for a private meeting with Lady Katarina. He is waiting for her in her parlor already – and he will not take no for an answer."

From the sudden paling of Katarina's pretty face, she was as shocked as she would have been if news of Jeord's sudden and tragic death had come for them.

"I," she said, her voice faltering from the vivacious warmth that had suffused it before. "I – I had no idea that he – why would he – pray forgive me, Jeeves, but do you have any idea why he is calling on me now?"

"Unfortunately," Jeeves said, bowing his head gently, "the third prince did not tell me of why exactly he came calling. I only know that if he is here, it is with the permission of the Queen – and that his demand to meet with you must be met."

So it was that Katarina took a shaky breath and then looked at Alan, even as her face went stern with determination.

"So it always goes with your dear brother," she murmured. "He always thinks that all he has to do is whistle and I will scamper about to meet his every wish."

"I," Alan said, feeling tongue-tied and useless to protect her from an audience she clearly did not want. "I can – I can go speak with him if – if you want me to. I can – I can tell him that you do not need to hear from him. If. If you do not actually want to."

And for a moment, the look on Katarina's face was utterly unreadable so that Alan could not even tell whether she felt more dread or anticipation at the thought of seeing Jeord once again.

It was not that Alan thought that Katarina was – was capricious or malicious or had played him false.

Only – Alan had spent his entire life beneath Jeord's shadow and – and he could not blame any young woman, even one as warm and considerate as Katarina, for wondering whether to leave a prospect as poor as Alan for one as brilliant and glittering as Jeord.

Finally, her face smoothed into an unreadable mask and her voice even and calm, Katarina said: "Thank you once again, my dear prince. But I will not use as a shield when the confrontation ahead of me is one that I have – have needed to have all of these years. Though I do hope…"

And here, she made his heart flutter by reaching out to take his hand, not bothered in the least by Jeeves' presence.

"I do hope that you will at least listen in from the rafters so that I know I have at least one ally with me," she gently suggested.

Smiling and hoping beyond hope that this meant that she would not leave him so – so readily, Alan stroked her fingers with his own and said: "Oh, Katarina. I would not miss it for the world. I would be happy to follow you wherever you go."

"Then to the pits of hell it is," Katarina suggested, and then laughed almost hysterically. "For where else could Jeord possibly wish to drag me to?"

Despite the tension on Katarina's face, Alan was proud to see that she looked and sounded nothing less than calm and collected when she was faced with Jeord in the parlor set aside for their "private" meeting. He could only hope that his barely visible presence in the vent leading to the room – where he crouched breathlessly, wondering what would unfold from his vantage place, where he could see and hear all the proceedings – could be of some comfort to her despite whatever Jeord might unleash.

Indeed, Katarina's curtsy was worthy of a queen when she executed it in front of Jeord, right before she stood up to greet him.

"Your Highness," she said once she rose up from her court-perfect position, her voice as steady and clear as it would be were she greeting a royal stranger. "What a kindness you do me, to meet me here. How can I assist you currently?"

For a moment, a rare and fleeting look of surprise surfaced on Jeord's face – a look only someone who knew him as well as Alan did would probably be able to see. But in another second, Jeord smoothed it out into his usual charming smile and then bent over to take Katarina's hand.

"My dear Katarina," he said, even as his lips leaned forward to kiss far more of her fingers than Alan liked. "There is no need for such excessive propriety. You know me far too well to stand on such formality. Indeed, do you not think our long acquaintance such that we ought to dispense with the title already? Have I not always been your Jeord?"

When Katarina's face remained stiff and cold, he simply smiled again – that radiant smile that had always outshone like the sun. "In any case, I am eager to hear how you have been doing. It seems so long since we were last able to speak."

Katarina's mouth twitched in the way that Alan had long learned usually heralded a series of complaints – though this time, he doubted she was about to launch into an angry tirade against the high price of renting costumes. Instead, she carried on calmly.

"How kind of your highness to inquire about my wellbeing," she said, though Alan could see her fingers ball into fists within the folds of her dress. "I am very well, thank you. Indeed, this past year has been most pleasant for me. It is amazing how much work you can get done among good company."

If Jeord looked less flirtatious and more stunned by that, Katarina's smile only grew more in return.

It seemed as though his surprise did not displease her in the least.

And from the stare that Jeord leveled at her, he seemed to realize it.

Yet Alan's brother would not be a younger Prince capable of overtaking his elder brothers were he not capable of dealing adeptly with unexpected situations. And from the chilly look on Jeord's face before he shifted into a warm smile, he seemed to believe he had an explanation for why Katarina might not be showcasing as much… delight as she might in his company.

"I do hope," he said, oozing sympathy from every flawless pore, "that the servants, particularly the male ones, have been respectful of your dignity. The ones in this part of the palace do not receive as much training as those in other places. My poor, frail brother is simply unable to get the handle on them that he should given his many… issues. Not that I blame him for his inadequacies. He was born with them, alas, and will no doubt endure them to the end of his years."

Alan could feel his own hands fist at that, though he could not deny the truth in Jeord's words when it came to him and his lacking abilities. And while Katarina's face hardened as well and she opened her mouth to speak, Jeord cut her off quickly.

"But," Jeord said smoothly, his swift torrent of words overtaking her, "I did not come to speak of unpleasant things. Indeed, my love, I merely wanted to have the chance to speak to you about our engagement and impending wedding once more."

This seemed a shock to Katarina, if her widened eyes had anything to do with it. Still, with an admirable degree of composure worthy of a queen, she carried on with a voice that barely wavered.

"The servants in this wing of the palace are very well-trained and have been polite to me in every way," she replied, though Alan could see her fingers twisting nervously in her skirts. "And all of the company that I have kept since I have moved here has been most kind indeed."

But after she forced herself to stare Jeord straight in the face, Katarina moved on to the more pertinent part of the conversation – the one that had Alan's stomach already tied in knots.

"Our engagement?" she said, her mouth trembling a little around the words. "Our wedding? Your Highness, I do not understand! Queen Rosamund, your fair and just mother, has assured me that it is at an end. Indeed, I am now in the midst of being contracted to your brother, Prince Alan. The man that I am living with presently."

Something flickered in Jeord's eyes – rage or triumph or perhaps merely the anticipation of impending victory.

"My dear Katarina," Jeord said, his voice sweet and low, even as he took her hand in his once more, Katarina surrendering it over limply. "Do you not see that I am here to save you from such a fate? To save you for such an ignominious end to your maidenly years?"

Katarina's face looked most dumbfounded indeed.

"Save me?" she whispered in turn, sounding absolutely bewildered. "From what, exactly?"

And here, a look of almost savage impatience flashed across Jeord's face once more – so quickly that no one who knew him less than Alan might have even noticed, given how quickly Jeord's mask of chivalry reasserted itself.

"From having to be the insignificant bride to a poor, sickly prince who has nothing to give you," he said, taking her hand and placing it over his heart while she continued staring at him. "For why should you languish in such a manner when you could become a queen?"

Here, Jeord smiled with the calm confidence of a man who had always gotten what he wanted – always – no matter what it was that he might seek.

"It would be such a grave loss to the world to have you caged in this sorry part of the palace," Jeord said with great tenderness and sincerity. "For why should you ever wish to stay here when you could become my bride and the mother to my heirs eventually? I can give you whatever you want once we are wed, my dear Katarina. The wealth you need to implement any of your plans, the ability to move in the highest and best of social circles, and eventually even the diadem of a queen. All the world will know you as the mother of Sorcier. For is that not what you have always dreamed of, my dear?"

And even as horror set in for Alan as he realized that Jeord's honeyed words made all too much sense and that nothing Alan could possibly ever give to Katarina would be the equal to his offer –

He watched, head numb and heart stricken, as Jeord took a pale, still Katarina in his arms and kissed her cheek tenderly.

"I know," Jeord said gently, pressing his brow to Katarina's as her eyes closed and her head bowed, "that that my heart has not always well served yours. But from now on, I can promise you that it will beat much more steadily. I would like to share my world with you, dearest. Will you not join me?"

And that was when Alan could take it no longer and fled with a clatter, even as he heard Katarina cry out his name before he ran as fast as he could from the pain of her leaving.