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His father hadn't spoken since Bates had turned up and given him the letter. He'd watched him carefully, trying not to make it obviously but unable to keep his concern from growing as his father's face had grown increasingly impassive, a sure sign that something was wrong.

Jeb knew his father, and had gotten to know him all over again during the cycles they'd spent together. Though his father didn't show everything he thought and felt, he'd become less closed off in the time they'd spent together. It was like reading DG's letter had sent him back in time, back behind the mask, and that made something cold start to form in the pit of Jeb's stomach.

"Father?" He waited until the men they were travelling with were busying themselves tending to Bates' horse and making sure the guard-turned-courier was shown where he could rest for a while. "Is something wrong with DG?"

Cain didn't speak straight away, taking an undue amount of time to fold the letter back up. To Jeb's surprise, instead of slipping it into the inner pocket of his duster, where he'd put the other letters from the Princess who'd come before it, his father held it out to him.

He hesitated before taking it, wanting to respect his father's privacy, and DG's, but at the same time, wanting – no, needing – to know what was going on so he could prepare for any danger they might be facing.

The first thing he saw was the sketch of his grandfather; his breath caught in his throat at the lifelike image staring out at him from the paper. She'd captured his likeness extremely well, and he was suddenly overwhelmed by memories of the older man who'd been a prominent figure in his childhood until war had spread through the land and their family had been parted.

It took him some time to move on from that, to get past DG's mention of his grandfather and how much the old man was looking forward to seeing them both.

And then he read on, and he saw the reason for his father's withdrawal.

He swore under his breath, his joy at the thought of a family reunion quashed by the threat that lurked on the horizon. Though he hadn't spent a lot of time with DG following the Eclipse, he'd heard a lot about her from his father, and he'd liked what he'd heard. He'd thought his father had met his match in the younger Princess and had been looking forward to seeing how it played out between them.

He, like his father, like DG, had thought there was plenty of time.

He'd thought there was a chance his father could finally get the happy life he deserved, and he'd hope to be a part of it.

"What do we do?"

His father didn't answer at first. Though his expression still gave nothing away, Cain's eyes looked distant. It was a look Jeb recognised from his childhood, along with the stubborn set to his father's jaw. He was careful to hold himself still so not to disturb his father's focus and waited.

There were two choices, two forks in the road.

They could follow DG's suggestion and travel northeast, back towards Central City and the town of Coldstream. They could reunite with his grandfather and put a missing piece of their family back where it belonged.

Or, and it was a very big or, they could follow through with the plans they'd already made and let Bates lead them back to where he was to reunite with the Princess and her companions.

Another piece of their family, Jeb recognised, just one that hadn't yet fallen securely in place.

Wherever his father decided to go, Jeb knew he would go with him.

"We'll let Bates and his horse rest for a couple of hours," Cain said eventually, his tone even and his expression giving nothing away. "Then we break camp and leave."

Before he could ask where they were going, his father reached out to take the letter from his hands and carefully stowed it away as Jeb had been expecting him to do earlier.

"Father. Dad." Only Jeb's voice stopped his father from walking past him and striding away to places unknown for some time alone. Cain tilted his head to the side, his light blue eyes locking with his son's. Still, his expression remained carefully blank. "It might come to nothing," Jeb found himself saying, finding he felt a need to offer reassurance to his father, a man who'd already been through so much and Ozma knew he deserved a break. "She said it herself; there's no way of knowing if the Prince will want to go through with it. Don't give up."

His father didn't speak, but his eyes flashed his gratitude at having Jeb's support. Cain paused to put his hand on Jeb's shoulder and let it rest there for a moment before he walked away, needing some time alone.

Jeb exhaled slowly and let himself do something he hadn't done in annuals, not since he thought he'd lost both of his parents. He lifted his gaze to the cloudless blue sky above him, and he prayed.

*/*

Dinner with Lord Tilton was a very unpleasant affair.

It didn't start off too bad; he welcomed DG warmly and was even gracious when he noticed Rafe was with her. He'd arranged for Rafe to join the household staff for dinner in the kitchen, so DG didn't feel guilty about her guard missing out on his evening meal. He'd then shown DG through to an extravagant dining room with a table laden with food and drink.

It was very generous of him, but to see such a lavish display of wealth and abundance of food when she knew there were others in the realm struggling to put food on their tables and make ends meet made her quickly lose what little appetite she had.

And that was before the conversation really started.

He enquired after her parents over the first course and his first glass of wine. It appeared he thought highly of her mother, but after his second drink, she realised he had no such warmth for her father.

Lord Tilton did not approve of the young Queen of the OZ marrying a Slipper from the other side, and the more he drank, the more his disdain for her father and the other side, in general, started to come through.

It made DG uneasy, more so because fifteen years – annuals – of her life had been spent there, and though she'd never felt like she was truly at home in Kansas, she still felt defensive about the place she'd been raised.

By the middle of their second course, Lord Tilton had taken to the subject and refused to be distracted from it. He didn't seem to notice that DG's glass hadn't needed to be topped up or that the food on her plate was largely untouched.

"You must be so pleased to be home now, Princess," he told her, and she was surprised he wasn't quite slurring his words. "Though I suppose coming home to find your sister is evil and your father is nothing more than a commoner must have been quite a shock for you."

"Not at all, Lord Tilton. My sister is not evil; an evil witch possessed her but the Witch is dead, and Azkadellia is free from the prison her mind had become. As for my father," DG's smile was tense, her eyes sparked in warning the Lord was too inebriated to take heed of. "He is the love of my mother's life and a very good man. He has been and continues to be a wonderful Consort and leader to our people."

Lord Tilton snorted. "A good man, Princess? He abandoned your mother. He left her to face your evil sister alone."

"He followed the plan he and my mother agreed upon, as was in the best interests of everyone in the realm in the long term." It was a plan that kept her awake at night, knowing the sacrifices both of her parents had made were due to her actions as a child. "And my sister is not the Sorceress. You'd be wise to remember that, and to refer to her by her title if you must refer to her at all."

"There are many, Princess, who never accepted your father's role in your mother's life. It's something you would do well to remember." Lord Tilton stared at her intently, and all of a sudden, he didn't seem as drunk as he'd appeared. "There are many," he repeated quietly, his voice full of intent, "who will do whatever it takes to ensure that such a history does not repeat itself. If the House of Gale intends on regaining its control of the throne and the country, it will do you well to remember that to marry below your station is not acceptable. The lines must remain pure, you understand. Contamination of any kind is intolerable."

"Contamination?" DG arched an eyebrow. "You believe my father contaminated the Royal line because he's a Slipper?"

"Slipper, commoner. They're all the same." The Lord shrugged a shoulder and waved his hand, sending red wine sploshing over the side of his glass, but he didn't notice.

DG did. The stain of it against the white table cloth reminded her sickeningly of blood and she found herself pushing her plate away. "Instead of alluding to it, why don't you just come out with it, Lord Tilton? What are you trying to tell me?"

"I'm telling you, Princess DG, that you have to be very careful with the decisions you make." Lord Tilson's eyes flashed at her. "People are watching, powerful people. Do not be so naïve as to believe that you are exempt from expectations because you are the so-called Slipper Princess and hero of the Eclipse. There are responsibilities and duties you must accept due to your station in this life, or else you risk losing it all."

"That sounds like a threat, Lord Tilton." DG's heart was pounding as she pushed her chair back. Anxiety caused her stomach to churn and her hands to tremble, but she did her best to keep him from noticing. "I don't like threats."

"A friendly word of advice, Highness," Lord Tilton murmured, inclining his head in a mockery of respect as he smirked at her. "Nothing more."

Unsettled, DG got to her feet. Lord Tilton followed but didn't try to stop her. She strode out of the dining room and into the entrance hall of the house where Rafe was already waiting. Her guard took one look at her face and reached for his gun, but DG shook her head and continued towards the door, opening them with her magic before any of Lord Tilton's servants could open them for her.

She strode into the night, knowing Rafe was following close behind.

There was no goodbye for the Lord, nor would she be returning in the morning to say her farewells before leaving the land he thought of as his territory.

"What did he do to you, Princess?" Rafe wanted to know as they walked back to the inn in half the time it'd taken them to walk from it earlier in the evening. "If he hurt you –"

"He didn't," DG interrupted tersely, trying to get her own emotions in check so not to fuel the defensive nature of Rafe or any of the guards she knew would be waiting for them back at the inn. She thought of Raw, thought of his sensitively and cursed inwardly, working even hard to try to conceal the turmoil she was feeling from her friend. "Lord Tilton merely stated his opinion on a number of subjects. It's an opinion I disagree with."

"Strongly, by the looks of it." He was still suspicious, but Rafe seemed willing to let it drop.

It was a stark difference to Cain, a little voice at the back of her mind told her. Cain wouldn't let it drop. Her Tin Man would already be on his way back to the manor house, determined to extract the cause of her discomfort from the source if he couldn't get it from her.

She tried not to think about why Cain was so prominent in her mind following Lord Tilton's warning to her about her position and what she had to do because of it. To think of such things only hurt her heart given that the very reasonable possibility that she would be denied any choice in what she did with her life or who she spent it with.

They completed the rest of the journey in silence. As DG expected, Raw and Glitch were waiting for her to return.

What she hadn't been expecting was to see Wyatt and Jeb Cain waiting with them.

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