*/*

Her parents wanted to go after her but Cain insisted they prepare for the Prince's arrival. He and Jeb agreed to split up to go looking for the runaway princess, though when he noticed Azkadellia slowly get up from the table and make her way towards the door, he followed his instincts and went after her.

The elder Princess was mindful of Rafe falling into step behind her, but didn't object to her guard's presence. Cain suspected she knew he was following her, too, but it didn't stop her.

She made her way through the endless corridors, most of which looked the same to him, before coming to a stop outside a room Cain had never been inside before but which, again, felt so strongly of DG, he felt suddenly off balance.

"Please give me a moment alone with my sister, Rafe, General," Azkadellia asked softly. Everything about her was so different to the way the Sorceress had held herself that Cain was struck once again by the difference in the vulnerable yet no doubt still powerful woman before him. He nodded, and motioned for Rafe to take up his station on the opposite side of the double doors as Azkadellia smiled her thanks and went inside.

As Azkadellia had suspected, her little sister was curled up on the window seat of the large library overlooking the lake. She had her legs pulled in her chest, resting her chin on her knees, as she stared despondently out of the window.

It'd been one of their favourite rooms as little girls, Azkadellia remembered. She couldn't count how many times her little sister had begged her to sit with her in the window seat and read one of their favourite stories over and over again. Childhood tales of mystery and magic, all of which ended with a happy ending that had made the sister's sigh dreamily and dare to dream they might get their happily ever after, too.

Crossing the room to her sister's side, Azkadellia wasted no time in sitting next to her, wrapping a slender arm around DG's trembling shoulders. She remembered finding DG here once before, after a terrible nightmare had sent her sister fleeing from her room. Their parents had searched everywhere for her, frantic that their then five-annual-old daughter was missing. Azkadellia had calmly made her way to the library, to the window seat, and had spent hour after hour listening to her baby sister cry, murmuring that everything was going to be okay because she was there, and she'd never let anything hurt her.

An annual later, DG had died at her hands.

No, not hers. Azkadellia was quick to push the thought away. Her sister needed her to be strong now, and strong she would be.

It was about time, really.

"You don't have to marry him, Deege." Azkadellia told her. "There is still a way out of this for you."

"It's too late, Az," DG shook her head. "It's my name he's been given. He'll be expecting it."

"But the marriage contract wasn't specific," Azkadellia reminded her. "It mentioned a Gale daughter. That's you and me. I could do it. Or at least say I will," she added ruefully. "He'd probably run a mile if he thought I was his bride to be."

"I can't let you do that, Az." DG sighed heavily. "You're going to be Queen. You're needed here, in the OZ."

"You could be Queen instead of me." Azkadellia was deadly serious. "I've been thinking about it, Deege, as has everyone in the country, I'm sure. You would make the better Queen. You're stronger than I, for starters. Not to mention the hero of the Eclipse. I'm the one who caused it all."

"No, you're not. That's me. You're the one who was strong enough to withstand being possessed for so long and come out of it on the other side." DG lifted her head to stare her sister down, squeezing her hand firmly. "You are so much stronger than you think you are, my beautiful big sister."

"I'm only strong when I've got you with me," Azkadellia admitted. "If you marry the Prince and end up in IX, I'll be the weakest Queen the OZ has known. I... I don't know if I can be, Deege. I know I don't want to be."

"If I marry the Prince, you'll have to be," DG told her firmly. "You have no choice in that, Azkadellia, just as I have no choice in this marriage."

"We could swap places," Azkadellia argued. "I could marry the Prince and go to IX. You could stay here and rule the OZ."

"It would break you, Azkadellia," DG said softly, gripping her sister's hand again. Her eyes flashed fiercely. "You've spent the last fifteen annuals of your life being controlled and violated against your will. I will not condemn you to spend the rest of your life being controlled by a husband you don't love."

"But you'll condemn yourself to that same fate," Azkadellia murmured. "And you'll condemn the man standing outside this room, who loves you with his whole heart, to a half-life of standing by and watching the woman he loves forced into marriage with another."

"He knows it's a question of duty and not choice," DG said stiffly. "And he knows as well as I do how much you've been through."

Azkadellia studied her sister for a long moment. While she appreciated DG trying to protect her, she was tired of being the sister who needed to protecting. She was the oldest; she was the one who had always taken care of DG. "I don't need you to fight my battles for me, little sister. When the Prince gets here, we'll give him his choice of sister. If he chooses me, you have to promise me you'll let it happen."

"And if he chooses me, you have to promise me you'll be the best Queen the OZ has ever seen," DG returned after a moment.

Azkadellia felt a thrill of fear go through her at the thought, the idea of having to take the throne and rule their people a terrifying one. She knew in that moment that if she could trade places with DG, she would. If she could convince the IX Prince to marry her, to let her leave the OZ with him, she absolutely would.

It was what her sister deserved. What the OZ deserved.

And despite DG's words to the contrary, it was what she thought she deserved, too.

*/*

"Why don't you run away together?"

Of all the people Cain had thought might suggest it, his son was not amongst them. He sat at the desk in the study he'd been told he could share with his son to familiarise himself with the reports of the Army Ahamo had stated was now his to command and watched as Jeb paced the room in front of him.

DG and Azkadellia were still in the library, and had been since he'd left them there after breakfast. He'd seen his Princess briefly, only to have her assure him she was okay and would see him later, and had had to be content with that.

Now, he was sat in his study, watching his son, listening as Jeb suggested the very things he himself had considered.

"If you go back to the Western Guild and ask for asylum, Commander Wynn would grant it in a heartbeat. No one would be able to find you there unless you wanted them to," his son continued, the plan crystallising in his mind. "I don't think there'd be a huge objection from the people, either. There'll be outrage when news of this breaks across the realm."

"DG would never allow it, as it means Az would be vulnerable." If he thought she'd say yes, he'd whisk her away in a heartbeat. "They've come to an agreement, Az and DG. They'll both meet with the Prince and allow him to choose who he claims as his bride."

"DG will never let him choose Azkadellia, even if he wants to," Jeb said with a certainty Cain himself shared. "She'll do whatever she can to make sure he chooses her."

"I know." And he'd be damned if the thought didn't break his heart. "And if he does, he'll take her to the IX."

Jeb stopped pacing to look at his father. "You'll try to go with her."

"I'm her bodyguard," Cain said with a shrug. "I'd hand back the title Ahamo gave me and offer to go with them to guarantee her safety."

"If he's a smart man, he won't let you," Jeb said softly. "And I've got to say, Dad, it doesn't take a genius to look at you two and figure out there's something going on. The way you look at each other, the way you gravitate towards each other even when you're in a room full of people. The Prince is going to know."

"Then he should know there's no one else who'll put his wife first like I will. If he wants her to live, and I'm guessin' he will because she'll be quite the trophy in his homeland, he'll want me there with her because I won't let any harm come to her."

"But harm could come to you," Jeb said softly, stopping in front of his desk. Fear joined frustration in his eyes. "All it would take is DG to say one wrong word to annoy him and he'd have you killed as punishment."

"It's a risk I'll take," Cain answered quietly. He ran his hand through his hair, guilt coursing through him as he realised he was being forced to choose. "I'm sorry, Jeb. I don't want to leave you again but if I have to, if it means bein' able to keep her safe..."

"I wouldn't expect you to stay," Jeb assured him just as quietly. "If I could, I'd go with you. Not sure how that would look, though. Captain of the Royal Guard and Troop Commander of the OZ both deflecting to the IX to be with Princess DG."

The sentiment was there, though, and Cain appreciated it. He got to his feet and approached his son, holding out his hand. He was surprised but pleased when Jeb took it and used it to pull his father into a warm embrace.

"I don't want to lose you, Dad," Jeb uttered.

"You'll never lose me as long as I'm alive," Cain promised, vowing he'd do whatever he had to to keep his son in his life however he could manage. "I'm proud of you, son. Your mother would be, too."

Jeb nodded but the emotion that rose in his throat kept him from answering. He held onto his father for a moment longer before breaking away. "I better go make sure everything's ready for the Prince's arrival."

"Let me know if there's anything you need me to do," Cain offered, knowing his son wouldn't take him up on it.

He managed to stay in his office for another two hours before the need to be with DG got the better of him and he went in search of her.

*/*

The last place he looked was the place to find her. Curled up in his bed, looking lost and alone, DG didn't move as the bed dipped under his weight as he sat down beside her.

"What are you doing in here?" He asked softly. The room he'd been assigned was certainly comfortable but in comparison to her suite, it was simple.

Not befitting of a Princess, that was for sure.

"I wanted to be close to you," she said simply, leaning into his hand when he touched her cheek.

"You could've just come to find me," he told her, shifting to lie down next to her. "Then you could've been as close as you wanted."

"You were busy with Jeb." Her eyes were sad, her tone resigned. "I'm scared, Wyatt."

"What scares you the most?" He was curious what her answer would be.

"I don't know," she confessed. "I don't know if I'm more afraid he'll choose Az and I'll lose her, or he'll choose me and I'll lose you."

"You won't lose me." He kissed her sweetly. "No matter what, DG. You're not going to lose me."

"But I will." Tears shimmered in her eyes. "We won't be able to spend time together like this anymore. I won't be able to kiss you or have you hold me like this. I won't get to wake up every morning with you, go to sleep every night with you. We won't be able to get married, maybe have kids, grow old together."

"You want those things?" The hand he'd been using to soothe her back stilled momentarily.

"Only with you," she told him earnestly. "Only if I can have them with you."

The confession broke his heart anew and he couldn't speak past the lump in this throat. The image of a little girl with his eyes and DG's hair running around came to the forefront of his mind and he had to fight to push it away, knowing the chances of it happening were fading by the second.

Instead, he drew her closer and kissed her deeply. He rolled onto his back, drawing her with him, feeling the weight of her settle over him. DG went willingly, wrapping herself around him, melting against him. Supple and pliant, she moulded her body to his, kissing him with the same desperation he felt. Her fingers moved to divest him of his clothing as his hands roamed over her body, searching for soft skin underneath the material keeping them apart.

If all he could have with her was the here and now, he was going to make every second count.

*/*