For the twenty people who are following this story - this chapter is for you.

Proof read by Danaye

Chapter 6

The chamber was cold, though a fire roared in the large fireplace that was embedded into the wall with equally large stones surrounding it. It must have taken years, if not decades, to complete the masterpiece of a chamber where several men stood waiting.

Silence had the men shifting uneasily from one leg to the other as their eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. The reason for their uneasiness leaned calmly against one of the pillars, not looking at anything in particular.

The man in question was wearing black breeches tucked into newly polished black boots. The boots' polishing was something a maid, known as Astrid, had demanded of him after taking one firm look at them when he had returned from the stables. His white cotton shirt was buttoned all the way up to his throat, concealing the single drop of jewelry on his body. A black woolen robe hung from his frame, its hem almost reaching the floor.

Every once in a while, someone would glance his way and see him standing with perfect calmness, but that wasn't the case on the inside. If the men standing around him had ears like animals, they would hear a heart pounding heavily. However, it just so happened that every heart in the chamber was pounding heavily. It was a crucial moment for everyone. The men wanted to see the reaction, or her reaction, when she was introduced to him.

Even though the assembled men, guards as well as nobles and advisors, had been summoned by the king, it wasn't enough of a solace to calm them.

It was wrong to have someone like him standing among them as if he was their equal. They were ready to make a move to get rid of him, if they had to – but at the same time, every one of them was obviously aware of the truth. For if they did make a sudden move, or gave any sign indicating that they were thinking of hurting him, they would be dead the instant the thought entered their minds.

Such as it was, everyone except the one man flinched when the door to the chamber was forced open, giving the cold air permission to enter. The small, curvy frame of a girl also entered with a determined look in her blue-gray eyes.

The men looking at her saw, for one brief moment, the notion of uncertainty in her eyes, but it was gone the next second. Daine searched the scene in front of her, not sure if she wanted to be present in a room filled with men, but the hands of her two ladies in waiting pushed her forth. So she took the final step over the threshold and then another until she stood a few meters into the chamber.

"Finally," someone breathed and she immediately turned her head towards the source, one of the older members of the king's council.

Taking one more step into the chamber, she flinched as the door behind her closed. Turning back, Daine saw how the men moved to block the way to the door.

The gust of cold air caused by the door forced the flames in the fireplace on her right to hiss. The marble under her feet reflected the orange flames that licked at the wood greedily. It would soon demand another load to beat back the cold as it crawled into every crack in the walls and floor.

She took yet another step and the men before her scattered to give her space. She noticed with every step that they didn't fully turn their backs to the man standing and observing every movement. The man didn't seem to care about the obvious nervousness, and continued to observe as the king took his place in the ancient chair.

King Angus folded his hands, a gesture only associated with someone trying to look serious, but it was not necessary, for they all felt rather vulnerable. He looked her up and down, an approving look in his eyes.

She had been dressed in a gown with a very low neckline and, being the only female standing among men, she felt exposed. Daine stared down as she took another step towards the middle of the chamber and heard one of the men whistle behind her. She turned in time to see the man next to the one who had whistled giving him an elbow while leaning and hissing, not very low.

"Are you mad? Have you forgot that she is taken?"

Numair couldn't help himself as a smiled tucked in the corner of his lips, but he remained calm with an uninterested blank expression in his eyes. He followed every movement she made, noticing every small gesture that might tell him to interfere if necessary.

Daine rolled her eyes and continued forth. She knew the dress that had been chosen for her was not nearly as fine as the clothes the nobles dressed themselves in, but it floated along with her movement and the cotton fabric fitted her almost perfectly. The dress was quite nice but for one clear exception - the pink color didn't flatter her looks at all.

She took another step forth. The movement of the gown brushing over the floor sent ripples through the fabric. The men noticed that, but there was no difference in the glances that were thrown her way. They – married and not – found themselves thinking for a few seconds that if they before had found her repulsive – they definitely regretted it now.

She reached the middle of the floor and stopped.

"Veralidaine Sarrasri," the king's voice sounded through the chamber as everyone finally stood still. "You are to be betrothed tomorrow, but before we continue with anything, I find myself in a difficult position," he paused as he lifted his eyes to where his glasses had caught the glow of the embers in the fireplace and turned towards a very bulky man that stood with a relaxed posture.

Daine followed his gaze and found herself looking into blue-green eyes. She swallowed hard, feeling nervous. She had hoped to be introduced to the man she was going to marry without so many witnesses. This was so formal.

King Angus continued, "As it is custom, Master Warren here will see that the examination is fulfilled before we do the hand fasting."

The man in question moved forward as the king said his name, but halted when a movement Daine couldn't see caught his eyes.

The unwanted man in the back had pushed himself away from the wall and was moving forth with the silence of a cat that was hunting for its prey. The men around him moved out of his way with fear in their eyes, brought forth by the tingling feeling of powers lingering in the air.

Daine frowned over the expression that the royal healer held in his eyes. He seemed nervous over something. She jumped, startled, when an authoritative voice spoke behind her.

"Such custom isn't necessary."

Daine detected a clear undertone in the voice and before she could turn around the king rose from his chair. Frowning, she wondered over the fact that she had absolutely no idea what custom they were talking about.

"It's a Gallan custom and I decide if it is necessary," the king's response was dismissive and he looked at a place somewhere behind her.

Around Daine, the men were sending worried glances to each other over the tone the king had spoken in. After the king's answer, silence had descended over the room.

Sounds of boots on the marble floor resounded as the speaker came walking forward, out the shadows behind her. Daine didn't turn and suddenly it hit her! She hadn't curtsied for the king, and in the middle of gathering herself to do it, the unknown man's voice sounded again, this time bearing a cold pitch.

"We don't have such a custom in Tortall and there is no need for it here," Numair shot back, allowing his words to settle into everyone present. He stopped slightly behind her with the rest of the men forming a circle around them. He allowed himself to breathe, concealing the anger inside him, "As her future husband, I have the right to decide such a matter."

Now she acted, or her body did, for her mind was too frozen in shock to accompany her physical self. She halted in horror as she turned and looked at the man directly behind her.

Daine's mouth dropped as she recognized his voice. She had to lift her chin to look up at him and was horrified as she recognized his features. Suddenly, she took a step back and tripped over the short train of her gown.

Numair grabbed her and helped her to regain her balance. His hand remained seconds too long on her upper arm and Daine jerked her arm back instinctively with a hiss, "Don't touch me unless invited."

He released her as if she had burned him. In a way she had - with her acid tongue. She felt the blood drain from her face as he opened his mouth to speak again with a deathly calm, ignoring her presence in front of him. "As I said before, as her future husband, I have the right to decide such a matter."

"What matter?" Daine whispered, confused, but her voice was cut short by the king's.

"This is not Tortall, Master Salmalin." Everyone in the room could hear the disapproval in King Angus's voice, "I am the king here in this country and my word is final." He waved his hand over towards where the royal healer stood and the man took a step forward.

Daine shook her head vigorously and took a step back from the approaching healer with his burning, lustful eyes. "Get away from me!" she snapped and ran into the strongly built frame behind her. She wasn't sure what they were talking about or what the topic contained, but she would rather die than let the hands of the healer touch her.

An arm snaked around her waist protectively, holding her firmly against his chest, and the royal healer stopped short. While inside his embrace, she was safe.

The king straightened himself up to his full length, which wasn't much compared to the man he was having the strange argument with. "You are under my roof, Master Salmalin, and I have means to send you away if the agreement is broken."

"The agreement is not signed yet, Your Majesty," Numair answered calmly and felt small fingers twist around his, but he ignored that as well as he ignored the men at arms that reached for their weapons. "And, as I know from the letters exchanged, such custom isn't a part of it."

Daine pressed herself back, turning her face away from the man who wasn't the king, and who spoke next. "Every woman undergoing a betrothal is required to go through the examination. They do it even in the small villages throughout Galla."

She was confused, too confused for her own good, and with her almost absent mind she clung to the tall man. Looking up, she saw that he inclined his head as to acknowledge what the royal healer had said, but the stiffness in his body was unchanged. "Maybe I was misinformed," Numair said coldly, "but I was told that His Majesty's castle was no small village. If she is to undergo the examination, I will require that the custom is to be supervised by a female – not a male."

Small, dismayed exclamations filled the air around them. Daine shot an investigative look towards where the healer stood with his lips pressed into a thin line. He will not accept dismissal, she was beginning to think, when he spoke with anger in his voice, "Women can't be trusted with such an important thing! Everyone knows that women hold less brain capacity than men and are unable to learn about healing."

She couldn't help herself, and a growl escaped her, but she was firmly stopped with a light pressure from his arm into her chest. Daine glanced down, biting the inside of her mouth to prevent another growl from coming forth.

"I'm sure that His Majesty wouldn't talk such about his wife," Numair answered back, waiting to see the reaction from the healer.

The royal healer dropped his mouth and looked, bewildered, back to where the king stood in shock. He began to try to explain himself.

"Quiet," King Angus snapped and ignored the surprised expression in his healer's eyes. The king turned back to Numair. "A woman?" the king asked.

Daine could hear the provocative reply her protector gave as he tightened his arm around her, "Yes – a woman. No man, other then myself, is going to get near her. If you wish for her to be examined for her virginity, I request that it is to be done by a woman – and if you can't provide one there will be no such thing taking place," he hesitated before he continued, "or I'll send word to my king that the agreement is no longer on the table."

With these words, the king's face became pale.

Daine was shaking now, her whole body trembling. Another arm was twisting around her waist, fortunately holding her up when her legs suddenly gave away from underneath her. She finally understood what this all was about.

"No," she whispered as flashes - recently buried memories brought, yet again, forward – memories she didn't want to have or shouldn't have in the first place.

Around her, the air was filled with angry statements. Some of the men were arguing with each other. The king's healer was shouting at the king. Daine tried to cover her ears, trying to push the hands of the ghosts from the past away from her body.

She didn't care that she had been bought like some product for sale on the market, but she wouldn't tolerate any man to touch her as such. Daine tried to get free, but the arms around her held on, and suddenly a voice sounded on the inside of her mind.

"Calm down! Don't let them see that you are frightened." His voice was calm and warm.

The argument in the chamber became louder and she fought for control, shaking and trembling, still standing in his arms.

"Trust me. I won't let them hurt you."

She was trying hard to get her feelings under control and, too lost in her fight, she didn't notice that one of his arms disappeared from her waist. She was too lost in her fight for control to notice that the king sighed loudly in defeat.

The king's defeated sigh brought an abrupt halt to the loud voices in the chamber, "I can't provide for a female healer," King Angus said in a low voice, settling himself down in his chair. "The only one I had that was capable of doing such a examination was a wet nurse, but she unfortunately passed away last summer, along with my beloved wife, when part of the castle caught fire."

The man, her future husband, standing behind her nodded and she suddenly relaxed.

He had won this fight, though he was gentleman enough to acknowledge the loss of the late young queen, "My condolences, Your Majesty. Such news has yet to reach my king and I know that he would have sent his condolences if he had known."

The king nodded while sadness and grief spread across his old face. "Thank you," he whispered before he turned away, a single tear rolling down the side of his face.

Daine couldn't help but feel the sadness that filled the room. The queen had been young, yes, but she had been loved by everyone, both around the castle and outside of it.

Queen Anna had only been around her mid-twenties when a Lord from Northern Galla had married her off to the king. To everyone's surprise, the young queen had loved the old king and was loved in return.

The men in the room seemed to be giving the king time to come around – it had almost killed him when the fire had erupted in the southwestern wing. It had not only killed the wet-nurse and the queen, but also claimed the lives of three guards and nearly the newborn boy. Only luck had prevented further tragedy, as the boy had been taken to the king.

When the silence became almost too much, the king suddenly turned, "Shall we proceed into the dining room? It seems that my cooks have overdone themselves." The king rose from his chair and was gone through the other door.

The change in the situation came so suddenly and Daine flinched when a hand was placed on her lower back. She shuddered at the touch and looked back up to where he stood.

He had withdrawn from her now that the danger was over and she didn't need any more protection.

Numair let the pressure ease as men around them disappeared from the room. He had read the uncertainty she held in her eyes, but stubbornness could also be seen in the way she lifted her head. "Why didn't you say who you were?" she whispered almost inaudibly, not wanting anyone to hear that they had met.

Numair smiled, "Love can only come by taking small steps, and a hurt animal would flee if it knew that the one who waited didn't have the patience to move slowly. Only I hadn't thought that the hurt animal would be me and the one rescuing would be you yesterday and the other way around today." He shrugged, "Destiny is fascinating, don't you think?"

Daine opened her mouth several times, not completely sure how to respond to that and not comprehending the meaning of what he had said. She finally decided to close her mouth firmly, not saying anything more.

He continued to smile at her and reached for her cheek. She took a step back and out of his reach. "I'm a man of patience," Numair told her, and with that he left her standing, utterly confused and alone in the room. Before she could comment on his last words, the door closed behind his back.

She was not permitted to dine with the men and, because of that notion, she growled low. Everything that happened around her was out of her hands, and she hated every note of it. She had thought that she was the one that had control of her life, or at least some of the life she lived, and it had turned out that she didn't have much say in matters when it came down to it.

A furious thought entered her mind. She hadn't fought against the decision that had been forced down over her head, and that in and of itself concerned her. She wasn't a submissive woman, like the ones the noblemen often had for wives, but the last two days she had accepted the new change rather quickly. Too quick, Daine thought while crossing her arms in front of herself.

Breathing slowly and calmly, her heart skipped a beat when the door to the corridor opened behind her and she found the two ladies-in-waiting entering.

Glancing back to where the men had gone, she sighed. How was she to gain control over her own life when she was surrounded by those who took the control away from her? The two ladies-in-waiting hadn't left her side from the moment she woke in her room. Even during the discussion, they had been standing outside the door waiting for permission to enter.

Now she was escorted away. Daine bit the inside of her mouth, tasting blood. She was trapped.