Celaena didn't want to move from the position she was in. She was surrounded by a soft duvet, the mattress was fluffy like a cloud, and most importantly, she was being hugged by her husband. After two long months, she missed him so much that she didn't need anyone else's presence today. Only he mattered.

They had already been married for half a year, but it was their first long separation. Previously, she had missions in the city, and every day they could at least go to bed together. All this was interrupted by the king, who, for some reason, had to send her to the other end of the country. The task was not much different from the previous ones, but for its time it was definitely the most difficult one. Finally, when they saw each other again, they still couldn't fall into each other's arms. They wanted to keep their marriage a secret for as long as possible, which forced them to hold back in the presence of the ruler.

Fortunately, they did not have to fear another parting for the next few months. Well, another rebels appeared in the city and the ruler was about to present a new mission to the woman, which was a bit puzzling, but she didn't care. If he wasn't going to give her something now, she could use the time for herself and her lover.

She thought about how to wake him up until she decided to kiss a path from his shoulder, through his neck, to his cheek, ending with his lips. That's what she did the morning after their wedding, and it was her favorite method.

"Laena..." he muttered half-conscious.

His hands trembled and he began to stroke her back, which he had kissed so tenderly yesterday. He ran his fingers along her scars, massaging and scratching the more sensitive areas. He knew them by heart, every night without his wife, he drew them on the sheets when he couldn't sleep, which was always when she was away.

"Don't you dare get up today"

"I am not going to. We slept too little anyway"

"I wonder whose fault it was ... "she replied teasingly, while smiling at the memory of the pleasure of last night.

"Both of us are guilty"

True, both of them weren't fullfilled enough after so many days without each other and kept waking up for half-conscious kisses.

"I missed you terribly"

"What can I say? When I could, I arranged the pillows as if you were lying next to me"

"I did not think about it"

"I'm telling you right now, it doesn't help at all. Only with you I can sleep"

"From what I know, now we will have a few months to each other" he whispered coquettishly in her ear and lowered himself to her neck to start caressing.

She immediately wanted to kiss him. But why should they only get a few months? From what she heard from the ruler, the rebel forces have grown very large, and since it will take several weeks for each one, then...

"It'll be longer"

"I hope so. Or maybe I could ask for a leave of absence for you?"

"Really?"

"I can't promise you anything, but it's worth dreaming, isn't it?"

"You know how much I would like to leave, even if only for a short time" she sighed "Only then wouldn't he find out about us?"

From the movement of his eyelashes against her skin, she guessed he was rolling his eyes.

"Let's not talk about it," he said mysteriously.

"What would you like to talk about?"

He lifted his head, and then she saw that clever and seductive smirk she knew so well.

"About how much I love you"

"And I like it much better"

They kissed. All the shared memories they had shared over the last six months flowed through them, each return to the palace, the nights when they finally fell asleep peacefully. They only remembered the good things in their lives now. They paused for fractions of a second to look into each other's eyes for a moment, comb their hair, or kiss another spot on their lover's face. If only they had full freedom, they would like to stay like this for the rest of their lives, with only pleasant memories and a bright vision of the future.

"Today we can still lie down, but tomorrow you are obliged to put up with me shopping"

"Why do you need me there?"

"First, we'll go to the coffee shop after this and you'll get your favorite cake, and secondly, you must compliment me while I pick out a dress at the dressmaker's."

"Now I can do it too, sweetheart," he murmured, and bit her ear.

"But when you are so exhausted, you tell me even more, so that I finally decide on something, and sometimes you almost beg me on your knees" she laughed "I won't be long"

"If you make it up to me later, I agree."

"What would you like?" she asked coquettishly.

He didn't answer her, just leaned in for more kisses.

"Let's say... you'll agree to a horseback ride, then you'll take a bath with me and bask in bed with me, then... I don't know, we'll be doing nothing all day"

"Since when does my busy Captain of the Guard have time to pamper his wife like this?"

Chaol snorted a laugh and grabbed her tightly in his arms so that he rolled onto his back with her on top of him. Celaena's hair fell down the sides of their faces, creating a curtain to hide how aggressively they began to caress each other.

During the visit to the dressmaker, the captain did get extremely, but his wife looked so beautiful that he gave up whining about how much time they spent there. She deserved new dresses and bonnets more than anyone else, and he just had to wait patiently for her. After what seemed like an eternity, he took her to their favorite cafe, where their favorite table happened to be vacant.

"You deserved it," she told him as the waiter set the desserts in front of them.

"You must be exhausted after this"

She glared at him, and he only smiled, because reading the tiredness on her face was not a great art.

"Very funny"

"But you'll look nice"

He rested his head on his bent arm and, looking into his wife's eyes, took the first bite of his long-awaited chocolate cake.

"Did something happen while I was gone?"

He looked around the place to make sure no one overheard them. He could have bet his entire salary that Celaena rolled her eyes at this behavior.

"Except for one thing, it was pretty boring"

His beloved narrowed her eyes.

"Besides what?"

"You're going to love this," he said, continuing to tease her.

"Captain Chaol Westfall," she began, "as your wife, I have the most sacred right in the world to know what you've been up to for the past two months. If you don't tell me now, then..."

"Okay, okay, honey"

He took her hand.

"Do you remember Roland?"

"How could I forget this little..."

She controlled herself, because the insults thrown at the royal cousin could be heard.

"So imagine he's engaged to some very rich noblewoman. Everything was going so beautifully that a lot of people believed in a fairy tale about their great love "he rolled his eyes "But then came the day of the ball on the occasion of founding some new charitable society. It was also then that our newly engaged young lady realized that she had lost sight of her fiancé. She went looking for him and found him in...

There was no power to stop him from further teasing the woman.

"Guess"

"The garden, the balcony, the servants' corridors, his office..."

"Exactly. In his study, on the couch, she found the prince drunk on a whole carafe of wine, with another young woman undoing his pants at the time"

Celaena covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh.

"Let me just add that a lot of people knew his companion, but rather from government circles"

"Courtesan?" she asked in a whisper.

"You didn't hear it from me, but yes. Sleeping with Mulisson, Berg and others"

This time, a soft laugh escaped her, but it didn't attract the attention of the other people in the cafe.

"You have to be careful when you tell me things like that."

"Are you afraid of old ladies?"

Three matrons were sitting in the corner, and from time to time they gave them not very pleasant looks. They certainly didn't know what they were talking about, but the mere fact that they had a noticeable laugh might infuriate them.

"No. It's just now going to be hard for me to look at this little louse and not imagine the scene. How did the fiancée react?"

"At first she started pummeling him with her fists, then ran away crying to her mother. The next day there was not even an attempt to ask the miss for forgivness, and it was said that her brother had been miraculously stopped from calling a duel"

"Maybe it's better?

"Yeah, because he's acctually nice. As for his sister, everyone felt so sorry for her that a new candidate was quickly found. Rolland's love story ended with a reprimand from his mother for squandering a great chance at a good marriage and ruining his reputation"

He had witnessed almost the whole story himself, and when he heard from the guardsmen about what was going on in duchess of Meah's apartments, he burst out laughing along with them. While the lord's reputation had suffered little after their brawl, and some ladies considered him a poor victim, few parents now wanted him to deal with their daughters.

"He hasn't learned anything"

"Exactly"

While finishing the dessert, he told her about the new trick he had taught Fleetfoot, the king's plans for the number of logs in the upcoming season, and the discovery of a new place in the forest where he would like to spend at least a few hours with her. Watching his wife in such a good mood, her eyes sparkling with excitement at the thought of how many moments they would be able to spend together, was the most beautiful thing that had happened to him since she left. It was like that when they were alone and for a moment they forgot how messed up their lives were.

They went to one more place. In the district closer to the sea, where it was easier to find a tenement house with chipped plaster, drunk workers and innkeepers, among all this bustle, had their place. On the third floor of a quite good-looking tenement house, in an apartment with a living room, kitchen and bedroom, where they spent one of the most beautiful evenings of their lives.

Relieved, Celaena stripped off the heavy wool mantle she had wrapped around herself on this frosty day. Her husband went to build a fire in the fireplace, which gave her time to get an eiderdown quilt, a clean sheet, and a few pillows from the trunk.

"Do we still have candles?" the man asked as the wood caught fire.

They had, and after a while they were burning in candelabra on the chest of drawers near the bed. The room was slowly warming, but that didn't mean the captain didn't throw a warm blanket over his wife's shoulders as they sat on the mattress and stared at the fire.

"Have you ever thought that sometimes I can be warm?"

She interrupted him unraveling her hair.

"Has it occurred to you that no matter how many times you tell me, I'll still take care of you?"

She gave him peace. His hands, accustomed rather to heavy rifles and pistols, were now combing her hair very gently, from time to time he ran a finger over her cheek or brushed her wedding ring.

"Will you tell me again how you fell in love with me?"

She took a deep breath and leaned more firmly against his chest.

"I have no idea. Either it was so gradual that I didn't notice, or you were always in my heart and I just didn't know it"

Several times she tried to catch in her memories that one moment when she was sure that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Chaol and give him her heart. She could not.

"We come here more often. Isn't the king planning some few days' trip out of the palace, in which we don't have to participate?"

"Maybe something will come up, but we can't afford more than one or two nights"

She sighed in disappointment, though that, too, was something she would have been very happy about. Waking up in this bed, in a place so different from the palace, having breakfast in the kitchen window and lazing around all day, it was all on the long list of things she wanted to do with her beloved.

"It'll be nice anyway. Nobody will find us here"

He was right. They did not tell anyone about this apartment, keeping its secret only among themselves.

"Now I see you proposing to me," she whispered, looking at the crackling wood.

"And you saying yes..."

He kissed the nape of her neck and purred, pleased with the warmth radiating from her.

"Maybe I should talk to the king about a possible leave?"

"Do you think he might agree?"

"Right. You kept me up at night and I can't think straight"

She turned to him and stared at his slightly swollen eyes. She looked similar, but she did not regret those few hours when in the middle of the night they planned their entire future after she regained her freedom. In addition, Chaol found a photo of the house in one of the newspapers, which he liked enough to cut out and carry in his wallet for several weeks. It was beautiful, a perfect representation of everything she wanted in their estate.

"Do you want to sleep?"

"A bit"

He closed his eyes, before putting a pillow under his back. Celaena lay down on it, once again engrossed in the beautiful dream of their home, where they could start a new life away from the problems of the capital. She was tired, but she didn't want to fall asleep, she just wanted to be aware of the incredible peace that reigned in this apartment all the time.

The king supposedly wrote out new orders for the captain, but did not immediately pass them on to him. He knew how difficult it would be to meet him in the office, since his wife had returned to the capital yesterday and it would be at least two days before he was fully back at work. On the one hand, the ruler had plenty of ways to call an officer to order at once, but it would be contrary to his fatherly duties. After all, why would his daughter spend less time with her husband because of some reports?

His butler announced the queen, whom he ordered to come here immediately after breakfast. The woman entered the room with her usual blank expression that she had been putting on for him for years. She looked like a doll, completely devoid of any feelings.

"Celaena's back," he began.

The wife's expression instantly changed. She pressed her lips together as hard as she could, trying not to cry in front of him, which would expose her to additional comments.

"I understand how much this means to you, but there's no reason to cry. She is safe and sound and, as far as I know, quite content. She went into town this morning, distracting the captain, our son-in-law, from his duties, because he has to spend all the money I gave her, do you need anything else?

Georgina stared at him wide-eyed, as if she hadn't understood what he had just said to her. Her hands gripped the fabric of her skirt, crumpling the expensive silk.

"Your courtiers will notice that you were nervous"

After this remark, she immediately stopped touching the dress and put her hands on the armrests of the chair.

"You'll probably send her back," she said quietly.

"I have tasks for her in the city. You'll see her at the balls"

"And that's it?"

"You didn't want me to tell her. How did you put it? She's too happy to spoil it now?"

"It was right after her wedding. And now ... maybe it's time" she said uncertainly "You wanted it yourself"

- You picked a good time.

He got up and walked over to the window, leaving his wife behind his back. Through the glass there was a perfect view of the city, where somewhere, in one of the expensive tailor shops, his daughter was now sitting, choosing fabric for a dress. Or had she already returned and peppered her husband with questions about what was going on in the palace? It was quite late actually, so where were they?

"Have you seen the new flyers?"

"Yes. They called you funny"

"It's only funny to you, and the image of the dynasty suffers" he sighed disappointedly "A red pig, it really fits the image of a serious monarch"

"And what is Celaena supposed to do?"

"The press will cover her and what she did after she was kidnapped"

"Do you enjoy calling it a kidnapping?"

Once again, annoyed, he let out a breath, because they had this conversation many times.

"We'll say the rebels left her to a random family that took care of her for a few years, then they died, she ended up with other relatives who sent her to an expensive school, after which she met a captain and ended up in the palace. It can stand up and sound romantic, and many people will like that, especially your ladies-in-waiting"

"You wouldn't have to make it up if you..."

"That's the decision I made, and you haven't done much other than roar into your pillow to make a difference. I told you with whom she lives, and if you brought her to the palace, I would have no choice but to adopt her as my child"

"You know how much I blame myself for this. When you tell her this..." she swallowed "be careful"

"He's not the sweet baby you remember anymore."

"But she's still delicate"

He shook his head in disbelief, because the queen said that about almost every woman at court who looked like that. Celaena, well, could look and act like a delicate adarlanian rose, but the wife would be very surprised when they had their first quarrel. And he could count on one in the next few days.

That was one of the reasons he didn't object when Georgina didn't want to tell their daughter the truth. She had a definite image of her in her mind, which she based solely on the few times she'd seen her in the hallway, just when she was attiered in a pretty gown. What was it like the rest of the time? The wife didn't seem to notice.

"I'll tell, when she'll kindly be done with throwing money away. Even today"

This, as he emphasized the last two words, made Georgina shudder, but she nodded humbly, a sign of consent he didn't need to act at all.

Queen Georgina couldn't wait for her husband to finally let her go back to her rooms and, as he used to say, roar into her pillow. Miraculously, she reached the bed, lifted the crinoline, and lay down on the soft bedspread, burying her face in the pillows. The darkness that surrounded her did not help her calm down, because in such a state it was even easier for her to imagine her daughter.

God, in her mind she was so happy and radiant, surrounded by the sincerest love of her husband, and yet the monarch felt like someone had banged her head against a wall. She tortured herself with more freaks of fantasy, where Celaena danced in a beautiful dress at the ball, received some very important audience with her and the king, hugged her first child right after giving birth and raised it together with the captain. She had a perfect life of a princess where no one would take away her happiness for reasons made up so quickly.

"My God, my God..." she moaned.

She wanted so much to hug her, wipe the tears from her face, tell her that she no longer had to follow her father's orders and that now she could start a new life, devoid of previous tragedies. That she would have a mother again.

She didn't know much about Eloise, who'd raised Celaena for the first eight years, but she'd probably done everything she could to make sure the little girl never felt a trace of coldness from her. It was something she definitely couldn't count on in a palace. There were so many people who would treat her worse just because she was a girl.

She lay motionless for a while longer, until she gathered enough strength to go to the dressing room and take out one very special box. In it were all the baby things she had prepared for her daughter, unaware that she would be taken away from her.

She took a small box and took out a gold medallion, something that every child born into the royal family got. With a crown, a birth date engraving she didn't make until weeks after he took Celaena...

Then she clutched the fluffy blanket she had knitted and woven into it so much love for her unborn child.

She dreaded the moment when she would be able to talk to her daughter. After all, so much bad had happened in her life, and these murders ... She still loved her very much, but during her trial she had to leave the city for a while, because she could not listen to speculations about the crimes. She spent a month in the convent, praying every day to spare her child's life. It worked, though the queen had seen what the girl looked like after almost a year in the salt mines. But she was alive. She was alive and would be back in a few hours.

It was evening when they returned to the palace, and both of them were enjoying the sleepy, slightly romantic atmosphere they had taken away from their dockside apartment. Celaena slowly took off her bonnet, thus allowing her husband to slide the cape off her shoulders, then her coat, and finally kiss her neck.

"Please, tell me that tomorrow you are only mine too" she whispered hopefully.

For the first time that day, she saw something resembling sadness on her beloved's face.

"No"

"I have to give him the reports tomorrow afternoon. But in the morning we will get up together, I will have breakfast with you ..." he sighed, also disappointed "I would like to give you more"

"I know. You do a lot for me anyway"

They had to make the most of the last hours of what felt like a honeymoon they are going to wait for three years. She thought at first they would just spend the rest of the day on the couch, but Chaol pulled her toward the piano.

"You haven't played me yet"

She knew that look well. When music came out from under her fingers, her beloved loved to sit next to her, put his head on her shoulder, close his eyes and drift away somewhere far away, still being with her. He was so calm then, as if they were already free and he didn't have to worry about her.

She started with a simple melody to warm her fingers. She immediately felt her husband slide his head into the arch of her neck, his warm lips brushing against her skin. She moved on to a waltz, one of those played at balls in the palace and one they danced to in the garden. She knew it by heart and played it whenever they came back when they both needed to remember all the moments that led to their kiss on the roof, the engagement, the wedding, and so much more.

"You should play on stage"

"Maybe. I'm sure she could teach music, if you can put up with giggling misses in our house"

"If that would make you happy, then yes."

And she moved from the waltz to the livelier polka, humming a song that suited her. They didn't hear Philippa enter the room.

"Celaena?"

She paused and turned to the maid.

"Yes?"

"The king has sent a letter"

She looked disappointedly at the letter in the maid's hand, though she expected it in the next few days. But she couldn't believe what she read.