Dear Readers,

I understand the pain you felt while reading the previous chapter, it was hard to write but I will not lie, I love to write the angst/drama! Read on, you (hopefully) won't be disappointed for it gets better.

Enjoy!

Cocking his head at the bartender Booth ordered another drink as he pushed his empty mug forward. The older man raised an eyebrow but the knight slid a piece of silver across the dirty bar, it would keep the drinks coming and the questions at bay for awhile longer. The smell of strong beer wafted towards him as the barkeep filled the mug.

It was about dinner hour at the castle, the nobility would be seated and it would become rather obvious that Booth was skipping the meal, with no excuse this time either. If asked tomorrow he would make something up, another sin he would confess to later as well. They would miss him at first but he knew they would get over it, Timothy was too taken by Temperance to care for long. Besides, being away made people forget the rumors about him and the Princess. He wished there had only ever been rumors to begin with. Taking another drag of his beer he silently cursed fate again, he was beginning to lose faith in it.

As the evening progressed from supper to dancing the Prince scanned the crowd yet again for his friend. Sir Wendell approached Timothy with a look of concern on his face.

"Any news?" he asked the knight.

Wendell shook his head, "Booth's horse is gone."

"Why would he leave the castle?"

"I don't know my lord," Wendell lied, he had a few theories as to why Booth was gone.

"Is he cross with me? Ever since I arrived he's been distant and cold."

"I do not think he is angry with you, he has no reason to be."

Timothy thought for a moment, "I want you to take the Countess and go look for Booth in the city. If you find him let her talk with him, they're close, perhaps she can get it out of him."

"Yes your highness," Wendell replied obediently and went off in search of Cam.

He found her, not far away, talking with the Lord and Lady Hodgins.

"Countess, a moment please," Wendell called her over.

She excused herself and joined him, "We must find Booth, the Prince requests it," he told her.

"I was afraid this would happen."

Wendell gave her a quizzical look.

"I'll tell you on the way," she began walking towards the doors of the great hall.

The night was warm and the sky sparkled with stars as the Countess and Sir Wendell rode into the city.

"Where shall we begin looking?" she inquired.

"I can think of at least three taverns to start at, I don't think he'll have strayed to far."

"Are they places you've been with him?"

"Yes," he paused and raised an eyebrow at Cam, "Why were you afraid of this?"

"Because Booth's behavior is raising questions which should not be answered."

Sir Wendell was not dumb, "This has to do with the Princess, doesn't it?"

She held his gaze, "These are questions that should not be answered nor repeated to the Prince, Wendell, you do understand?"

"Of course."

"Good. We respect the Prince but are loyal to Sir Booth as a friend first, you must remember this tonight."

"I will," for the first time Sir Wendell realized just how dangerous Booth's situation was.

They rode in silence for a few moments listening to the night noises of the city.

"Where are we headed first?" Cam finally broke the quiet.

"The King's Crown, it's not far."

Angry voices began to rumble behind him, they were arguing over something, Booth had not figured it out yet but he did not care to find out. The arguing increased, the rumbling escalated to firm words, something about a bet gone wrong during a game at another table. The barkeep watched them with a keen eye. Chairs scraped on the floor, the men rose now, firm words turned into loud accusations.

"Enough of that," the barkeep ordered but the men did not seem to hear.

Shouts erupted and then suddenly a small man was thrown into the bar next to Booth, finally peaking his interest. When he turned around three larger men were advancing on the smaller one.

"I paid you, I never cheated you!" the small, wiry redhead pleaded.

"Then why am I missing my pennies?" a big brute in the middle asked.

"You spent them on beer!" spat the redhead, "I'll not be paying you again!"

"Oh yes you will!" the large one pounded one meaty fist into the other.

There was fear in the redhead's eyes, Booth stood up in front of him, "Might there be another way to deal with this situation?"

He kept his tone even while standing in front of the smaller man.

"Stay out of this!" said the fat brute on the right.

Booth stood his ground, "You're disturbing the peace, leave this man alone."

The large man in the middle sized Booth up, "'Suppose we'll have to teach this one a lesson too if he doesn't get outta the way."

"We have no quarrel with you, so move!" ordered the fat one.

The small man cowered behind Booth, "I've not done anything wrong," he whimpered.

"The hell you have!" the squat man on the left lunged forward but Booth shoved him out of the way.

"You stupid bastard!" the large man in the middle struck out at Booth and the fight was on.

Fists flew as the two fought. The fat man launched himself at the knight who shouldered him to the floor easily. He easily dodged a punch thrown by the large man and came back with his own, the blow landing with a satisfying crunch on the man's nose. As the rage overtook Booth he lost himself in his anger. He fought with a fiery passion, the pent up aggression over taking him. Men came at him but he held his own not even needing to use a blade of any kind. Yet his opponents thought otherwise and suddenly the large man was up and running at the knight with a dagger.

Yanking his own from his side, Booth prepared for the blow but it never came. The man was thrown sideways as a voice boomed over the chaos.

"Stop in the name of the king's peace!"

Sir Wendell stood in the middle in full uniform, two other royal guards at his side. He stared at the large man on the ground;

"Take your men and leave or we shall throw you in the stocks!"

Stunned, the man slowly got up, gave an evil glare to Booth, then made for the door.

"Are you alright?" Wendell asked his friend.

He had a few superficial scrapes on his face, his knuckles were bloody and his shoulder hurt;

"I'm fine," he grumbled, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Wendell ignored his inquiry, "Do you have a room here?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because we need to talk," Cam had emerged from behind the guards looking livid.

Booth knew better than to argue with her, so avoiding the stares of the bar patrons, he led her up to the room he was renting. No sooner had he locked the door when Cam rounded on him.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"So what if I am?" he challenged her.

She scoffed, "Is this where you'd rather be, drinking and fighting at some tavern instead of spending time with people who care about you?"

"No one cares about me Cam! The woman I love told me I was nothing more than her play thing then dismissed me, now my best friend is going to marry her! No one cares that I exist!"

"What about your son? Would you shame him by being killed in a bar fight?"

He waved a hand in front of him as if dismissing the thought; "Parker is well taken care of by his grandparents and he'd easily be taken on by any other knight, if not by Timothy himself, he doesn't need me, it would be better if he forgot me."

"How can you say your own son doesn't need nor care about you? Booth, you still have the rest of your life ahead of you, don't give up now!"

His eyes darkened as he yelled, "The rest of my life? I have two options Cam, I can go home and live in the shadows of Timothy and Temperance or I can go on crusade and wait to die on the battlefield. What life is that? I have nothing to live for!"

Suddenly she understood how much he had loved Temperance and just how badly she had hurt him. Yet she knew why the Princess had sent him away, she understood completely when Angela had told her in confidence, she had agreed that it was for the best and had hoped Booth would move on. Now she saw what a bad decision that had been, it had sent Booth into a depression she wasn't sure he would recover from. His bloodshot eyes and unshaved face screamed with pain, Cam had never seen her friend like this before.

Booth reached for the jug of wine in his room, turning his back on his shocked friend. Before the drink touched his lips she blurted out the truth;

"She loves you!"

The Countess clamped her hands over her mouth; she had told the secret she had sworn to keep.

"Do not lie to me Cam," he warned her, though he saw in her large brown eyes that she spoke true.

"She told me she never loved me," he shook his head, the denial taking over.

Cam's voice was thick with emotion when she spoke, "She had to hurt you Booth, to make you leave. She didn't want you to go through the jealously and pain of watching her with Timothy."

"So she put me through heartbreak instead?" there was anger in his words.

Cam nodded, "She wanted you to move on, if you left then you could find someone new without always thinking of her," a few tears spilled down her cheeks, "You should have seen her after you left, she was devastated! She loves you Booth, I promise you she still does and always will."

"Why are you telling me this?" he sounded unsure of himself.

She wrung her hands, "I never should have but..."

"She loves me but she will still marry him, I still must love her from a distance."

"I'm sorry Seeley, you were never supposed to know but I can't watch you throw your life away. She will never love Timothy the way she does you, she will suffer with that for the rest of her life."

Something changed in his eyes then, "Has he asked for her hand yet?"

"No," she recognized that dangerous glint of hope in his eyes, "Please don't say you're going back to her, you can't, you said it would end when Timothy arrived."

"She isn't married yet, I just need to see her again, here that she loves me one more time."

Booth began to rush around the room, gathering clean clothes and his shaving razor. Cam grabbed his arm, "You'll be caught and hung!"

"Then I'll die a happy man."

Burying her face in her hands Cam muttered, "What have I done?"

The dancing was still going on when Booth rode with Cam and Wendell back into the castle. The Countess, a somber look on her face, immediately retired to her room, she would have no part in what happened next. So Wendell, being none the wiser to what had conspired at the tavern, walked with Booth back into the great hall.

In the centre the Prince and Princess swayed together unaware of the new arrivals. Booth took the opportunity to watch her, stalking the perimeter of the dance floor, hungry eyes taking her in.

Finally, over the shoulder of the Prince, she spotted him, blue eyes widening in shock as they met brown. Quickly, she regained her composure and tore her gaze from his. Not to be deterred, Booth followed the couple back to their seats as the song ended.

It wasn't long before the Prince took notice of his friend, "Booth! How kind of you to finally make an appearance as the night ends," the note of sarcasm did not go undetected.

"Forgive me," he bowed in reply, "I had an urgent matter to attend to regarding my son, I hope you will overlook my actions, I promise I shall not miss another meal with my friends."

"Is Parker alright?" concern crept into Timothy's voice.

"He is well thank you, the matter has been resolved."

"Well in that case, come have a drink and be merry Booth, you are most welcome here."

Timothy poured Booth some wine, he feigned a sip before saying, "I was hoping I might dance with the Princess, I have not done that in some time now."

Temperance choked and sputtered on her wine.

"Darling?" the Prince turned to her, she waved him off.

"I'm fine," she replied, delicately wiping her mouth.

Booth held out his hand to her, "Then come dance with me your highness."

A fearful look flashed across her face as she took his hand. Once on the dance floor he felt her tension as he took her into position.

The music began and she hissed into his ear, "What are you doing?"

"I must see you, tonight," he whispered back.

"You know that is not possible."

A pregnant pause, a twirl, he dragged out the wait before saying;

"I know what you said wasn't true."

The guilt was evident in her eyes, she avoided his. He leaned in close, his breath warm near her ear, "I know you love me."

"We cannot do this," her reply was weak, even she knew it.

"Meet me later, in the stables," she shook her head as he said it, "Please Bones, if you ever loved me, be there, I'll wait all night if I must."

She bit her lower lip, her eyelashes fluttered, he could almost read the internal struggle as it played out on her face. Temperance gave an audible sigh as the song ended, she dipped low into a curtsey and practically ran off, leaving Booth to wonder if he had lost his gamble.

To be continued...

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know! (Don't hate me because its a cliffhanger, I'm now on a roll so hopefully the next chapter is coming soon!)