Darkness, pulsing through his temples and blocking his eyes, filled the air around him like a large, thick cloud. His breath was unaffected but his mind was still furred and incoherent. Somewhere outside of the foggy obscurity was something perhaps related to human speech, and it tempted him with some of its quickly spoken phrases, but he could not understand. Words hardly made sense when he was of sound mind, let alone when he was fighting his own mind for a light to explain this darkness. He lifted a hand to rub his eyes but found that he was bound to something. When he ducked his head to reach his hand, he realized the omnipresent shadows were caused by a thick cloth wound tightly over his eyes and ears, but he could not find enough of a grip with his limited mobility to tear it away. The vaguely human voice chattered on, just a bit louder and definitely angrier, but for the time being Priam did not care. Distant memories were pooling back into his immediate mind: a torchlit confrontation with a frightened boy, an argument with a companion that ended in strange emptiness, a quest with a wild animal to locate a popular missing woman, and a descending shadow that had wiped the known world away. He could be anywhere now, but assuredly he was no longer in his familiar woods. Briefly the wolf crossed his mind-the lonely one who had stayed with him as the others left-and he feared that harm had befallen it when the terrible blackness had struck him, but this was pushed aside when Priam began to consider his own situation. Here he was, somewhere unknown, and all because he simply could not forgive himself for his harsh words to the princess he hated and the wolf he favored. Loved, she had said. He could not remove the word from his thoughts. Loved.

"I truly expected that the forest would change you," the distant voice said suddenly, coherently, so close to Priam's ear that he felt the hot breath on his cheek. Fingers dug under the blindfold and tore it away, but the darkness was still greatly prevalent. One candle lit the room, a stout thing with an ironically cheerful flame, and there were no windows from which to gauge the time, so Priam instead turned his head to the speaker and made note of the dark cloak. The speaker was thin but muscled, and dressed darkly as if to blend with the shadows and the night, though his distinctive copper hair almost seemed aflame and his narrow eyes were too sharp to ignore by observing other things. Priam tested the restraints again and determined that, with a bit of force, he could break them. He would give this strange kidnapper time for explanation and then he would be on his way. Calmly the man began again, "Not you specifically, of course. I didn't know very much about you, but I certainly knew of your father. I thought-well, we all thought-that being out there, all alone with no distractions, would stabilize your strange bloodline. No more mistakes, no more terrible taste. Your father would come back with a new mindset and he would bring you here to be a true knight. It's ridiculous, the things we think as children."

"I agree with the sentiment," Priam allowed, tilting his chin up at this mysterious jailor, "but I do not understand. Should I know you? Why do you know me?"

"Part of my profession is avoiding publicity, but I make it a point to know things. From the rumors, I was only a little older than you when your father left town, but as I grew up I picked up quite a few stories about your taboo heritage." The speaker chuckled softly, the haunting sound echoing around the darkened room as he stepped in front of Priam. "Interesting things about your little cabin, that's for sure. I already said I do not usually do this, but I think that the situation calls for a little formality. The name's Gaius, master navigator of the world's dark underbelly, and since I told you that I want your name."

"You know my father but not my name?"

"I never knew him personally, but I heard plenty of stories. Heroic bloodline, numerous great warriors along the branches of the family tree. Everyone around knew of your father, but when it comes to you things are a little more... unclear."

"Priam," he replied tersely, beginning to pull at the restraints. "I want a few answers. I think you know what they are."

"Where you are, why you're here, where that beast of yours went, things like that?" Gaius shook his head with a snobbish grin. "Those aren't the kinds of questions I can answer for you just yet. First I have to ask a few of my own. Those are the rules of interrogation." As if on cue, he pointed towards the straining ropes on Priam's forearms. "I know you can escape, easily. You can probably kill me with a look. But you have no idea where you are and finding your way out of a hostile, unfamiliar environment might be more than you can handle. But, if you sit there like a good boy and cooperate for a little you may find some answers of your own."

Priam let his arms relax, listening closely to the tone of Gaius's voice for clues. "Go on, then."

"How long have you been holding the princess?"

"What?"

"Many people in the kingdom have reason to mistrust you. I've been doing a little observation, just for curiosity's sake, and early this morning I saw Princess Lucina running from your homestead. She was agitated and armed, or I would have stopped her. How long have you had her there? Did you take her from the palace? What was your part in the siege?"

"Are you accusing me of kidnapping her?" Priam straightened his back to show this Gaius that he would not succumb to harsh questions and false confessions. "I found a woman in the woods. She was hurt, so I brought her to the cabin to heal her. It was from her that I learned there was any sort of political unrest. Never was she kept against her will."

"How long did you have possession of her?"

"You say that like I imprisoned her. I already answered that."

"Fine. How long was she with you?"

Priam counted the days in his head, associating each dawn with arguments and unrest but each dusk with mystery and adventure and union. How long had it been? Some nights stretched endlessly in his memory, spanning entire months, while others were mere seconds. "Must have been less than a month."

"What did she tell you of political unrest?"

"She was royalty, there was an armed rebellion against her, when they came she ran into the woods." Priam shrugged as best he could with the restraints holding his arms down. "I didn't hear it all at once. She talked about wanting to go back, but never did because-"

Gaius, previously pacing, halted just in front of Priam and focused his narrow olive eyes on Priam's face as if he could crack him in half. "Because?"

"Because-" He shook his head and cleared the temporary sensitivity from his face. "Because she didn't want to."

"She didn't want to, or you didn't want her to?"

"She didn't want to. Though, I will admit, I was... not opposed to her staying."

"Fine." Gaius nodded thoughtfully, though the crease between his brows indicated he had not found what he was looking for. "I will be leaving you now. You have provided me with something, at least, and for that I will thank you. We are not through, though."

"Before you leave, can I ask about something?"

"You may ask anything. I probably won't answer."

"What did you mean when you said you hoped I would be changed by the forest? And my taboo history?"

"Oh." Gaius had already turned towards the darkness, but Priam's eyes had adjusted enough to see the outline of a thick wooden door with rusty hinges and moss in its crevices. "Your father married a strange woman while he was still a knight, and that was not exactly allowed but the king made an exception for a man like that. The woman became increasingly odd, though nobody could quite tell why, and when she had you she was worse. The rumors spread and your father seemed oblivious. Then, one day, she just left him. No explanation, no farewells, just up and left. He became reclusive and neglectful. The king sent him away from the palace and he lost it all. Brought you to the woods not a month after the woman left."

"You mean," he struggled to grasp the idea that the woman in the back of his mind, the smile and the romantic goodbyes as his father departed each morning, the lonely depression that had engulfed the pair in her absence, had all hidden the heartlessness of his mother, "she did not die? She left?"

"I only know rumors. We're similar in age, so my memories are as clear as yours. But the rumors are consistent, and from what I've scouted, your little romance with the princess lines up with the stories of your dad. Strange woman with strange behavior no one can explain, no one can put their finger on what's wrong, then she leaves the man and something in him changes for the worse." Gaius stepped towards the door, prying it open and drawing a splitting screech from its reluctant hinges. "I couldn't catch your wolf, by the way. The thing tried to protect you but seemed to realize it was powerless. Thought you might like to know it's safe."

"And Lucina?"

"No one has seen her since she left the cabin."