A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews – Laura Scofield, I am pretty much sure that you can read my mind, because you hit on two things that I had planned ages ago for this chapter...spooky! Please review, people! Thank you so much.
Aurelia returned to her room in the early morning, and found Sonea walking up and down, comforting a wailing Lorkin. Sonea's eyes looked red, and Aurelia knew why – they all heard Sonea crying at night when she thought no-one could hear; they all heard her sob Akkarin's name in her sleep.
She moved quietely towards Sonea and Lorkin, "Are you alright? What's wrong with Lorkin?"
"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" Sonea cried; she turned away from Aurelia – there were still some lingering tears on her cheeks, "I, um...I tried to stop him"
"What are you talking about?" Aurelia frowned. Sonea sighed heavily.
"Rothen decided that it would be okay for him to murder Dannyl now that you've told him..." she hesitated at the look of horror on Aurelia's face, "Oh no...you did tell him, didn't you?"
Aurelia gulped, "No"
"Aurelia!" Sonea shrieked. This sent Lorkin off into a fresh bout of tears, and Sonea patted his back hurriedly. Aurelia's eyes welled up.
"I didn't get the chance! He's using me!"
"Now what are you on about?" Sonea looked completely bemused, "Aurelia, what the hell is going on?"
"Oh God. Sit down – here, I'll take Lorkin. I need some practice. Now, I um...I think I had better tell you what happened tonight"
Meanwhile, Rothen was striding down the corridors, highly agitated. He doubted that Dannyl would be awake, but he would wake him. He loved Dannyl like another son, of course he did, but Aurelia was still a young, vulnerable and lovesick novice, and Dannyl had hurt her more times than was excusable. He didn't want to blame Dannyl, didn't want to be angry with him, but he didn't really see anyone else he could blame -other than Aurelia, of course, and she had enough to deal with.
Aurelia hadn't returned by the time Rothen had woken, and he was a little worried about her. The only reason she could have been so long would be because Dannyl was giving her a hard time, and he didn't want that to be the case.
The door was not locked, and upon opening it Rothen found Dannyl sitting at his desk, looking extremely confused, with a pen hovering over paper that he didn't seem to know what to write upon. He looked up, startled, when Rothen entered, but smiled.
"Rothen! It's a bit early for visiting, isn't it?" he said cheerfully. There was something in his eyes that told Rothen something had gone on that he would not entirely like.
"Where's Aurelia?" he asked, shutting the door and taking a seat. Dannyl reddened slightly.
"She left about ten minutes ago"
"And why was she here for so long? Were you giving her trouble? Because you yelling at her isn't what she needs from you at this time. She needs your support"
"Why? What's wrong with her?" Dannyl looked confused. Rothen's eyes almost popped out of his head. He stood up.
"What do you mean, what's wrong with her? Good grief, Dannyl, it's all your fault...you shouldn't have slept with her in the first place"
Dannyl, thinking that he meant that night looked embarrassed, "Oh. She told you?"
"Well of course she told me! I'm her mentor! And she could hardly have kept it from me. Did you even think about some form of protection?"
Dannyl began to look annoyed, "It's not exactly something I ever had to worry about before, is it? I mean, it's not the sort of thing that you bother about when sleeping with a man. And anyway, I thought she was taking care of it"
"But you weren't sleeping with a man! This is Aurelia we're talking about...and anyway, how could you expect her to think of something like that? She's a novice for goodness sakes, and her father would never have encouraged her to do it! You're effectively the only man she's ever slept with, and you thought that she'd know something like that?"
"Rothen, I don't understand. There's been no harm done, and it won't happen again, so – "
"No harm done! No harm done!" Rothen flopped back down, exasperated, "I love you like a son, I do, Dannyl, but I love Aurelia too, and how can you possibly say that? How can you possibly say that no harm has been done after that poor young girl has come in here and told you that she's carrying your child?"
"W-what?" all the blood appeared to have drained from Dannyl's face, "She's...what?"
"Oh God" Rothen looked suddenly horrified, "She didn't tell you, did she?"
"No, she didn't" Dannyl rose slowly from his seat, as though in a trance, "Where is she?"
Rothen saw the warning signals at once – Dannyl's temper was a harsh one, and he feared what Dannyl would say or do to Aurelia if he caught up with her.
"I think it's best if you just sit back down" he wrestled Dannyl back into the chair, "And calm down. I can't believe she didn't tell y – wait a minute. What was she doing here for all this time if you weren't arguing about the baby?"
Dannyl replied, completely tonelessly, "We slept together again"
"Oh Dannyl" Rothen groaned, "This is not what she needs! You're just going to confuse her, don't you think she has enough on her plate..."
"Confuse her!" Dannyl cried, "You think she's the one that's confused! For God's sake, Rothen, she's by no means innocent in all of this! It was she who started it, she who seduced me, she who's lied to me...you think I'm not confused? I'm in love with Tayend, I know I am, but I have all these strange feelings for her that I don't even understand, and she does nothing to discourage them! And now she tells you, and probably Sonea too, that she's expecting my baby, and she doesn't tell me? Isn't there a voice somewhere in her twisted mind that reminds her that I needed to know?!" he was yelling now, breathing heavily. Rothen looked at him anxiously.
"I'm sorry, Dannyl. I thought she'd told you. But just sit down, come on...just sit here until you calm down"
Sonea left to find Rothen as soon as Aurelia had finished telling her about Dannyl's strange behaviour the previous night. Aurelia sat alone, watching Lorkin sleep in his little bed.
A knock came at the door, a rather tentative knock. Caught up in her worries about Dannyl – he must have been told by now that she was pregnant – at first she did not answer it. The knock came a second time, and Aurelia moved, zombie-like, to the door.
A handsome young man stood outside, and Aurelia knew who he was at once, from his flamboyant clothing and the twinkle in his eyes.
"I'm sorry to disturb" he began chirpily, "But may I come in? My name is Tayend of Tremmelin, I'm a ...friend of Ambassador Dannyl"
"I know who you are" said Aurelia coldly, letting him in, "You can come in. But Dannyl isn't here"
"Yes, I know. But the lovely lady who I spoke to couldn't remember which was his room, and sent me to these rooms instead...she said Rothen and Sonea would tell me. You see, I know all about them, but I've never met them. I'm quite looking forward to seeing them, actually. Are they here?" Tayend had made himself comfortable on a chair, much to Aurelia's annoyance.
"How do you know that I'm not Sonea?" she asked haughtily, still standing. Tayend looked uncomfortable at the fact that she wasn't seated, but he smiled still.
"Because you're Aurelia. Dannyl told me that Rothen had a new novice, so I asked him to describe you...and you fit the description perfectly"
"Oh" Aurelia paused, "What did he tell you about me?"
"Not very much" Tayend responded unhelpfully, "I could do with a drink, if you have something, if it's not too much trouble?"
"There's not much point in you hanging around – like I said, Dannyl's not in here. What do you want with him anyway?"
"He promised to write often, and I've heard nothing from him. I was worried. Is he well?"
"Oh, fantastically well" said Aurelia, forcing brightness, "I saw him only a few hours ago"
"Oh, good" Tayend seemed pleased, "But I might as well wait here, until Sonea and Rothen return to direct me"
"There's no need for you to go and see him" Aurelia snapped, losing her temper, "He's perfectly happy without you here"
Tayend looked wounded by the crass comment, "Oh. I'm still going to go and see him. I think you're being rather rude"
"Of course I'm being rude!" Aurelia retaliated, laughing quite hysterically, "I loathe you!"
"But you've never met me"
"You're keeping Dannyl from being with me"
"But Dannyl's a lad" said Tayend gently, realising that she was just a spurned victim, "You wouldn't have had a chance anyway"
"A lad, is he?" Aurelia was smirking, glaring at Tayend, eyes burning, "Then why am I pregnant with his baby?"