A/N: Sorry, I went away on holiday! So I hope you really enjoy the chapter, just to make up for my absence. Thank you so, so much for the reviewers, although I love my faithful reviewers it's nice to be getting new ones too, so please continue! Thanks for reading!

When Dannyl finally arrived at the house in Elyne, he was shaking.

He knew that it was cowardly of him, to be scared of facing Tayend again, especially after Tayend telling him not to return. But he'd been acting like a coward a lot recently. And the worst thing was, although he was furious with Aurelia, he had a feeling that they could end up being really good friends, if for the sake of their child more than anything. And, now that he came to think of it, he kind of liked the idea of having a child. He'd always resigned himself to the fact that he could never be a father, but now that just wasn't true.

He'd still rather have Tayend than a child, though, cruel as it sounds.

He took a very deep breath, and knocked on his own front door, something he'd never needed to do much before.

He was shocked by how unwell Tayend looked when he answered. He had always been slender and muscular, but the past fortnight had seen him grow gaunt and pale, and his face appeared as though he'd never cracked a smile in his life, which was as far from the truth as possible.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped harshly, "I told you, I don't want to talk to you. I don't even want to look at you"

"You haven't heard everything yet" said Dannyl, his voice beseeching, "Please, Tayend. Just let me explain to you exactly how I got into this mess"

Tayend paused a moment, his face twisted and almost ugly with anger and hate. Then he nodded, just once, a slight crack in the barrier he'd make for himself. Dannyl tried to hide his smile of relief, but couldn't quite manage it.

"Don't think you're forgiven" Tayend snapped, glowering at him, "Because you're not"

"It's only hard because I know he won't be coming back this time. At least, not to be with me"

"He'll keep coming back to see the baby" said Sonea gently, patting Aurelia's shoulder, "And I'm sure you two will form a bond over the kid"

"Not the right sort of bond" said Aurelia sulkily. Although Sonea and Rothen were ridiculously sympathetic towards poor Aurelia, feeling desperately sorry for her, they were beginning to find her rather difficult. She refused to accept even the slightest consolation, and looked at everything with misery and sourness. The smallest things sent her into tears, and she no longer even had the strength to thank them for their loving attentions. She would only smile when playing with Lorkin, both because she adored him and because it made her think of her own baby, which, despite everything, she already loved with all her heart and longed for it to arrive.

Rothen went over to Dorrien, who was supposedly reading a book, while Sonea continued in her efforts to comfort Aurelia.

"Dorrien" said Rothen, sitting beside his son with a small, fond smile, "You're holding that book upside down"

Dorrien went bright red. He had been hoping that no-one would notice he wasn't actually reading the book at all; he was merely using it as a prop, and was in fact peering over it to gaze at Aurelia. He was becoming increasingly lovesick by the day, offering much amusement to Sonea and Rothen on his behalf. Aurelia, typically, still hadn't noticed.

"I'm only looking" said Dorrien huffily, "There's nothing wrong with looking. I know she's not ready for me to try anything more than that"

"No, she certainly isn't" Rothen agreed sternly, "You leave the poor girl be. She needs to recover – and by the time she's done that, she'll have a child to look after. She has no time for you"

Dorrien looked sulkily at his father, and Rothen burst out laughing.

"Though I must admit, what with the moods you two are in at the moment, you'd make a pretty pair!" he chortled, "Oh Dorrien, you can't have everything your way"

"I see all the wine's gone" Dannyl observed dryly as he sat down in his and Tayend's study. The desk was completely clear now. He didn't like to think what Tayend had done with his papers.

"And?" Tayend retorted sharply, "I didn't drink it all down because of you, you know"

"Alright" said Dannyl, deciding it was best to humour Tayend, in this situation, "Where do you want me to start?"

"From the beginning" said Tayend sharply, "I want to hear every sordid detail"

"Tayend – "

"Just get on with it"

Tayend was being so uncharacteristically harsh and angry that it threw Dannyl. He struggled to pick up the threads of his tale.

"Um. Well...oh, yes. Well, it started when she kissed me. She came to my rooms and asked me to help her study for an Alchemy test, and I'm still not entirely sure how it happened, but we ended up kissing. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't like it – I did. But I didn't like it because she's a girl, I just liked it because..well, because it was a kiss, I suppose. And then...well, a few days later, she came back, and I wasn't sure about letting her in, but she insisted, said she just wanted to apologise for being so forward. But then she took off her robes and she was just...standing there, completely naked, in front of me. What did you expect me to do?"

"Say no, perhaps?" Tayend offered, not relenting in the slightest. Dannyl sighed.

"I wanted to, of course I did, but she can be very...persuasive. And I'd never slept with a woman before, I guess I couldn't help wondering what it felt like. That's why I came back to you afterwards. I felt so guilty, I've never regretted anything more in my life, and was so happy, back here with you. Then Sonea wrote to me, and told me that in her childhood Aurelia had been raped by her father, right up until the day he died. I felt awful for her, of course, but I didn't go back. Then Rothen, who didn't know the situation at all at the time, mind communicated with me and asked me to come back. So I went, reluctantly, because I loved being back here with you and I didn't want to see her again" he paused, "The night before you came to the guild, we had slept together again, and that time it was completely my fault. I seduced her, not that she resisted at all, and it was my entire fault. The day you showed up was the day I discovered she was pregnant"

"That still didn't explain why you didn't tell me. If you'd told me when you came back to visit, I'd have forgiven you. I'd have gone to the guild and given the slut a good slap, but then I would have taken you back. But I just...I feel like I'll never be able to trust you again. I'll forever be wondering if you're attracted to a woman walking past us on the street, if you're looking at her behind my back, or worse, sleeping with her" Tayend hesitated, and his eyes were shining with tears, "She's a girl, and she's so much younger than you"

"I know!" Dannyl was almost in tears by this point too, "I know that I've done terribly wrong, but you would not believe how sorry I am. I love you, Tayend, you know that. Please give me another chance. Please. I don't know what I'll do otherwise"

Tayend looked coldly at him, then nodded once again, "You can stay a few days, see what happens between us. But don't expect me to just fall into your arms"

"It'll be the only time I've stayed and you haven't fallen into my arms" Dannyl tried to joke. Tayend did not smile, and left the room without another word.

Dorrien took over from Rothen and Sonea in comforting Aurelia, hoping that his gently ministrations would make her fall in love with him. She blossomed under his attention, smiling more often, as he could always make her laugh, and behaving much more cheerfully with everyone.

Dorrien was falling even deeper in love with her. He never took his eyes from her beautiful face – and if he did, it was only to admire the rest of her body. One day, to cheer her up, he taught her a dance that the people in the village where he lived had taught him on a festival day. It was an extremely old dance that once upon a time all Guild magicians would have been practised in, and Aurelia was eager to learn it. He was fine when it came to twirling her around, making her look so elegant and unearthly that she took his breath away, but when he had to press her close to him, he could feel himself blushing and becoming more than a little uncomfortable, desperate to kiss her...and more.

Surely Aurelia had noticed this? But she appeared to know nothing of it at all, and was constantly telling Dorrien how dear a friend he was. And she did think of him as a friend – she had barely any heart left to feel anything more. So Dorrien moped for Aurelia, while Aurelia moped for Dannyl, and Dannyl moped for Tayend.

It was a most tangled web of hearts.