Emilia was shaken from her sleep by a panicked Mary.

"Mary?" She shot up, alert the instant she saw it was her queen. "Mary, what's wrong?"

"Catherine and Nostradamus have both told me things I pray are not true." Mary rushed. Emilia could see her eyes glistening with tears.

"They told you of the vision?" Ellyana had told Emilia of the vision the moment she arrived at court. She had had the same one.

"You knew?" Mary looked betrayed at her guardian and friend.

"I did know." Emilia nodded solemnly. Standing from the bed. "I didn't tell you as to not worry you. I will find a way where this can be avoided. I promise you that."

"He said something else." Mary looked away from Emilia, eyes closed tight. "He told me one among us will die before the next frost melts."

"No one will die." Emilia assured. "Not under my watch. Nor Ellyana's."

"Don't you remember his prediction?" Mary kept her voice oddly calm. "'The lion will fight the dragon on a field of poppies.' Tomas' symbol was a dragon."

"And Bash's is a lion." Emilia realized. "There were poppies there. Where he was slain."

"That prediction came true." Mary insisted. "Who's to say this won't?"

"But Mary." Emilia remembered. "It wasn't Bash who killed Tomas. It was Ellyana."

"Are you certain?"

"She wasn't there." Ellyana stepped out of the shadows. "But she's right. Bash didn't kill Tomas. I did. And I can assure you Mary, my symbol is not a lion." Ellyana presented Mary with the hilt of one of her daggers. Before her was a Celtic knot, pressed between upraised wings.

"It's on all of my weapons." Ellyana said, replacing the dagger to its spot on her belt. "The lion may have fought the dragon. But that is not what killed it."

"But that doesn't mean his other predictions haven't come true." Mary pointed out.

"She's right." Emilia said, turning to Ellyana. "We can't let our guard down just yet."

"Believe me." Ellyana said. "I don't plan on it." Another shadow flickered across the open door. Ellyana straightened. "Sam! Stop lurking like the demon you are!"

The brute ducked his head as he entered the room. Emilia thought it was more from habit than anything. He was silent, but something mischievous gleamed in his eyes.

"What did you see?" Emilia asked instinctively.

Ellyana tilted her head. "Mary, everything will be fine. That is what he saw."

"What I've seen will not be a problem." He assured the ladies. "I suggest you three head down to dinner. They'll be looking for you soon." With that, he disappeared into the shadows again.

"He's right." Emilia admitted. Looking to Mary. "They'll notice if you're late." Emilia straightened herself out in the mirror. When she turned to leave Ellyana was, of course, gone.

Sam was at the far corner of the hallway when the ladies exited the room. Fingers ghosted across his back. There one moment and gone the next. He smirked and turned away. His princess had her job and Emilia had the others safe.

He had a job, too. Ellyana was just wrong in that he knew what it was.

Patrolling always cleared his head in Italy. Francis had granted him that much after his help.

He peered down the hall, eyes catching Mary's lady, Aylee, stumbling down the hall. Almost as if she were drunk. But the smell of herbs told him alcohol wasn't what caused her behavior.

Then he saw her. Clarissa. She followed Aylee close behind.

His eyes flicked in the direction they were going. He was moving before he realized what was happening. The stairs.

He watched as Clarissa threw Aylee down the staircase. Without a moments pause, he ran to her. Catching her before she could be harmed.

He set her down gently and retrieved something from his pocket.

"You're going to have to trust me, My Lady." Her breath sputtered as the poison spread to her lungs. Pinching the herbs carefully, he slipped them into her mouth. She swallowed without protest.

They were Welsh herbs, so guarded by the highlanders only nobles had access. They could cure the body of any poison by ridding it through the pores, or vomiting.

Aylee's eyes flicked shut. Sam cursed under his breath. Drawing her up to lean on his shoulder. "Stay awake, My Lady."

A sort of hissing sounded from the top of the stairs. He looked up to Clarissa in challenge. The castle taunt moved back to the shadows. Somehow they seemed darker than the ones he traveled.

The blonde shuddered in his arms, and he tightened his grip as she bolted upright. Her body was racked with coughs. Allowing the brief fever to take her, he steadied her with only a hand. His highland blood made him little more than a furnace.

She collapsed against his hand. He brought her close again. She was breathing easier, but every few heartbeats it was still ragged. "I'm sorry if I cause you pain." Lifting the half-unconscious Aylee, he turned away from the steps that would have caused her death.

Welsh herbs did wonders. Except ward off evil girls wearing masks.

"Sam?" Nostradamus asked. The brute silently rested Aylee on a cot. The seer blocked his path back out the door. "What happened?"

His patience snapped. He had a poison to investigate. "She is safe. Make sure she stays that way." With that, he vanished to find Ellyana.

She could share this news with the others.