I said that this would be up by Christmas, and well, I aim to have it up before I have made it out of my room on Christmas morning, let's just say that. (If my Internet will work…)

"Little Mouse," the man called from off in the shadows of her quarters somewhere. Alyss jumped and spun around quickly trying to find him. Once she had she made sure that he remained in her vision in fear of what he would do next.

"It has been a little while since I last saw you," he said, almost being truthful.

Not nearly long enough, but she would never dare externalise it.

"I know," she said instead.

"It is one of the things I regret the most you know. With you here, alway harder for me to get to," she nearly snorted, "I can only be here less, and I worry that your love for me will fade."

"That it will never do," she responded obediently.

"Oh little bird, you learn so quick and so well. It is a wonder that you are not a queen by now. I would have though that perhaps with the way you learn, you would have worked out a way to dispose of the soon to be one and place you there instead. Ah well, mores the pity. Now there is more time for you to be with me, and what a lovely time it will be!"

Secretly, Alyss was beginning to wonder if the man was more unhinged than normal on that morning. He certainly appeared to have put all aspects of his clothing on right, but there were layers that she was not able to see. Suddenly she wondered which Inn he was staying in. Surely by now someone would have thrown him out with how long he had been in town, unless he was just drifting between all of them?

Either way she would never offer for him to stay with her here to make the burden easier on him.

"Oh sweetest rose of the seven seas, will you please join me in marriage so that my heart will forever more feel complete?" he said and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. She took a deep breath in only to feel the cool harness of a steel dagger resting against her, prepared to made a wound that few survived from.

"It would be my pleasure," she quietly responded back. There was a pause whilst the man attempted to detect any trace of lying or sarcasm but he was quick to move past it.

He then let of a whoop of excitement sheathed the dagger, spun her around within his arms then lifted her off the ground and really spun her through the air. Alyss plastered a fake smile on her face to please him. Internally, however, her heart was breaking with how Will would react.

Once he had placed her down he kissed her throughly and she had no option but to accept it.

"No one has ever made me happier than you have in this moment. I can only just begin to imagine what our lives are going to be like in the future with stunning children running around!" He walked off to go do something chortling to himself. Alyss collapsed into a chair and placed her head in her hands.

"Please, if there is anyone up there, allow me to stay here after we are married. Perhaps one day the truth will get out and I will be free," she whispered. The responding silence was deafening.

With a sigh she pulled herself up off the costly upholstered chair and began dragging her feet to her kitchen. This called for a large cup of tea.

There was a whole two hours when there was blessed silence before he walked in again. He went straight for the chair that she had previously been in and sat down in it before looking at her expectantly. Alyss nodded and walked over to pour him a large cup of something alcoholic. He sipped it appreciatively.

"All I ask is that you stay with me now and forever," the man said lovingly. His head was tilted to the side and he had a sweet pleading look on his face. He could have been handsome, but Alyss also went for the heart and the mans was rotten to the core.

"In what way?" she asked and placed a warm cup of something she wished she had poison to place inside, in front of him. He took it gratefully and took an appreciative sip from it.

"In a forever kind of way, of course. Come join me at my castle where we will not be bothered by those pesky short men in green cloaks. We will spend the rest of our lives peacefully, if you will marry me."

Alyss wasn't able to hold back the short sob that broke forth, but the second was snuffled at his look. Her breath left her in fast short sharp bursts and the edges of her vision began to black out. There was none of the joy she had felt when Will had asked her the same thing in a way much more suited towards the two of then.

Quickly she nodded her assent before finally blacking out.

Alyss knocked on the wooden door to Baron Arald's office. There was the slightest of pauses, perhaps as more vital paperwork was shoved into a hidden drawer somewhere, before his voice responded.

"Enter.'

And she did.

Alyss had once thought that the Baron's office would always hold a strange sense of safety to her. It was the first place that she had been brought by her relatives who had given up caring for her. At that time the man behind the desk had smiled at her and offered her a biscuit from the plate beside him. She had been content to eat that and had never bothered to realise what had been said during the meeting. Even later, every time she had been in the room there was always a poorly executed joke and a smile.

This time was nothing less, and it felt wrong and like she was cheating the good sense out of the older man. The smile that appeared on his face when he saw it was her took over more than just the bottom half and he motioned for the seat on the other side of his desk. She took it hesitantly and sat down. He nodded to himself content and placed a stopper in his inkwell.

"How may I help a beautiful woman today?" he asked looking at her.

"I wish to come and announce my engagement," Alyss said softly and evenly, without the excitement of when she had told him of hers and Will's. Of course, at that time, Will had also been there, and his excitement had been contagious.

"So you have gotten back together with Will! That is wonderful news. Are the two of you to be wed in the upcoming two months?"

"It is not Will, your Grace," Alyss hesitatingly replied.

"Oh. Uhh…"

"And I will be joining my soon-to-be-husband in his fief for his wedding." The Baron tilted his head at the wording of her sentence.

"Ok. Do not invite Will to it. I think it really would kill him," Arald awkwardly recommended before taking a large, deep breath.

"Thank you, my Grace," Alyss said and excused her way out of the room. Still in there, the Baron decided he needed a stiff drink and less paperwork.

So lets just say that my internet has only just gotten back online due to a massive thunderstorm on Christmas Eve that made going to midnight mass really exciting.

Quickly explaining the tea thing, it is a head cannon that the women married to Rangers just drink tea and only rarely drink the sacred coffee. It is a thing that my family does that I thought would be cute for this world.

What is the rating on this story and should it go up? I am starting to wonder.