Fi woke up in a lot of pain. She groaned.

"How're you feeling, love?"

"Like I was hit by a truck," she grumbled, biting her lip as he helped her sit up.

"You look like it too, here," he told her handing her a pill and cup of coffee.

"Thanks."

"Will is going to be here in an hour."

"What for?"

"We sort of have some things to discuss, remember? And we need to go over what we're telling your family."

"Right… God I feel disgusting," she said, glancing down at the sweaty workout clothes she still had on from the night before. "Help me to the bathroom?"

Dorian smiled, and guided her to the bathroom, "Call me if you need any help."

"You'd just love that," she said, shaking her head.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't complain," he smirked, closing the door behind him.

Fi sighed, and winced. Everything hurt. Slowly and painfully, she peeled the clothes off her body and examined herself in the mirror. She really did look like a truck had hit her. Her face was unrecognizably bruised and puffy. There was handprint shaped bruise on her neck and it was swollen. As for her ribs, they so splotched over with countless blue-black bruises that she couldn't see any of her regularly pale skin. Refraining from sighing again, as it hurt, she carefully stepped into the shower, grateful for the soothing hot water.

She took her time, not getting out till Dorian knocked informing her she only had fifteen minutes till Will got there. Grudgingly she got out and, gingerly dried off and dressed. The problem was her hair. She went into the living room.

"Dorian?" she said, holding out the brush, " It hurts to raise my arm."

"Come here, love," he smiled, patting the window seat, and taking the brush.

"Thank-you," she said, as he gently worked through the knots in her long hair.

"Of course, love. Not the first time I've done this for you."

"No it's not," she agreed, remembering the last time she'd banged up her ribs. "You've always taken good care of me."

"When you've let me," he amended.

"Fair enough," she agreed. "Thank you, by the way. For this. For not taking advantage of my offer last night. For trying to keep me safe. For everything."

"Fi, I don't like seeing you hurt. I will always do everything in my power to keep you safe."

"I know, and I know I don't always seem grateful. I am, it's just…"

"It's just you have obligations that don't allow you to put your heart first. You're a Priestess first, a woman second. I know Fi, I've always known, and, contrary to what you think, I understand," he told her, setting down the brush resting his hands on her hips, his chin on the top of her head.

"I wish it could be different," she said sadly.

"I wish a lot of things could be different."

"Will got the council to agree to you though, that's a good sign."

"Does that mean you believe I am innocent?" he asked, sounding anxious.

Before she could answer however, the door bell rang.

"Can you get it?"

"Yeah, love," he sighed, kissing the top of her head.

"How is she?" came Will's voice from the door.

"Sore."

"Could be worse I suppose. Take these?" he asked handing him a couple of folding chairs.

"Yep, she's in the living room."

"Fi, you really need to get some furniture in this place," commented Will.

"You do realize this is the first time I've been here during the day, right? Till now, I haven't needed furniture."

"That's part of what I want to talk to you about," said Will, taking a seat. "I'm going to lighten your work load."

"How?" she asked, as Dorian took her mug.

"Annie has accepted a temporary position as one of your assistants, and I've upped her and Jessa's clearance, temporarily."

"Thank-you," she told him, relief clear on her face.

"I've also arranged it so you can work from home for the next couple of weeks."

"Seriously? Thank you, Will!"

"Yes, well, considering the hospital also diagnosed you as suffering from severe exhaustion, the council agreed that some changes were necessary. I think they finally remembered that you are only human," he smiled.

"About time," she agreed, taking a fresh cup of coffee from Dorian.

"Will?"

"Yes, thank you," he said taking one as well. "Now, Fiona, do you remember what your attacker looked like?"

"Not well. The only time I really got a good look at him was when he was strangling me and well, not having oxygen tends to mess with your eyesight. I can try drawing him, maybe?"

"Here," said Dorian, having already grabbed a pad and pencil.

"Thanks," she said, taking them and closing her eyes.

Uttering a few words, Fi's hand began to fly over the paper unnaturally as the image in her mind was magically copied to the paper. Sure enough, it was somewhat distorted with aspects of it missing.

"Sorry," she said handing over the drawing, "it's the best I can remember."

"We might be able to get something from it," said Will, sounding doubtful.

"Also, I couldn't use my magic."

"How do you mean, love?"

"Every time I tried, I'd get a hold of it and then it would be pulled away. He said he had a talisman that was stopping it."

"That shouldn't be possible though, your magic is too strong."

"It's supposed to be."

"That is something we definitely need to look into," said Will, sounding disturbed.

"So what do you know?" she asked, nervously twirling a piece of hair.

"Someone has put a 500,000 dollar bounty on your head."

"That's double what it was last time," she gasped, paling.

Dorian's jaw tightened as he resisted the urge to go comfort her. He couldn't do that in front of Will. Right now, she was a priestess not the woman he loved. He didn't like it but he at least managed to keep himself in his seat and instead ask, "Do we have any idea who is behind it?"

"No, right now the rumors are all over the place, we're working to narrow it down but it's going to take time. What we do know is that the black market is organizing in the hopes of being able to come after you. We believe the attack yesterday was just a test."

"This is really bad," said Fi, as the severity of the situation settled in.

"What are we doing?" asked Dorian, watching Fi out of the corner of his eye, and trying not to fidget.

"We have our best on this, trying to track down whoever is behind it, but as I said, it's going to take time. And we have you."

"Yeah, just how did you convince the council to let me protect her?"

"It wasn't easy. I pointed out that the Honored Priestess is almost never wrong, Fiona especially, and the fact that she is hesitant to sentence you suggests that we might want to reconsider our… position."

"And they actually listened?" asked Fi, shocked.

"No," snorted Will. "They lost it. When they finally calmed down, I further pointed out that unless they were willing to usurp your authority, Priestess, they had to be patient and trust you, and you've never given them real reason to doubt you. Also, in spite of everything, Dorian has always done all that is within his power to keep you safe, even after… certain unfortunate events, your safety and well being has always been his priority, at the expense of his own. He is the only reason you're alive, several times over. The evidence of the past indicates that despite… possible previous indescretions, we have no reason to doubt that he will keep you safe. They agreed."

"In other words, a blacklisted and accused murderer and traitor is the only one they can trust to keep their precious Priestess safe," Dorian summed up with a bitter chuckle. "The council is seriously screwed up."

"No arguments here," sighed Will.

"Is Will Dysin, the Council's famous errand boy, actually criticizing them?" smirked Dorian.

"I didn't have to speak for you, Dorian." snapped Will.

"You didn't do anything for me, Will. You did it for Fi, which I appreciate but don't pretend this puts us on the same side."

"We've never been on the same side, traitor, I am not confused as to that, I assure you."

"Play nice you two," snapped Fi, who was feeling drowsy from the painkillers, despite her coffee. "I don't have the energy to mediate."

"Sorry," the two muttered, refusing to look at each other.

"Now what did you mean when you said we have Dorian? I understand how that helps defensively but what does it do for our offense."

"We are going to leak the fact that Dorian is your bodyguard again. His reputation will help as it is likely to make people think twice before coming after you. It will also confuse the black market as they believe he is currently ostracized and awaiting his death sentence."

"I am," Dorian interrupted bitterly.

" We hope," continued Will, "that confusion will help bring out leads. What have you done, Dorian?"

"I've already placed a variety of spells around the apartment- protection, alarms, attacks and so on- and I've placed magical weaponry strategically throughout the apartment. When you're feeling better, Fi, I'll point them out to you. Not to mention, I've added some more human precations- a regular alarm, some cameras and some human weapons."

"When did you do that?" asked Fi.

"While you were sleeping," he smiled at her.

"Thank-you. What are we telling my family?"

"Short version? I've told them that you play an important role in our company and have been working on some vital mergers and contracts. This has made you a prime target as many don't want to see those mergers and contracts succeed and with you out of the way they believe they will fall through. Therefore, someone has placed a price on your head. To keep you safe and protect their interests, the board has provided you with a protection detail, Dorian. I told them that he used to work for us before and has guarded you in the past; however, there was a falling out several months ago. In spite of that, they know that he is the best option for keeping you safe and have grudgingly hired him back-"

"Wait, am I getting paid for this?"

"Of course."

"Well, that's nice of them."

"Anyway, I also told them the details of the 'falling out' are confidential and legally cannot be discussed, so they won't question us about it, but that he truly is the best."

"That's good," she yawned. "So does that take care of everything?"

"I think so. Jessa and Annie are going to stop by tomorrow, drop off your work and pick up their marching orders."

"Okay."

"Do you want me to leave the folding chairs?"

"No that's okay," she said, fighting to stay awake. "I'm going to order furniture today. Speaking of which, can you grab my computer for me, Dorian?"

"No. You can do that later," he said, taking her mug and setting it on the floor.

"So what am I supposed to do now?"

"Sleep."

"I'll sleep later," she insisted. "I just need another cup of coffee."

"No, you'll sleep now, love. You can barely keep your eyes open," he said picking her up. "Your body needs rest."

"Fine," she caved, her head dizzy from being moved.

"Feel better, Fi," called Will, heading towards the door, "Molly, said she was going to call you later, by the way."

"Okay," she mumbled, as Dorian put her to bed.

Well, hop you enjoyed the updates, once again, sooooooo sorry it took so long but now I once again have an idea of where my story is going :) As always, would love reviews.