BAHHH...so sorry for not updating! :( I've been busy with school, especially french! I don't get why there have to be so many verb tenses! Ah, well, to be fair, english probably has the same amount, but I just take it for granted.

Janco stared at Nutty as if she had just sprouted wings and a beak. "I could have sworn you said that Yelena would have to marry Walnut."

Nutty sighed. "It all dates back to the time when their fathers were at odds with each other, many years ago. I'm not really clear on what happened, but apparently Uncle Esau was in the wrong and Uncle Gru, Walnut's father, demanded some kind of compensation."

"But...marrying your own cousin? Isn't that a bit much?" Janco said as he expertly steered Nutty into a cozy little corner next to a stall where wonderfully aromatic food was being sold.

"Not if you're Uncle Gru. Walnut...he never got along with any of us, and his mother was desperate to see him married. Uncle Gru did the only thing he could think of and demanded Yelena's hand in marriage on her twenty first birthday. Luckily, Uncle Esau managed to make some concessions: If Yelena fell in love and married that man before time was up, the whole bargain would be off. But I still don't know why Esau agreed to put up his beloved daughter as the price though. He loves her. It doesn't sound like something he would do of his own free will."

Janco was practically drooling over the food.

"Did you hear anything I said?" Nutty asked, annoyed.

He smiled. "I was admiring a beautiful woman." He cast an eye over her and grinned suggestively.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "There's time for that. But we need to figure out what to do next! I can't allow Yelena to be married to that arrogant, mysoginis-"

Her words were cut off when he gently pushed a piece of tender beef into her mouth.

"There's time for scheming as well. But you're clearly exhausted and famished." He leaned in and kissed her and Nutty felt warm despite the chill of the night air. She settled against him and closed her eyes, mourning the fact that while she may have found happiness, Yelena was far from that state.

Yelena closed her eyes. She was cold, and wet, due to the fact that she had tripped into a puddle. Now that she was ensonced in a tiny covered space between two stalls, she could think.

He had been nothing like she'd imagined while also being more than she'd imagined. There was something within him that made her happy when she was near him. It was the same essence that had filled his letters to her: the way that he actually seemed to care about her. The way he would comfort her when Walnut had made an ass of himself again, or when she got in a fight with Nutty.

Of course, all of that was irrelevant now. She'd had so much hope...even when he stopped writing, she hoped that one day he would start again, or that he felt the same way she felt about him anyways. What a fool she'd been.

All she could do now was wait for her birthday to arrive. Then, she'd have to marry Walnut, and live a life of misery and conforming to his beliefs of what a woman should be and should do. And frankly, that was unacceptable.

Or...the other thing she could do was fight. For some reason V. was holding back, and she intended to find out why. She wasn't going to leave without any answers!Leif hadn't accused her of being unreasonably stubborn thousands of times during their childhood for no reason. She'd find out everything, even if she had to ambush him or sneak into the Keep.

Dear Maren darling,

Wonderful. The plan is progressing nicely. Keep strengthening his insecurities and this will all work out. In fact, their first meeting probably occured today, and I would bet anything that he turn her down, or lied to her again. At this rate, you'll have Valek and I'll get to marry Yelena in no time.

In the meantime, keep peeking at his letters and dropping hints about how he should never end up with anything woman but an Ixian woman like you, that is battle hardened and vigorously trained. Keep hinting that he will hurt Yelena, and he'll be putty. Oh, my genius. To be able to bring the mighty Valek, the assassin feared by both Ixians and Sitians, to his knees! Nobody will be able to deny me anything anymore. Including Yelena.

-Walnut

P.S. I love your deviousness, my dear. If you weren't so smitten with him and if Yelena wasn't so beautiful, I'd marry you in a heartbeat.

Haha, I can't tell you how much fun I had writing Walnut's letter. :) Please review and tell me what you think. Suggestions for plot are always welcome, since I'm starting to run a bit dry, as you can tell by the shortness of this chapter.