When I woke, Cedric was gone. It was still early morning, so I assumed he had snuck out before most of the household was awake. My throat was painful again, but I saw that my sorcerer had left another bottle of the pain reliever on my bedside table. I downed the few sips before remembering how tired it had made me the night before, and soon, I was asleep again.

It was Roland who woke me. He sat next to me on the bed, and startled me because for a moment, I had forgotten that Cedric had already left.

"Sofia," he said, moving my hand to his lips. "I'm so sorry for yelling at you. I was in so much pain and had not realized what happened. Forgive me, my love."

What can I say? "There's nothing to forgive," I whispered.

He smiled and lay down where Cedric had been just a few hours earlier, his other hand cradling my face and turning it to look at him. "Cedric surmised the sun was coming through the bedroom window at just the right time to hit an imperfection in the glass, causing the burn on my face. That is why you were not burned as well. Cedric pointed out the place in the glass. I have glaziers fixing the pane now, and checking other windows." I gave the duke a small smile.

"I'm sorry you were hurt." I waited for him to apologize for what he did to me, but instead he said, "Oh Sofia, I'm sorry I'm in such a hurry to bed you. You have no idea how badly I want you." His lips lowered to mine. It is kind of an apology. "I should not even be here now, you are so tempting." His lips ran down to my neck and I cringed. The salve Cedric had used was no longer working.

"What is this?" Roland pulled the top of my nightgown away a little. "You are bruised."

"I know."

"Make sure you cover that with something. I won't have people seeing you with bruises on your neck."

I nodded and his hand moved to my breast, causing a pleasurable moan to escape my lips unconsciously. "I should go," he breathed before kissing me and while trailing his finger around my nipple, though it was above my gown. "Oh Sofia," his tongue entered my mouth and he squeezed my breast. My heart was racing.

"Roland," I panted when his mouth left mine for a minute.

He growled. "Say my name again." He slipped my gown off one shoulder to kiss and nibble on it while his hand kneaded my chest and squeezed my nipple.

"Your," I gasped, "your grace."

"Say my name."

"Roland!" I tried to push away, afraid this would not end, but not really wanting to end it, so I did not push hard. "Roland, I want to wait for us to be married."

He growled again and pulled away. "I want you, Sofia. I don't know how long I can wait."

"Johnna will be here soon. Then she can help me prepare."

He growled again and rose from my bed. "I will see you later. Don't forget to cover your neck."

"I won't." I watched him leave, then felt my own breasts. They were swollen, both nipples hard, and the feeling down below kept my heart from slowing. I felt frustrated and I was not sure why. My heart still racing, I ventured a hand down to my private areas and found that I was sopping wet. As my fingers traced over a certain area, I felt a jolt that was extremely pleasurable, but totally foreign to me. Forcing myself from the bed, I called for a bath and waited, trying to calm myself.

The nurse trusted me, a little, with Michael again and she let me take him to the small courtyard inside the castle, where both he and I could be in the sunshine. We played with a couple of his toys, and he still laughed when I covered my face and then surprised him by still being there. I lay a blanket on the stones and I watched him as he crawled a little, then collapsed on his stomach. The nurse said Michael had been doing this and would be walking soon.

Cheering him on made him smile and when he got to one edge of the blanket, I turned him around so he could crawl back. This tired him though, and he held out his arms so I picked him up and he lay his head on my shoulder as I walked back and forth, humming and singing softly.

Ian's arrival startled me, but Michael did not stir, his breathing even and one fist holding the top of my dress. "Good morning, Lord Ian," I said shyly, expecting him to leave.

"I'm not sure how to address you," Ian cocked his head. "Are you going to be my mother-in-law, or my sister-in-law, or both?"

Rolling my eyes, I looked at him hard. "I will settle for friend or acquaintance. Roland is not my husband and Amber is not my sister."

"But Michael is your brother, and you will be Roland's wife. What will that make you to the baby?"

"Please, Lord Ian. I don't want to talk about this."

"That is fine. Maybe we can talk about you and Cedric."

My mouth fell open. "What do you mean?"

"Come on now, Sofia. A man would have to be blind to not see how you and Cedric looked at each other dancing at the palace. And then I saw you in the laboratory."

"Neither of which means anything." I interjected.

"And early this morning, I saw him leave your room."

I gasped, then knew I had made a mistake. "What… what are you getting at? He was treating my injuries."

"You were injured? You were also burned? And it required Cedric to be in your room until almost dawn?"

My stomach churned. "Just say what you came to say, Ian. I'm not in the mood for games."

Ian smiled. "Nor am I. Let's have a seat." He waved me over to a bench. I sat carefully so as not to wake Michael and was glad there was some shade. Ian sat next to us.

"Roland would be very unhappy to know about you and the sorcerer, wouldn't he?"

"There is nothing to know."

"Sofia, I thought you did not want to play games," he chastised, smiling down at me. "Now, it would be terrible for you, and for Cedric, if Roland found out you two had mutual feelings, so I need you to do something for me."

"Like what?" I whispered, fear creeping into my thoughts.

"You have lunch in Ian's private study, correct?"

"Only when Roland invites me. I can't just walk in there."

"There are communications in his office that I need."

"Communications?"

"Don't be daft, Sofia. You are smarter than others give you credit for. Roland has been in communication with other duchies. I need the letters, all that you can get. I just want to read through them, and then I'll have you replace them."

"Why can't you do this?"

"I am never in his study without him, but he loves you, you could be in there more."

I swallowed. The pain was coming back. "I've only been in there once without him."

"Then be creative. Say you forgot something. Like your scarf." Before I could stop him, he pulled the scarf from around my neck. "Oh." His eyes became a little bigger as I tried to grab the scarf back from him without jostling the baby. "So, you and Cedric are into that?"

"What? No!" I did not really know what he meant but Ian gave me the scarf and with one hand I did my best wrapping it around me again with one hand.

"Roland did that to you?"

"I…I am clumsy and I fell."

"Right." Ian studied me. "You don't even want to marry Roland, do you?"

"No." I looked away to try and hide my tears.

"Then why are you still here?"

"I don't know."

We were quiet for a moment, then Ian went on. "Well, then I guess you'll be retrieving those communications so that I don't tell Roland about you and Cedric, and to protect your little brother."

I looked back at him, my eyes still blurry with wetness. "What do you mean?"

"Right now, I've been the only one stopping Amber from…taking care of your brother. Perhaps if you do as I ask, I won't tell anyone about you and Cedric, and Michael will be safe for a while."

"Amber wants to kill Michael?"

"Oh, I doubt she'd do it herself, but she is quite stubborn." He reached over to stroke Michael's baby-fine hair. "She's not the only one who sees Michael as a roadblock."

Jerking Michael away and standing abruptly woke him and he began to cry. "Do not touch him!" I yelled at Ian, my throat in searing pain again. "Do not come near him again. If anything happens to him I will…" my thoughts raced with what I could do.

Ian stood too, towering over me. "What will you do, Sofia? Tell me what you are going to do?"

I swallowed through the pain. "If you promise to make sure no one hurts him, ever, I will get you what you want."

Ian laughed. "That's not how it goes, Sofia. You will get what I want, and Michael will be ok for a little longer. I can't promise forever. It would be a horrible thing for Roland to think you hurt Michael, because you wanted your children with Roland to come first."

"You are evil."

He laughed again. "Possibly. Do we have an agreement?"

What else can I do? I could not protect Michael all the time, and I was sure Ian's word would weigh more heavily against mine if he told Roland about Cedric. And if that came out, I definitely could not protect Michael. And what if Michael was murdered and they made it look like I did it? I wished the amulet could protect against this type of fear, but it did nothing. Michael's crying quieted. And if I ran, I would now have to take Michael. An adjustment to the plan began to form in my head.

"Sofia?"

"I don't have a choice, do I?'

"Of course, you do! Say no right now, and I'll walk out of here and do exactly what I told you I would do. Say yes, and I will protect your secret, and Michael, for a bit."

"Fine. Yes. I will get you what you want."

"Good choice. Oh, and don't mention anything to Amber. She's leaving this to me. She's preoccupied with other plans." I nodded. "It has been good to speak with you, Sofia. We will speak again soon."

"How do I let you know when I have the communications."

"You won't have to. I'll be watching you."

I huffed. "You don't need to watch me."

He laughed again. "What I don't understand is how neither of the two men who are in love you haven't been watching you better themselves. Tsk tsk." He continued to laugh as he walked out of the courtyard and back into the castle.

I sighed and comforted Michael wishing someone could comfort me.