Before dinner, one of the servant girls was sent to Katharean's sleeping quarters to help her get ready. She insisted to Murtagh that she wanted to look her best for Galbatorix, and he appeared to believe her lies, despite the gleam of suspicion in his dark eyes. The servant washed her long hair and tied it into a tight braid which fell down the entire length of her back. She held the style in place with several hair pins, and brought Katharean a beautiful blue dress with silver stitching which, she was told, had belonged to the lady of the house. When she was ready, the servant girl stepped back to look at her, clutching her hands to her breast.

"Oh, my! Lady Athem, you look like a princess! Lord Murtagh is a lucky man."

Before Katharean could contest the girl's statement, she left, curtsying as she went. She sighed and strode over to the mirror. Her breathing hitched in her throat, and she shook her head. Who are you? She asked the mysterious beauty staring back at her. The girl shrugged and sighed, mocking Katharean cruelly. I don't even know my own reflection anymore.

It is a necessary change, little heart. No matter how you appear, your spirit will remain true. Obsidian assured her. Wait till you see what I look like. I know you asked me to stop growing, but I promise you, I had no control over the matter.

Seriously? How big are you now, then? You were already bigger than Saphira...she won't be pleased if you outgrow her too much, you know. She prided herself on being bigger than Thorn...

Obsidian chuckled, and then sighed, longingly.

Don't worry, Sid. We'll see them again, soon enough.

We had better. If we wait much longer before showing our faces, they will tear us apart for letting them believe that we are dead.

We don't have a lot of choice in the matter. And Eragon's stupid necklace prevents me from scrying him...how am I supposed to contact him at all if I don't even know where he is? I don't think he has thought this through, to be honest.

Obsidian grunted in reply, and she smiled, sadly.

We will see them. We're getting out of here, Sid. We're doing it tonight.

When she could no longer stand looking at herself, she returned to the large dining room adjacent to her sleeping quarters, where she had agreed to meet Murtagh for supper. She was not surprised to see that he was sitting there already, waiting for her. When she entered the room, he looked up, nervously, and rose from his chair in a show of respect. She noticed that he was dressed in all his finery, with a tunic of grey satin held in at his narrow waist by a black, opal-encrusted belt. A silver chain hanging from his neck held a pendant embedded with a curious red stone, darker than any ruby she had ever seen. In spite of herself, she thought he had never looked more handsome. The magics that had transformed her while she had slept had affected him too, though to a lesser degree. She managed a small, polite smile as she took the seat directly opposite him.

"You look beautiful, Katharean." Murtagh muttered, gruffly, as she sat down.

"Thank you. You look beautiful too." She replied, flustered. "I mean...handsome...you look handsome." She felt her face grow hot with embarrassment and Murtagh chuckled, good-naturedly.

"You are too kind."

At first, what little conversation they engaged in was strained and forced, with too much ill-feeling between the two of them to allow for much pleasantry. After their first glass of wine, however, they both loosened up and they were soon talking as they used to, when Murtagh was a poor orphan boy and Katharean was still Selena.

"You are unbelievable!" Murtagh cried, as Katharean recalled the incident with the oddly marked deer on their first hunt together. "We went hungry that night for no reason at all!"

"I know! I couldn't tell you at the time, of course. You would have made a meal of me!" She grinned. Murtagh shook his head and they dissolved into fits of laughter. When their giggling subsided, she took another sip of wine before noticing that Murtagh was still watching her, with a curious expression on his face. She paused, lowering her glass with a quizzical look.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" She asked, seriously. Murtagh shook his head with a small smile.

"You do not know how I have missed you, Katharean." He sighed, heavily. "After the way we left things...well...I cannot honestly say that I expected us to part on amicable terms, given the purpose of our meeting but that...I could hardly bear it."

"I know." She said, quietly. "But I had to leave, you understand. For your sake as much as my own. And, of course, I had Obsidian to think about. There was no other way."

"Of course. I never blamed you for leaving. I only wish I could have been honest with you from the beginning."

She raised her glass in acknowledgement.

"Yes, well...hindsight is a wonderful luxury." She took a long sip of wine before sighing. "Truthfully, though...I am glad you were not." She replied, surprising both of them with the sincerity of her words. "The truth would have robbed us of those weeks we spent together. Of our time in Ceris...I have regretted much since leaving home, Murtagh, but I have never been able to bring myself to regret..." She trailed off, biting her lip. He shifted in his seat and surveyed her with probing brown eyes.

"To regret...?" He urged her, softly.

"Falling in love with you." She finished, in barely a whisper.

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. The black doubts that had eaten away at her very soul in the months she spent in Farthen Dur seemed to melt away as if they had never been. How could she ever have doubted that what they had had together was real? She had often found herself wondering if she had ever truly loved him, if she had ever really known him at all...but of course she knew him. She knew him better than she knew herself. She could not explain it away, for it was not logic, or reason. She was not entirely sure it was even love, but something deeper, something more ancient and powerful that could not be dismissed with simple words...like magic, only without the control that magic offered to those who weaved it. It seemed so utterly impossible to her that she should feel this way about anybody but, at the same time, it was the only thing that she knew in her heart she could be completely certain of.

Neither of them spoke, or even dared to breathe, until Murtagh broke the silence.

"I...I thought you hated me." It sounded to her like a confession. Katharean shook her head with a sad smile. It was important, given what she planned to do that night that he knew the truth. For once, she would be completely honest with him, and then she would deceive him in the most terrible way she could imagine.

"I tried. For months, I tried to hate you. When that failed, I just tried to stop loving you, to tell myself that everything we had together was a lie. But these feelings...they never went away. They were with me in everything I said or did, and they kept me lying awake at nights. I could lie to my friends, to Eragon, to Nasuada, but I could not deceive myself, which is a cruel thing, given that so many have managed to deceive me in the past." A single tear rolled silently down her cheek, and Murtagh leaned forward to brush it away gently. Her skin seared under his light touch and without thinking, she reached reflexively for his hand and held it to her cheek, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, he was out of his chair and kneeling beside her, with a mixture of pain and love etched on his tired face.

"Tell me what you need." He instructed, soberly. She knew exactly what she needed, but the small grain of sense she had left prevented her from voicing it. Murtagh sighed, softly. "Oh, Katharean. I'm so sorry for putting you through this. I wish there was some other way...but how can I think when all I want to do is kiss you right now?"

Before she could reply, his mouth was covering hers and he was kissing her more fiercely than he ever had before. All of their pain, all of the lies and betrayal, all of the many unsaid things between them were put to rest in those few, desperate moments when the world disappeared, and all that existed was the feel of his skin on hers and the sound of his furious heartbeat. Everything that he was flooded her senses, overwhelming her in the most beautiful way possible. Her heart brimmed with perfect, agonising love, and there was no room for anything else. He was everything. When he pulled away to look at her, all too soon, she saw her own, deep need reflected in his eyes, and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as he carried her to bed.

AN: I'm not going to go ahead and do a lemon, because I don't want to cheapen it, so you can all just use your imaginations as to what happens next, you filthy beasts!!!