Merry Christmas, llamaqueen! I decided to do all your prompts of Sword Fight, Protective Baron, and Gifter's Choice.

Pure Hands Part Five

'He's cheating,' Baron couldn't help thinking as he parried a floating sword that kept trying to stab him.

Fighting a magical sword was definitely harder when there was no opponent to disarm, so to speak. The job of the weapon was to protect the body while directing the other person away or towards a certain target if injury wasn't the goal.

The target in question was a scrawny warlock that would provide no challenge if his magic were bound, even if Baron tied his dominant hand behind his back. His opponent's eyes were narrowed in concentration, controlling the sword with finger movements like a puppet master.

All he had to do was get past the floating sword, and he could-

Baron bit back a gasp of pain as the sword managed a twirling motion that a human hand couldn't have copied, snaking the blade past his defenses and slicing him along the forearm.

"That's what I was waiting for!" the warlock exclaimed, letting the sword drop before clapping his hands together loudly.

Before Baron knew what was happening, the slightly uneven floor of the cave that had been threatening to trip him the entire duel sprang to life, rising and closing around him until he was trapped in a cage made of connected stalagmites and stalactites. He slashed as hard as he could around his injury, but ended up getting a second one on his shoulder when the blade broke completely off the hilt and sailed by his head from the impact.

The word that escaped his control wasn't exactly one he'd use in polite company, or even in private, but it had been years since anything had hurt him this bad physically.

"Now, now; I'm not greedy," the warlock laughed as he leisurely stood up from his stone throne and approached while pulling an emerald from one sleeve. "I only need a little of your blood."

Baron felt a terrible chill that had nothing to do with the cave he'd been sent to clean out by his new king. He backed against the opposite side of his cage to keep his injuries out of the warlock's reach, but a whispered command and a gesture had the strange bars of his cold cage wrapped around his arms and chest to keep him still.

He still fought, of course, but in spite of how easy stalactites and stalagmites were to shatter back in Yrael, the ones holding him now were as strong as steel as the warlock casually walked around the cage and deliberately scraped the emerald against the cut on his shoulder like a spoon against a bowl.

"You fought well," the scrawny man had the audacity to gloat before fiddling with the clasp of the chain around the lord's neck.

"You leave that be!" Baron roared like a tiger, hoping that his best commanding voice could do what his limbs couldn't.

"Oh, I would, old boy. But I'm afraid I need it more than you," the man purred while taking the chain. "Much more, in fact." Then for some reason, the lord's gloves were the next things removed. "Oh, you don't even wear your wedding ring? What a pity."

"You give that back, or so help me-"

"You'll… what?" the warlock asked, walking around the baron with a terrible smirk. "You're not in a position to do more than bluster at the moment, even if I release you. Hmm, why not? I'm feeling generous," he decided before snapping another word and his fingers.

The cold wet stone unwound itself from Baron's body, leaving him free to move around the small cage that could only allow him to take two strides in any direction.

Baron wasted no time leaping and trying to grab at the chain, but of course the warlock was no better than a child bully at keeping it just out of arm's reach.

The man with pale blonde hair smirked at his captive. "It's too bad I can't thank the king for sending you to vanquish me. I'd have been terribly upset if he'd sent another." He held up the emerald, which Baron could just make out as a tiny vial with a loop carved into the snug stopper. "I suppose you're wondering what I wanted with your blood specifically."

"Nothing good, I imagine," Baron snarled, trying to fit his shoulder between the bars but with no success.

"Oh, it's all the good in the world! Everyone's going to be better off thanks to the spell I put on this emerald. Why don't I demonstrate, just for you?" With more flair than the action really called for, he strung the tiny vial onto the chain like a pendant, and then clasped it around his own neck.

There was no stifling the cry of surprise as Baron came face to face with an old nightmare that used to plague him in childhood. He's received more than one warning from his nanny to never look into a mirror at the witching hour, or your evil reflection could switch places with you.

Baron himself would have never been able to bend his lips into such a cruel smirk, and it chilled his blood to see that expression on his own face. "Do you like it?" he asked before looking down at his clothes with a small scowl. While staring at the baron's attire, he spoke and gestured until his warlock robes were exchanged for clothing so identical to his own, that not even the laundry maids would notice anything different.

"What are you playing at?!" Baron demanded in a near panic, still struggling to keep his dignity intact as he'd been taught from the cradle.

"Isn't it obvious, old boy?" the warlock drawled in a voice that wasn't the same as before, but Baron couldn't accept was his own. "Your title, your lands, your wife. All of them are mine as soon as I leave the cave instead of you."

A terrible dread clenched his stomach for her sake. "You leave Haru out of your twisted schemes, you freak of nature!"

The warlock scowled at him with his own face. "Don't you dare talk to me about being a freak of nature!" he bellowed right back at his prisoner. "You, who have been granted the world twice since your birth? As if that doesn't make you enough of a freak, you don't even have the awareness to appreciate anything you've been given on a golden platter!"

"You don't know me, you don't know what I do or don't appreciate!" Baron yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Oh? Let's start with that wife, shall we?" the warlock sneered at him. "I met her, you know. I even tried to broach the idea of a lover to her to fill that void that you couldn't be bothered with. Do you know what she said to the suggestion?"

"That you aren't to her liking," Baron snarked, feeling a secret thrill that although he hadn't been the best husband to her, she at least turned this creature down if he was bringing it up now.

The doppelganger scowled, silently proving the captive right. "She said she didn't hold off on killing herself growing up to settle for an affair that would get her killed in no time at all. She was also firm about simply committing suicide if needed and not dragging 'some man' down with her when she loses her patience with you. Nothing less than a happy marriage is worth the trouble in her eyes."

Baron felt his blood run even colder than before, that his distant wife had so little trouble bringing up death in such a manner, and to someone she'd just met. But even further down, he couldn't help scolding himself for not giving thought to her mental state over the near year of marriage and separation.

Of course she'd give at least occasional thought to 'til death do us part'.

"Nothing to say?" the warlock demanded. "Fine, I need to get going anyway. It's high time that lovely lady got the kind of husband that can treasure every inch of her."

"This is still an affair!" Baron yelled, completely losing his composure at the thought of that silent, patient girl being so cruelly deceived. "Haru deserves better than someone who'll lie to her the rest of her life!"

"It's a lot better than someone that won't talk to or even look at her at all!" the warlock snapped, turning on his heel and walking away. "So what if she figures it out? I'll make sure she's too happy to raise an alarm. My magic is all I need to keep up with everything else that's expected of you. Enjoy your final days; my child will be conceived before you die of thirst. I can and will make certain of that."

Baron lost his mind over such a bold declaration. He lost track of the sort of things he screamed at the warlock as the imposter slowly left his line of sight, never once looking back or acknowledging what he was leaving behind. He kept screaming, hoping that someone would wander close enough to the cave to hear him.

It didn't matter that logically, he knew it would likely be decades until the stories faded enough for people to inhabit the land around this particular cave. He had seen for himself on the way here that there was no one for miles, ever since the warlock claimed this area for his own.

Only to cause enough problems in the surrounding villages to lure Baron here and take his place.

No, surely someone would notice that he wasn't himself? The warlock might have copied his looks, but what about his memories? Baron knew every resident of his castle by name and routinely greeted them, which he knew he was adored for. Did the warlock think to memorize every face enough to attach a name?

His heart wrenched horribly, knowing that such hints would come after it was too late. He miserably remembered the way Haru had looked at him that distant day, both before and after she knew that it was only ever going to be a marriage in name only.

She'd blushed when she first laid eyes on him. Not even her veil was enough to disguise how her cheeks had flared. He'd appreciated that she didn't try to step closer to him than what was proper, and she didn't throw herself at him like he had endured more than once back in Yrael. She didn't even try to flirt with him due to her shy nature. She'd glanced at him frequently, and her smile was nervous but excited as they had received congratulations all around at their wedding feast.

Baron closed his eyes in agony as he remembered how that blossoming joy had faded into a stunned, depressed disappointment. His knees almost neglectfully crashed to the stone beneath his feet as the full weight of the word finally hit home.

Of course she was disappointed in him. Women weren't typically allowed to progress in life unless it was as a wife or a nun, and even then, nuns were forgotten and wives were only considered of value when they started producing children, preferably male.

That was his uncle's justification for starting off every noble marriage on the most traumatizing foot possible. It didn't matter if the couple had literally met at the alter or had grown up together, or the ages were vastly different. Marriages were for producing babies, petty things like feelings were of no consequence to his uncle. If Humbert had allowed himself to see that, he would have known better than to declare his love for his uncle's bride.

Haru would think that monster was him. The only memory he'd given her was so painful, that maybe she would keep quiet if she somehow figured it out?

He shook his head harshly. The Marquis Yoshioka had made sure he knew that Haru didn't have much in her head, which is why he was using doing her job managing the castle as one of the many excuses to keep too busy to cross paths with her.

Baron's sigh was practically a sob. 'It doesn't matter that I was hoping for someone clever like Louise. I still should have spent some time giving Haru reasons to recognize a fake. I knew from the crib that my eventual wife would likely be chosen for me. I should have been better to her. Whatever happens to her due to my neglect, it falls on my head.'

Poor Haru. He could practically see that nervous, excited smile when she thought her husband was finally relenting to make her a real wife after she had been so patient and undemanding.

He nearly cracked his skull on one of the bars as he hoarsely cried. 'That was her plan all along, wasn't it? I spent nearly a year afraid that she was going to force my hand, and she was waiting for me to see that is not her way. Isn't that the kind of girl I've wanted for years?! Louise won me over by not fawning over me, why did I treat Haru so differently for doing the same?!'

There had to be something else. No matter how many times he'd been presented with only two choices, he'd always had a gift for a third option. He'd have died at his uncle's hands without such a gift.

Already feeling his mouth turn dry from the precious tears he hadn't been able to hold back anymore, Baron looked around to see what he could use to his advantage.

The hilt was still in the cage with him. He grabbed it and tried using it as a file at what he felt was the thinnest bit of one of the bars.

"No," he choked as the hilt was slowly grated into metal powder instead.

What about his blade? Maybe he just needed to use it differently?

"No!" Baron howled, seeing how far the other half of the sword had ricocheted out of reach. He emptied out his pockets, but there was only a handkerchief. Even his traveling supplies had been left with his horse, which was now bearing the imposter ever closer to his wife so that he could-

"No!" Baron bellowed, slamming his fist into one of the bars as a second panic set in. Undeterred by the pain shooting up his arm and the cracking of his own bones, he tried pinning himself to one side of the little prison and trying to ram his shoulder into the same bar instead, praying that something would give.

Unfortunately, his shoulder cracked the same as his fist. The second shoulder fared no better than the first, until he was collapsed uncomfortably on cold stone, unable to do anything but weakly kick at the bars with both legs.

"But I have to rescue my wife… she needs me…"

It was hard to keep track of anything after that. There was only pain, dryness of the mouth, and times when his stomach roared so loudly, that Baron was hoping that a bear was coming to put him out of his misery.

There was also a terrible guilt. Knowing that he was here; stranded, broken, and lost in more ways than one without any hope of rescue all because he didn't want to be Haru's husband.

Why didn't he want to be her husband? She was a good girl; even if he could ignore all the constant talk from everyone from the king on down telling him that he wouldn't regret giving her a chance, she'd proven it herself time and again. Even when sending him a letter would have been understandable or sending word through a servant if she couldn't read, she still chose to leave him alone, as he made clear he wished of her.

The hallucinations were the hardest of them all. Sometimes he was dancing with Louise at their wedding. There were times when she'd shift into Haru. He and Haru were lying in bed together, talking over things that could have been trivial, but as long as they were talking and together, they were content. His favorite meadow beyond the castle, he and Haru were resting their horses as they enjoyed a small picnic and watched the clouds form shapes. In one particularly painful hallucination, he could see Haru in his bed, sweating and panting as she held their firstborn tightly against her; smiling brighter than ever in spite of her pain as she looked up at him with eyes like stars.

He could have sworn he was in his own bed. He was warm, he was comfortable, he was clean. The pain seemed less in these dreams.

Haru was there, too. As if to mock what they never had, he could almost feel her gentle touch as she patiently fed him broth or water one spoonful at a time, very slowly to keep from drowning him since he was too sick to even raise his head. She always seemed to be right by his side, speaking words his mind couldn't unravel and laying her gentle hand on his brow to check his temperature or smooth his hair. Her large brown eyes seemed to never leave him, but they were tired and concerned more than admiring.

'I wish I could go back to my wedding. I wish I could have taken my many chances to offer her friendship. Maybe even spill a vein on the sheets to keep people from nosing into matters that were never their concern. A simple girl wouldn't have been so bad if she wanted to be true so deeply that she brushed off other options.

'Just one more chance. Please. Haru deserves more than I gave…

ooOoo

Was there a forest fire? No, that would be louder than this. Unless it was far off? No, he definitely knew the smell of burning wood and… chicken broth?

He opened his eyes tiredly, blinking up at the canopy he'd been studying for a year, softly illuminated by the familiar light of his fireplace. 'Ah, this hallucination. Is Haru sleeping next to me again?' He turned his head to the side of the bed he never used, slightly surprised and disappointed that she wasn't there.

But the chains wrapped around the entire bed over his legs, chest, arms and the blankets were definitely new.

"What?" he croaked as he tried to sit up but was almost immediately slammed back into his pillows.

There seemed to be a brace on his shoulders, and someone had chained the center of it to the headboard between a mountain of pillows holding him in a half-seated position.

"Your wife's fine," an unfamiliar voice slurred sleepily at the clanging, making Baron swiftly turn his head to see who it was in spite of the severe pain it caused.

There, on his favorite reading chair that had been moved right next to his bed, his wife was dozing. Her slim body was curled up on the seat in what looked like an uncomfortable position, and she was using her arm and the arm rest as a pillow. The other hand was rubbing at her eyes sleepily as she started straightening up in the chair.

"Haru," he choked, almost unwilling to believe that this wasn't yet another hallucination.

Her large eyes locked on him, and a wry grin crossed her lips as she stretched her arms over her head, making her husband flinch at the sound of her bones cracking into place. "So this means we're not going to have another fascinating discussion of whether or not you're going to escape treatment to come rescue me?"

"You're real?" he asked, wanting to believe it, but how could it be possible?

Haru smiled at him and got up from her chair, reaching over to his bedside table and pouring a full goblet of water. "How about we see if you can stomach this, and then you make a call on that?"

Since his mouth was still unbearably dry, Baron eagerly drank from the goblet from her hand.

He looked down at the hand that he'd smashed against his prison. The entire hand was wrapped in bandages, but he could tell that his fingers were set against something wooden with the right indents to be comfortable and hold his hand in the right shape while it healed.

"You beat yourself to shreds trying to escape," Haru informed him while holding the goblet. "Are you feeling up to some chicken broth? Or would you like me to tell the cooks you're ready for something solid?"

"I'm ready to give you an apology," Baron stated, immediately regretting it when he tried to reach for her with his left hand but couldn't manage it around the chains and his shoulders.

"Don't do that," she told him sternly, kneeling next to the bed and placing his hand where it had originally been. "Your shoulders can't handle you moving around yet. Just talk to me if you're ready."

Baron couldn't help finding it a miracle that her hand chose to stay on his forearm. "Haru, I've been more than unfair to you, and I don't think I have enough apologies to make up for how badly I've let you down," he said immediately before his nerves could ruin things again. "I was so busy sulking over not getting the life I wanted, that I never spared a thought to a future with you. I ran from it and any mention of it because I was afraid of… being happy anyway."

Haru lowered her eyes to the bedsheets, barely reacting at all.

"I don't have any excuses for my behavior. I've had it shoved down my throat from the beginning that you are the kind of girl any man would be lucky to marry. You deserved better than what I've been doing, and I'm horrified that I practically gift-wrapped you for some warlock to swoop in and take advantage of you without any clues that he wasn't me."

"That didn't happen," Haru stated softly, still not looking at him. "He got my first kiss, but nothing more."

Baron let out a huge sigh of relief. "I'm not happy about the kiss, but I'm happy it wasn't more. How was he discovered?"

"Accidentally, honestly." Haru inhaled and exhaled deeply through her nose before telling him the story.

"I knew you'd gone off to challenge a warlock. I wasn't sure where or how, but since all your other suicide missions were successful, I wasn't too worried about you, just angry that you'd rather flirt with death than be in the same room as me."

"I'm sorry," he stated, knowing that he was likely to be repeating those words for the rest of his life.

Haru still wasn't looking at him as she continued. "When you came back and immediately sent for me, I was really happy. I knew doing anything other than waiting for you to be ready to talk to me wouldn't work out in my favor, and I thought that my patience had finally paid off."

Baron couldn't restrain the flinch of guilt. "I don't know how, but I will make this up to you, Haru."

One side of her mouth twitched like it wanted to form a smile, but just couldn't manage it at the moment. "It was both gratifying and embarrassing that I was getting congratulated by everyone I came across going to your chambers, but instead of apologies and offers to talk things out like I expected, 'you' immediately grabbed me, slammed the door shut and kissed me pretty aggressively. By the by, I really hope you're better at it than he was," Haru added with distaste. "I don't want to find out any time soon, but I'm glad about not getting kissed like that for the rest of my life."

That made him feel better. "Louise didn't have any complaints."

Haru flinched at the princess's name, but carried on. "Since 'you' had just been fighting a warlock and you had the grace to look guilty about hurting me the one time you deigned to talk to me, my immediate thought was that 'you' stumbled across something 'you' didn't realize was a lust spell or potion, and that's why 'you' were so eager to consummate right then and there. I didn't want any outside influences for our first time if it ever happens, you owed me far too many apologies and talks before even asking about sharing a bed, and I didn't want you to hate me for taking advantage when you got your senses back."

Baron's stomach decided that moment would be a perfect time to imitate a whale's song. He flushed with embarrassment as his stomach further informed him that however he'd been fed since the rescue was no longer sufficient.

Haru responded to the sound with little emotion, reaching over to a covered basket and pulling out a loaf of bread. She started breaking off little pieces to slowly feed him as she continued to speak since his shoulders wouldn't allow him to use the hand that wasn't broken. "As a child born under similar circumstances, I'd like to do better by my future children, if I end up having any." Then she scowled a bit. "But in the name of honesty, anyone with your build could overpower me if I refused to cooperate, and we both know that the castle in general wouldn't care about full consent if they think it will result in a baby that will keep you from running back to Yrael the second your uncle dies."

Baron blinked as he swallowed his current mouthful. "I can't go back to Yrael. My uncle made sure I knew he paid an obscene number of assassins in advance if I tried."

"You never gave anyone a reason to think that wasn't your plan," Haru reminded him, her face eerily neutral as she kept feeding him slowly. "Since I knew I was on my own, I decided to let 'you' think I was fine with getting on with it, but I scolded 'you' like a nagging wife would about ignoring me and my needs for so long, and that if anyone had the right to initiate, it was me. 'You' were all too delighted to let me take charge, so I ordered 'you' to lean over a bit and close 'your' eyes so I could kiss 'you' my way." She then squirmed uncomfortably. "I haven't gotten around to it yet thanks to taking care of you, but I owe you a new tea pot."

Baron beamed at her. "You do?"

Haru nodded before raising one hand, closing her fist as if holding the handle of a kettle, and imitated smashing it hard against something.

Baron managed one guffaw before his shoulders started screaming in pain. "No, let me laugh," he begged his own body. "I need to laugh at this!"

Haru was finally able to smile a little, but she sighed heavily before pouring the goblet full of chicken broth that had been warmed close to the fire before holding it to his lips. "My next part of the plan was to tie 'you' up and let the lust spell fade out on its own. But when I was tying up 'your' hands, I noticed you had something on your chain. That wasn't normal, so I took it off in case it was significant and…" she shrugged a bit. "You know what I saw."

"To think, your father told me you were simple!" Baron crooned happily once there was no more chicken broth to drink.

Haru looked at him sharply while setting the goblet down. "Is that why you didn't let me manage the castle?" she demanded. "Because that monster told you I was stupid?"

"Simple," Baron corrected weakly.

"Simple tastes do not equal a simple mind," Haru informed him, though her dark mood didn't seem to be directed at him. "For someone that says he wants to be a grandfather, he's certainly done what he could to prevent it."

"I think I'm going to have to have 'words' with him when I heal up, then," Baron muttered darkly.

"Only if those 'words' are sharp. He'd rather spend eternity in that cage than admit that women might be good for something other than birthing and raising children. He never let Mother do her job either," Haru added sadly, getting up from her kneeling position and returning to the chair she had been dozing on. "She taught me how in case I was given to a better man than she was stuck with. I did literally everything I could think of to train to be the best wife possible so I could finally have a happy family. Love was optional, but I was only letting myself hope for friendship out of you. If Lune had bothered to tell me about Louise instead of tricking me into thinking I had a chance with you, I could have found my tongue and just said as much before you ran away from me."

Baron flinched. "I should have offered it myself. By the time I thought of it, it seemed like too little, too late."

Haru gave an unimpressed sniff.

"And it was wrong of me," he added shamefully. "But I will say that I would have been a lot more likely to reach a peace treaty with you if everyone in the baronetcy and the capital weren't adding their bit into our marriage."

"I told those fools to stay out of it!" Haru snapped angrily. "For people bound into service, I can't imagine why it was so hard to understand that forcing the issue was worse than letting you talk to me when or if you'd ever be ready!"

"I also told them to mind their own relationships," Baron growled angrily. "About the only one who didn't try to stick her nose into our marriage was your cousin, though her glares spoke volumes."

"Yuki knows my mind. I should probably get back to the story," Haru sighed, reaching for the covered basket and pulling out an apple and a little knife that had been resting next to the basket. She carefully carved bits out of the fruit to feed them to her husband as well. "You can imagine how upset I was that no, you didn't finally call for me, you lost against the warlock, and said warlock wanted to start his takeover of your life by taking me. I didn't know if the real you was alive, but I knew that if you were, I needed to act fast. I bound his eyes and tied his fingers flat against the fireplace poker to keep him from using his magic, and also tied a rag over his mouth so that he wouldn't speak before I was ready for him."

Baron blinked. "What do his eyes have to do with his magic?" he asked curiously.

"It's a lot harder to focus or know what you're aiming at without your eyes, unless you're already used to not seeing," Haru explained quickly. "I found a book on magic when I was ten in my father's library. I won't bother lying; I tested myself repeatedly on the off-chance I could turn my father and brother into toads so that Mother and I could get some peace."

"Understandable," her husband forced himself to keep short, since he was definitely eager to find out how she saved him. 'Now I wish I'd had talked to her before this job. I could have adjusted my approach with this information.'

"Is this enough food?" she asked while feeding him the last bit of apple.

"For now. Please continue the story," he urged as curiosity began gnawing at him.

Haru set the knife to its former place before she began speaking again. "Out of morbid curiosity, once I had that pig tied up, I opened the door and called for help as loud as I could. I could hear a few distant snickers, but no one came. I lost my temper, put the chain on myself, and commanded soldiers to come immediately. They sure came running then," Haru growled angrily. "'I' took the time to scold them for letting an intruder into 'my' room and setting up 'my' wife to be violated while they all patted themselves on the back because they knew better than 'I' or 'my wife' did about our own marriage. They at least had the grace to look shocked about seeing that pig in the room, and I didn't think until afterward that part of the reason they were so shocked at the way I scolded them was because the chain apparently doesn't change your clothes, so they saw you wearing my dress before I revealed it was me."

"A small price to pay," he assured her, trying to nod his head around the pain for her to continue.

"The first thing I did was order Captain Tatsuo to personally get Toto the magician as quickly as possible, and to meet me in the dungeons of the castle since I was certain he could get in if he wanted to. I had a few other soldiers carry the pig down there, called for someone to fetch Jiro with his whip, and another girl to grab a satchel, a wineskin of water and another of whatever broth the kitchen had available, and a third to get me a bowl, vinegar, a yard of cotton fabric and a small brush."

Baron couldn't help raising an eyebrow at the selection.

"As soon as Toto flew in, I gave him the satchel with water and broth and begged everyone to keep their mouths shut since there was a higher chance of saving your life if that pig thought I'd already given up hope, and as such wouldn't move quickly enough in case there was a chance to save you. He woke up on the way to the dungeon, but I had one of the soldiers keep a dagger to his belly on the off-chance he tried anything, and I warned the pig that uttering any words a soldier didn't understand would have fatal consequences when I ungagged him."

Baron smiled with bliss. "I'm enjoying how you refer to him."

"He earned it," Haru growled before shaking herself back to her senses. "I informed him that I really didn't appreciate how everyone felt they had more say in my marriage than I did, and that he was the last straw. He thought that the twenty lashes were the torture to force him to admit to what he did to you, though the fact that I didn't take off his gag until the lashes were done should have been a hint they were for trying to sneak into our marriage bed."

"I'd have given a hundred, at least," Baron growled, still incensed at what nearly happened to his clever wife.

"If your life wasn't on the line, I probably would have. But the lashes were really so that I could personally torture him. Father always liked to say that nothing catches a prisoner's attention like taking a personal hand in 'punishments'," she added with a sad sigh.

"Torture? You?" he asked with surprise. "I don't mean offense, Haru, but did you have the strength for that kind of careful diligence?"

"I didn't need strength," she informed him with a sly smirk. "I just needed the soldiers to hold him steady while I used the vinegar and brush to paint flowers over his back."

Baron shuddered at the mental image of a man screaming in pain as a woman painted on his torn back as calmly as an ordinary canvas.

Haru stood up from her seat and rifled through a satchel hanging off the back of the chair until unfolding a blood-stained piece of cotton fabric for his perusal.

It was easy to see that she had used this cloth to pat the warlock's back after the torture was done, since there were several volent red lines slashed over the white fabric. He couldn't help noting with delight at how few small, faded flowers had been painted into the shoulder area before the warlock agreed to give up the Baron's location.

"He didn't last long, did he?" the lord couldn't help purring as his eyes feasted on the clear evidence that the warlock's arrogance had been sorely misplaced.

"I was painting slowly, too," Haru added with a wicked smirk. "I'm going to turn this into a tapestry and hang it outside my door as a warning to everyone that I'm done listening to how they believe our marriage should be." Then she began folding it up again. "Even while he was gloating that you couldn't leave the cage without magic, Toto turned into a crow again and immediately left through the open window. After claiming my souvenir, I had the pig gagged again since I was sick of his excuses about why he thought this was a good plan and got your room ready with Yubaba for immediate treatment while we were waiting for Toto to come back with you, since he signaled to me that he could still get you out of the cave."

Then Haru saddened. "He says if I'd done literally anything else, or had even been slower, you wouldn't have made it. You were very close to death when he found you."

Baron nodded without surprise. "Two days' journey by horse between here and that cave. I wouldn't have put it past him to take a leisurely pace to give me more time to die of thirst. He was very confident that you wouldn't raise an alarm, even if you figured out he wasn't me," he added with an adoring croon.

"Then he clearly doesn't understand what marriages are for," Haru grumbled under her breath, sitting against the back of the chair and staring at her clasped hands on her lap. "Toto had to turn you into a small cat to fit you between the bars and carry you with magic to avoid injuring you worse after he set your bones. Yubaba tried to shoo me out of the room when she changes out your bandages, but I saw for myself how you broke yourself trying to get free. I was the one that suggested chains when you kept trying to get out of bed 'to come rescue me'. I tried many times to tell you I was fine, but you didn't recognize me or my voice."

"That is my fault," he admitted shamefully.

"Being delirious complicated matters. The only times I've left your side was when it was time for your clothes and bedsheets to be cleaned, since I made the decision to keep certain things a mystery between us until you got your mind back, but I have a hard time trusting anyone else to take care of you. We weren't really sure you were going to make it," Haru admitted, still not looking at him. "It's nearly been a week of your deliriums, Yubaba and Toto were getting pretty worried about if you didn't come to your senses soon."

The room echoed another whale call, but Baron knew it wasn't from his stomach this time.

Haru blushed with embarrassment before reaching for the basket and knife again. She kept her eyes on the second apple as she carved bigger pieces than she did for her husband.

Baron watched her eat, feeling even more guilt than before. She was much thinner than she'd been at their wedding, and everything about her seemed tired. "You were neglecting yourself for me."

Haru finished her mouthful before answering, still not looking him in the eye. "I was doing it long before this. I stop noticing hunger when I'm sad. My mother was the same way."

Baron flinched like it was his turn for lashes. "It's a wonder you're still alive."

"I didn't want to upset Yuki with something drastic, and eating at least once a day would keep Hiromi's pestering to a manageable level. Do I really have to keep her?" she asked plaintively while cutting another piece. "She gossips too much, judges me too much, and-"

"You can get someone else," Baron promised a bit shamefully. "Truth be told, she's been a thorn in my side as well. I shudder to think of how the other local girls would fare if Hiromi was the best they could offer you."

Haru immediately relaxed. "Yuki's been keeping my old maid on reserve for me. Chihiro at least knows when I need a friend over a maid, and we were both upset that the king insisted I leave her behind."

Baron flinched at the mention of the king as she ate another piece with more enthusiasm. "This turn of events will not look good in my report."

"I took care of it," Haru informed him after swallowing again.

"You what?" he asked with dread.

"I knew the king would be upset if we waited to tell him until you were better, so I wrote out a long report while waiting for Toto to bring you back, and a day's worth of updates on your health before sending it to him. He's here with Yuki."

Baron flinched. "He must mean business, then."

"I think it was so that he could chop off the warlock's head personally, and Yuki insisted on being in attendance," Haru confided almost nonchalantly. "I tried to advise that the anguish of seeing you healthy and whole would be an excellent last sight, but their majesties insisted that he was too dangerous to let live, and they were very offended at how close the scheme came to working, at least long enough for irreparable damage."

"Too close," Baron agreed with a shudder. "So he's dead, then?"

"As a doornail. His majesty had the remains burned as an extra precaution, and he ruthlessly shattered the emerald and chain after I demonstrated its ability for him." Then her face turned into a slightly wicked pout. "It's probably for the best, but I was pretty keen on seeing the look on his face when he'd see us standing side by side, even if it's just for his execution."

Baron hissed as he tried to reach out to her with his uninjured hand, since it was still attached to a broken shoulder.

"Don't do that," Haru warned him, reaching over to set his arm in the position she'd placed it in before.

"I am sorry, Haru," he apologized again. "I swear I'll be the kind of husband that deserves such loyalty."

She inhaled and exhaled through her nose slowly before locking eyes with him. "With all due respect, my lord, I'll believe that when I see it."

Although that hurt, Baron couldn't help smiling with relief that she still hadn't given up on him. "Fair enough."