The early morning light shone through the window and onto the side of the bed where Evanna lay asleep. She fluttered her eyes open, feeling well-rested and started to stretch her arms out; pain immediately shot through her in multiple spots over her body, the back of her head, her stomach and her face. Reality soon caught up with her as she remembered why her muscles were tight, and her body bruised. She had been attacked the night before.

Slowly sitting up, she leaned her body against the wall, bringing her knees to her chest. Her mind began to flashback to the man on top of her, his hand around her throat, strangling her. Taking a deep breath in, she released it slowly, calming herself; she was still breathing, she reminded herself. She did not need to be fearful, Cilv took care of them, and they would never harm another soul again.

Pushing last night to the back of her mind, she climbed out of bed to get ready. While she changed, she looked at Cilv, who was sleeping on her back on the far end of the bed. She did not know how she balanced herself as it seemed half her body was falling off.

Evanna shook her head as she continued to get ready, forgetting that behind her was a fairy.

~ Be very careful with her, your majesty ~

The sweet voice in her head made her jump in surprise, with a small yelp leaving her lips. Before she faced the little creature, her eyes glanced over at Cilv, who was still asleep. Evanna narrowed her eyes at her, she was always so vigilant and usually woke up to the smallest of noises, yet just now, she was still fast asleep.

Brushing off her thoughts, she turned to look at the fairy who was now sitting on Evanna's pillow on the bed. As she opened her mouth to speak, Nesrin raised her finger to her lips to shush her.

~ You can speak to me in your mind ~ Nesrin's voice floated through her head again. Evanna frowned and tried to form her thoughts in her head to talk back to her in her mind.

~You speak other languages? ~ Was the first thought that popped into her head.

The fairy giggled lightly before flapping her wings to lift up from the pillow but immediately dropped, landing on her bottom on the soft surface. Evanna walked over to Nesrin and held her hand out for her to step onto. Nesrin's annoyed face soon turned to a smile as she looked back up at the princess.

~ I speak every language, princess ~

~ Why do you keep it a secret? Do you not want to speak to Cilv? ~

~ Her mind is hard to decipher. I cannot tell if she is a good person or not. Until I make my judgement, I will not interact with her ~

Her answer shocked Evanna; she did not know why. She was always wary of the woman. Maybe she started to feel a little closer with her, especially after last night and what she did for her. Before Evanna could continue 'mind chatting' with Nesrin, Cilv jumped out of bed, eyeing the two in front of her.

The room was quiet as Evanna was standing, hair down to her waist, entirely changed and kitted out as she held the fairy in front of her.

"Why are you two looking at each other?" Cilv asked suspiciously.

"We were just talking. I hope we did not disturb you. We were trying to be as quiet as possible," Evanna responded, she did not know what to make of Nesrin's comment about Cilv, but if she wanted something kept hidden from her, then she was not about to reveal her secrets. Even if that included the mind chatting power.

Unbeknown to Evanna and Nesrin, Cilv had been awake the moment the princess picked up the fairy. She had been watching them as she pretended to be asleep. They did not speak one word to each other, only kept staring at each other as though they were in a conversation.

It was bizarre behaviour, but she was not surprised if the fairy could mind link them. She knew that some creatures were capable of that neat little trick. However, she was unaware of the fairy's abilities. Evanna just lied to her face though, this made her very wary about the two of them.

If she could mind link, why would they keep it from her? If they wanted to talk privately about stuff, they could out loud in Muranthian. She could not understand what they spoke. Something was up, and she knew it had to do with their new guest; maybe she should have left her to rot in the jar.

She did not need more complications with her and the princess; she needed to gain her trust. Other than the revulsion she felt towards the men that attacked Evanna, she also went after them to become closer to the princess.

A knock at the door interrupted the slow tension that was building in the room. Evanna went to hide the fairy as Cilv answered the door. Ronan strolled through the door frame just as Nesrin was hidden behind Evanna's bag.

"Please, do come in." Cilv snapped; Ronan looked back at her in surprise.

"Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" He chuckled as Cilv sent him a glare. "I just came to check that you are both nearly ready. We are leaving in the next hour, I assume you want-"

Ronan stopped talking as he turned around to look at Evanna. His eyes widened, and he instinctively came towards her but stopped when he saw her panic and take two steps away from him. His stomach dropped as he deduced what happened.

The fingerprint marks on her neck and the swollen bruise under her eye, as well as her behaviour, said it all, yet he needed her to say it out loud.

"What happened?" He asked softly. Cilv closed the door behind her as she watched Evanna glance at the floor; her jaw tightened as she kept her lips clasped together, not uttering a word. He took a step towards her, his movements slow; her eyes were watching his feet like an anxious cat. As she looked back up to his face, she saw the gentleness radiating off of him.

"I will not hurt you Evanna, you have my word. You can trust me."

He was now but two steps away from her. She stiffened after the smell of his cologne made her realise how close he was, but she did not move back, she knew he would not hurt her, but her body was instinctively alert.

~ Evanna, I have read his mind. He will not hurt you. He cares about you and just wants to help. ~

Nesrin's words were what made her visibly relax. She was correct. The fairy could read people's minds, which provided her with extra comfort. She knew Ronan would not hurt her, and Nesrin's words confirmed her own thoughts towards him.

"The men from the market were here last night", Evanna spoke quietly as she looked back down at the floor. She could not meet his gaze; all she felt was shame.

After there not being any reply, Evanna looked back up to see that Ronan's ordinarily friendly and composed face was anything but. The only indication that he kept his temper in check was the ticking of his jaw, and his hands were fisted by his sides.

"Did.. Did they... defile you, Evanna?" His voice was barely audible, but she heard him clearly.

"No, someone saved me. He.. got there just in time," Evanna kept the tears falling from her eyes as she looked away again, they may have seen them as tears of sorrow, but she realised she was grateful.

Thankful for the elf that intervened. Had he not turned up, she knew she would be in a worse state today. If there was a today for her, for all she knew, she could have ended up in a ditch, dead. Taking a deep breath in, she thanked him again in her head. If it were not for him, her journey could have ended last night.

Ronan watched the side of her face as her emotions flittered across it. He just wanted to hug her, tell her everything would be fine, but he knew she did not want to be touched by a man right now. It took everything in him to stop himself and demand to know more details.

How had she been attacked? Was she not in her room? Surely they would have heard something; they were in the room next door. He kept his burning questions to himself even though they were at the tip of his tongue. Unclenching his jaw, he released a breath he had been holding in,

"We will leave as soon as you are ready. I will speak with Ger and Axel." He started to turn around, "Ronan, wait!" He clenched his eyes shut as he heard Evanna plea from behind him. "Please do not tell them. I cannot bear it. Ger.. he will blame himself.." She could not even start to fathom how he would react to this.

She knew he was protective of her; he already scolded her twice, this time was different. He was always hot-headed, and she knew she could not deal with that right now. Her reaction to Ronan was proof that she needed some more time. He was keeping his anger in check and treading lightly around her. She could only guess how she would be with Ger.

Ronan opened his eyes in disbelief and turned around to face her; he reminded himself not to raise his voice at her. He shook his head before replying, "Evanna.. even if I did not tell them.. you have bruises on your neck and face." His eyes started to burn as they lingered on the dark bruising on her neck. He forced himself to look away.

"I know, I just need a little bit of time before I can face them.. Please… for me," She pleaded with him again, her voice tugged at his heartstrings.

"Just tell them we will meet them out front, have the horses ready, and we leave straight away", Cilv spoke up from behind him. He sighed, his eyes not leaving Evanna's as he moved his hand through his dark hair, aggravated. Nodding his head, he agreed before leaving the room.

Cilv watched Evanna across the room, who turned her back to her, already sorting her hair out. Placing it into a half-up hairstyle, making sure that most of her hair was down. She knew she would get annoyed with it soon, so she started putting a few strands into two plaits by her side, hoping to keep it off of her face for the journey.

"Because that's gonna help. I can still see the bruising," Cilv's voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Just.. Get ready, Cilv. I want to leave this place along with the memories with it."