After the ceremony, they were shown to rooms on the top floor to rest. Leyla would have preferred to set out immediately, but the Prorex had things to discuss with the Warrior King and it was late into the afternoon before he returned to tell her they would leave at first light. Leyla refused dinner and continued to lie on the bed, staring up at the canopy until the keep grew quiet. Eventually, exhaustion claimed her and she slept.

When Leyla woke, it was still dark outside and the candles on the chest of drawers had melted into little stubs. Rubbing her eyes, she was pushing off the bed when she noticed the sword and belt balanced against the chair near the door. She recognised the silver belt and jewel encrusted sheath as Raphael's. How had it ended up in her room?

Suddenly energised, she fastened the belt over her dress and was comforted by the familiar feel of the weapon on her hip. Had Raphael left this here on purpose? It was strange to think he might understand her that well. Tying her hair up quickly, she blew out the remaining candles in the room and moved to the door. Her old practice tree was beckoning.

The corridor outside was empty and almost pitch black, lit only by the burning torches on the ground floor far below. Since the Green King was in residence and several dozen Green Soldiers as well as Light Guards would have been put up in the barracks, the inner Keep security would be in code blue formation; doubled guards in front of the royal chambers, tripled guards on the inner perimeters.

She moved swiftly and silently, avoiding six patrols before making it outside. In the shadow of the outer walls, she ran, all the way around to the north side of the keep until the tree was within sight. There were no doors on this side of the castle and the sheer drop behind the tree was unscalable which meant the patrol only passed by once an hour during guard changes.

Her muscles itching for a work out, she was almost at the tree when a shadow stepped out from beneath it.

"Leyla." Alec's smile looked hesitant in the moonlight.

Her heart felt like it was being stepped on. "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping you would come." His smile faded. He rubbed the back of his neck, pulling her eyes to the circle she had drawn only hours ago. At his wedding.

"You are as good as a King now. I should probably bow, right?"

His eyes flared with frustration. "You don't want to know what happened?"

Leyla took a deep breath. She had to stop being angry. Being angry meant she cared. She had to stop caring, only then would the pain stop clawing at her.

"Tell me."

He hesitated at her cold tone, not moving closer as he began, "By the time I explained everything to the King, Mira had convinced him that although I was fine, I was attacked by you. I told the King it wasn't the case and that asking for your punishment was paramount to asking for war with the Land of Light." Alec started pacing, latent anger evident in every move of his body. "I told him the Prorex saved me. That there was no evidence that you were anything but a victim. It was like talking to a wall."

"He didn't want to be convinced." Leyla guessed.

Alec's eyes were hard. "I was told to choose. Marry or the King would proclaim war."

"He wouldn't have done that," Leyla shook her head. Yes, the Warrior Kings had always wanted to rule over all Four Kingdoms, but their wars had always been against the Greenlands. Fighting against the Land of Light, an opponent with unknown abilities, was just too risky.

"With the Prorex and you inside the keep, this would have been the perfect opportunity," Alec grimaced. Then he stepped towards her, his expression pained. "I couldn't risk it, Leyla. If he declared war, you would become a prisoner... a bartering tool."

Leyla watched numbly as he reached for her hands, his heat not managing to warm her. "If he really wanted to declare war, why would he agree not to, just to force you to marry quickly? You were already engaged to the Princess, the marriage would happen eventually."

"The King knew I wanted to break off the engagement. I told him so the morning after he announced it."

If Alec decided that he would not marry the Princess, the Warrior King would have known pushing him would do no good. As head of the strongest royal family in the Kingdom and the most loved General in the land, the council would have pushed for Alec to become the next King regardless of whether he married the Princess or not. The throne had passed between the main royal families before, when no male heir was present.

The King had risked going to war to see his grandchildren become heirs to the throne. Leyla closed her eyes against the truth.

"Leyla, look at me." Alec pulled her closer, but she resisted.

"You are married." None of his explanations changed that fact.

"In name only," he tipped her head up to his face, his expression pleading for understanding. "I've already told Mira, she may have forced me to marry her, but I will never be a husband to her. I won't touch her, I promise you that."

"Why would you promise me that?" Tears were stinging her eyes. Now that the anger was gone, there was only pain. A desire to be with the man in front of her and the knowledge that she never could.

"I will not give you up!" His words carried a finality she couldn't understand. "In one lunar cycle I'll have the power to change laws. Once I am King, I will bring you home."

I will bring you home. The words were sweet, but Leyla was too weary to believe them. "Even if you are King, the Council of Generals will never allow an outsider into the army."

"The army?" he looked confused for a moment, then he shook his head. "You wouldn't come back as a Lieutenant, Leyla."

"Then what- " She stopped, reading the truth in his eyes and not wanting to believe it. "You want me to come back to be your mistress?"

"You wouldn't be a mistress! I told you, I will never touch the Princess. She will be my wife in name only, but you are my only mate. I'll see to it that our son succeeds after me!"

Leyla took a step back from him, her eyes dry. "You said you knew me. In the Greenlands, you convinced me that you knew me. But you're asking me to be a King's mistress? To become the woman everyone knows, but no one accepts? The woman everyone belittles, but is too afraid to speak out against?"

"Leyla-"

"No!" She raised a hand to stop him from coming closer. "I spent my whole life fighting to belong here. I've bled, I've killed, I almost died for this Kingdom! I might not be a real Warrior in your eyes, but you're asking me to be something no Warrior would ever be."

His fingers curled into fists, the pleading on his face turning to anger. "Then what will you do? You can't marry that Prorex, you don't love him!"

"Why not? You married fine without love!" Leyla lashed out. She had not once considered marrying Raphael, but Alec's proposition had made her too furious to think straight.

"I wont let you!" He growled, and then he was beside her, yanking her up to take her mouth with his. It was an onslaught, hard and desperate. Leyla tried to get free, tried not to feel, but her head was full of his scent and her body was beginning to melt.

No! She pushed him as hard as she could. Alec stumbled back a few steps, then raised his brows at her drawn sword.

"Put down the weapon, Leyla."

"No." She took a step back, her breathing still ragged from his kiss.

"You know I would never hurt you." He took one step forward, then stopped. "You're not pointing that sword to keep me away from you, but to keep yourself away from me."

She knew he was right, but it didn't matter either way.

"Leyla, if you just stop fighting. I promise I will make things right. Even if you hate your title or position, I will make you happy. I will love you so much, you will not have time to worry about anything else."

Her hand wavered. She could see the honesty in his eyes, he meant every word. But it wouldn't work. She would never be happy as a mistress, living a pampered life in seclusion, waiting for him to return from his work.

Raphael was right, it didn't matter who her parents were, she knew who she was. She was not made to spend her days in a room picking dresses and eating delicacies. She was a Warrior.

"I am leaving for the Land of Light in a few hours." She put her sword back in its scabbard, then gave Alec a curt bow. "Be well, your Highness."

She saw the shock on his face as she turned on her heal, but would not allow herself to stop walking. The wind had picked up its pace. Soon the sky would colour with the first rays of sunlight. There was little time to sleep, not that Leyla would bothering trying. She would train in her room and push her body until she was too tired to think. Maybe then she would find some peace.