Accept the invitation

Katyana's message is a weight upon the mind for the remainder of the evening. Of course it makes sense that if she wished to tell you anything in secrecy, she would need to take her guardsmen out of the equation; clearly, they are more her father's men than her own. What makes less sense is that she would insist that you tell no one, thereby also depriving you of your own guards. Is she truly so fearful of wayward tongues that even your Kingsguard would keep her from speaking her mind? She must be aware that the oath taken by the guardian of a King is absolute; they must reveal not even the slightest secret told in the presence of the King, upon pain of . Even though your headsman's axe has rusted from non-use during your rule, you have little doubt that Captain Navarre would take it upon himself to execute any Sworn Protector of the Crown who betrayed the oath.

At the very least, she has chosen well the room in which to meet, if she desires privacy. The conservatory is located on the south side of the castle, at the top of a high wall and natural cliff. It is guarded at all hours not because the vegetables and herbs which grow within are particularly valuable, but because the sheets of clear glass which form the south wall and roof are absolutely irreplaceable; the art to making them was known only to the original builders of the castle, it would seem, and they took the secret to the grave. No one can enter the conservatory without being seen. It does make you wonder how Lady Katyana means to enter, if her intention is to remain unobserved.

In the end, it comes down to a decision of whether you can trust her or not. During your time as King, you have gotten further by trusting than by not trusting; by assuming the best of people unless you have reason to assume otherwise. And Katyana has two points in her favor: one, she owes you her life; and two, Bwana M'Kubwa looked at her and saw honor.

When the midnight bells ring, you make a quiet exit from the Great Hall, not wanting to interrupt the revelry with a toast or a speech. Master Sanjay's assistant meets you in your parlor so that he might check upon your arrow wound. He removes the bulky herb-soaked bandage, pronounces the wound clear of infection and likely to heal well, then replaces the bandage with a simple, clean strip of linen, tied in place and held by a soft leather strap. He then offers the bitter, milky drink which you know will eliminate the residual pain but will also render you insensate for the night.

"Perhaps later," you tell him, and the young lad takes his leave.

In your bedchamber, you find Valerie waiting; she had left the Great Hall an hour before.

"You will go to meet her, then?" she asks.

You look at Valerie with an eyebrow raised; she has done this sort of thing too often for you to be too surprised.

"I saw the note she slipped to you," Valerie says. "It is not hard to guess that it was an invitation to a private meeting... and you refused Master Sanjay's medicine, so you will not be retiring to bed yet."

"Do you think anyone else observed the note?" you ask quietly.

"No... I saw it because I looked for it. It was clear to me throughout the evening that she had something she wished to say to you, but dared not. I knew that eventually she would find a way to either whisper into your ear, or pass you a message."

"You are a wise and insightful woman, Valerie. Can you guess at what might be in her heart?"

"There are limits to my insight," she replies with a shake of her head. "All I can say is that she is clearly in conflict with herself. We all reach moments in our lives where everything changes. You saw the first of such moments when you chose the golden coin... but it was a moment you chose, not one thrust upon you. The moment came for Katyana and caught her unprepared. There is no telling whether she has the strength to embrace the change, and accept the new and frightening truths with which she is faced."

"If I do not go to her, then her fate may well be sealed," you say. "Her own guards will report her to her father. I feel that I must do this, as surely as I knew I had to push her away from the she faced earlier today."

Valerie stands and gently turns you toward her, her eyes shining. "I have always known that the day will come when I lose you to your Queen," she says softly. "Even if whoever that may be allows me to continue sharing your bed, it will never be the same. I am prepared for that loss, my love... but to lose you to would be more than I could bear. There has been no time today until now, that I could tell you how I felt my own heart ripped asunder when I thought you might have been killed! I beg of you, my love, my dear Xavier... after you have done what you must, come back to me alive and well!"

Valerie kisses you, holds you as tightly as she dares without causing you hurt, and when you let her go the tears stream down her face. " comes to us all, in time," you tell her. "But I will not die this night."

"Sire," the guard at the conservatory door says softly, bowing his head as you approach.

You had insisted to Captain Navarre that you wished to visit the conservatory alone, giving him the excuse that following your brush with , you wished to spend an hour in the company of the living plants and herbs before going to sleep. It was obvious that he was skeptical, but of course he obeyed your command. The sounds and shouts of celebration still echo in the corridors as the party in the Great Hall continues into the night, but up near the conservatory the noise is only there if one listens for it.

"I would enter the conservatory, guardsman," you tell him. "Is anyone else present?"

"No, Sire. The conservatory is yours alone. I will prevent others from entering if you wish it to remain that way."

You think for a moment, and then say, "So be it, unless whoever comes to the door seeks the King and not the conservatory itself."

"As you will, Sire." The guard takes the key from his belt, unfastens the padlock on the bolt, and slides it aside so that you may enter. With the door closed behind you, you slide the inside bolt home so that no one may enter without your leave.

The conservatory may be the most exquisitely beautiful room in the castle, in its way. It is a garden brought indoors, the herbal plants and flowering bushes growing high and strong in the protected space, free of both pests and the trials of inclement weather. There is even a cluster of trees at the center, among them one bearing lemons and one bearing oranges, which could otherwise never grow in this place. But it is not only the foliage which lends the room its ethereal atmosphere... high columns of pure white marble support an arching roof at the point where stone gives way to glass, and the walls themselves gleam not only with the glowing stone but glisten with the moisture which evaporates from the green. From the ceiling along the walls hang long and heavy red draperies, protecting the old frescoes which unfortunately had been damaged by years of neglect after the monks first abandoned the castle. The work of restoring them has painstaking and slow, and will doubtless still be underway by the time a new king rules in Elyssia.

You walk to the center of the large chamber, the light of the full Moon illuminating the room so brightly that there is no need for the torches. The aroma of the flowers and fruits hangs heavy in the air, and all is quiet and still; even the sounds of revelry from the Great Hall do not penetrate here. The only movement is the soft drifting of the curtains in the ever-so-slight draft that wafts through the room through tiny vents in the outer wall, and the fleeting swish of one of the small birds which have been captured and brought inside.

"I am here," you speak softly into the silence.

"I... was not sure you would come," whispers a voice from behind you. You turn to see her standing there, covered almost completely in a long black cloak, her face turned downward and almost hidden.

You begin to approach her, slowly, watching for any move which might belie her words. "How did you come into this place without the guard having seen you?" you ask.

"There is a passageway, behind one of the paintings. It leads from here to the kitchens... the other end is blocked by barrels of flour, but I was able to access it."

"How did you know of this secret?" There are several hidden corridors in the castle, but you have never heard of this one, and to your knowledge neither has anyone else.

"I will tell you, that and anything else you wish to know, Xavier. But first, we must have an understanding."

You stop several feet from her. "Do you hide a weapon beneath your cloak?" you ask.

"I carry no weapon. There is nothing beneath my cloak." Her voice has dropped from a whisper to the barest breath, which you would not hear at all if the room were not so quiet.

"What do you want from me, Katyana?" you ask. "I come alone, as you asked. In so doing, I have placed my life in your hands. If you bear the means and the will to do me harm, no one will stop you, and you would be free of suspicion as no one would imagine that you could have come here without being seen. If it is my you seek, then you owe me at least the kindness to do it quickly and cleanly. Which, of course, is not to say that I would not try to stop you."

She looks up at you, at last. "I intend you no harm, Xavier. As you place your life in my hands, so too do I place mine in yours. To evade my guard in this manner is the final betrayal against my father. My loyalties are already under suspicion. Once they realize I am gone, they will send word to Lord Velimir by any means they can."

"Would Velimir be so cold and cruel as to execute his own child?" you ask, unable to keep the disbelief from your voice.

"I think not. But he will not show weakness in front of his captains by failing to punish me, and the punishment would undoubtedly be... severe. I would prefer not to learn how far he would go... but even if he stops short of , my life is essentially forfeit should I find myself within his power."

"I have no wish to see you undergo such torment, Katyana," you say to her. "But to take you under my protection is to invite open war. You are high in Velimir's council, and as you have said yourself, his most trusted captain. You know much which he would not wish anyone to know. Rather than leave you in the hands of an enemy, he will attack with all the he can muster, and sooner rather than later."

"He means to attack regardless," Katyana says. "Once the festival celebrations are done and your allies depart, he will strike at the next dark of the Moon. He will storm the city under cover of night, strike quickly with fire and steel, and then retreat to leave the city burning and keep his own losses minimal. Then, the following day while your people try to make repairs and treat the wounded, he will attack again with a second wave, and if he fails to take the castle he will lay siege to it. He knows that your supplies will be low and that you will not last long enough for reinforcements to arrive. War with my father is already inevitable, Xavier. One and a half turns of the Moon from now, his armies will be at your gates. There is only one thing which can hold off his advance."

"And that is?"

"Princess Liesel. If he has her, he will delay his campaign against you to solidify his power in Bavaria. Then he will build his armies to the point where he will be able to achieve victory whether Elyssia is weakened or not." She pauses for a moment. "If I had succeeded in bringing her back to him, my reward was to have been this very castle in which we stand."

You fall silent for a moment, trying to wrap your head around the information you have been given. It cannot be a lie or a trick... it all makes perfect sense, even your own advisors warned you that Elyssia would be after the festival. Of course, none of them knew of Princess Liesel at the time, but if they had then they surely would have made those connections as well. "Katyana... why are you telling me all this?" you ask her. "Why do you betray your father in this way? Do not think me ungrateful, but you must understand that I need to know your motivations."

"It is not only because you saved my life," she says, "and please do not think me ungrateful either, but that alone would not have been enough. It is because of many things. I have been in your castle for less than a day, but I have been treated with more kindness here than I have been throughout the rest of my life. Your Lord General took the time to ensure I was secure following Liesel's attack upon me. Lady Valerie did her best to make me feel welcome in this place where so many did not welcome me. Even Bwana M'Kubwa, a man who looks at me with loathing and contempt, showed concern for my well-being. And you... you personally escorted me to sit by your side at the feast, the most important celebration your kingdom has ever known, even knowing that your people would look down upon you for it. And now, here you stand before me, offering trust to one who was your enemy, knowing full well that if I held a dagger beneath this cloak that I could have it in your throat before you had the chance to see it coming. You and your people are of a kind which I have been told all my life do not exist, and yet here you are; and it was my destiny to ride at the vanguard of the army which would exterminate you all. My father..." she takes a deep breath, and continues. "My father is wrong. He is a cruel man, and an evil man, and I will allow him to determine my fate no longer."

There can be no lie in her words. You approach a few steps closer, until only the reach of an arm separates you. "All this could have been said in the company of my Kingsguard and advisors," you tell her. "Why then, Katyana, did you insist that we meet alone?"

Her cloak drops to the floor, and as she has said, there is indeed nothing under it. Her body glows softly silver, ethereal and dreamlike, as if it is she who shines and not the moonlight. "Because... I would have you kiss me again," she whispers, and steps toward you.