Regeda and the hairstylist were both sitting in the living room where I’d left them. They stood and faced me. The hairstylist's face spoke of outrage, and Regeda's of shock and even horror. I spoke with a calm I, for once, truly felt.

'The wedding is cancelled,' I began, stating the obvious.

That was when I ran out words and had to consider my next move. I could not remain in Hollowhold for my actions represented the greatest scandal in the capital in generations, though I regretted them not. I had to get back to Ebonreach, and ideally I’d leave before Wilbern learned of his jilting to avoid a confrontation. I felt a lurch of guilt at the thought of him, though strangely most of it stemmed from the fact that I had not assisted in stabilising Trent, rather than the hurt and embarrassment that I would cause him, or my failure to bring new soldiers to Haelling Cove.

'Regeda, we’re leaving. Pack everything up and saddle my horse, and another for yourself. Find my escort and have them ready themselves. We must depart before the wedding bells chime.' Then I turned to the hairstylist. 'You must remain here until my departure.' She shook her head, so I sighed and offered a compromise. 'Two silver pieces to remain until the wedding is to commence.'

She cocked her head to the side in consideration, then sighed in simultaneous relief and reluctance. 'Fine,' she eventually relented, and I gave her the coin.

'My lady,' Regeda began, and I was suddenly struck by fear that she would want to stay at Hollowhold, despite her earlier words.

'You're coming with me, aren't you?' I interrupted in a panic. I did not want to lose her again.

'Of course, my lady,' she replied, and I gave an easy smile of gratitude. 'I was only going to ask if Prince Alum is coming with us.'

I was stunned by the question. I should have spoken to Alum before the servants. I resolved to speak with him at once, and not just regarding the question of our departure: I needed to know if he intended to wed me. He had ruined my prospects with other men, after all. I also needed to know if he would live with me in Ebonreach, or demand – as tradition would have it – that I remain in Hollowhold. Would he give the other half of his Housecarls to the defence of Haelling Cove? Would he be willing to scorn his brother and father in such a way?

My head span with possibilities, and I quickly said, 'Prepare for our departure. I will talk to Alum.' Then I skipped back up the stairs and re-entered the bedroom, closing the door behind me. Alum was lethargically pulling his trousers up his legs when I addressed him. 'We need to talk.'

'Fear not,' Alum said, standing to face me and abandoning the task of dressing himself despite his bare chest. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but his pectoral muscles were as sinewy and well-toned as those of his abdomen. 'I will not abandon you now.'

He spoke directly to my heart, and I immediately grasped the comforting hand he offered me. 'You won't?' I asked, not questioning him, but inviting him to continue.

'Of course not, Saemara. You are all I have thought about since you came into my life. I could never let you go. If you did not wed me, I would be greatly diminished.'

I frowned curiously. 'Is that a proposal?'

Alum looked to be in thought, but only for a second. 'Yes. Please, Countess Saemara, do me the honour of being the one to marry you.'

'I will! I will, Alum.' I smiled, not for the first time that day. We kissed to seal the new betrothal. Eventually, I pushed us apart, remembering my purpose.

'I must leave Hollowhold,' I said to him. 'When Wilbern finds out what we've done…'

'I know,' he replied. 'But this time, I will accompany you. During your most recent absence, I shrivelled impotently. I allowed my brother to dominate me and dissolved into apathy. I hold no great affection for my brother as he has failed to listen to me one time too many. Nor will he be greatly surprised by my departure, once he learns what has transpired between us. I will be a better man by your side, and I will not have to bear the worry that comes with our separation.'

I smiled at his kind words, though I was surprised at the depth of his enmity for his brother. He’d clearly understated them when first we had spoken upon my return to the capital. 'Then you will wed me in the Reach?' I asked him.

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'Of course,' he said, and we kissed again. Then he spoke to me more seriously. 'We should leave immediately. I do not relish the idea of still being in Hollowhold when Wilbern finds out that you have jilted him, or when Milos founds out what we have done.'

'Nor do I. I have already given instructions to my servant to pack our things and prepare our horses and my escort. I told her to be ready to leave before the wedding is scheduled to begin,' I explained, and Alum nodded.

'I will gather the items most precious to me. We will, of course, be accompanied by those of my housecarls not already in Ebonreach. I pledge the remainder to aid in the defence of your realm,' Alum said and I grinned widely, for he clearly desire to help me reconcile myself with my actions. By scorning Wilbern, I would no longer be bringing scores of Trent soldiers to man the walls of Haelling Cove, yet Alum offered me his Prince's Guard as a consolation prize. I accepted it.

'Thank you, Alum,' I said to him, genuinely. 'Now go. Discreetly. I do not know how you came to be in the women's living area, but you must return without attracting attention.'

'I know. Fear not, the Royal Quarter has been half-abandoned in recent times. Only the most careless man could be seen leaving,' he replied, and I saw him to the front door of my house and watched him leave after a curt farewell kiss. True enough, there was no one else in the street.

I closed the door and returned to my bedroom. I had to pack everything I owned into bags small enough to be clasped against Lilac's saddle. Certainly I was going to have to leave some things behind, though anything likely to be unaffected by sand could be safely stowed in my portal. Thence went my shoes – including my wedding shoes, though I left my dress and corset behind. I had no further use for them, as it would not be proper to reuse them for my wedding with Alum. I filled four bags with clothes and bottles of bloodberry wine and carried them to the dining table in the living room. I did not hesitate to perform the task of a servant, for Regeda was no doubt busied with the tasks I had already given her.

I needed to go unrecognised from my chambers to the great mountain road that led the way from Hollowhold, and to that end I donned my fur cloak and a hood in an almost-matching bone white colour. If I kept my head down, I should not be recognised.

Regeda returned having prepared my escort and our horses. I waited while she carried my bags and hers to the stables. A brief glance at the wall-mounted clock told me that I had less than half an hour until the wedding was scheduled to commence. A small, fantastical part of my mind ventured into a place where I ran to my wedding at the last minute and signed the contract, thus securing for Timoth the soldiers of Duke Wilbern, but never did I stop to seriously consider what I was doing. This was what I had always wanted. I was living a fairy tale.

When Regeda was ready to leave, I told the hairstylist she could leave as long as she told no one of what had occurred until after the alarm had been raised. There was small chance of her obeying me now that she’d already been paid, but it wouldn’t have changed anything if I’d instructed her to remain in my chambers. I threw the hood over my head despite that it was not a fashionable look in Hollowhold – hardly suprising considering that the city was underground – and walked with Regeda to the great stone archway which marked the exit from the city. The four men of the Reach who had accompanied me from Trackford awaited me mounted upon their own stallions, and two of them held the bridles of additional horses. Lilac, and Regeda's pony. I mounted Lilac, and bade the soldiers to remove or conceal their badges of allegiance and the sky blue of Ebonreach.

We stood nervously under a thousand tonnes of stone, with the fresh winds of the new spring blowing upon our faces, waiting for Alum to arrive. I’d hoped he’d beat me to the gate so I wouldn’t have to suffer the anxiety of waiting. Would I be discovered before he could show up to defend me? Had he been waylaid? Had he reconsidered his earlier words?

Thankfully, he showed up mere minutes later. I’d expected him to be accompanied by his housecarls, but when he appeared on his nigh-black horse he was alone.

'They will leave at dawn tomorrow,' he explained. 'If they accompanied us it would serve only to draw attention to our departure.'

I nodded shortly in agreement and kicked my heels into Lilac, leading the way out of Hollowhold. My fourth journey on the mountain road. The first with Alum at my side.

It was also the fourth-most interesting of these journeys. I was familiar with the quirks and turns of the trail and made good speed. Alum was even better acquainted with it than I and set the pace, challenging Lilac and my bodyguards to match him. The downward slope was not easy on the horses, but winter's frost had been cleared by heavy use and we dared not stop to breathe the horses too regularly.

I did not know how Wilbern would react to my absconding from our wedding, and was acutely aware of the possiblity that he might send men to prevent my flight. It seemed unlikely as I remained my own master, but I knew that he was desperate. I felt somewhat guilty that I had caused him to break relations off with his previous partner but I tried not to let it plague my mind. It was for the best. Alum was the man for me. Not that I had much choice anymore, now that I had let him ruin me for other men.

It was a supreme relief that he had elected to betrothe me after bedding me. I had heard horrible tales of men who would transform into beasts after securing a lady's virtue, and I felt supremely vindicated in my choice of suitor whenever I looked at him. Sometimes he would turn to me and grin nervously, a reminder that though we were now joyously bound together in all things, things were not as they should have been.