Hey guys, I apologize for the long wait, I had to completely rewrite this chapter because I did not like how I first wrote it.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Tallulah was entering a fortnight spent at Idris, and she was not sure what to do with herself anymore. Pure boredom often made her venture into the training yard for hours on end.

She would train by herself, but a few times, one of the men made their way over to watch as she practiced moves on a straw dummy. It was nerve-wracking when this happened, and she worried they could tell she was female, but nothing was ever said. It seemed to be an unspoken agreement to not talk to her, and she was sure Kelwin had instilled that within the men.

This morning, as she was letting out extra frustration with her current situation, Kelwin surprised her with a visit. Tallulah had not been in his presence since his Mate took her away and gave her clothes. Tallulah pitied his mate, Lunea, and wished nothing more than happiness for her once all of this was over. She would vouch for .. She wouldn't let her be condemned for her mate's insanity, for that's what this was.

"I'm glad you are occupying yourself now. The first two days worried me, little bird," she flinched as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Calling her little bird was nothing new, she was his new shiny pet in a stone cage.

"What do you want?" She replied haughtily.

"The kingdom, your mate dead or in my service," he said nonchalantly. Tallulah did not have a response for him.

"I want the submission of his people who will be mine, and I will purge the land of low low-blood dragons. I also aim to create a distinction between humans and dragons that cannot be ignored," he paused and Tallulah determined he was the most dramatic person she ever met when he continued with, "and you're going to help me," she guffawed.

"I will not," she replied indignantly. How absolutely foolish did Kelwin suppose she was? That she would readily agree to his schemes was an absolute jest.

"I figured you would respond as such and therefore have made necessary plans should it be so," He yanked her around and pointed. "That man, there," she followed where he pointed, and what she saw made her heart sink through her gut. It was Gareth, but not the Gareth she had left so many months ago. This man was lean and built, and appeared ready to kill. Tallulah gulped as her heart began to hammer in her chest. That was a Gareth that could easily destroy her for her actions against him. "he will be just so delighted to know just who you are. You know, he did come to me for help once you were gone for a month, and I obliged, simply because I had not known about having a bastard and this was good news for me. Having you meant I could forsake Mykel and his untoward behavior," Tallulah wanted to argue for Mykel, her brother, the brother she was supposed to protect as an older sibling, but she did not say anything.

Kelwin turned her back around with another yank of her arm. "So that is what is in store for you, should you act defiantly with me," Kelwin said smugly. Tallulah had no choice but to comply. Anything would be better than reliving her trauma with Gareth, even if that meant betraying her mate. She was already betraying her mate by being married in the first place.

"Thought so. now..." Tallulah zoned out once he began to explain what tasks he needed from her each day. It was mostly training his men and officers for a battlefield rather than close-quarter combat. And the mention of anything else she did not bother to keep in mind.

"Okay," Kelwin hastily departed from her presence as he seemed to have more important business to attend to. This left Tallulah standing there awkwardly before she too left the training yard, the straw dummy abandoned. 

Tallulah found herself in her chambers for the rest of the evening, too... Something over the arrangement Kelwin dished her. She was wrong to think Kelwin would simply just leave her be, but she was far too important in his eyes. He would even prefer her to any of his natural born children, and he had several besides Mykel, any of his sons would have more claim than she did.

There were few things to about the keep other than sword and weapons practice, and every day, Tallulah would take some time in the library. She knew her letter and could read decently-her mother taught her until she was 10 years old-but she never had need of the skill until she stole away in the night. Now, though, she had ample time to read, as her imprisonment was not turning out half so bad as she thought it would.

She enjoyed the tales of me and their adventures. Many were based on saving a fair maiden from the clutches of the evil Feline shifters. She realized that this conflict had gone as far back as some of the oldest literature out there and knew that the war they'd been fighting for decades had been inevitably long in the waiting.

Kelwin's threat in the yard earlier, however, painted things in a new light. The books she'd been allowed to read and the time alone he'd given her was nothing more than a ploy to get her to agree to his schemes.  In a twisted and unfortunate way, Kelwin was using the conflict for his own gain, undermining the efforts Atlas and his father before him in order to keep the same fear and superstitions as well as the conflict.  

She hated him and easily remembered every word she once said to Atlas on their trip to Aria about how she despised lords. She let out a strangled laugh at this memory. The cruel irony was there for all to see.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-