Silver Creek ithaca

The Queen's absence weighed heavily on the Prince. This time it was not only for the fact that he had been sworn to her protection; this time he had the bitter advantage of past experience to warn him that more ill could come of this than her death. Only once before had she abandoned her post so brazenly. Then, she had returned with a commoner for a husband. Orestes.

They had all thought him dead, though it hadn't been a certainty. Now Makhai was not so sure. Now he cursed himself for wishing that it had been a certainty, that he'd seen it with his own eyes. Cruel of him to wish it on his sister, yet it would have been easier that way. He held no true grudge against Orestes. The man was simply... ill-advised; a detriment to their hopes for the future. Weakblooded and unworthy.

Makhai was bristling when he returned to check the Queen's new den for perhaps the dozenth time that day. He went still, though, at the soft impact of Korinna's slight figure against him. It seemed he wasn't the only one left with frayed nerves.

Keeping busy, hmm? He bent to scoop up some of the fallen supplies, realizing he wasn't sure at all how to address her. The lack of general reason for them to speak meant that even this bordered on inappropriate; she was only a servant, and not even his own. But The Queen and her watchdog were absent for now. It was only the two of them.