Even in her dreams, Maize would never forget the smell of burning wood mingling with charred flesh.

She would never forget the feeling of loss, not only for her personal belongings or fond childhood memories but more importantly for the lives sacrificed to the blazing inferno.

Her mother. Her father.

She wanted to run to them. To help them. To join them...

But Erebyn wouldn't let her.

His grip was too tight on her wrist, bruising her skin. She feared he'd have snapped it if she struggled too much.

Rather than running into the cottage to save their family, their livelihood, he was taking her away in the opposite direction, towards the darkest parts of the forest that no one visited even during the brightest of days.

They eventually stopped in the clearing, as they always did, and the same robed woman waited for them. Maize would never forget the purity she sensed from her in the white robes she wore and the voice that sounded like silver bells.

The conversation remained the same, from the first time she heard it through every dream thereafter.

"She does not belong here," the woman scolded.

"She is the payment you asked for. Our debt is paid."

The woman's laughter jingled. "I asked for your payment, not for you to pass it on to an innocent. You've not damned her as much as you've damned herself."

"Nonsense," Erebyn insisted, the arrogance in his known too familiar. "You said pay the debt, and now the debt has been paid. My house has burned and my family is gone but her. She is sufficient. She will have to be. I have nothing left."

"There is one thing left."

"And what is that?"

Maize knew what was coming. She always did. It never changed. And she was never able to look away. Not as the woman- a warlock- peeled her brother's very soul free from his mortal body.

Nor was she able to escape the attention of the woman, with her eyes burning like the fiery pits of the hottest inferno. It was a stare that Maize knew she would never escape, even when she woke up.

But she always screamed for help just the same.

Maize stopped wearing clothes to bed after waking from nightmares too many times with them tangled around her sweat-soaked body. Unfortunately, she didn't know the castle's inhabitants, and unable to lock her own doors, she wasn't going to take any chances. So she peeled off the silk sleeping gown as soon as she woke up and immediately changed into leggings and a thin cotton tunic while she calmed her pounding heart and tried to catch her breath.

Ress was normally beside her when she woke from the terrors, and though she would always feel guilt for waking him with then, she was grateful to have him with her to help in comforting her and getting back to sleep.

But Ress was not there. She hadn't been able to find him for the remainder of the ball, and while Laris would have made for an interesting companion, she didn't want to interject herself more than she already had. It was bad enough having to be the focus of so many stares and sneers by people she didn't know, and it was worse being under such scrutiny when she was supposed to be there under far more clandestine pretenses.

Concern and curiosity laced through her as she quietly emerged from her room. There had been plenty of nights where either she or Ress were out later without the other on various missions and the like, but at least then they had an open line of communication and had a general idea of where the other would be. In the castle, there were too many variables, too many unknowns, and too many risks to take without knowing how the other fared, and that bothered Maize more than anything else.

Forge had said Ress would remain in the servants' quarters with the other footmen and the like, and if Maize remembered correctly that's exactly how he brought them into the castle to begin with. Thought it wasn't daylight like the day before, the hallways and stairwells were lit well enough by sconces and candelabras to guide her way. She may have gotten lost at a few intersections but pretended to know where she was going the entire time. There was hardly anyone awake at such a late hour... or was it early? She hadn't a timepiece to tell. And of the few she did pass, no one stopped her or asked if they could assist. Perhaps being the courtier to the Prince had its advantages.

The servants' sleeping quarters were far more difficult to navigate, only because there were so many doors on either side of the numerous hallways that branched off from one another. Short of knocking on each one, she wasn't sure how she would ever discern which room was Ress'. Still, she worked her way up and down each hallway, listening for any hint or directional clue as to where her partner could be.

It was on her backward trek of the third hallway that she heard it.

It was the sound of furniture moving, of material rustling, of...

She knew those sounds. She knew those sounds very well.

Maybe the door had worked its way open, or maybe they were too distracted with each other to realize it never latched, but by the time Maize arrived it had opened enough that she was more than able to peer in to see exactly what was going on.

Beyond the trail of discarded clothing was a bed, and bent over that bed was no other than Caden, husband to Lady Findara of Alynthi. Lady Findara, however, was nowhere to be seen. In her place, however one wanted to imagine it, was a face, a body Maize was more than familiar with. Inside and out.

At least this time Ress didn't need to worry about his family disowning him.

She wasn't jealous- not in the least. Their relationship had always been... casual... when it came to sex and their preferred partners. It didn't change how they felt about one another, but rather oftentimes enhanced the time they did spend together.

Maize knew well Ress' preferences. She just didn't expect him to return to the one man who ruined his life and could potentially destroy everything he had done for himself since if the wrong people happened to find out.

She would need to speak to him in the morning. She wasn't going to interrupt him now.

But still... her heart was heavy.

She hated being alone, especially after a nightmare.

It wasn't Ress' fault. She just wished she had a solution.

She wasn't going to find one standing outside the bedroom door. It was getting stuffy, warm and almost hard to breathe. Her head was beginning to ache again and she desperately needed air.

Almost blindly, she followed the halls back to the main foyer where she decided nothing would do her better than a late-night walk in the gardens while she tried to clear her head.

And it seemed she wasn't the only one...