Finn woke feeling sore all over. She shifted her shoulder against the hard floor. Why was she laying on the floor?
Opening her eyes, she realized that inches away from her face, Roland's closed eyes and even breathing showed that he still slumbered. Their hands were clasped through the metal bars that separated them.
Finn shifted closer still, eager to be near to the man she loved. They had talked for hours into the night and must have fallen asleep holding hands. She closed her eyes and sighed, content despite the stiffness she would feel later.
"Are you as sore as I am?" Roland whispered, and her eyes popped back open. His remained closed, but a smile had formed on his face hearing her rustlings as she scooted nearer to him.
"Maybe more," She admitted, smiling. He opened his eyes to look at her, and the emotion in them was enough to make her heart stutter. She must look a sight, with little sleep and all rumpled from laying on the floor, but he didn't seem to take in any of that.
"Goodness, you two. If I weren't here as an extremely responsible chaperone, I'd say the two of you would need to be married immediately to avoid scandal." Mayra stretched from her place on her cot.
"I think the bars also had some role in preventing any appearance of impropriety," Finn said as she also stretched and stood up, as if sleeping in a jail could be considered proper under any circumstances.
"Or actual impropriety," Roland mumbled softly as he also rose, causing Finn's face to flame bright red. He noticed and colored as well. "Sorry, that was a terrible joke," He bit his lip, hoping he hadn't offended her.
"Yes, it was," Finn lifted her chin.
"I'll wait until we're married to make any more like that." He promised.
Finn colored even more deeply, "I don't recall agreeing to that."
"No? Then that's entirely my oversight. I shall remedy it immediately." His brow furrowed, and he moved to drop into a kneeling position facing Finn.
He reached over and took her hand again, causing her to gasp as she looked down into his eyes.
"Serafina, I love you more than my own life. I don't know what the future holds, but I know I want you there with me, through all of it. Will you marry me?"
The door to the room creaked open and Roland instinctively brought the covering up to his face, though he kept Finn's hand in his. His eyes pled for an answer but her head had turned to face the door.
Riley stood there, the guard behind him with the keys. His eyes locked onto Roland's kneeling position and how he held Finn's hand. There could be no mistaking what was happening.
Finn ripped her hand from Roland's and stashed it behind her back, hiding it from the guard who was now looking around Riley's shoulder.
It was practical to avoid casting suspicion on Roland, but her concern was primarily focused on not hurting Riley. She'd never gotten a chance to talk to him, and this felt like the cruelest possible way for him to find out her decision.
A lopsided smile was all the reply she would get from Riley today; he was not free to speak in front of the guard. The stranger would likely take the expression for appreciation of the sight of a pretty girl.
At least it wasn't a glare, she thought to herself. She hoped she hadn't hurt him, but surely it would be wrong to accept Roland's proposal before she spoke with Riley. He'd been her friend since earliest childhood.
Turning back to Roland, who was standing now, her eyes pleaded for understanding. Though most of his face was covered, he nodded ever so slightly and winked. She felt immense relief that she hadn't hurt him too. What a mess she'd made of things.
"Come on, you scum! They finished cleaning out your cell, so it's back to interrogation with you." Riley said gruffly as the peacekeeping guard unlocked the cell. Roland coughed pitifully for effect.
"None of that. Come on, faster!" Riley shoved him slightly and put him in shackles to lead him away. Neither dared to steal a look back at the girls looking at them with hope that soon they could follow.
_________________
The General took a deep breath. This was the day. Since war had unofficially been declared, he was not required to attend all Council meetings, and his vote was only needed to break ties. When he showed up today, it would generate attention, and word would spread quickly that something was going to happen.
He had visited with Riley and received the further information that Roland had provided after his night in jail. The General felt some relief that there was a backup plan in place for if his political attempts failed, but also realized the potentially high cost of using it.
It might come down to a choice between ousting a traitor and effectively defending the city.
He had delegated that call to Roland. The man had proven himself a brave and valuable asset, despite technically being the heir to the enemy nation.
The General took his time getting ready, knowing the younger man needed time to get into his Klain uniform. He would be specially assigned to assist the guards at the City Hall today.
Half a city away, Roland was just reaching his post. He was assigned to be next to Ashley, and it was a relief to see her again, especially without Riley. The latter had had a marvelous time insisting that Roland 'address his future mother with respect', which earned all of Ashley's aggravation and sharp-tongued retorts.
Despite the antagonism, Roland realized Mayra's intuition about the two was not without merit. In retrospect, the banter could even be characterized as somewhat... flirtatious? Riley had also not seemed perturbed after seeing Roland so obviously proposing to Finn that morning. This was Roland's biggest clue that the other man had moved on from his infatuation with Finn.
He was immensely gratified by that. Although the rivalry with Riley had had its interesting moments, he would much rather be fully on the same side.
This morning's mission seemed the most pressing. Ousting the main spy of Klain would give him more freedom to work covertly. Before taking his place at the corner of the City Hall, he took a moment to scatter a few of the seeds from Finn's Halfling Repellant jar in the decorative flower boxes of the town square. These places were watered regularly, so hopefully the plants would grow quickly and serve their intended purpose.
After the Provider was gone, Roland would be free to begin his factfinding errand in earnest. The clues from Gwen left him with some things to ponder, and he hoped that Finn would have thought about it some more and bring fresh ideas to the discussion on alternate ways to break the curse.
He moved his hand to his pocket and a thought occurred to him. He would have to remember to ask Finn about it later.
He watched as the normal crowd of Council-observers gathered for the meeting. Someone had seen the General come through the back entrance of the building, so the crowd already had a few more than the usual, but that was likely to quickly grow once his presence was confirmed.
Everyone wanted news of the struggle against the enemy, and the General's attendance could mean he had an update to give the citizens about those efforts. Despite hundreds of years of preparation, no one in Klain truly knew what a war in reality would be like.
It was a daunting prospect, and was met with the seriousness that it deserved. Those few who had scoffed initially at the rumors of wolves had been largely silenced by the deaths of the recruits, and now had slowly unified around the common cause of protecting Klain and its surrounding townships from the scourge of Rhone.
Roland had made his primary focus preventing Rhone from attacking, but looking at the citizens here he wondered if they would back down from a battle if the other side did. The deaths of the soldiers had affected them in a deep and communal way that cried out for revenge. He wondered if those sentiments could be set aside in favor of peace.
The ceremonial marching of the main guard indicated the meeting was about to begin. Roland turned to Ashley and gave her a brief bolstering smile before returning to the stony expression a guard of Klain should maintain. She straightened her shoulders next to him. Watching the Provider struggle against their efforts to oust him would be a difficult task. The man was clever and treacherous, and always seemed to have new tricks and manipulations. Titania had trained her spy well.
Ashley sighed and lifted her chin, glad to have Roland beside her. Now that she knew her real father had been replaced by a fake, she had a new hope and will to overcome all that would happen.