As the meeting adjourned, Keira stayed in her seat and waited for the better part of the congregation to have left. She stood to leave but was halted with the group of men she grew up with huddling around her.
"We haven't seen you in ages Keira! We aren't going to let you slip away from us so soon!" Gregory grinned.
Ambrose observed the group with utter disdain as they each took turns crushing Keira in massive hugs. He watched with a bitter taste how each of them laughed and joked with the lass as if she were a great companion. Which was not to his liking at all. For some reason, he couldn't shrug the feeling of jealousy as he watched her talk and laugh with those men. With a frustrated growl he stormed out of the Great Hall.
Alexander watched after him with a smirk. He shook his head in amusement before excusing himself from Keira and her fellow men so he could go and check on his wife.
He trotted down the hall and up to the north wing where he had left Sylvia when they arrived. As he slid silently into the room he saw her sleeping peacefully in bed. He smiled to himself as he laid next to her, twirling a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger. She shifted at his touch and turned to snuggle deeper to his chest. His smile broadened and he wrapped her in his arms and comfortably drifted to sleep.
~*~
The sun was beginning to set as he dismounted from his steed. Sweat dripped from his forehead trickling down his throat and the expanse of his shoulders. He had worked long and hard sparring by himself and with others under his control.
His violet eyes glimmered as the sun cast a faint glow amongst his sharp features. His grizzly, long dark hair was in desperate need of a trim. His darkly tanned skin from long hours in the sun contrasted greatly with the scar that ran down from his cheek bone to the collar of his neck. He inhaled long deep breaths as he stared at his men who were hitching their tents for the night in the depths of the humid jungle.
He had trained his men hard. When they first came to him they were all but drunkards with a dream to overthrow the kingdom but now, now he had made them into soldiers. He molded them into men who can stand against the crown and bring down the kingdom of Prince Alexander. And after they took over that kingdom, he will soon move on to dominate the rest of the neighboring countries for his own.
The man smirked with a dark gleam in his eyes. Never had he thought in his forty-five years of age would he come across such a great opportunity to ruin the kingdom that destroyed his life; to abolish the lands that took everything from him. Yes, they would all perish for reaping his life from him. He will get his revenge, and more.
~*~
"Have you checked on Sylvia lately? I haven't seen her at all since we've been here," Abraham asked later that evening. It was just him and Keira sitting in one of the castle parlors, sipping tea.
Keira shook her head. "She has been," she paused, "preoccupied, you could say." A small smile nudged it's way onto her face. "She looks so happy, Abraham. I'm so glad for her."
Abraham grinned. "Well, that's good to hear but I don't think I'm okay with having you out there and ready to be courted by idiotic boys quite yet, understand?"
Keira had to put her teacup back on the saucer. She cleared her throat and laughed, "Yes, I understand. Although, there should be no reason to worry about things like that as I've stated earlier. No man has caught my eye and no one has taken any interest in me. I'm far too different from their kind to hold anyone's attention for long."
"Oh nonsense!" Gregory interrupted as he came into the parlor. "You are too bewitching for even the most prejudice of men." He grinned widely and took a seat in a comfortably cushioned chair.
