Noble Blood

Chapter VII - Arrangements

"William, may I speak to you?" Gwendolyn asked, knocking on her brother's door twice.

"Gwen! Of course, come in!" He called. The Irish princess opened the wooden door and came to sit by William, grabbing a chair from his desk.

"Evie's brother is coming here to take her back home in a month's time." She said, getting right to the point.

"What?!" Dietrich sat up, startled, cringing as his wound wasn't healed yet. "How did that happen?"

"She had sent a letter to her brother, explaining the King was gone with his merciless army, and this was when we all expected he'd be dead. But he isn't and now her brother is coming!"

"This could be good or bad... Fergus is coming in three weeks and we should be fine to get out of here before the King is back, but Luuk is cutting it close." William said pensively, his brows furrowing as he analysed the situation. "How many men?"

"I wouldn't know. But Luuk wants to take back the Dutch throne so there must be a certain amount." Gwendolyn asserted, she hadn't read Evie's letter, only heard what her friend had told her.

"Well there isn't much we can do about it now." The Irish prince added, looking at his sister and smiling sadly.

"How many men is Fergus bringing?" She asked, now curious.

"A good three thousand I believe, he's gonna get us out of here. I will lead the army back to Ireland where more men will wait to take back our country." Her brother answered, "Enjoy your time here because it's almost up!" He added, knowing Gwen desperately wanted to go home, or what was left of it.

A creak was heard by the open bedroom door, and both siblings quickly turned towards the noise but saw nothing. "Well," Gwendolyn took this as her queue to leave, "I think Alyss and Evie are waiting for me. I just thought you should know of this."

William nodded and smiled at her as she shut the door behind her, S

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alyss sat with tear-filled eyes on the chest at the foot of her bed, looking up at the entering Gwendolyn.

"What?" The Irish princess looked up at her obviously unhappy best friend.

"I heard you with your brother. You're leaving me too? Without you or Evie I'll be alone." She said, looking up at her lady-in-waiting with heartbreak written all over her face.

"Oh no, Alyss!" She exclaimed, rushing to her mistress' side and taking her friend's hand in her own. "You have Clare and Katheryn and I promise I'd visit however I can." She continued, "I have to go home."

The German princess looked gravely up at her best friend. "I know you do, I just wish you would have told me instead of keeping it secret. I need to prepare myself for that."

"I'm sorry." Was all Gwendolyn could say, "I didn't really know how to tell you."

"Giirls! Our music lesson is starting!" Evie ran into the room with obvious traces of berry pie on her face, making her look like quite the fool.

The princess and her lady at the funny sight. "We're coming." Alyss assured, "We'll talk later," she added, hugging Gwen before taking her hand and pulling her out of the room with her.

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Lilianna waited till the sun the had set to venture outside the castle walls. She rode into the woods with Kirsche, making sure to extinguish all the torches around the Eastern Courtyard right before her exit.

Of course the guards would notice this, but it bought her the few minutes she needed to leave unnoticed ever since Dietrich had put the guards on high alert.