New Chapter! I have no excuse for updating so late except for the fact that writing is freaking hard. I wrote and rewrote this so many times, trying to get it right (lol). I'm sorry, but I hope it was worth the wait.

There is an M version to this story on ao3, if you are interested lmfao. It has more mature and...*ehem* NSFW stuff that I took out of this version. Just type in my username Whenthereisawill and you'll find it.

And without further ado...

"You're sending me away? To Hibernia?"

Will swallowed. His mind screamed at him to stop talking. To shut his mouth, take back his words and rip up the letter. He wanted to blurt out that it was just a joke and he didn't mean any of it. He wanted to erase everything and continue on, and leave Alyss blissfully ignorant.

But her piercing grey eyes were boring into his skull, waiting for an answer, and he could feel the anger and shock in her stare. He sighed heavily, grabbing the chair next to the bed and sat on it so that he was across from her. He rested his elbows on his knees and his face fell into his hands. He racked his brain desperately to find a way to make it easier to tell her, without upsetting her. But he knew that it was impossible. He rubbed his face wearily, then pulled his hands away and finally spoke, defeated.

"Halt sent a letter to King Sean, his nephew, and told him of the situation in Araluen," he started, not daring to look her in the eyes. "And then...he told him about you, and how you were with child, and how Araluen was getting too dangerous and there was nowhere for you to go. He asked Sean to take you into his care if things got out of hand here. It looks like he agreed." Will finally looked up at her.

Alyss was staring at him with a blank expression, her emotions unreadable. His throat went dry and he swallowed again. She glanced at the discarded letter on the bed, then back at him, her eyes narrowing. It was as if she couldn't fully comprehend what he had just told her.

"D-Did you know about this?" Her voice was shaking. Will wasn't sure if it was from anger or shock.

"I had no idea, I swear. He told me today."

She looked at him in disbelief. "But...you...D-did you agree to this?"

Will bit the inside of his lip. His brain was yelling at him again. Just say no! Say NO!

"Yes."

That was when Alyss's emotions surfaced. She feels like I betrayed her. Will's heart sunk. Her lips were trying to form words, but no sounds came out. He spoke before she got a chance.

"Alyss, just listen." He scooted his seat closer, meeting her accusing eyes with his sincere ones. "Halt is right. This is the only way to keep you safe. And...I-I should have thought of it sooner. We always rejected the idea of you leaving because you were always better off here. In Araluen. With me. But we can't keep ignoring the fact that that's not true. It's not safe here. It never was." He had reached forward and took her hands, but they stayed limp in his hold.

"The war has begun and I have to go into battle with the soldiers. The men we gathered and trained for weeks...I-I can't leave them. There is not an inch of this country that is secure anymore. But... Hibernia is. If you go there, at least you'll be protected by the King. You can-" Alyss interrupted, snatching her hands away from him.

"No." She scooted away from him, pushing the bed covers roughly to the side. "No, no, no...Hell no."

Will closed his eyes and stifled a groan, utterly crestfallen. For a moment he thought it would be easy. Why did I think that?

"Alyss, if you would just-"

"No." Her words dripped venom. Her lip trembled with barely-contained rage and her glare was blazing fire. "Damn Halt. Damn him for going behind our backs and making this plan to...to rip apart our family."

Will opened his mouth to defend his master, but clamped it shut when she turned on him viciously, raining her ire down on him.

"And damn you, Will Treaty. Damn you! Damn you to hell for agreeing to all of this. You agreed without telling me, you bastard!

"You swore to me," she came close and jabbed her finger into his chest, accusing and unforgiving, making him wince. "You swore that we would get through all of this together. You said that whatever happened, we would figure it out. Together. Did you forget that? This, sending me away...getting rid of me! This isn't what you promised me."

Her anger made her stutter, but her tone wasn't any less frightening. She jabbed at his chest again, harder. "You lied to me. You-you liar!"

Her last words punctured his heart like a barbed arrow, sticking to him and choking him up. They struck him more painful than her forceful jabs. He looked up into her eyes and saw the fury and betrayal in them and he knew that she saw the pain and anguish in his. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but she didn't allow him.

"I will go into battle and fight with you." Her voice was low and her tone was final. When he started shaking his head she snapped at him viciously. "Yes. I. Will."

"And if you die in this hopeless bloody war, I will die with you."

In that moment, Alyss wasn't thinking straight. Her stomach was hurting with trepidation and her mind was muddled with fury. She clenched her fists, clutching the bedsheets,making herself into a solid wall that couldn't be moved. Will couldn't make her leave. There was nothing in the world that would make her leave his side now. She could see his clenched jaw, and his struggle to keep from yelling in frustration.

Let him scream, She thought, I'll scream louder.

"I don't want you to go, Alyss," said Will through gritted teeth. "But it isn't just about you and me anymore. It's about our child. You have to think about it...it's future."

Their child. The baby.

She had forgotten. But her brain wouldn't let her stop to think about it.

"I don't care about the child!" she snarled. Alarm bells shrieked in the back of her mind the moment she said the words, and the wall she had created started to crack.

Will flinched at her words, horrified, his eyes filling with tears. "Don't say that. God, Alyss...don't say that!"

The wall shook, threatening to fall apart.

"I don't." She whispered. "I…"

But before Will could even say anything, the wall crumbled. Because, of course Alyss cared about her child. Her expression flipped drastically from anger to anguish in just a few seconds, and she hung her head. She wrapping her arms around her stomach - around her unborn baby. As her hands were pressed to it, she could feel it's small kicking. Guilt washed over her and she covered her mouth to hold back a sob.

Without ever seeing it's face, or hearing it breathe, or feeling its skin, she loved it with every beat of her heart. And Will knew this. It was the only reason why he was doing all of this.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling. Will went onto his knees at the foot of the bed, resting his elbows on the bed and took her cold hands. He said nothing but pressed his lips to them gingerly, warming them. He had already forgiven her.

But now Alyss's wall was broken, and she knew that everything Will told her was the truth.

I have to leave.

Will reached up to smooth back her hair and wipe the lone tear that fell onto her cheek. He stretched up to kiss her forehead, his hands going into her hair. He saw the misery that washed over her, the same feeling that he had been drowning in since he walked into the small cabin. She held onto his arms, melting into him. She whispered something, so soft that he had to move his ear closer to her and ask her gently to repeat it.

"Come with me."

Will pulled away, holding her face tenderly and stroking her cheek with his thumb. She saw the despair in his eyes, and the tears that filled them. He shook his head, slow and full of regret.

"I can't."

Her jaw clenched, fighting to hold back a sob. "Why?"

"You know why." She did. And she knew that she had to accept it. But Will...

"I can't leave you."

"You must."

"But you'll die."

"But you will live. And so will our child."

Alyss was no longer holding back her tears. The salty droplets fell onto Will's hands, but he made no move to wipe them away. She wrapped a hand around his wrist and pushed her cheek into his palm, closing her eyes.

"But, Will," her voice was a soft croak. "How will I live without…?" She bit her lip and her voice trailed off when she lost control of her emotions.

But her question was an important one. How will I live without you?

He hung his head, his forehead resting on her stomach. As if in response to his touch, he felt the baby tapped against him lightly. Will jerked back in surprise and stared at that point of Alyss's stomach. He glanced up at her face, knowing she felt it too.

He sat back, looking at her from afar. He drank in her tearstained face, her bloodshot eyes, her trembling lips. Her shift had slipped off her shoulder, leaving it bare except for her sleep-curled hair that fell across it. She had tucked her legs underneath her, and when he had pulled away from her, she had wrapped her arms around her baby bump, making her look smaller and more vulnerable than she was. Her grey eyes didn't break away from his, and the tears that fell freely from them left glistening patterns on her cheek,illuminated by the firelight.

She reminded Will of a ethereal goddess; so unworldly, and so breathtakingly beautiful. From his place on the ground, he had to look up as she stared down at him. If I came upon her in some forest, I would worship her without hesitation, he thought.

He rose to knees slowly, drawing back to her. He bowed his head, pressing his lips to the slope of her stomach and staying that way for a few moments; sending love to his child the only way he could think of. Then he wrapped his arms around her and lifted his head, tilting it upwards to meet her awaiting lips. His kiss was deep and burning with passion, igniting them both.

"I'm sorry," he breathed raggedly between kisses. "I'm so sorry."

He clutched onto her, afraid that if he let go she would disappear. She kissed him back with a visceral hunger and gripped him just as tightly, her tears mingling with his as they flowed down his face.

A question that hadn't occurred to her suddenly popped into her mind, and she pulled away from him. Will moaned at the sudden loss of contact, longingly following her lips with his eyes, but she put a hand on his shoulder to keep him back.

"When?" She asked softly, her voice trembling. She held her breath, terrified about what the answer would be.

When is the expiration date? she thought, bitterly. When is our time's up?

She didn't think he could look any more sorrowful, but when she saw the expression that crossed his face, her heart sank at how wrong she was. She gripped his hand tightly, and he shut his eyes, hanging his head once more. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper.

"Tell me."

He looked into her eyes, the tears leaving trails down his face.

"Tomorrow."

The fire in the hearth had burned out and dimmed to a faint orange glow, The cabin was dark,except for the shaft of moonlight that flooded through the window, spotlighting the bed and the two people laying in it. They were entwined together, holding each other's face like a delicate treasure, memorizing every detail and imprinting the image into their mind. They didn't dare to utter a word and they just watched as the tears dripped soundlessly down their cheeks. They stayed silent in the still night.

But for them, the night was not peaceful nor quiet.

Because Will and Alyss could both hear it as they lay in bed gazing only into each other's eyes. The din swirled around them like a vicious hurricane, and they both knew what it was.

It was the keening, ear splitting, deafening sound of their hearts breaking.

:(