RPOV

Whispers sweep the Guild that the High Lord is struggling. He hasn't appeared in public since Sonea's Graduation. Sonea won't talk, but she tells me that she hasn't seen him. He's stayed in his room, brooding. Rumours gather speed and weight that he's searching the Black Arts for a way to help Sonea, a way to Heal her where all else has failed.

When a month goes by with nobody seeing him, I take matters into my own hands. I go over to the Residence late one night. Sonea is still awake, sitting by the fire in the guest room at the front of the Residence. She looks up in surprise.

"Rothen. It's late for a visit, isn't it?"

"I'm here to see the High Lord."

"He won't see you. He won't talk to me. He won't even look at me. He's disgusted by me."

"Has he said that?"

"I could see it in his eyes that night, after the Ceremony."

"I'm sure he -"

"Don't Rothen. I'm going to bed. He'll be in his room, where he always is. Good luck talking to him - if he lets you through the door, that is."

She's right. When I knock, I get no answer. If she hadn't called up, I would have assumed he wasn't there.

"He's in there, Rothen. I told you - he won't talk." I open the door. He's on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He looks awful. His face seems thinner, and the dark circles that had been present the day she graduated are deeper, darker. His voice, when he speaks, is cracked and dry.

"What do you want, Rothen?"

"I've come to find out why you seem to have exiled yourself from us. I've come to ask you why not even Sonea sees you anymore. And I want to know why she thinks you're so disgusted by her and the fact that she can't walk, you won't even look at her."

"Does she think that of me?" He sounds defeated. He sounds weak.

"She does. Why won't you do anything?"

"Because there's nothing I can do."

"Akkarin, there are rumours you need to know about. People are talking - they think you're studying the Black Arts again, looking for a way to help her -"

"No! Rothen, I told you. If I even attempted to Heal her with Black Magic, she'd pay with her soul. Besides, there is no way."

"You looked? Akkarin, there is a faction in this Guild that would use that against you. You know what the condition was -"

"Of course I know what the condition was! And when I looked, I knew what would happen if I were caught! For her, Rothen, I'd do it." There's a silence, heavy with the implication of his final sentence. He seems to realise he's said too much. He turns his face away. "I'll come back to the Guild. And I'll talk to Sonea. Can you just - go away, please?"

"I've got your word?" He glares at me.

"Lords, you're getting rude. Lorlen at least knew where the line was."

"Ah, but I am not Lorlen. And you turned down the King - I have every right to be rude to you, if it'll wake you up a bit. Get back out there, do your damn job, and don't you ever make her think you're disgusted by her again." Silence reigns.

Oddly, it's Sonea who breaks the tension. We both jump when we hear her voice. We were nose to nose, glaring at each other.

"Akkarin, you need to come down here. Now." Her voice is trembling slightly. I go down first, slamming his bedroom door behind me. Her lips are twitching. "Akkarin!" His door opens, closes, and then footsteps come down the stairs. "Rothen, could you give us some privacy?" I hear her start up just as I'm leaving. I'm chuckling as I walk away.

APOV

She makes me sit down, and then she parks herself less than three inches from me. She stares at me.

"You look ill."

"Thanks."

"Well, you do," she says, brutally. "you look, to be perfectly honest, absolutely horrendous. You didn't look this bad when we were in Sachaka. You need a shave, a wash and Healing." She then folds her hands and looks at me.

"When did you get so rude?"

"When you started acting like a child. When I graduated. After what we went through in Sachaka, I will not have you ignoring me, Akkarin. And if you so much as touch those books again - I know you have, don't try and deny it - I will kill you myself. If this is my sentence, then I'll have it. Now, what you're are going to do is this. You are going to have a bath and a shave. You'll then come back here, to me, and I will Heal you. Tomorrow you go back to the Guild and you start being a damn High Lord, including all duties, including the paperwork. And then, the day after, you meet the King. I have no doubt he is displeased with you, and you will stand up in front of him and take whatever he says to you with dignity. Do you understand me, Akkarin?" I have to collect my jaw from the floor before I can answer her. Her eyes are blazing and she looks - she looks beautiful. I open my mouth to agree, but something else comes out entirely.

SPOV

"I'm sorry," he gasps out, his voice hoarse. And then he starts crying. He flings himself at my feet and buries his face in my lap. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I was disgusted by you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I stroke his hair, and wordlessly order his brush into my hand. He seems soothed by it, his sobs lessening and his shoulders shaking only occasionally. When he's finished, he raises his face to mine. His eyes are red and swollen, cheeks reddened.

"Don't you say sorry. You've nothing to apologise for."

"But say you forgive me. Please." His face and eyes are full of need.

"I forgive you, then. Now, go upstairs and wash your face, then go have that bath." I kiss his forehead gently. I mean nothing by it, but he hugs me close anyway. I wrinkle my nose involuntarily. He pulls away and sees it.

"What?" he demands.

"Akkarin, I'm sorry - but you smell. Awful. Dear lord, go and have that bath. I'll get the servants to change your sheets whilst you're gone. And leave your robes to be laundered. You can wear your spare set tomorrow. If they need altering, go and get them now." He smiles at me and slips away.

He brings me nothing, only putting his head round my door to say goodnight, snatching me up in a hug whilst kneeling in front of me.

"Much better," I say with a smirk.

"Young lady, you are talking to the High Lord. Watch your tone."

"Oh yes, you're feeling better. Goodnight, Akkarin."

"Good night, Sonea."