"Aye," Jaren said.
"How long have you known?" She could probably guess, but she would like to know the truth of it from him.
Jaren didn't answer.
Kaily glared at him, shook her head, and returned to staring out over the inner bailey. So much for courage enough to force answers from him. Not that she could. She didn't have that kind of skill with a sword to force answers from him. That assumed she could lift one or find one for that matter. It was unlikely Jaren would volunteer to give his blade to her. Silence hung between them. She refused to give him the satisfaction of looking in his direction.
"Since the beginning," Jaren said.
Kaily took deep calming breathes before she acknowledged that he answered her question. His words, while spoken softly, startled her. When she felt less unnerved, she replied. "I see." She turned to look him in the eyes before asking her next question. "Do you know how to get me home?"
Jaren frowned and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That is a bit more complicated. The short answer is nay. I don't know how to get you back from where you came."
"And the long answer?" Kaily asked.
Jaren shrugged without comment.
"Perfect," Kaily said to herself. "Is the true Mistress to return in a week?"
Jaren slowly nodded. His eyes did not leave hers.
"Am I right to believe that I don't want to meet her face to face?" Kaily forced herself to ask the question. She feared she knew the answer but wanted confirmation. She felt a deep dread at the thought of the Mistress returning while she remained there. The dread felt almost paralyzing to her, and she didn't think it had to do with just her situation. Something poked at the back of her mind, something familiar and terrifying, something she didn't want to surface.
Jaren nodded again.
Kaily turned and went back to staring out over the inner bailey. Now what? She thought to herself. She felt panic welling up inside her as the hopelessness of her situation settled into the pit of her stomach. Her eyes began to burn as she struggled to hold her emotions and panic in check. Before she knew what happened, Jaren wrapped his arms around her. Kaily pushed at his chest and tried to pull away.
"Shhh," he said. He held her close in a tight embrace. "Shhh."
"Stop shushing me," Kaily said as the tears fell. She gave up her struggle to pull away and let him hold her while she fell apart. She didn't know how long she cried or how long she took comfort in his arms, long enough to soak his shirt. When she started to feel a little better, she wiped the last of the tears falling from her eyes. "Won't this look out of sorts to the others?" She asked as she pulled out of his embrace.
Jaren dropped his arms to his sides and went back to leaning against the wall. "Not as much as you might think."
A look passed through Jaren's eyes, a cross between pain, sadness, loathing, and something else she couldn't quite decipher.
"People turn a blind eye to this part of the battlement." Jaren said.
Kaily frowned but didn't press further. The look in his eyes told her he would comment no further on the subject. "Why do the others not question who I am?"
Jaren frowned and remained silent.
Kaily let the silence hang between them. She began to understand that Jaren would or would not answer, and she refused to beg.
"Because you look like her," he said. "Care to take a walk? There air will be good for you and you can get a better view of the other buildings and their location in relation to the main gate and castle entrance."
"Do I have a choice?" She turned in the direction Jaren indicated with gesture he wished her to go.
He shook his head.
Kaily concentrated as she listened to Jaren speak in hushed tones along their walk. He talked about the guards and where each stood guard. He gave her a rough schedule of when the guards changed. He talked about the buildings, what lay inside, their function. When they did and didn't contain activity. He talked about his position as the personal guard to the Mistress. Apparently, he never traveled with her when she left the castle. In fact, none of the guards traveled with her. He didn't comment on why. Jaren also ignored her question when she asked the name of his Mistress. Neither did he seem interested in knowing her name since he never asked for it either. She thought about giving it but decided probably didn't matter. Jaren abruptly stopped her before they reached the third tower.
"What is it?" She asked in hushed tones looking to where Jaren stared.
"Trouble." He grabbed her by the upper arm and hurried her back towards the tower above the bedchamber before it registered what he saw to upset him.
While Jaren yanked the door to the bedchamber tower open, Kaily looked at the figure striding through the gate. A cloaked figure. The cloak, the color of the deepest black she ever saw. It gave the illusion of deep dark pit that one could fall into and never escape.
Kaily shook her head to clear the disturbing thought from her mind.
The stranger's face hooded so she couldn't make out his features. She could, however, make out how the others in the inner bailey regarded him. They gave him a wide berth and avoided eye contact. Jaren yanked her low to a crouching position.
"Listen very carefully. You do not want to come face to face with that man out there." Jaren pointed in the cloaked figure's direction.
A shiver went down Kaily's spine.
"Wait in the solar for me at the bottom of the tower. Do not venture out of the room. Do you understand?"
Kaily nodded. She tried to swallow the lump lodged
