[b]Ella felt cold settled in her stomach as Marken asked her what she meant about them pretending. Should she tell him that she actually wanted to call off their deal and actually marry? It didn't seem like such a good idea now, considering she was on the borderline of treason last night. After all, someone from her kingdom would come to her rescue soon. She only had to wait until an ally came to help her out.

"I was only feeling bad for myself last night," Ella mumbled. Well, she wasn't lying about that. She was pitying herself over the fact that she was currently being forced into a marriage with a man who had no romantic attachment to her at all. He was mostly kind and treated her with the respect a woman ultimately deserved from a lover, but there were no feelings. They only had a physical attraction, she had to remind herself. He knew nothing of her childhood or hopes, and she only knew facts that would help her with her mission to find information.

"I naively believed that my king's enemies were foul and black-hearted people," Ella admitted, her finger lightly trailing a seam on the sofa, "Being treated like... like I have value by you and your father came as a shock to me. But I cannot betray my king; he has done too much for me to turn my back on him. He is the father I wasn't allowed to have as a child, and did his best to give me an education and means of protecting myself. I have a life-oath, if you will. Until King George no longer needs me, I will be loyal to him." [/b]