Dorothea had been expecting this, though she had hoped against hope that the queen's words hadn't been true. She whined in despair, staring up at Liam who didn't recognize her at all -- who couldn't understand her, didn't realize she was anything more than an animal. He was laughing and smiling at her, but not with the sort of eyes he had always looked at her with -- not with the love and adoration she was accustomed to. He would never know how he broke her heart, and it wasn't at all his fault. Her whiskers drooped and she made a terribly unhappy noise -- but when Liam announced that she could stay at his side her ears perked again. At least she had him, at least they were [i]together[/i], even if he didn't know it.

She leaped onto Liam's shoulder, purring like a lawnmower, and she rubbed her head in his neck and licked his cheek and kneaded his shoulder with her paws, and she thought about what agony he was in because of her loss. If only he knew! There must be [i]something[/i] she could do. She was a princess, after all, and Liam knew her better than anyone. For now she remained quiet, snuggling close to her beloved, wary of making him uncomfortable or he might trade her off to Sam again.

August waited until he felt Sam's arms around him, then nudged the horse into a trot to keep up with the rest of the company. At her question he took a slow breath and let it out quietly. He turned his head to speak low. "The queen has poisoned them all," he explained. The Marshal's gruff was gone from his voice -- it was unnecessary to keep up appearances where only Sam was concerned. "Not harmful, but they're deaf to the voices of enchanted beings. Something like that, anyway. She wanted to make sure there was no chance Liam would hear Dorothea's story."

He glanced up at the sky between the trees. "We're being watched," he informed her, frowning. "The queen's spy watches my every move. She expects a report on Liam's intent to wage war on Verinia." He narrowed his eyes, still watching the sky. "She'll have seen you by now."