Sam felt her heart skip a beat when he used the word "poison" but her panic was brief and subsided after he explained further. His tone was soft, not rough like it had been all day. It was the same tone he had used when they had conversed the previous night. Her eyes wandered, looking at a few of the men, the men who would no doubt help Dorothea in a heartbeat if they had any idea she was there and what had happened to her. Her allies were surrounding her, but Dorothea was alone. Beyond her, that is. Sam supposed that she could try convincing Liam on her own but she thought that she might come across as a mad person, and she doubted that August would aid her. He had to keep his cover. "Your queen is thorough. I'll give her that," Sam said, her voice toneless.

He told her that they were being watched and she looked back to see him staring up at the sky. She followed his gaze and saw a black bird circling the sky above them. Her eyebrows furrowed as she studied the thing a bit more. It looked rather large, though it was hard to tell from the distance, and if she had to guess a species she'd say raven. Not that she was a bird expert. "The bird is the queen's spy?" She shouldn't have been surprised. When he told her the queen would have seen her by now Sam felt a chill come over her and she shivered. The queen knew she existed now. A woman who would have her killed without a moment's thought, as she had been told multiple times. "But she doesn't know I'm from the other world, right?" Sam looked at him, leaning forward to see as much of his face as possible. She needed this reassurance. "She might think that I'm just a girl you found lost in the woods. Or with the bandits, like you told Liam. Not a threat."

She was quiet for a moment, looking at him like he was a puzzle that she was trying to solve. "Are you really going to help her start this war?" Sam asked. She shook her head a little. "I mean I know you told me that you're working against her, but isn't there any other way to defeat her? A way that doesn't involve betraying the trust of everyone you know? You stood back and let Narissa do this to Dorothea, to her father, to Liam. Isn't it...hard?" She felt a strange sense of concern for him, and wasn't sure where it had come from. "You can't do this on your own, August. You'll die."

Liam's eyebrows rose slightly as the cat leaped to his shoulder and began licking her cheek, as though she were kissing him, and nuzzling against him. Her purrs filled his ears and her warm fur provided a feeling of comfort. He felt himself smiling as he reached up and stroked the fur along Lea's back. "Nice girl," he said, his words rather fond despite the fact that he had just met the cat. And her owner. He turned to tell Samantha that her cat was very friendly but he saw that she and the Marshal were farther back and he decided not to call out to her.

"Think she likes you, sir," Will said, smiling cheerfully as he nodded to the cat on his shoulder.

Liam smiled, giving the cat a glance. He thought he could see adoration in those yellow eyes. And intelligence. Human intelligence. But he must have been imagining it. "Well of course she does. Everyone likes me," Liam joked and he shared a laugh with Will. "I'm just glad the Marshal is finally with us. Maybe we have some luck after all."

"And it might be nice to have another lady in the company, too," Will said thoughtfully. "Not only for appearances. So these scoundrels can mind their manners." He smiled, joking. "For Princess Raquelle, too."

"Perhaps," Liam said, thoughtful, and he turned to see where the other princess was.