"I'll be fine," she murmured. The jump horizon had made her dizzy, disoriented, and confused, but it was not worse than their ascent into space that had thrown her completely unconscious and pushed her to the precipice of death. There was something depressing in the fact there was very little possibility their future could comparatively worse than what they had endured.

Craving physical affirmation of Rene's feelings the diplomat crawled into the soldier's lap and laid her head against his chest. A long curtain of aureate splendor hung behind her shoulders as she steadied her breathing to match his. Once they had the luxury of worrying about it she would need a trim; some of the tresses had been singed and created any unintentional layering effect at the ends. With her legs curled up on the sheets and her thighs upon his she felt comforted. He did not need to embrace her to have this soothing effect on his fiancee. Rene's touch alone was comforting. That he was here, and alive, and cared for her was an anchor of security among the looming threats of a haunting past and war-stricken world.

The late Marchess Falia and Marquise Falia had not been as cold as other members of the aristocracy. Young nobles were rarely directly raised by their parents. Servants and education professionals reared the elite youths from birth, when they were monitored by anywhere from one nanny to a small team of them, to their last year of higher study, when they were coached by personal attendants, tutors, and counselors in politics alongside more traditional studies. The higher the stature, the more emphasis that was put on discipline, and the more distant the family might be so as to encourage independence and emotional control. Certainly some broke these ranks. One bloodline of Dukes and Duchesses were notoriously enmeshed from one generation to the next. Solae had once been thankful that she had ever been hugged or her brow kissed when some of her peers never had. Now she was greedy for more than had been offered to her. Even Lord Armon had been a product of his environment and, when not trying to instigate intercourse, didn't waste time with soft romantic reassurances like cuddling. Like her other male suitors he had shown restraint. Perhaps it was because of their situation that Rene allowed himself to be so tender and vulnerable. The marquise found it much more likely, however, that they were both rebelling against societal expectations in their own way both inside and outside their relationship.

"I would like to reiterate my suggestion that Lady Solae retires for the evening," Mia cooed with her typical inappropriate sensual tone. While she actually meant sleep her intonation was suggestive of a repetition of the events that followed the linguist's earlier shower.

"Tell me about the Du Quentains," Solae said to Rene, clearing ignoring he sage wisdom of Mia.

The artificial intelligence system was not wrong. When her companion had been in the Rev Chamber, which had healed him and also conveyed the benefit of slumber, she had been engrossed in Argon's systems erasing all evidence of his Syshin slaves. The stars outside made it impossible to determine time but she had been awake longer than a standard day she was sure. Had that not been the case there would have still been a strong argument for seizing the opportunity for sleep- a near death experience was indicative of a body that was under strain and duress. Sooner rather than later she would need to give it respite if she wanted to keep her strength.

"I'll find out about them if I am going to research the courts. What are your parents like- are they alive? Do you have siblings? Cousins? Are you or were you close? What did they think of the charges against you?" Not only was she curious about the lineage she may eventually marry into, there was the chance, however small, that Amellia was not murdered because someone sought to kill her alone. It may not have been any coincidence that the chevalier was framed- he could have been the real target all along. More than once a noble had benefited from the disgrace from another. Solae felt guilty asking Rene with an ulterior motive but she had to know who benefited from his downfall just as much as she needed to know who benefited from Amellia's death. The first focus of her investigation would be [i]both[/i] the Siennaferaras and du Quentains.