The Rogue Lady

Epilogue

I cursed as I dropped the cup and it fell onto the floor into a million pieces, splattering tea everywhere. Then I heaved a sigh of relief, glad that it wasn't the ink bottle; I had already knocked that over one, covering the letters with thick black ink. There had been only inches between the ink bottle and the tea; I was glad I had avoided the disaster. But still wanting to drink some tea, I reached across the table for Rowan's cup, barely looking up from the letter I had been writing. I jumped when two hands wrapped themselves around mine instead of my fingers meeting the china of the cup. Looking up, I was met with Rowan's steady green eyes staring back at me. A wave of calm followed and washed over me, making me sigh once more.

"Relax," he grinned.

"I am relaxed; there is just so much to do. And so little time to do it."

Someone on my right snorted, making me turn and look. A little further down the table sat Alex, his feet propped up onto the table while he was slumped into his chair, a book in his hands. Personally, I hadn't had the time to go to the library, instead reading one of the books from my nightstand, but I had been informed that Alex had already been in there a couple of time. He was smirking, pretending to read, though I could tell he wasn't; I had faked it often enough myself to recognize a faker.

"What's your problem?" I demanded maybe a bit harsher than I meant to. However, when Alex looked up, he didn't seem to have taken offense.

Instead he put the book down and looked over at me. "You are anything but relaxed. You have been snappy all morning with everyone but Rowan and Eric. You just smashed the third teacup onto the ground, have ripped up a dozen of letters so far, and your hands are shaking so much I can't even begin to understand how people will read whatever you are writing."

"My hands are not shaking. And I am not snappy." I turned to Rowan for confirmation but he could only give me an apologetic smile. As he let go of my hands, I stared at them in horror of finding them so shaky; how had I been writing all this time?

"And you have been kind of snappy this morning. But it's the nerves, everybody knows that." Taking a deep breath, forcing my hands to keep from shaking, I pushed my seat back as if to distance myself from the work that needed to be done. Rowan finished the letter he had been writing, folding it, he proceeded to pour some candle wax onto it before pressing the royal seal into it. "I think that is all of it for now. Why don't you head up and get ready? I'll finish cleaning up here and I'll get ready after that."

"Oh wow, a royal who cleans up after himself; there is something that I didn't think I would ever have the pleasure of seeing," Alex commented, his nose buried in his book again. Rowan took one of my balled up and failed letters, throwing it at the blond archer.

Ignoring him, I said to Rowan, "I think I need to hack up a dummy first; I need to do something about my nerves."

"Be quick about it, then."

All I did was role my eyes and left the room, along with my responsibilities. As I walked through the castle, I came across both King's men and rebels. So far they had been working together in order to catch all of the Queen's men as soon as possible; quite a few have already joined her in the dungeons. Jarrick has been staying in the castle as well and, together with Eric, has taken care of the many wounded that there were. The dead had also been burned, and each and every one of them, whether they were rebel or Queen's men, had gotten the traditional pink flower and silver coin on their grave.

Outside, the King's men had picked up the training of the youngest, those who had been made into real soldiers in a hurry and weren't really ready yet for it. Sometimes my archers would watch from a distance, though I could see them absorbing everything that was going on. However, as the soldiers were fighting each other, I headed towards the dummies on the side. I wanted space for my hacking and I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.