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| - Connie pulled and chewed the ropes that bound her until she was exhausted. Troublesome growled and kept a watchful eye on her the whole while. The wolf was particularly on edge as she looked out the window across the expanse of Millfields. Her master was still not home. Her green eyes gleamed as the light of the moon kissed her sad face. The wolf knew that it was indeed Connie whom she was guarding, and she even detected the faint scent of her mate on Connie's black gown. Troublesome wondered why Connie did not remember her nor her master. She had always been nice and sweet to the wolf in the past, but now she yelled and spat at her whenever Troublesome would even come close. It was very confusing. Connie had almost chewed through the first of the ropes, and her jaw was sore from the effort. Then, with one final animalistic bite, the ropes around her wrists gave way at last. Troublesome stepped forward and growled a warning to Connie to remain in the bed. Connie ignored her and started to undo the ropes at her feet, which prompted Troublesome to rush up and bite her hand. Connie yelled again as the warm blood began to trickle from the bite wound. Then she glared at the wolf. "That's it..." She snarled. Troublesome braced herself for the worst as she continued to bare her fangs and growl warnings at Connie. She had not wanted to bite her masters wife, but she had received strict orders to guard her and keep her in the bed by any means nessiary, and the loyal creature had never disobeyed her masters commands. Connie paid Troublesome no heed, instead she reached into her gown, by her bosoms an retrived a small balverine shaped trinket on a necklace. She brought the strange item to her lips and blew into an opening in creatures maw. A loud and strange animalistic call emanated from the whistle and it hurt Troublesomes' ears. BOOM! A loud crash came from the downstairs room and Troublesome anxiously rushed down to investigate, forgetting about Connie for a split second. Perhaps it was her master! But to the wolf's dismay, it was not. At the bottom of the steps, Troublesome found nothing at all. It was strange, but the wolf decided to return back to the chamber where Connie was. But Connie was now atop a sinister brown balverine. Troublesome growled at the monster, who roared with deafening ferocity before lunging out the nearest window with Connie in tow. When she reached the garden area below, Connie looked down at the beast and sighed contentedly. "Prepare to head back to Master Xaiver's castle." Connie neutrally instructed the balverine, who grunted as Connie situated herself on top of the monsters back. Then, grabbing tightly ahold of its thick red mane, she gave a sharp tug. The monster roared defiance again before departing away. Troublesome watched helplessly as the two sprinted off, until they disappeared into the Silverpines wood. "Victoria, I must admit, as ecstatic as I was to have you come to my rescue, I'm a tad perturbed that you didn't listen to what I told you. Weren't you supposed to get in touch with old Gus and get yourself out of here?" Reaver asked as he, Ben Finn, and Victoria headed back towards Millfields. "Well, you see father, something kinda came up." Victoria wrapped her arm around Ben's face and smiled lovingly at him. "Oh, I think I might be ill..." Reaver commented. He had yet to speak to or even look at the young man before him, and Ben couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy around the princesses father. "Father!" Victoria yelled. "What's gotten into you?" "Victoria, darling. It's nothing, I can assure you of that. Let's just keep pace, I really need to hurry home." Victoria shrugged, and continued walking, her arm wrapped around Ben's waist. Ben looked over his shoulder at her father. Reaver was shooting daggers at him. As they reached Bowerstone, Victoria looked over at the nearby blacksmith. "I'll be right back. I need to go get some more ammo for my gun." She kissed Ben. "Alright. I'll wait for you right here." Victoria smiled and headed inside the shop. Ben and Reaver were left alone for the moment. "So tell me, Mr. Finn. You and my daughter, whats going on there then?" The intimidating industrialist asked the young rouge. "She's a remarkable woman, and as I told you earlier, I have only the most sincere and honorable intentions for her." Ben replied defensively. "And as I told you earlier Mr. Finn, men like us do not know the meaning of the word, honor." Reaver glared at him, his green eyes blazing dangerously. "So tell me. What are your intentions with Victoria?" "Reaver, I can't speak for you, but as far as I'm concerned, I DO know what honor is. I served my country for ten years now, ever since I was 15. I would do anything, even gladly die for this land, because I love it. But I will tell you this much. I love Victoria even more than Albion." "Be that as it may, how do you know that you will still feel that way about her in the years to come?" "You obviously have never been in love before." Reaver continued to glare at the youth before him. You don't know me you little twerp! How are you to know what I feel?! He thought as he remembered Connie, and how she had changed him. "Those with very little knowledge of the world should refrain from speaking." Reaver snarled at Ben. "Oh, and so I suppose just because I'm not a rich snob like yourself, you assume that I'm not intelligent?" Ben retorted. "Actions speak louder than words my dear lad." "What the hells that supposed to mean?!" Ben bristled. "You speak so highly of honor, and of yourself. But if you love this land so very much, then how come your general gave you a dishonorable discharge?" Reaver's lips curled into a wicked smile. Ben was speechless, No one knew about that, save the men in his squad, and of course, the king. How did Reaver know about the young rogues private affairs. "I don't know how you heard about that, but it's none of your damn business." Reaver leaned in close to Ben, until the young man could feel his hot breath upon his face. Reaver's eyes glowed with heroic blood and Ben found himself trapped in his gaze, unable to look away, unable to move. "It is if you are sleeping with my little girl." Before he could answer, Ben heard Victoria shout his name. He looked behind him to see the princess walking over, a new case of bullets in her hand. "I got them, let's get going." Victoria smiled at Ben. Then she looked at her father, who had a distinct frown upon his face. Ben didn't exactly look too happy either. "Did something happen between you two?" Victoria asked Ben. "Hmm? Oh, nothing sweetheart. Your father and I were just getting to know each other." "Well, that's good. Maybe then you'll see that my father isn't an aggressive maniac." "Victoria, why don't you and Ben stay here. I have some important business back home, and I will be meeting up with you two later tomorrow." Reaver told her. Ben nudged the princess. "He's basically saying that he wants to go get laid." "No Mr. Finn, unlike you that is not all that I get together with people in order to accomplish." Reaver looked at his daughter. From her shocked expression, he was sure that he had been successful in sowing the first seeds of doubt. He had hated Ben from the moment the two had met, and was very sure that this man was the absolute last person that he ever wanted to see his daughter with. Maybe it was his overconfident attitude, or maybe it was the report that he had gotten from Logan, but whatever the case, Reaver just didn't like the man. People shouldn't be that full of themselves, well, unless they are indeed yours truly. Reaver mused, even though he knew that his thoughts were hypocritical. "Alright. Ben, let's go back home." The princess commanded. Her mind was filled with worry regarding the young man's feelings for her. After all, she barely knew him, and what Reaver had stated was beginning to hit her hard. She had been little more than an acquaintance with Ben when the two had decided to sleep together. Victoria had just felt such a strong connection with him, he was a rogue like herself, and he was the first man to want her the way she was. But what if her father's words were indeed true? Then all of her feelings for Ben would have been in vain. "Right behind you." Ben replied with a wink. Victoria smiled uneasily before whistling for Daisy to follow her. "See you tomorrow my dear!" Reaver waved goodbye to the princess as she and her boyfriend headed off towards Bowerstone Old Town. "Hopefully you will have disposed of Mr. Finn by then..." He smirked as he watched his daughter head off towards the poorer part of soon as Ben had unlocked the door to his small house located in Bowerstone Old Town, Victoria walked ahead of him and huffed. Ben locked the door and watched as she stomped across the floor. "Victoria, what's the matter?" Ben asked the princess. Victoria sat down in a worn chair, her arms crossed and a frown set on her face. "Ben, we need to talk." Ben pulled up a chair and straddled his legs around it, and propping his elbows up on the back of the chair. His usual charismatic smile returned. "I'm all ears." "I need to know why you ran away from the army." The princess stated. Ben's eyes flew open, he hadn't expected her to ask such a serious question out of the blue like that. But his feelings for her were strong, and despite what Reaver had accused him of, Ben had only the deepest respect and love for Victoria. "Alright. Since we're in a serious long-term relationship, I think that's an appropriate question. Truth is, I consorted with an enemy of the crown. Quite a bit actually." "Who?" "My ex-girlfriend. I helped her to secure inside information to help take down your brother." Ben replied. Victoria was shocked. "You're- a traitor?!" She whispered, hardly believing her ears. While she hated the aristocracy and was angry with her brother for controlling her life, Victoria still loved him, and it infuriated her that Ben had helped a dangerous member of the resistance in their plans against her sibling. Victoria got to her feet and headed upstairs. "Where are you going?' Ben asked. "I'm packing my bag and I'm leaving, that's where I'm going." "Victoria! It's not what you think! I wasn't trying to aid her, she found out on her own." "I don't care Ben, that's not the point. The point is that you've been lying to me!" Victoria accused, tossing her shirt off and rummaging for another. "I never lied to you!" "You told me once that you loved your country. If you helped a rebel, then that was a complete lie." "Victoria, it was an accident. Page only found out because we were a couple, I had no idea that she was going through my things." "Or were you just to distracted to know." Victoria added as she redressed in a light brown pauper shirt. "What are you talking about?" Ben asked as he took a step towards her. "I'm talking about the fact that maybe if you hadn't have been so preoccupied with bedding her, then maybe you would have known that she was just using you to get to my brother. But what did I expect from you? Sex is the only thing that matters to you in a relationship!" Victoria screamed, remembering her fathers comment. "Victora no, that's not true. Your father only said those things to get you to drop me. Can't you see that?" Ben cried. "Oh, that's right. I had forgotten just how much you hate my family. First you help your criminal ex plot against Logan, and now you openly discriminate against my father. For your information, he was right!" She replied, putting on her mercenary jacket. Ben glared at her. "Right about what exactly?" "It's best not to consort with the lower classes." Victoria hissed as she picked up her bag. Ben couldn't belive what she was saying. It was true that he had helped Page, however foolish it had been, he had granted her access to his bag that held the royal reports he and the rest of his unit were assigned constantly. But Victoria didn't know the whole story. She didn't know how much he regretted it, nor what his foolish actions had ended up costing him. As Victoria turned to go, Ben embraced her tightly. The princess tried to break free, but Ben held onto her as though she were life itself. "Let me go! Everything that you ever told me was a lie!" She accused as she struggled against his strong grip. Without warning, a flood of tears exited her brown eyes, as the realization of her harsh words hit her. Victoria struggled harder, not wanting Ben to see her crying. She pushed and squirmed, until Victoria tripped over a worn rug in her desperation. She and Ben tumbled atop his bed, knocking Victoria's satchel to the floor. Victoria locked eyes with the rogue, as more and more tears poured forth from her eyes. Ben continued to hold her tightly, rocking her. "Victoria, I love you! I love you..." He spoke to her over and over as she wept bitterly. "And I'm not about to let the best thing that has ever happened to me just walk out of my life. No matter what, I will earn your trust again, and I will prove to you that I deserve it." Ben felt her body soften, and he let his grasp loosen around her body. The moment he did so however, Victoria snapped out of her ruse and broke free. "No! I will never trust you again!" She yelled. "Victoria, please, give me another chance." As Ben reached out his hand to her, the princess answered him with a harsh slap. "You don't deserve one. Your nothing but a playboy and a traitor as far as I'm concerned." Before Ben could react, Victoria grabbed her bag from off the floor and ran down the stairs and out into the street. She was going to get as far away as she possibly could from the man that had just broken her heart.
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