Rosewater sat in uncomfortable silence on the far side of Lace’s desk from the door, the baroness to her right, and Collar seated on his mother’s other side. This was the day they told everypony what their plan was, after almost a week of hammering out details in chunks and bits, doing more actual negotiating than she’d done in the past two months to try and get as much as she could out of the arrangement for Cloudy and Rosemary in the interim.

It was a plan with almost too many moving parts, like a clock they were repairing as it was trying to count time, and only the fact that they were determined to get it right, and had most of the pieces already in place gave them any chance of getting it right without anypony else seeing what they were doing.

As long as the arrow pointing the time moved as it was supposed to, nopony would be interested in seeing how it worked as long as it continued to work.

On either side of the desk, Rosemary and Cloudy sat on cushions, their ears in various states of upset as they surveyed the four ponies on the other side. Sunrise and Platinum, Poppy and Coat with Dapper hanging out with them just to be his silly self even though he already knew the plan.

“Thank you all for being here,” Rosewater said, not even looking to Lace for permission. They’d discussed that, as well, how to proceed with telling them. They were trusted, vouched for by ponies they trusted or proven discreet, even if Rosewater wasn’t entirely certain herself, she needed to take some risks. “I know this is an unusual meeting, but each of you is a trusted confidant of Rosemary’s, and I first wanted to thank all of you for making her stay here as pleasant as is possible under the circumstances.”

“First?” Sunrise asked, her cheeks flushing as she glanced from Platinum to Rosemary, and finally to Rosewater. “D-do you…”

“I know,” Rosewater said softly. “My daughter didn’t tell me, but she did let little clues slip out. I thank you, Sunrise, for being a stable presence for her, for letting her reconnect with a pony she thought she’d never see again.” To Platinum, she nodded and added, “And for being a friend and confidant when she needed one.”

To Poppy, she bowed her head more deeply. “I thank you, Poppy, for being open-minded and not arresting my dear sister when you had every right and chance to, for opening up to her and letting her find love safe from my mother’s predation.”

“I love her. That’s enough for me,” Poppy said, glancing aside at the other three ponies. “I’ve been seeing her in secret for almost six months now. I’m in love with her. Deeply.”

Of the three, only Coat seemed mildly surprised by that development, but he nodded, his ears slicked back. “Your love is your love, Poppy, and I have no say in where you give it.” He grinned, smile twisting wryly. “It seems I should talk to her more, too.”

“And you, Coat. Thank you so much for being willing to look past my reputation and actions to who I believe I truly am. And thank you, too, for introducing me to your brother. I wish he could make it to the Garden to help me prepare for the Gala. It would help me feel better if I had another friendly face from Damme that I could count on.”

“He just may, if you offer him an incentive,” Coat said with an even more crooked grin. “Like humiliating me on another bet.”

“I wouldn’t want to try, Coat.” Rosewater closed her eyes and glanced aside to Lace, then to Collar. “Thank you, too, for your blessing, my lady. It means more than you may realize, and it gives me hope that we can come out of this, if not unscathed, then stronger than when we went into it.”

“It is my pleasure to give my blessing, Rosewater. You have proven yourself to be a kind mare with a good head for what is right and wrong.” Lace scanned the ponies in front of her desk and rolled her eyes when she reached Dapper, though she smiled. “Understand that what Rosewater and Collar are going to tell you has my support. I would wish, however, that it could have been done more smoothly, and in the open.”

“Unfortunately, as has been made especially clear to me very recently,” Collar said, setting a hoof on the desk, “we cannot make our intent public until the time is right. We also, however, cannot do what we intend without causing ourselves future problems.”

Sunrise raised a hoof, her ears quivering. “Glory told us a little of what… declaring for her means. She spent most of the time telling us about you.” She leaned against Platinum, and the other mare’s coat shivered. “I… had no idea. Can I trust her?”

Collar was the one to answer. “Yes. Glory, could I do it without inflaming the populace, would be released tomorrow for time served. She has more than made up for her mistakes in the time she’s been held here in intelligence granted and assistance provided. I would also, Poppy, give my blessing on your marriage to her.”

“Thank you, my lord. Given what I believe you called us here to announce, it’s kind of you.” He smiled, a little sly twist to his ears. “I suppose, too, you’d like me to make my interest public? It will give you a smoke screen to hide what you’re doing.”

“Have you already figured out what we’re planning?” Rosewater asked, finding herself surprised and then kicking herself for it. Of course he’d have had to learn fast to keep up with Glory. Sweetness could only take a pony so far with her and the games that Roses loved to play.

“I have an inkling. I may be wrong, but I’ve considered what Glory and I will need to do to have a child. It’s not only making sure that she had the declaration under hoof, but also ensuring that our child won’t be shunned in Damme as a bastard.”

Sunrise drew in a sharp breath, her eyes widening as they darted from Cloudy to Collar and finally settled on Rosewater. “Stars.”

“None of us like it,” Cloudy said in a low voice, meeting Sunrise’s gaze, then glanced over her shoulder at Collar. “But I think it’s the only way to get things moving now instead of waiting for the court case to roll through the courts. Stars only know how long that’s going to take. Roseate isn’t going to wait. Neither is Wing.”

“Not now that both are aware that something more than friendship is going on. Or will soon be aware,” Lace said, nodding. “It is why we have been forced to move ahead.”

“And that’s why we’ve called you here. We’ll need you to act as witnesses. The Gala is the best place to do this ‘in the open’ and have nopony know what’s going on. We need a distraction so Rosewater and I can break away from the Gala ballroom along with Firelight Spark. Poppy, a proposal to Glory, a surprise visit from her to the ballroom would draw nearly every eye.”

“Her… friends, though.” Poppy shook his head, his complexion souring as he seemed to fold in on himself. “Stars, I want to propose to her, but doing so… it will hurt her friends.”

“I know.” Rosewater bit her lip. “Lace, can you arrange for asylum? I know which ponies Poppy is talking about. It would take time to convince them. Roseate would target them for harassment as soon as she was able to get back to Merrie.”

Poppy grimaced. “I know. It’s why we haven’t been public.”

The Treaty Office wouldn’t interfere, either, in the running of the city unless one of the strictures of the Treaty were violated, such as physical harm to a non-combatant, or unnecessary or grievous harm to a combatant, or torture through magical means. Unless one of Roseate’s goons got serious in harassing Violet Rain or Sandy Rosewood, there would be no repercussions for Roseate.

“I… don’t know,” Lace said softly. “If it was too obvious, Roseate might complain that I’m poaching her citizens. Not that she’d get anywhere with a claim like that, but it would cause a headache for them and for you while the situation was sorted out, and draw more attention to you.”

Poppy nodded. “This is a rutting mess.” He glanced at Rosewater, then to Collar. “I’m afraid I have to take more than myself into account. I… I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Please, feel no compulsion to act for us,” Rosewater said.

“Your life is your own, Poppy. I apologize for asking.” Collar bowed his head. “Then we will have to find another distraction.”

“Our dance will be plenty distracting,” Rosewater said with an arched brow. “If we make it distracting enough it may cause the distraction we want with our two families starting a row in the middle of the ballroom.”

“How would…” Collar asked with an arched brow. “Or should I do more?”

“Kiss her,” Rosemary said, craning her neck and turning to look right at Rosewater, then flicked a glance at Collar, her smile deepening. “You should kiss her, Collar. I can’t think of anything else that would draw the eye of every pony on the dance floor.”

“Make one linger,” Poppy said. “Just long enough to get every eye on the floor. Roseate will explode, Lace, you explode at her, Wing gets drawn in, pretty soon, it requires a Treaty representative to get involved and rushes you out of the ballroom until things settle down.”

“Neat,” Lace said, frowning. “It’s too neat. Something will go wrong.” She sighed and rubbed at her cheek with one hoof. “At the start, I had resolved myself to staying out of your planning and only offering advice and insight where it warranted. But, let me offer a suggestion. Keep it simple. Don’t rely on the reactions of other ponies to create an opening for you to suddenly be able to disappear. That will make ponies talk even more. Wait until the end of the gala, dance, drink, and be merry, and then make your move, once nearly everypony else has gone home.”

“Will Firelight stay that long?” Collar asked, glancing at Rosewater and seeming to want to listen to Rosemary’s advice anyway. “He’s often griped at me for disturbing him on Canterlot Time instead of Damme time. I know he’ll be exhausted by the end of the night, even if he doesn’t have to stage any interventions like he did during the Spring gala.”

Rosewater winced. She’d been at the gala, of course, and Dazzle had made an appearance, even. Though his appearance had sparked an argument between Damme and Merrie factions that wanted him to choose for himself or abduct him back to Damme forcibly.

Firelight had stepped in to ask Dazzle’s opinion and, of course, he’d chosen to stay… though he’d left the gala soon after.

From Rosewater’s perspective, it had been a shouting match far away from where she was trying to drown her loneliness in bad wine.

“We can pose it to him as checking in on the prisoners,” Poppy said. “It’s not unusual for the Treaty Office to want to see the quarters where a prisoner of war is housed, but it’s not been an issue since Glory was moved to the palace. It could be an opportunity for him to inspect their quarters. And… do whatever else it is you’re planning.”

Collar was already nodding by the time Poppy reached the end of his suggestion, and Lace smiled, then settled back and poured herself a glass of brandy.

“I like that idea. It’s simple, it waits until the very last moments of the gala…”

“And I can claim wanting to make sure Rosemary isn’t distressed by missing out. She’d have loved to attend this gala.”

“She’d have loved to?” Rosemary asked, flattening her ears and staring back at Rosewater. “I’d love to attend the entire thing, to dance with Cloudy and Collar and you. I’d love to tweak Primfeather tails by getting a pass to visit even for a few minutes. And… I’d get to see Seed and Petal again. However briefly.”

“I’ll see what can be done,” Collar said gently. “Perhaps Sir Spark can escort you himself. I doubt there will be many ponies left, and even most of the vendors will have packed up and gone by then.”

“Anything you can do. Even if it’s dancing with the three of you in an empty ballroom with Dapper and Lace for our only audience. It would mean…” Rosemary’s jaw tightened, and her next words came out hoarse. “It would mean a lot to dance with my future wives and husband at least once on the day…”

Her voice broke, and she backed up to lean against Rosewater’s breast.

“I know,” Rosewater cooed. “I know. We can do at least that, Rosemary, even if it means staying up until every last guard and guest has left.”

“Love,” Collar started.

“We can do that, Collar. We will do at least that. She deserves that much for putting up with our scheming for so long. Please, let our future wife have the first dance of a new era.”

Collar bowed his head to Rosemary. “That, we will do.”

The discussion continued for another hour, going over details, order of when things had to happen in order to make sure that everything was not only legal in Damme, but also legal in Merrie, a task that wasn’t insurmountable, but had required that much time to arrange schedules, ensure that nothing looked too suspicious with the changes to the guard schedule, and then a grudging agreement that Captain Pink needed to be brought in sooner than later.

Which was why Rosewater was sitting calmly in Collar’s office, trying not to think about what the guard captain would say about not only the plan, but Rosewater’s rather prominent place in it, and waiting for her to arrive after Sunrise had been sent to fetch her.

Rosewater made another turn around the office, frowning at the empty space where Rosemary and Cloudy should have sat. Now, they were off helping Stride with his therapy, talking out his fears and trying to bring them to the surface. Because she’d been careless with her fear spell.

“Calm down. She’s seen you not be a threat for two months now, love, and she’s been listening to the same reports Pr—our spymaster has.”

“I know it’s Priceless,” Rosewater said softly. “I’ve known for years. I don’t doubt Roseate has figured it out, too.”

Collar grunted, but didn’t reply. No doubt he knew Roseate knew, but leveling an accusation of being a spymaster would do her no good. It would only make Lace choose another one. Knowing that she knew, and knowing what assets she had let them play a game of “who knows what?”

“I just know…” There were other fears, and they’d become more and more pronounced as she’d caught glimpses of Stride in the halls, watching her, then darting his gaze away. She couldn’t know he was the one she’d tagged with her spell accidentally, but he was a pegasus, and he was a fast and capable flier. Even terrified, the pegasus in the night raid had been able to manage a snap takeoff.

She shook her head. “Maybe it’s nothing. But I worry about the way Stride looks at me. Rosemary tells me he’s the sweetest, kindest pony, but she says that about everypony she likes. Cloudy won’t tell me much. And I’m worried that…”

“Stride doesn’t hate you.”

“I’m… more worried that Captain Pink will blame me for tagging one of her pegasi with a spell, even accidentally. And I suspect it’s Stride I got.”

“It doesn’t matter if you did or not. You saved every single pony on that field from a worse fate. If you think Roseate would have been satisfied with only me, you’re mistaken. She’d have taken our entire forward force after I burnt out my magic.” Collar sat in front of her, blocking her next pacing round, and cupped her cheeks with magic, then his hooves. “You saved us. All of us.”

Before Rosewater could respond, Collar turned his head and lowered the silence spell. “Who is it?”

She sniffed slowly, cocking her head, filtering the scent of the mare through her memories. It was the captain, though cleaner than when she recalled her last. A less strenuous day, perhaps.

“Captain Pink, my lord,” the visitor said, and Rosewater started to pull away before Collar pulled her back and opened the door, gently holding her as he looked into her eyes. “I came as soon as—”

The door closed in the silence that followed, and Collar’s horn lit with a spark as the silence in the room sprung back into being.

“My… lord?” Pink asked, and sat a short distance away, taking off the circlet of office and setting it on his desk. “What’s… going on?”

“I have waited far too long to bring my captain of the guard into my confidence,” Collar said gently, kissing Rosewater’s cheek lightly, then letting her go to face the captain. “How much do you know about her?”

Pink’s eyes flicked from Rosewater, her ears flat, back to Collar. “I know she’s dangerous. I know she’s cunning and intelligent. I also know that, for whatever reason, that mare in the residential wing loves her. I don’t know what she could have done to deserve that love, but Rosemary believes that she does deserve it.”

“She does,” Collar said and slipped a foreleg between Rosewater’s forehooves and leaned against her. “Believe me when I say that her reputation is both deserved and not at all warranted.”

Rosewater swallowed. “I never wanted my reputation, Captain Pink. My intentions have never been to cause more harm in carrying out my orders than was strictly necessary. And they were orders. Given the choice, I would have rebelled long ago and moved to Damme with all that remained of my family, before it was torn apart. But, in the end, I would have done no better than Frosty.”

“And I would have never… I never…” Collar frowned down at his hooves. “I may have met her. But would I have decided I wanted to marry her? I… don’t know, captain. All I have for this moment is to follow my heart and do both what I feel I must to make my heart shine, and do what I must to make my ponies prosper.” His lips brushed against Rosewater’s cheek again. “At this moment, those two purposes are aligned.”

“My… lord.” Pink’s hoof settled on the simple iron circlet on the counter, and frowned down at it. “I admit that I have some knowledge of the growing affection between you, and have both seen it with my own eyes from afar and heard it from the sparse reports that the spymaster deigns to send my way regarding movements and predictions. Seeing it… scares me, my lord. How can I know that she has not coerced you with some spell?”

Rosewater blanched. “Captain, I would never… I would never subvert a pony’s will. Ask any of the ponies that I took on orders. I put them to sleep, captain. I did not try to coerce them, urge them to act against their own will or bend to mine. The most I have ever done is fear. Because it is deeply engrained in my heart. I have been terrified since I was six, captain. Of so many things. Disappointing Carnation, Rosemary, my father’s memory, the charges I looked after at the Garden. I have been scared of what my mother would take from me next, and I know too well how she works. I would never do that to another.”

“And yet you followed her orders.”

“I followed them because I believed I had no choice. I didn’t know why Carnation had been taken from me, only to learn that she was a spy for Lace, for your city. And yet I hold no grudge. I laud her for doing what she needed to ensure that her sister didn’t win.” Rosewater paused, took a breath, and returned to her line of reasoning. “I didn’t know. The only reason I had was that my mother had a petty revenge fantasy against her, and she tried to take my daughter. Adopted, but no less mine for that. I was there for her birth, captain. I was there for every moment she was alive until she was taken from me, too.

“And instead of retaliating… I came to Collar and Lace and Dapper and begged for help. I told them about my true bond with her, my true reasons for fighting. I brought the papers that showed I was her mother by right and law. I proved my claim. I—” Rosewater sucked in a breath and forced herself to calm. “I did what a mother had to do to keep her child safe. What… came next was improvisation.”

“I was resistant at first to what she suggested, negotiating a bond between our houses. I had Cloudy, and I needed no other, but… I hadn’t known that Lace had tried to get us together before, that she had plans for us that fell apart because of Roseate despite all Carnation tried to do,” Collar said softly. “My mother had sought the same bond we’re now discussing… entering into. Not exactly as she’d envisioned it, but…”

“That is news,” Pink said, eyebrows raising. “You’ll pardon me if I will want to confirm that with Lace, but…” She trailed off, her eyes falling to the circlet. “What do you need me to do? You wouldn’t have told me this just to tell me. An intrigue like this needs fewer mouths that can speak it, not more.”

“I need you because we must cover spots in the schedule pulling Rosewater’s Mares in Waiting from will create. Sunrise, Platinum, and Cloudy, to be specific.”

Pink nodded slowly. “I can see how that would be a problem. Pulling Platinum at odd hours will create kinks in the bridge duty schedule, and the same with Sunrise, but to a lesser extent.” She chewed her lip for a moment, seeming glad to be done with intrigue and sinking her teeth into something more concrete. “Your spymaster is going to have my hide for pulling her from their pool of couriers.”

“We’ll make it work somehow.”

“Why those three?”

“Because they’ve already been briefed and accepted the assignment,” Collar said. “We’re having to move fast because our window is closing, captain. Our plan starts on the night of the gala, and we can have no interruptions until she’s pregnant.”

“Then—” Captain Pink startled, stared at him, then at her. “Till she’s pregnant,” she said in a flat tone. “Collar, I believe you’ve jumped several stages of the requirements for Damme. Where’s her courtship? Her—”

“It’s going to be handled,” Collar said calmly, breaking into her tirade with a raised hoof and a smile. “Trust me.”

“I’m going to have to trust you, aren’t I? Both of you.”

“Yes,” Collar said softly. “I’d like you to escort her to the Treaty Office today, captain. And thence to the Rosewine bridge after turning in her pennant. Talk with her. Get to know her at least a little.”

“You’re asking a lot, Collar. Just this morning I was worried about what would happen when Rosemary got freed and Rosewater was freed to resume her operations and follow her orders.” She glanced at the mare. “Word on the street is you’re getting close to an ending. You have to be. This is the longest a negotiation has gone on in the history of the herdgilds.”

“I know. I have been honestly negotiating, I promise, but my means are much less than that of a city. It has… the advantage of having naturally stretched the length. I am, at present, facing a decade of monthly payments on liens on various properties I own around Merrie.” Rosewater gave a small, wan smile. “Assuming I’m not exiled for my insubordination. When I refuse her orders.”

“Refuse?” Pink’s mouth dropped open, then clicked shut. “You can do that?”

“I don’t know. I mean, yes, I can, but whether or not it will have repercussions I can’t avoid, I don’t know. But I’ll not make war on this city again, captain. Two ponies that I love dearly live here, and two ponies that I’ve come to see as parental figures also live here. I’d sooner accept my exile than disappoint the trust I’ve managed to grow here.”

Collar bit her ear, not lightly, but not hard, and nudged her cheek. “Rosewater, we talked about this.”

“I know. I’m being… I’m being fatalistic. I’d seek refuge here, first, of course and plead my case for asylum.” Rosewater huffed and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, captain, that we had to drag you in so quickly. We had not thought that far ahead, and now we’re causing more disruptions in more pony’s schedules.”

To her surprise, Captain Pink came up to her and raised a hoof to her breast. “My lady, if you’re being honest, and I’m more and more inclined to believe you are, then believe me when I say that is the least I’m willing to do in order to make sure you succeed. I have seen this war, as a child, tear apart families. I may not look it, but I am forty-five years old. I was there when Lace held the bridge against a surprise night attack that was only a diversion while her father led a counter-attack into Merrie and captured three whole families and took them back to hold hostage. I saw the petitioners crying at the Treaty Office, begging for their loved ones back with the pittance they had. I remember, still, asking my mother why they were there, and I will never forget her response.

“Because war is terrible, Pink. No matter how bloodless. War is terrible.”

“It is. I’m sorry, captain, that you had to see that.”

“I’m not. When Lace married Dapper, when she enacted her reformations, I was there. I threw in my support while other ponies threw down their arms in disgust or tried to stage a coup. It failed, in part because there were others like me who were sick of the war, who wanted to find a better way forward.”

Rosewater bowed her head. She had never been a part of that stage of the war. She’d been born mere months after Lace enacted them, when the raids from Damme stopped, and the ones from Merrie slowed to a trickle as each side tried to figure out what to do next.

Six years of almost peace…

“I’ll do my best, captain.”

“Pink, my lady. You have earned that much of my trust.” She glanced at Collar, and nodded. “I will see her to the office and the bridge safely, my lord. You have my word.”

“Thank you.”

Silver Drop was still in her forge when Rosewater returned to the village after her walk and talk with Captain Pink. They hadn’t quite struck up a friendship, but they had seemed to come to an understanding of each other.

“Stay back from the forge,” Silver said automatically as the door chime rang Rosewater’s entrance. “Its…” Her eyes flitted to the door. “Rosewater?”

“Silver, it’s good to see you again.”

Silver glanced at the forge, cursed, and drew out the crucible. “Stars, mare, you’re going to cost me ten minutes.”

“Am I worth it?” Rosewater asked more cheekily than she felt as she sat back and welcomed the nuzzle and brief embrace.

Silver’s only response was a grunt and a nibble at the base of her neck. “You know where my home is. I know you do. Why did you come here?”

“I need to come have dinner with you all for a week for what I’m about to ask, Silver. And bring desserts and sweets for Dancer.”

Silver chuckled and sat back. “You’re making me want to not do whatever it is with those last two. That colt truly gets into a hyperdrive mode with any amount of sweets.”

Rosewater laughed softly, then fell silent. “I need a rush job. I need a diadem, Silver. Made of silver, and pink amethyst, deep blue sapphire, and white diamond.”

Her friend the silversmith, who’d made an enchanted broach for her that she still needed to find more uses for, stared at her for only a moment before she went to a locked chest in the corner of her forge and pulled out three bags of gemstones, already cut, that she spent her down-time cutting.

“I thought you might, at some time, ask me for what your mother stole from you.” Silver smiled slyly. “But the blue is new. I’m afraid I’m not sure what you have in mind for the central ornamentation.”

Rosewater took a breath, closed her eyes, and blew out a breath as wet as she could make it. In the moisture, she pulled together a design she’d been thinking about for weeks, wondering if it would ever become a reality, or if something like this…

She opened her eyes to a glittering silver diadem, the central ornament a wing of deep sapphire blue with simple slivers of gemstone for the feathers. A rose on the opposite side was made of flaked pink amethyst, and the central spire of the unicorn horn between them was silver and diamond in rippled ridges, each one a single sliver of gemstone.

“You’re really into slivers, aren’t you?” Silver said, frowning at the image as it slowly evaporated in the heat of the forge. She made a few notes on a pad laying on her workbench. “Do you know how hard it is to make exactly shaped shard of gemstone?”

“Um.” Rosewater gave a shrug of one shoulder. “Difficult?”

Silver sighed and pulled out five slivers shaped the right size for the horn. “I had these saved for another project, but I can repurpose them. For the rest…” She pulled out eight petals of pink amethyst and glanced at Rosewater. “I thought you’d want a Merrie crown.”

Rosewater smiled, silenced the forge for a moment, and shook her head. “Merriedamme.”

Silver drew in a deep breath. “Stars. Truly?”

“Can you make it before the Gala?”

Silver pursed her lips, nodded, and pulled out two sapphires. “I’ll get started tonight.” She shook her hammer and gem cutting chisel at her. “You owe me. And more than bits, Rosewater.”

“An explanation, then.” Rosewater nodded slowly. “When the time is right. All… all I can tell you right now is that I mean to make the city a reality.”

That didn’t seem to make Silver happy, but after a moment, the mare grimaced, nodded, and tightened one of the sapphires into a padded vice. “After the gala. I want to know why I’m making this, and why you think it will work.”

“Of course. I owe you that much at least even before the work. I owe the entire village an explanation.”

“In that case…” Silver leaned in close and dropped a jeweler’s glass in front of her eye. “I want the whole story, not just what you tell the village. You owe me that, at least.”

“I do. And you’ll have it.”

“Your last report was… disappointing. A quarter mile should be nothing to you.”

Crown closed her eyes and flattened her ears. “It was the wind, mother, it kept tearing apart my spell. I only caught a few words, and mostly wind noise.”

“Unacceptable. I’ve heard reports from my agents in Damme that say very different things from the words you reported.”

“Rumors and supposition from dock workers.”

“By passersby that heard that pup and the clerk speaking. I need to hear from you that they were lies, that that rutting colt isn’t actually romancing my daughter!”

Crown hid a wince. Her report had been vague, but had contained no mention of that. That she’d heard the conversation in near perfect clarity because of the wind made little difference. Confirming Roseate’s suspicions, and they had to be just that for now, would only make Rosewater’s situation more difficult.

“Gossip,” Crown said, keeping her tone even. “I’ve heard the same rumors, and so has most of the city, but none of them have any weight, mother. Stars, some of the ones I’ve heard have said Collar is pregnant.”

Roseate snorted.

“What I have heard, that I haven’t included in my reports yet, is something that I did pick up from a conversation between Rosewater and Seed just this afternoon.”

“When he crossed the bridge with her? With that Pink mare escorting her?”

“Yes. Seed asked about Rosewater’s daughter. Then Rosewater silenced the area and I got no more, but it… shouldn’t take much to guess who he meant, considering where she went.”

“Rosemary,” Roseate growled, snarling and standing to stomp to the window. “No wonder Firelight turned down my every inquiry. And he let it slip? Seed?”

“Yes, mother. She has been… careful. I’ve never picked up anything about her from Rosemary that she didn’t want me, or others, to hear.” Crown let herself relax minutely. The bait had worked. “If there was love mentioned on the bridge between Collar and the clerk, maybe it was that. He can’t be ignorant of the relationship, and nor can she. But considering who they were waiting for, the rumors would have blown up, all out of proportion without context of who they were talking about.”

That Roseate let her speak for so long was a testament to how much even that relatively minor tidbit had disrupted her chain of thoughts. Speaking more would only give Roseate a hint that she was hiding much more. She might have already said too much, and the longer Roseate stared out the ivy-bordered window, the more Crown started to wonder if she should try to add more, just to get an idea of where her mother’s thoughts were taking her.

“There’s more to this,” Roseate said at last. “Dismissed.”

Crown almost protested, needing to know what Roseate was going to do, but afraid to ask.

“Yes, mother,” she said instead, rose, and left without another word.

Rather than go home, she went to Silk and Vine’s house to warn them that the secret wouldn’t be viable anymore, that she’d needed to use it to point her mother in a different direction

She wouldn’t let her sisters walk blindly into a trap with no way out.

Please make a move quickly, Rosewater. I don’t think she’ll remain diverted for long.

Collar frowned, glanced at his basket of incoming reports, order confirmations, and stood from his desk that evening to look out the window at the spreading spray of lights as ponies started their evening patterns.

He wouldn’t see Rosewater again until the gala, and that hurt, but it meant that he could spend his time with Rosemary and Cloudy without worrying about what he needed to log in his little book of secret lovemaking. Rosemary had been adamant that she wouldn’t until Rosewater was done with her period of waiting, and Cloudy had stood with her.

That wasn’t going to do his libido any good. He’d gotten used to having sex regularly, and now… now all he could do was an hour or so, at best, when he was in his office or the private garden with her alone, or with Cloudy watching or on guard.

It would be like his time before Cloudy, he told himself, masturbating on the regular, keeping himself to himself and privately longing for this or that mare that he didn’t want to try and ask on dates for a variety of reasons. Too junior, too eager to please him, too anti-Merrier—something that even then had been a turn-off.

He sighed and thought again of his time with Rosewater, making love to her the second time in a day, her warmth atop him, around him, her eyes worried that she was pushing too far, too hard, as if his mounting her in the bathroom hadn’t been sign enough of his intent.

For a time, he reveled in the memory, letting it take him, using magic to stroke his erection until he felt the flare, felt the tightening, then the rush and tingle of coming as his emission spattered the bare wall and drizzled to the floor. He hadn’t even thought to catch his seed.

The image of Rosewater, her face beatific in the glow after coming a minute before he had, still rising and falling, her breathing hot and heavy until the moment he’d come in her.

There would be few chances for that level of intimacy. Mounting, rutting, coming. Hoping.

He wanted to take her to his bed, show her how romantic he could be when she was there in a place where he didn’t have to hide, where she didn’t have to hide nearly so much.

With a sigh, he used a spell Rosemary had demonstrated to him when he and Cloudy had made a mess on his bedroom floor, gathered his seed, and dropped it out the window to water the plants below.

What he needed was an escape. Something to take Rosewater on and spend a week just making love, trying their best to get Rosewater pregnant. He’d need to bring Cloudy, for her witnessing, but where they could go was a question he knew the answer to. Anywhere on the Merrie side of the river was out. They’d have to hide, and Collar didn’t want to do that with both of his loves there.

It’d have to be in the wilderness. Even in the palace, he’d have to hide Rosewater away as if he was ashamed of her, and he absolutely wasn’t going to subject her to that.

He’d have to send Cloudy away on scouting missions to find a place within a day’s travel, someplace that she could drop supplies in discreetly and set up a shelter without too much help. One of the popup tents in the armory for the long patrols, perhaps. They were campaign tents, meant to house half a dozen ponies in the worst weather the north could throw, enchanted to erect themselves in moments, all they would need was for Cloudy to pound stakes into the ground.

He grimaced, then, sighed, and scratched the tent idea. They were heavy and usually carried by an earth pony. A smaller pup tent, perhaps. Or material she and Rosewater could use to construct a shelter.

A knock on his door snapped him back out of his meandering thoughts. He hadn’t even touched the pile of scrolls.

“Come in.”

Cloudy stepped in, sniffed, and glanced at him, then closed the door. “You know you don’t have to avoid me until you actually declare for her.”

“I know. It came on me. Thinking about my first times with her.”

Cloudy’s coat shivered and her tail flicked. “I suppose I can forgive you. You owe me tonight.” Her smirk promised him further arousal, planned, and his tail flicked across the floor. “I can bring Rosemary in and prepare the way for you.”

Collar’s cock twitched in its sheath. “I… don’t want either of us to face that temptation yet, Cloudy. Stars, I wanted to mount her that first time.”

Cloudy’s smirk faded, and she nodded. “She told me, later, that she wanted you to. And hang the consequences.” She let out a sigh and sat beside him. “I’m not looking forward to losing our nights together. Even if it’s temporary. I love the closeness, Collar. The matching passions.”

“I know.” He took a breath and told her what he was thinking.

Author's Note

Next week, we have the first Gala chapter. Rejoice!