"Maia, find Ebony," the king said, turning to her. "She is more likely to listen to you than she is to me. For Ariadne's sake you two need to talk to each other."<br/><br/>"He is threatening you," Maia said angrily. "Maybe not openly but I am not a fool, I will not leave you defenceless."<br/><br/>"I will be fine," the king said to her calmly. "Stormrider is no fool, besides, I may be ill but that does not make me incapable of defending myself." He rested his hand on hers. "I will not order you to go, but I am asking you to." The female elf eventually reluctantly walked out of the door. The king turned to Grim, giving him a deceptively friendly smile. "We are fellow warriors so I will offer you a warning if my wife is correct, you are acting with only partial knowledge of what happened to my father. If you wish to earn the enmity of every elf in this palace, your companion included, I will make no attempt to stop you, or you could allow me the chance to explain."<br/><br/><br/>Maia eventually found Ebony, mostly with the help of one of the occupants of the library. She took pity on her, feeling the anger draining out of her as she sat opposite her. She took off one of the two rings she wore, an understated but still dazzling piece of jewellery, and place it between them.<br/><br/>"You are not the first who loved Ariadne," she said quietly. "I was the one who helped her escape, and gave up what hope I had that she would be with me. Not that I am bitter, I would choose you over me any day," she couldn't help letting out a soft laugh at her last comment.