When Delaney woke up it was dark and she was confused.  The last thing she remembered was sitting on the floor of the throne room with her best friend dying in her arms.  She gasped and jolted upright.  Looking around wildly she had no idea where she was.  She was in a huge bed in a room she had never seen before in her life.  She felt her heart begin to beat hard and her breaths coming quick.  Where was she?  Was she dead?

"Delaney," a low voice spoke urgently, "Shh you\'re alright. I\'m right here."

She turned to look in the direction the voice was coming from and felt a very warm hand take hers.  Even in the dark, she could make out the glittering green eyes of her husband, and immediately she started to calm down.

"V-Vincent?" she whispered, "Where are we?"

"We\'re in the castle," he answered and pulled her into his arms now, "The witches said the closer you were to Ian the better the magic would work."

"Ian!" hearing Vincent speak about him suddenly brought him to her mind again and she pushed away from her husband\'s chest, "Where is he?  Is he alright?"

"Shh he\'s just behind this wall in the room next to us," Vincent assured her, "He hasn\'t woken up yet but maybe since you\'re awake now he might be too."

Delaney felt shaky and let herself sink back against Vincent\'s warm strong chest now, relieved.  "How long have I been asleep?"

"Since yesterday morning.  You slept all through the rest of the day and night and all through today as well.  Ian too.  Everyone\'s been very worried about the both of you."

"I\'m sorry," she said quietly, "I didn\'t know what would happen with the magic from the witches.  I just knew I had to help him."

"Of course," Vincent nodded, "I\'m just sorry I couldn\'t help him.  It looks like I\'m not able to keep either of you safe."

Delaney sat up now to look at him again, "What are you talking about?  You saved us all."

Vincent frowned, "Ian saved me.  I didn\'t save anyone."

"My Love you saved us all.  You talked to Daniel and Sophia and explained everything.  You kept Daniel from getting angry and punishing us.  If you hadn\'t taken us all here to talk to him about what happened maybe Anna would have sent someone else to poison you or poison us all.  Who knows what could have happened."

Vincent looked down at his lap, "I don\'t know Delaney... I feel like we keep finding ourselves in situations where I can\'t keep you safe."

Delaney reached out and took his warm face in her cool, thin hands, "Vincent Adair you keep me safe every single day."

He met her blue-green gaze and a smile pulled at his lips.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you."

She leaned forward and stole a kiss from him, enjoying the feeling of his warm lips against her cool ones.  As he held her in his arms and kissed her, it slowly began to sink in for her that they were safe and she felt tears sting her eyes.  They had left the city house to come here and she hadn\'t known if they would ever return again or if she would have to return alone.

They had faced the King, told him all they knew, and even though they had accused Sophia he didn\'t blame them now for the mistake.  He knew the whole thing had been a horrible trap set by Anna to ruin everything for all of them.  Other than nearly losing Ian, they would actually all walk away from this unharmed.

Thinking of Ian, Delaney slowly pulled away from the kiss although she hated to.  She dashed her tears away and looked up at Vincent now as she remembered a detail from when she had been holding her friend in her lap thinking she would soon lose him.  She frowned at her husband.

"What is it?" he asked in confusion, "Are you tired?"

"I am but that\'s not why I stopped kissing you... Vincent, you already knew Ian was in love with me didn\'t you?  When he told us you didn\'t react at all.  That\'s why you wanted me to go with him if something happened to you.  You knew he would love me and take care of me."

Her husband sighed and leaned back against the pillows, the scarred side of his body facing her.  He looked down at her hand and gently took it in his own.

"Yes," he admitted softly, "I knew."

"Why on earth didn\'t you tell me?"

"It wasn\'t my secret to tell my love.  And it\'s Ian.  He is your best friend but he\'s also important to me as well.  I didn\'t want either of us to have to lose him and I knew it would hurt him to be sent away."

Delaney was quiet.  He was right.  If she had known Ian was in love with her it would have ruined their friendship.  She wouldn\'t have felt she could be alone with him or talk to him about things.  It would have tainted everything he told her.  Everything would have fallen apart.

"Well I know now," she said quietly.

"I know," Vincent nodded, "And I\'m afraid that\'s something you and Ian will have to address."

"He will hate that," she said with a smirk.

Vincent chuckled, "I\'m sure he will but only because he will be embarrassed he told you at all."

"Yes," Delaney sighed, "But I\'m glad he did.  I think it\'s better that I know now than years from now once he\'s wasted his life waiting for me."

Her husband nodded and looked up at her.  He took her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss across her knuckles.  Delaney looked at him lovingly before dropping her gaze for a moment.

"Vincent, would it be alright if I go to check on him now?  I was so afraid when I thought he might die... I think I\'m anxious to see him alive."

"Of course," he nodded, standing up, "But you\'re going to be too weak to go on your own.  Come on.  I\'ll take you."

Her husband was right.  When she got to her feet she felt like a newborn foal on wobbly legs with muscles that weren\'t used to walking.  Vincent came around the bed and helped her into a robe he must have gotten from someone in the castle.  Once it was tied he took her on his arm and helped her slowly forward.

Delaney was so exhausted it took all the strength she had left to keep going but they slowly made it down the great hall lit by torches to the next pair of large wooden doors.  She was surprised to see the hall outside their bedrooms was lined with guards, keeping watch over them.

"Why are they all here?" she whispered to Vincent.

Her husband smiled lightly, "Daniel wants to make sure nothing else happens to us while we\'re under his care."

She continued to eye them as Vincent pulled the door open just enough for them to slip inside the chambers he said Ian was in.  The first room they entered had tables set up with different herbs and things she assumed were being used to make his medicines.  There was a small cot made up in the corner and she wondered who had been sleeping in it.

Just as they were about to the doors that led to the bedroom they opened and the witch Helena stepped out.

"Delaney," she smiled, "I knew as soon as Ian woke up that you would likely be awake as well."

"He\'s awake?" Vincent asked, sounding hopeful.

"He is," she smiled, "I told him he might expect visitors.  Your mother left to go to bed only a short time ago."

"Violet?" Delaney asked in surprise, "Violet has been staying with Ian?"

"She\'s barely left his side," Vincent smirked and shook his head, "After he saved her son\'s life she now feels like she owes him everything."

Delaney couldn\'t help but giggle at that, "Well I\'m just glad he hasn\'t been alone."

"Never for a minute," Helena assured her, "Now you\'re welcome to go in and speak to him if you\'d like."

"Thank you," Vincent nodded.

The witch moved to walk away but Delaney called out to stop her again.

"Helena I have so many questions for you."

The woman smiled, "I\'m sure I have some answers.  But you know most of the very best questions have no answers."

Delaney nodded, dropping her gaze for a moment, "May I just ask... that night at Win\'s... When you said you would see me again... Did you see Ian being stabbed?"

Helena\'s grey eyes considered her for a moment, "I couldn\'t see who he was although I had recognized the throne room around us.  I knew someone was dying and you would have to make a choice to save them or not.  That is only one of those choices I mentioned to you though."

Delaney nodded, "When will I know if I\'ve made all the choices and my future is going to be happy?"

"Oh my dear girl," the witch smiled at her, "You will just know."