Kyle gasped and looked away as she emerged and headed for her room. He followed behind her, keeping his eyes on the wall.

"Good Man," Chevalier thought to himself.

Emily changed quickly into her jeans and t-shirt, and found Chevalier waiting in her room when she emerged.

"Dang," he said with a laugh.

"What?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"I'd hoped to give that blue dress another go." He chuckled and stood up.

"No chance!" She slapped his arm playfully. "Unless you were the one wearing it."

"Uh hu." He grinned and kissed her.

Emily pulled away from him and headed for the door.

"Where are you going now?" he asked. He'd planned on staying in this evening.

"I have to go feed the cows," she said, and turned to look at him.

He was instantly in front of her and began kissing her ear, flicking her earlobe with his tongue. She shivered.

"I can have someone do that for you," he hinted.

She hesitated and pulled away. "Nope, my cows, remember?"

He sighed, "Yes, I do."

"Besides, I'm pretty sure I know what you had in mind, and it can wait." She turned and headed out the door.

Emily first went into Patra's stall, not bothering to wonder who had put her in. She pet the mare and rubbed Patra's expanding middle. "How ya feeling, Patra?"

Kyle smiled. He found it fascinating how she talked to her horse.

"So when is the big event?" he asked, leaning back against the wall.

"Hmm." She did the math in her head. "Seven more months." She started pouring fresh grain into the trough for the mare.

"So, I heard something interesting today...," he began.

She didn't turn to him but started to brush Patra.

"Rumor has it, in the castle, that you were married before and that Chevalier killed him."

She turned with a frown. "You knew that already."

"Yes, but the interesting part is that somehow, so does everyone else now."

She cringed. "Seriously? Everyone?" She ducked out of the stall and pulled the door shut.

He nodded. "I'm going to talk to Chevalier about it. I don't like people talking about you and especially that. They shouldn't judge."

Her body suddenly tensed. "What all do they know?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do they know he... well...?" She waited for him.

"I don't think so. No one mentioned it."

She relaxed some and loaded a bale of hay onto a small four wheeler.

Kyle cringed. "I wish you'd let me at least load the hay for you. It's heavy."

She smiled and climbed onto the ATV. "Then they would be your cows and not mine."

He followed behind her while she drove the ATV out to where the cows were grazing. She grabbed her pitchfork and went to work. Kyle began to run through training scenarios for the guards. It didn't do for him to watch her work if he valued his life. His thoughts turned to her too often, and as much as he tried to control it, he couldn't.

"Emily, I'm going to go talk to Chevalier. You're safe out here," he reassured her needlessly. She felt safer out with the cows than anywhere else on the island.

Kyle disappeared into the house, and Emily went back to work. She hummed to herself while she fed the cows and looked back proudly as they all ate. She checked their water and poured it out for fresh, then took the ATV back into the barn.

Once she put away her tools, a sound in the barn scared her, and she turned toward it. She was relieved when she saw a barn cat looking at her. "Well, hello."

She walked over to it and sat down on the clean straw to pet it. It purred loudly and wound itself around her hand. "Keeping the mice away I hope?"

Emily continued to pet the cat as she watched him, "You need a name though... let's see...."

Emily thought for a moment and then smiled. "I'll call you Peanut."

The cat meowed and went back to rubbing against her arm. Peanut climbed up and leaned against her chest with his soft head at the nape of her neck. "You're a friendly thing, aren't you?"

She stood up. "I'll be back tomorrow. You watch over things."

The sun was setting, and the full moon was already starting to creep into the sky. She stepped in through the back doors and frowned. Everything seemed too quiet. Even though she rarely saw heku servants, she could often hear them and could always feel their presence. Tonight, the castle was empty and cold.

Emily slowly wandered through the kitchen, into the foyer, and even peeked into the library, but still heard nothing. She made her way to her bedroom and changed into an oversized t-shirt. When the silence had gone on too long, she left and went down to the TV room. It didn't take long to thumb through the movies and find a good romantic comedy. Emily put it in the DVD player and turned the sound up, curling up on a beanbag with a light blanket around her.

The movie ended, and the silence in the castle became irritating. She vowed to find where everyone had gone. Getting up, she headed out into the silence. Starting on the ground floor, she went room to room and listened at the doors. She frowned when after an hour, she still hadn't found anyone. Suddenly, she had a thought and tried to remember where the court room was located.

It wasn't long before Emily found the spiral staircase that led down into darkness. She walked slowly, feeling her way along the wall. As she got closer, she heard voices, angry, shouting voices. She felt the door and stopped to listen.

"You can't do that!" a high, squeaky voice exclaimed.

"I can, and I will. Now, sit down!" Chevalier was angry. She could tell by his voice.

"I said nothing about the girl," another strange voice croaked.

"Do you deny spreading rumors about Lady Emily?" Kyle yelled. He was calmer than Chevalier but still mad.

Emily frowned. This entire thing was about her again. Did she truly care that the staff spread rumors about her? Not rumors, she corrected, they told the truth... gossip then.

"The court has made its decision, and if no one objects, then we talk punishment," Chevalier growled.

Emily knew this was going to get her into trouble, but she did it anyway. She slammed open the doors. "I object."

All eyes turned toward her, including those in the topmost section of the room where Chevalier, Kyle, Storm, and the pier guard, Travis, were sitting. She suddenly felt underdressed in just the oversized t-shirt that barely touched the top of her knees and had 'John Deere' written across it in green writing.

Kyle was by her side in an instant and whispered to her, "You can't object."

He tried to lead her out of the room, but she spun away from him.

"I object. You said that unless someone objected, they would be punished." She was making her way through the chairs toward the frightened heku along the front row. Kyle followed behind her but hesitated to grab her arm forcefully enough to drag her from the room.

Chevalier glanced down at Emily, and his eyes lit with rage. "Step back, Emily."

"No! It sounds to me like these proceedings are about me, and as such, I have every right to defend whoever I wish." She nodded and sat down between two of the accused.

She smiled at one of them, and they looked at her, terrified.

Kyle shrugged at Chevalier, who motioned him back to the chair. Storm stood up. "What is your defense then? State your case."

Emily stood up again, glancing down at her t-shirt. "Well, I don't feel that spreading gossip is grounds for punishment. At least not the punishment that you all hand out."

Soft voices filled the court room.

"Quiet!" Storm bellowed, and the entire room fell silent.

"It's not a matter of gossip. It's a matter of breaking rules set forth by the Chief Enforcer and Lord of this coven," Storm explained.

"Oh... well... let me see then." Emily looked at one of the accused, and he stared at her with wide eyes. "What was the proposed punishment?"

Storm turned to Chevalier, and he looked down at Emily. "Come here."

"Hmmm," she said, shifting slightly. She turned and put a reassuring hand on the shoulder of one of the accused and then walked up onto the top platform.

Chevalier, Kyle, and Travis turned their chairs to face away from the crowd while Storm watched over them.

"What are you doing here?" Chevalier asked her, irritated.

"Apparently defending the wrongly accused," she said matter-of-factly.

Kyle frowned at her. "You shouldn't be here."

She glared at him. "No one told me not to come down here, so I did, and what I heard was insane! You can't punish someone for gossip unless it's going a day without wages or..."

Chevalier stopped her. "That's enough! You will go back up to your room and wait for me."

She put her hands on her hips. "No."

Travis gasped. He'd not been around Emily enough to know that she didn't follow Chevalier's orders.

Chevalier nodded and growled. "Now."

Emily leaned down toward him. "I'm not one of your minions to be commanded. If you want me gone, you're going to have to remove me."

She turned and walked back down toward the accused, and she was almost to them when she was swept off of her feet and rushed out of the room.

"Kyle, put me down!" she yelled, kicking furiously.

He didn't answer, but ascended the steps quickly, and she was back in her room a few seconds later. He set her down on her feet and winced when she slapped him across his face.

"How dare you." Her gaze was fierce.

"You shouldn't be down there. It's none of your concern."

"It is so!" She headed back for the door, but Kyle blocked her.

"You aren't leaving." She'd never seen him this angry.

Emily took a step toward him, and though he towered above her, she met his gaze. "Let me through," she hissed at him.

"No," he said, not moving.

Emily swung at him, but he dodged and grabbed her hand, then wrapped it around to her back gently.

"Stop before you hurt yourself," he told her. Kyle slipped his free hand around her waist and picked her up, carrying her back to the chairs. "Sit."

He let her go, and she immediately ran for the door. He quickly overtook her and hauled her back to the chair again.

"I said sit!" he growled at her, and shoved her into the chair harder than he intended. The chair buckled under the force of the throw.

Emily landed on her back with the shattered chair beneath her, and she kicked hard, her foot connecting directly with Kyle's groin. He recoiled a bit and then grabbed her foot when she crawled away.

After picking her up, Kyle sat in the one remaining chair and pulled her onto his lap. He trapped her legs with his and wrapped his arms securely around hers, pinning them to her side. She screamed and thrashed to be let go.

"You have no right to hold me against my will!" she yelled at him.

Kyle opted not to speak and just held her tightly.

Emily leaned her head forward and slammed it back into his nose, breaking it. He winced but held tightly, knowing the pain would clear in a few seconds.

"Let me go!" she screamed again.

"No, you don't know what you are doing, and until you see how things work around here, you need to keep out of it." His voice was calm. He was worried about the reaction Chevalier would have when the bruises from the chair appeared on Emily's back.

She fought harder. "It's my decision! They were talking about me."