King Godwin paced the castles main courtyard, while around him men rushed back and forth, preparing for war. His every footstep rang with metal as his armor sounded against the stone cobbles of the floor, but it still wasnt enough to drown out the shouting as men issued commands or ran to be in place among the others there.

Why have you not gone yet? Aethe demanded by his side. Why have you not recovered our daughter?

His wife looked like a wild thing, as far from the woman Godwin had married all those years before as he could imagine. She had torn at her clothes, while there were gouges in her hands from her nails. Godwin could understand that. She was simply as distraught as any mother had a right to be, when all her daughters were missing. That Erin was safe among the Knights of the Spur meant nothing, when Nerra was banished, and Lenore had been taken.

We will be going soon, my love, Godwin promised.

Im not your love, she snapped back. Not when youve lost all my girls!

My men tell me that Rodry has gone after Lenore, Godwin insisted. They saw him racing off from the city. And Vars… well, there is no word from Vars, but he should be with her.

And meanwhile, you sit just gathering men, Aethe said. She made that into an insult, turning on her heel and heading off toward the interior of the castle. On another day, Godwin would have gone after her, but not today. Today, he needed to finish gathering his men, and set off in pursuit of Lenore.

Go with the queen, he said to a pair of his guards. Make sure that she is safe.

On another day, he might have sent knights to her, but he needed his knights for this. He could do nothing to help Nerra, and by his own laws could not stop Erin from joining the knights, but he could help Lenore, would help Lenore.

How much longer until all is ready? he demanded, as servants and ostlers rand around the horses, readying them.

A few minutes more, your majesty, one of the grooms called out. A few minutes? How could he wait any more, when his daughter was in danger the whole time? It was at times like this that Godwin wished that he were like his son Rodry, able to charge off in pursuit of what he felt, unconstrained by the needs of the kingdom.

Instead… instead, Godwin had to do what was right. He understood what this capture of his daughter meant: an open declaration of war by King Ravin. That meant that he could not simply charge down with a few men the way Rodry had done, not when there might be a whole army coming the other way. He had to order preparations, even though every instinct he had screamed at him to simply ride in an attempt to reach Lenore in time.