Preparations for Kurt's return home started a week after King Robert had shared the news with the boys about David's capture. Everything was now ready and both Kurt and Blaine would leave for Winstow the following morning. Although Blaine would not admit it out loud, his interview with King Burt made him nervous. He wanted to say the right words, act the right way… be the right man. Kurt kept telling him he had nothing to worry, that his father would surely love him as much as Kurt did. Still, Blaine practiced his speech in front of the mirror every chance he got.

Tonight was no different and the fact that they would be leaving in a matter of hours only increased Blaine's nervousness. He was currently talking in the mirror of the vanity Kurt had shyly asked for when he first arrived while Kurt changed into his nightgown in the bathroom. Traditionally, they should not be in the same room, let alone sleep in the same bed until after the wedding, but neither of them cared for tradition when the alternative was sleeping enwrapped in each other's arms. It also helped that all of Blaine's knights were more than willing to help them avoid being discovered.

When Kurt came out fully prepared to sleep and found Blaine mumbling words to his own reflection, shaking his head at certain things and running his hands through his hair, Kurt's heart fluttered and a fond smile appeared on his face.

It was moments like this, when Blaine did something simple, but that meant so much, that Kurt realized just how in love with Blaine he was. And he was lucky, in a way. He was granted the opportunity to be with his true love since he was so young and even when life separated them, they found their way back. And now that the last threat in Kurt's life was gone, now that he was truly safe, everything was perfect. His life was perfect.

Instead of making his way to the bed he now shared with who would now become his betrothed, Kurt walked towards him, wrapping his arms around Blaine and letting his hands rest on his chest. Blaine was so immersed in his speech he didn't notice Kurt's presence until he felt the hands on his body. He stopped talking and immediately grabbed the paler hands, kissing them tenderly and looking at those blue eyes he loved so much through the reflection in the mirror.

"Come on, sweetheart. I think you've practiced enough." Kurt told him, grabbing Blaine's hands and urging him to get up. Blaine obeyed and let Kurt lead them to the bed. They got inside the sheets and Blaine's arm immediately pulled Kurt closer. They smiled at each other and Blaine nuzzled Kurt's nose with his own before whispering goodnight and turning just enough to blow the candle out.

But a few hours after they had been enveloped in darkness, a rather loud knock on the door scared whatever sleep they had managed to get. Kurt tensed in Blaine's arms when there was another knock and then pulled away to get out of the bed. Blaine didn't know what to do, since we wasn't supposed to be there in the first place but he decided to wait in the bed while Kurt opened the door, his body blocking the view to the room. The moment he saw who was calling, Kurt sighed in relief and backed to open the door and let Wes inside. Blaine also sighed and pulled the sheets away to stand up.

"Wes, my friend, you scared us for a moment."

"I'm afraid I don't come with reassuring news," Wes admitted. Blaine and Kurt shared a look before Blaine replied, stepping closer to his knight and friend.

"What's wrong?"

"It's your father. He began having an intense pain in his stomach and he is now confined to his bed with fever. We have already sent for the doctor."

Kurt gasped and covered his mouth with his hand while Blaine paled. They both remembered how King Robert had excused himself early from dinner saying he wasn't feeling well and blaming it on tiredness.

"H-How," he cleared his throat. "How serious is it?"

"I'm no doctor but it does seem rather serious. Not mortal, but serious."

"Take me to him," Blaine said hastily, grabbing his robe. He hesitated and turned to Kurt. "Will you come with me?"

Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand immediately. "Of course."

When they arrived to the king's chambers, Nick was already waiting outside. He let them know the doctor was inside already and Blaine entered quietly to the room, leaving Kurt in the hall with Nick and Wes.

King Robert slept restlessly in his bed while the doctor checked him. Blaine waited at the foot of the bed, watching worriedly as his father squirmed uncomfortably, his face all covered in sweat. When the doctor finished his examination, he turned to Blaine.

"It's nothing too serious. It seems to be only a rather strong food poisoning. With a little rest and special attention to how his fever behaves, he will be fine in no time."

"Thank you," Blaine whispered and accompanied the doctor outside the room. He ordered Wes and Nick to show the doctor out and returned to his father's side with Kurt following behind. Blaine knelt at the head, determined to watch over his father's sleep in case his condition worsen. Kurt placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, which me immediately covered with his own.

"He's going to be alright?" Kurt asked quietly, careful not to upset the king or alter his sleep.

"Yes, so said the doctor."

They were silent for a few moments before Blaine spoke again.

"Kurt… I don't think –"

"I get it," Kurt interrupted him; already knowing what he was about to say. "David is no longer a threat. It is safe for me to go and I can return to Winstow without you, although it will pain me to leave you and your father now of all times."

"You shouldn't worry."

"But I do! He's a father to me just as much as my real one. Which is why I've been thinking whether it be best to delay my return to Winstow."

"Don't be silly." Blaine replied, twisting his head to face him. "You need to get home and be with your family now that you're safe. They have been without you long enough."

"Which is why a day or two won't make a difference."

"Yes it will. Just thinking of spending a day without you is like hell to me and I've had you long enough, I can't imagine how they must feel. Go to them, Kurt. My father's strong and it is not a serious condition. I will just make sure he recovers properly and I will go after you, I promise."

Kurt sighed in defeat. He knew there was no way to have Blaine change his mind and let Kurt be with him until his father recovered and Blaine could travel home with him. "I know you will. But we should stop talking now, I wouldn't want to wake him."

Blaine only nodded, giving him a smile.

"And I suppose, if I'm not delaying the trip, I need to get back and get some sleep myself," Kurt added.

"Of course."

Blaine got up, grabbed a candle from his father's bed table and followed Kurt to the bedroom door. He stopped Kurt to grab his face in his hands and kiss him sweetly. They opened the door and Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand to stop him. Kurt eyed him curiously and was about to ask him what was wrong when Blaine spoke first, and not to him.

"Wes," he said, gesturing for his main knight and best friend to come closer from his spot on the hall.

"Yes?"

"Tell Nick and Jeff to prepare to go to Winstow. They will be Kurt's company and protection. Tell them I'm sorry this is so short noticed but I don't have a choice. Oh, and could you send for Rachel as soon as the sun rises?"

Wes nodded without asking for more details and bowed to them before leaving to find the two boys.

"What was that?" Kurt asked Blaine once they were alone.

"I don't care that David's captured, I'm not letting you go completely unprotected."

Kurt smiled. It made him happy to know Blaine was so invested in his safety. But then he frowned. "Why didn't you ask them to come from the start, then?"

Blaine looked at him right in the eye and Kurt's knees went weak as he saw the sweetness in those hazel eyes, which burned with intensity as the reflection of the flame from the candle flicked in them.

"Because before this, I was going to be the one that would keep you safe."

The next morning, Blaine joined Kurt and the knights to bid them farewell until his father was completely recovered. Rachel was there to send them off too and she shared a teary goodbye hug with Kurt, who promised to see her soon. He was confidant that promise would be easy to keep, if everything worked out with her and his stepbrother. Blaine looked just as torn as Rachel over having to say goodbye but Kurt quickly wrapped his arms around him, promising to never say goodbye to him.

They pulled back and Kurt got inside the carriage, drove by Nick. Jeff sat down next to him and they both nodded to Blaine before taking off. Blaine stayed there until the carriage was no longer in sight, with Rachel right beside him, holding his hand. Then they walked back into the castle. If the party didn't find any obstacles in the way, they would get to Winstow that very same night.

As they made their way back to the king's chambers, Blaine kept thinking how used he got to Kurt's presence around the castle. Now that he was gone, it felt suddenly darker, sadder. Blaine thought back to the way things used to be before Kurt came, when neither of them remembered the other, and he couldn't help but smile at the turn of events. It still made his blood boil whenever he thought of the reason Kurt had had to come to Davon in the first place, but now that it was over, now that Kurt was safe, he couldn't help but feel slightly grateful for it. It had brought them back together.

While his mind wandered, Rachel gave him sideway glances and as they approached King Robert's chambers, she squeezed Blaine's hand to get his attention. He blinked out of his thoughts and looked down at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. She knew it must have been difficult to let Kurt go just like that, Blaine being the protective man he was.

"Yes," Blaine replied and grabbed the knob from his father's door. "I'm just worried –"

The maids and his father's loud voices interrupted Blaine mid-sentence when he and Rachel entered the room.

"But, Your Majesty, you need to lay down –"

"I need to find Blaine! Bring him to me!"

Blaine rushed to his father's side, grabbing him from behind and turning him around to face him.

"Dad, I'm right here. I'm here, but you need to lay down, okay?"

"No, Blaine, listen to me!"

The firmness in his tone and the fear in his eyes were all that Blaine needed to stop forcing his father to return to the bed. He just held him steady and didn't say anything to let his father say what he had to say.

"I'm afraid my unexpected illness was not so unexpected."

"What?"

The king finally let Blaine lead him to the bed and they both sat down at the edge. Blaine had his arm around his father's frame, both to keep his father steady and to keep himself from shaking in anticipation to whatever the king was about to tell him.

"I believe this was no incident. I thing someone was trying to poison me."

"Poison you? You mean someone wanted you dead?"

The king shook his head. "Not dead, just sick enough to create a distraction."

"But why would –"

"Just think about it for a moment, son. Kurt was to leave this morning with you. But even a person whose known you for a day would know that you wouldn't leave your family if they needed you. And you wouldn't keep Kurt away from his if you could help it either. We all ate together the very same meal but I was the only victim of the infection. That could have been nothing, perhaps, if it wasn't for the fact that I –"

"That you never get sick," Blaine finished the sentence for him. The pieces were starting to fit and Blaine didn't like where this was heading. "You said a distraction, surely you don't mean…"

"… The perfect opportunity for an ambush."

Everything became a daze after that. Blaine ran out of the room and through the entire castle, out into the morning breeze and into the stables. He ran as fast as his legs allowed but to him, everything was happening in slow motion, as if time was attempting to slow him down and he couldn't go fast enough. He crashed right into the stable wall but not even that made him stop. Breathlessly, he saddled his horse and rode after Kurt. He kept pushing the horse to go faster and faster but – even if he had spent his entire life looking after his horse – he didn't care for anything else than reaching Kurt. Making sure he was safe and that whoever had planned this had not gotten to him yet.

His heart kept stuttering in his chest, both from not having quite recovered from his run and from the sheer fear that was creeping on him with every step that got him closer to the man he loved. This could not be happening, Kurt would be okay. Surely, he would catch up with them and they would all look at him like he had grown another head but he wouldn't care and they would all go together to Winstow. Kurt would roll his eyes at him and tell him both he and his father were being paranoid. He would kiss him and tell him he shouldn't have forced himself or his horse that way. Everything would be okay.

Except it wasn't.

Because Blaine did catch up with them. But they weren't how they imagined them to be. How they hoped they would be. The carriage was turned to the side in the middle of the road, with a crystal broken. The horses that were pulling it were nowhere in sight. And then he saw a pair of legs in front of the carriage.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no." Blaine dismounted his horse quickly and with shaky steps he went around the carriage to find Nick badly wounded on the floor. Blaine gasped and fell on his knees. His eyes prickled with tears as he grabbed Nick's face gently. His knight opened his eyes slowly and winced at the pain he was feeling from the sword stab that had pierced his stomach.

"Blaine, I'm –"

"Shh, it's okay, Nick. Just… hang in there. I-I…"

"We were ambushed… They took K-Kurt a-and Jeff with them… They thought t-they had k-killed me a-and left me h-here."

"Who did? Was it – it couldn't have been David. He's been captured."

"They w-were his men. I-I don't think h-he's going to s-stay in c-custody too long."

"God, this was all planned," Blaine whimpered and hung his head. He should have foreseen this. He should have made a better job at keeping Kurt safe. Now David's men had him and Jeff and Nick was hurt. Blaine's face crumpled and tears fell out. He heard Nick groan and snapped open his eyes, blinking the tears away.

"Help is on its way, Nick. I'm sure my father sent them soon after I left. You're going to be okay."

"I'm sorry…"

"Shh… It's okay," Blaine whispered as he heard the faint sounds of horseshoes on the road behind them.

"It has to be."

Kurt opened his eyes slowly and all he could focus on the moment he was wide-awake was the sheering pain in his head. He groaned as he lifted himself up slowly into a sitting position. He blinked a few times to focus but then a voice behind him made him jump.

"Kurt!"

He shifted on the ground to face whoever had called him. His vision was still blurry and the pounding in his head seemed to only get worse.

"Jeff?" Kurt asked uncertain as he squinted to make out the dark figure in the corner of the room.

"Oh, thank god! They hit your head hard back on the road. I was afraid they might have knocked you out for good." Jeff came out of the dark corner and Kurt saw he had a black eye and a broken lip, as well as a trail of blood on the side of his head. Kurt finally remembered everything clearly. How they were ambushed and Nick and Jeff, however brave and protective, could not take the attackers down. How Nick had been wounded and he and Jeff were dragged into another carriage. How Kurt kicked and screamed and fought them off until they had no other choice but to silence him with a hit in the head.

"Where are we? Who –"

"I don't know. They put a blindfold on me as soon as they got us in the carriage. And I don't know on whose orders did those men attack us."

"David?"

"I don't think so. He's still under custody in Winstow. At least, I hope he is."

"Don't worry, he is." A faint voice told them. They heard footsteps in what they could only assume was a staircase. Jeff tensed immediately when he heard the voice but his brow burrowed in deep concentration as he tried to make it out, to see if it was whom he thought. Kurt was still feeling dizzy and disoriented so he didn't dwell on whom the voice belonged to.

But the figure finally descended all the stairs and stood in the space where a normal door had once stood and now the jail bars were in its place. The figure crossed his arms and leaned into the small space between the wall and the bars and spoke again.

"I hope you're not dizzy still, Your Highness."

Kurt froze. He might have been dizzy and might not paid true attention to the voice when it first talked to them but now there was no denying Kurt knew it. And suddenly, this whole situation didn't seem so crazy or unexpected. King Robert's health scare had been no incident. This had been a carefully planned execution, to get Blaine away from Kurt so he would become an easy prey. So Blaine would be left alone. And there was only one person that wanted Blaine for himself, and hated Kurt enough to attempt to get him out of the way to get what he wanted.

"Sebastian."