"Neither?" Sileas said from beind Wulfsen. She pressed her heated face against his back.

"I-I think I'm going to jump in the spring." Wulfsen said.

"Sileas!" Yehudit hobbled hurriedly towards Sileas. "You're not even trying to be discreet now! Are you trying to make me look stupid to your mother or something?!"

Sileas had started to reply to Wulfsen when her cousin came in. "How on earth is anything I do going to make you look stupid to Mama?"

"What you did with Larrigan on my watch." Yehudit scowled at Sileas. "Then now going to do what you were going to do with Wulfsen and making it obvious to everyone in the Hall."

Sileas frowned. "Mama's never expected you to keep me in line. And if she were to be angry with anyone about tonight, it would be Papa. He's the one that moved up there to keep his eye on me." She sighed. "I can't help if we...forgot ourselves."

Yehudit angrily hit the ground with her stick.

"You get married tomorrow! You can forget yourselves all you want tomorrow! Tonight you behave yourselves!" Yehudit tugged on Sileas's arm to pull her away from Wulfsen.

Sileas took a step back. The locket, tucked under the bodice of her dress, heated against her flesh. "You are right of course, and we were just getting ourselves back under control when you came in. Though I am not entirely certain that it is unusual for betrothed couples to behave in such a manner."

"It's not usual for them to be so obvious about it." Yehudit said. "You should hear some of the jokes going on in the hall. I left three guys laying on the floor holding themselves back there."

"They probably deserved it anyway. I am not sure what happened back there, we instantly became aware once we reached here, and stopped."

Wulfsen felt like kicking himself. That was not the kind of talk he wanted to be going on about his future wife.

"Maybe we should go back..." But the thought of facing so many people was daunting.

In reply to Sileas Spenser (msg # 121):

"I guess you only feel like it when you have an audience or are at risk of someone walking in or me breaking out of the cloak room." Yehudit said irritably.

The end of Bai's staff glowed as he summoned magic in case Yehudit became violent.

Sileas shook her head. "No, it wasn't like that. It was almost like...someone else was controlling me. This time. No one would have had to lock you in the cloak room if you would have bloody well gave me and Larrigan any time to ourselves."

"Excuses excuses." Yehudit sneered. "When I'm hiding in the bushes watching the knights train I control myself, even when they take their shirts off."

"Why in the world are you hiding in the bushes to watch the knights train? Every other single girl simply stands at the rails to watch."

Yehudit blushed but did not answer.

"You can control yourself."

"Didn't we just disprove that theory?" Sileas said uncomfortably.

"You're going to control yourselves because I'm not giving you any other choice." Yehudit said. "I'm separating you two."

"I fully intend to dance with my betrothed tonight," Sileas stated matter-of-factly.

"You can't be trusted to only dance." Yehudit shook her head.

"Does not matter. I will only dance with my betrothed this night."

"Dance and lock me in the cloak room!" Yehudit snapped irritably.

"If I must, I must. Tonight is part of our wedding celebration. I shall not spend the dance apart from my betrothed."

"You'll wind up canoodling in front of everyone!" Yehudit said.