She had been waiting for this day, so when the words finally came she was not afraid. In fact she was rather more relieved, the waiting was always the worst part. She knew this well.

Letting the subject's mind envision things, wonder what had been done to family and friends, or in this case wife and apprentice. She would have liked to think of herself being above those things, but... no. Not after a while. Not in her dreams.

In her dreams they were dead already, dead and worse.

So she rose, narrow angular face unreadable, clothing impeccable as if she could ward away what would happen with her appearance.

"I hear and obey." The words were accompanied by a bow of her head and the slight omission of any honorific the man was due.

A little revenge.

But she had no room for larger ones.

There was a hesitation, making it clear that the man had been waiting for that honorific. When he did not receive, not much changed. Perhaps his face went a little colder In any case, he removed himself from the room and the four guards surrounded the Hunter. He led the littl ensemble through the castle... taking hallways that even nobility could not take, those secret ways known only to the King and his personal circle.

She was led, in the end, to the King's office. The messenger used the knocker, and the door opened almost before he could get in a second knock, the King's personal guard stepping back to let them in.

Andrew sat at his great wooden desk, easily twelve feet long, much much larger than it could ever have any need to be.

"Hunter," he said quietly, his face plain.

"Mein König." She bowed stiffly but deep, letting her eyes focus on the floor before slowly straightening. If it was possible she had grown even stiffer after entering the king's presence. "My sincere apologies for my errors."

Andrew cut his hand through the air, dismissing the apology as soon as it was out of her mouth.

"I don't care about that," He said sharply. he looked to the guards around them. "Leave us." The guards hesitated. "NOW," he said, his voice threatening and low. The guards bowed and left, anxious looks on their faces.

When the door finally closed, Andrew sighed and began to relax.

"Your wife is fine. I have not even put her name out to be known."

Zenzi however, did no quite dare to relax yet. She simply nodded and bowed again, deeper this time. Her throat had closed up a little at that, and when she spoke again it was with an unusual huskiness of relief. "Nobody would speak to me of why I was jailed my king."

"You were jailed because my advisors very much want to blame you but more especially, your apprentice, for what happened to my incredibly stupid little brother," Andrew said, his voice void of emotion. "And I was inclined to go along with them, for a time. The Lichtermann family owns a lot of important land and were the only heir to the family to be executed, that land becomes my possession. So I have held the execution orders for you and your apprentice on my desk since the day you were imprisoned here."

He took a deep breath.

"I have not ordered your execution, clearly. Why do you think that is?"

"Because you still has a use for us." The answer came quick, and it took her a moment to add "my king." She clasped her hands behind her back, standing straighter now. Somehow, knowing about the execution orders seemed to make her feel better. Anything was better than not knowing.

And she knew that the truth had little to do with this, they had not been to blame for the prince's death, but that mattered little. No, it was other things.

"The task which was entrusted to me is still not fulfilled."

"Actually," Andrew said with a smile, the first one so far. Even smiling, his face seemed grave. "It's the opposite. It is because, Frau Siepen, I have no use for you. I am changing my ideas. I know what I have to do now."

He paused.

"I will tell you something told to me by the spirit my mother bargained with to bring me back from the dead. That spirit came to me, just recently. Aquataine is coming, Frau Siepen. They will invade us. They will try to wrest this land from us."

"Aquitaine?" Zenzi ignored the talk about spirits and witchcraft, her king might be an unholy monster that dealt with things best ignored, but Aquitaine was worse. That was just not undermining their way of life.

That was ending it. She had seen that world.

And she wanted nothing off it.

"Invasion? Truly? My king..." Her face had grown hard then, looking at the man as with renewed purpose. "What would you have me do my king."