"Thanks." Lori bought hers and waited for her sister.

"What are you....are you falling for her?" Alex blinked a couple times. "Your definitely sick."

Rosemary bought her wig right after, then turned to her sister. "That's it, I think. Shall we?"

"I know!" Cal threw his hands into the air in frustration. He had never felt- or looked- so shaken.

Alex started to pace. "OK we can still fix this. We know someone who's living in the town that's next on there map. We could get him to kidnap them or at least delay them long enough to catch up...that one would be better. As for your...problem." He turned to study his brother. "Your going to have to get over whatever it is." they needed the money especially if he was going to get better.

Lori nodded and headed out. "They stopped for the day." she blinked as smoke rose from a clearing in the woods. She wasn't sure how she knew it was the guards but she felt it was a safe bet.

Cal sighed again, running a hand through his hair. Despite this...whatever he was feeling, they needed to complete the job. He just had to get himself back into the swing of things. "Right, you're right. I'll get over whatever this is. Let's just do the job and move on." The sooner he moved on, the sooner he could forget that princess.

Staring at the thin ribbon of smoke rising from the trees, Rosemary felt a chill run down her spine. "That's good. We should move quickly while they're stopped, put even more distance between us. If we get a head start now, it'll be easier to keep the distance later." She said.

Alex nodded glad Cal sounded like the brother he knew and loved. "Alright." he thought of the princesses and flinched. He had thought of the younger one first with a sigh he realized his brother wasn't the only one regretting going after the princesses.

"Yeah." Lori nodded leading the horses out of town looking calmer then she felt. Once outside of town she hopped on. "Do you think Cas is with them? Or Elliot? Oh God he must be worried sick." she was referring to the guard who had watched over them as they grew up. He had stood by there side threw everything, offering advice while always being distant as a knight should. She almost turned back to look for the guards.

Cal nodded. "Let's start moving forward now. The village they stopped at is just a few hours in this direction. You'll ride until we get there, to avoid injuring yourself any further." He said.

Rosemary chuckled slightly. "I wondered when you would bring up Elliot." She smirked mischievously at her sister. "He was your first crush, after all." She teased, but her smile quickly faded. Elliot had taught her to ride a horse, and even let her watch the knights train sometimes. If there was anyone she would miss from the castle, it would be him.

"Wouldn't ride just hurt me more." Alex grumbled. He would rather just walk and take his time then ride a horse.

"I still have a crush on him." Lori admitted. "But as he said it would have never worked." she sighed staring at the ground wondering if her life would be like that. Always finding a person she loved only to have them tell her they didn't see her that way.

"You were expressly ordered not to walk around. At least if you're riding, you can relax a little." Cal said sternly.

Rosemary rode up close and put a hand on Lori's shoulder. "You'll find someone, Lori. I promise. You're too good not to."

"Alright fine but I get to walk every now and again." Alex gave him a look that was hard to argue with.

Lori laughed. "Your the only one who would ever say that." she shook her head glancing at the sky. ''I'm going to be a single girl and that's OK. If I wanted a man I would have just married Cas."

Cal rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. Let's just go." He said, dropping the argument. Alex was impossible sometimes.

Rosemary chuckled. "Well, I never said you had to find a man. I just meant that I'm sure the right one's out there, if you want him."

"There's no one for me." Lori mumbled urging her horse into a trot.

Alex nodded and climbed onto the horse cursing the whole time till he was finally sitting there groaning. ""Lets go."

Rosemary pulled her hand back as if she'd been burned, her expression turning sorrowful. "That's not true." She said quietly, but Lori was already too far ahead to hear her. She spurred her horse on to catch up.

Cal helped Alex get up. Once his brother was securely on the horse, he took the reins and started leading the horse forward at a leisurely pace, so that Alex didn't get jostled as much.

"Oh Rosey I wish that was true but I'm not like your. Your beautiful and funny even as kids you had more boys that had crushes on you and most of them where cute." Lori shrugged. "I'm not worried about it." It was a lie of course but what else could she say?

Alex studied his brother from where he sat wondering what there life would have been like if they had been raised like normal children.

Rosemary blinked. "Lori, what are you talking about? You're beautiful and funny, and smart too which is more than I can say for me. You had just as many boys who had crushes on you, you just never realized it. Half of the boys that came after me were trying to get to you." She said, stunned that her sister really didn't know all this.

Feeling like he was being watched, Cal looked back to see Alex staring at him. His brother looked thoughtful, but Cal didn't think asking about it would do much good. Instead, he put on a teasing smile. "See something you like?" He joked.

Alex blinked then stuck his tongue out at him. "No but I see something I don't like." he pointed to a tower of smoke. "Campfire. Must be those guards."

Lori laughed softly. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better." she reached over and squeezed her sisters hand. "Lets try to reach the next town by tomorrow or the day after."

Cal turned to look ahead where his brother was pointing and spotted the smoke. He grimaced. "They must have gone right past me. We'll just have to go around." He said.

Rosemary blinked. "Wait, what do you mean by that? I'm telling you the truth, Lori." She said, hurt that her sister would think she would ever lie.

"I believe that you think it's the truth. I just don't see it." Lori knew her sister would never lie and maybe she had been blinded by her duty and responsibility but she had never noticed guys looking at her. She had noticed it with her sister only because she had kicked a lot of them in the jewels.

Alex frowned. "It would take us longer...we could walk right threw them. There on the path. We'll just say we're passing threw to get to the royal doctor that lives in one of the towns."

Rosemary sighed, knowing she probably wouldn't get any further with that conversation. "Alright. Let's talk about something else." She suggested.

Cal made a thoughtful sound. "We could, but...my only worry is that prince. I know they dropped him in the woods, but he could have made it back, and he knows my face. If we run into him, we're in trouble." He said.

"Your right. Its up to you, your leading." Alex sighed a little. "This is going to be annoying."

"How about...those boys. I think there bounty hunters. It would make sense and I know I've seen there faces on a poster for something."

Cal hesitated for a few moments, thinking over his options. "It will be safer if we avoid them. We'll go around, but try to move a little more quickly to make up some lost time." He said.

Rosemary nodded. "I had suspected the same. They're good at disguising themselves- I didn't recognize them at first. The posters we've seen must be a few years old. But yes, I think they're bounty hunters. Which makes it even more confusing that the older one let you go."

"It does...maybe he went for backup...not that he would need it unless we ran into the royal guard. Elliot would murder them both and it would be pretty." Lori smirked a little.

Alex nodded and grabbed his brothers arm. "which means either I walk or you join me. If the horse moves to fast it will lose you."

Rosemary chuckled. "That's true. Actually, I almost want to see that encounter. Almost." She said, her smile fading at the end of her statement.

Cal nodded. "I know." He eyed the horse, trying to decide if it could handle both of them and still make a good pace. He didn't think so. "You'll walk. But if you have any trouble, I'll carry you if I have to." He said.

"you try to carry me and I'll knife you." Adam said sounding complete serious and like he was just casually talking about the weather. He slowly slid off the horse and lead her over the terrain limping slightly as he tried to keep from straining his ribs.

Lori blinked. "You think he let us go because he likes us..." she laughed. "What a ridiculous idea."

Cal snorted, knowing his brother was completely serious, and quietly walked along.

Rosemary raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say anything like that." She said. "Actually, the thought never crossed my mind. Why, is that what you think?" She asked, half-teasing. "Or maybe that's what you want?"

"What? Of course not. There not even cute." Lori snorted looking away from her sister.

Alex followed him getting tired quickly but he didn't let it show."