A little over two weeks passed. Aleksandra slowly distanced herself from Aulfr, fearful that growing any closer to him would weaken her resolve. She needed to be as strong as possible when the time came to face her brothers. Not only that, but she couldn't let herself be distracted by Aulfr any more than she already was. Such a preoccupied mind could get her killed out in the city if she let her guard down.

She didn't pull away from him completely. But she rarely adopted her playful attitude, or teased him. She kissed him only briefly, and only every so often. In the mornings, she would untangle herself from him long before he woke and train with the men in the courtyard and run drills with her maid assassins.

Aulfr seemed to grow distant from her as well, almost distracted. A tension was building in the air, something that promised to burst soon, and it felt like it wouldn't be a very quiet ordeal. He was planning something big. She just ignored it, knowing he'd tell her what it was soon enough. So she kept to her training. A few hunts in the city came and went, as did the death of another rival jarl who had openly admitted to having sent an assassin to Aulfr. And the assassination attempts were growing in number. One every other day at least. It seemed to her that the Oberjarl was growing desperate.