Lotor stared at the beautiful woman standing before him. For her part, Allura tried to ignore him, but she was beginning to feel acutely uncomfortable. She glanced sideways at Keith, who stood like a guard at her side. He stood straight and kept an unwavering eye on the Prince of Doom. They three of them sat down across from each other, Keith and Allura on one side and Lotor on the other.

"So, what's this about, Lotor?" Allura asked. "You must be out of your mind if you think that we believe you want to make a peace treaty."

He smiled and tried to take her hand, but she evaded him neatly and glared. Lotor only spread his hands and shrugged.

"Hands off," she warned.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Allura."

"It's Princess Allura," Keith said.

"Sorry, Commander," Lotor said smoothly, but he looked like he wanted nothing more than to leap forward and wring Keith's neck.

"Don't waste anymore of our time," Keith said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "What are you here for?"

"I want a treaty. I'm tired of this war," the Prince replied, leaning forward and gazing at them earnestly, a complete about face from his mood a second earlier. "My father is going mad with the power and I see nothing but a bad end to all this. No side will win. This war has had not purpose since it began and I want to stop it."

Keith thought he heard the Princess snort derisively, but when he looked at her, her face was a study in calmness, though her eyes were stormy with anger. She refused to meet his eyes, knowing she would blow her top if she did. She needed to concentrate on keeping her temper in check. This was stupid and they were risking so much by having Lotor here, but like she told them, she had to give him a chance for her people's sake. However, she wasn't liking it one bit.

"Please believe me, Princess," Lotor pleaded. "I want this for my father as much as you do for your people."

"Do you have the treaty with you?" Allura asked. "You said that you already had one written up. I want to see it."

Lotor pulled a rolled up piece of paper from inside his cape. He spread it out on the table for the Princess and Keith to see. They had just begun reading it when Keith's communicator went off. He stood and stepped away from the table, but didn't turn his back. Lotor watched Keith as closely as Keith watched him.

"Porterfield," he said, his voice low.

"Keith," Lance said.

Keith heard the edge in his voice and felt his blood run cold. The last thing they needed was a problem. He forced a neutral expression to stay on his face. Lotor watched him closely, fighting back a sneer.

"What happened?"

"Sven is missing."

Keith's jaw clenched as he gritted his teeth against a yell. He clutched his communicator tightly and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Have you tried looking for his communicator signal on the scanners?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"We've tried everything. I had some men search the area for him. We can't find him anywhere."

"Lance, I'm leaving this in your hands..."

He was cut off as Lance's communicator's view shifted from his face to another. A face as familiar to him as his own, but something was obviously different about it. He could hear Lance's voice in the background change from relief to suspicion.

"What's going on, Sven?" Keith asked.

"I need you to come out here, Keith. Ve haf a situation."

"I can't leave the Princess."

"I don't bite," Lotor said, overhearing.

"Yeah, but you kill," Allura pointed out. She pulled out her blaster. "I'll be fine, Keith."

"Lance, get in here."

The door opened and Lance's wiry form appeared in the doorway. He looked questioningly at his captain.

"I want you to stay here with Allura. I'll go see what Sven wants."

"Keith..."

"I know."

Allura threw Keith a dirty look, but said nothing, not wanting to show Lotor the uneasiness in their relationship. She resented the fact that he still called Lance in to "protect" her although she had told him time and again that she could take care of himself. Keith caught her look and knew he was going to get an earful later on, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Two was always better than one. He had other things to worry about other than her safety now that Sven was obviously up to something. He went out the door, leaving Allura and Lance to iron out Lotor's treaty. Sven was right outside the door waiting for him.

"What's going on?" Keith asked.

"I tink I found something," Sven said. "I was walking around the town and I saw something land in the fields nearby."

"You couldn't get anyone else to go?" was the incredulous reply.

"It looked big, Keit. I didn't trust anyone else to come along. Pidge and Hunk are monitoring de shields to make sure dey stay stable and Lance...vell you know him."

Keith sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Alright. Lead the way."

Sven turned his back and walked towards the shadows where the black-haired woman waited. In the darkness, his eyes flashed red.