He saw her at the same moment. He stopped, and Una could not see his face in the shadows. Drawing her bedgown more tightly around her, she waited for him to either come or go.
“Preeowl?” Monster loped ahead of her, scampering to Aethelbald’s feet. The Prince knelt down and stroked the cat’s head, murmuring something that Una could not hear. Monster flicked his tail and gave several chattering squawks. Then he dashed off into the bushes as though he’d suddenly heard a mouse. Una felt abandoned by her pet as Aethelbald straightened and continued up the path to her.
“Princess,” he greeted her, and she prepared for the questions – “What are you doing here? Why are you up at this hour?”
But instead he said, “I am leaving.”
Leaving? Her brows drew together, and she clenched her fists as she wrapped her arms about herself. Somehow Una could think of nothing to say.
“I must go at once,” he said.
Slowly she nodded. Aethelbald showed no sign of making good his word and dashing off immediately but stood a long while in silence before her. At last Una managed to whisper, “Why?”
“One of mine is threatened,” he said, “far away south. The danger has been mounting, but soon it will be unbearable. I must go before it is too late.”
“Do . . . do as you must, Prince Aethelbald.” Una looked down at her feet and drew another shaky breath. The pain in her hands was agonizing. She thought she might scream.
Aethelbald reached out and took one of her hands. This time she did not pull it back but allowed him to turn it palm up. The burns showed ugly in the moonlight. Gently Aethelbald touched the wounds, and though something in Una urged her to run as far away as she could, she stood silent, unmoving. His touch was soothing, and some of the terror of her dream withdrew.
“Una,” he said gently, “I do not want to leave you. I go because I must.”
Again she tried to speak, but her tongue was thick in her mouth. Her frown deepened, and her fingers curled as though forming claws.
“I will return to you.”
She took a step back, but he did not release his hold. Setting her chin, she tried to drag her arm back, but still he held on. Then her eyes flashed and she glared up at him. “I . . . I don’t want you to return!”
She regretted the words the moment they left her mouth. But they were gone beyond recall now. Hurt flickered over the shadows of his face, but he held her hand just a moment longer.
“Nevertheless, I will come back for you.”
His eyes were kind, but they frightened her. Why had she thought to venture out alone at night? What could possibly have possessed her? Some idiotic dream? The images flooded out of her mind as swiftly as they had flowed in, and she was left feeling deeply embarrassed, conscious only that she stood in the moonlight before the last man in the world with whom she wanted to stand in moonlight.
“Please, Una,” he said, “let me tend your hurts before I go. . . .”
She hauled her hand away and backed up so fast that she stepped on the edge of her bedgown, nearly pulling herself down. The hem ripped, long and loud, and she knew she would be in for another scolding from Nurse when the damage was discovered. Angrily she snapped, “I have no hurts, Prince of Farthestshore! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I am perfectly well, my hands are perfectly well, all would be perfectly well if only you would leave a girl alone for once! Can’t I even take a stroll without you hounding my footsteps? Go already, if you’re going to! I wish you’d gone ages ago! I wish . . . I wish you’d never come!”
Tears sprang to her eyes and dripped down her cheeks, and she just knew he could see them. Dragons eat him! She whirled about to go, but even as she rushed toward the garden door, she heard the crunch of his boots on the gravel as he hastened up beside her.
“Una,” he said, and put out an arm to block her path. Aethelbald did not touch her, but she drew back as though bitten. “I love you, Una,” he said. “I will return to ask for your hand. In the meanwhile, please don’t give your heart away.”
The next moment, he was gone.
Una stood alone by the garden door, gazing out across an empty garden. In the east, the sky was just beginning to lighten, though many stars gleamed overhead.
She returned to her stuffy chamber and crawled back into bed. Before falling asleep, she glanced at her hands. There was not a mark to be seen. Burying her face in her pillow, she fell asleep.
–––––––
Hours later, the Prince of Farthestshore and his three knights were gone. When Una made what she hoped were disinterested inquiries over breakfast, her father informed her that Aethelbald had taken his leave of Fidel the evening before and set out from Oriana before dawn.
“I guess you finally drove him off,” Felix said, glumly stirring his oatmeal.