Caitlin swallowed, running a hand over her face. “I’m sorry,” Sorry my grandfather kidnapped you? Sorry he threatened to murder your infant daughter? “I’m sorry that happened to you,” she said in a quiet voice.

“There’s no need to apologize, Princess. You had nothing to do with it, and if not for the King and Queen, I wouldn’t be standing here with you.”

“What did you do with the book?” Christiansen asked.

“We burned it not long after.”

“They always told me he died of a broken heart and Nicholas was killed by an assassin from Merakaresh,” Caitlin said. “Why would they lie about that?”

Upstairs, the front door flung open and someone rushed inside. “Mother? Are you here?”

“I’m fine, Helen. We’re down here.”

Unwilling to accept that as sufficient evidence of her mother’s safety, Helen raced downstairs and embraced Edith. “Praise Arakhum you’re okay. They told me the village was attacked and a knight kidnapped the Princess.” Much like her mother, Edith was tall and looked full of wisdom, and they shared the pale-blonde hair.

“We were attacked, yes, but that was a diversion. Helen, this is Princess Caitlin Faraday and Sir Jamie Christiansen. They helped save Eldaroon.”

Helen turned, finally acknowledging their presence. Based on what happened twenty years ago, Caitlin expected a punch in the face. Instead, Helen bowed. “I thank you both for saving our village. What luck for us to be graced by the heroism of two peerless knights. I could never dream of becoming a knight; all those years of training and discipline must take incredible will and intelligence.”

Caitlin almost laughed. She needed a moment to collect herself before summoning her snarkiest voice. “It’s a wonder Sir Christiansen qualified, then,” she flashed him a smile and winked. He gave her a roll of the eyes in kind.

“Helen, why don’t you fetch some wine for our heroes? Ask Mr. Vak if he has any lying around, make sure to tell him it’s for Sir Christianen and Princess Caitlin. We can all celebrate.”

“Excellent idea!” she nodded. “I’ll be right back!”

Caitlin waited until she was certain they were alone before revealing the truth. “A week ago, my grandmother, Queen Abigail visited me. She wanted me to meet her at the Imanese Mountain. Did King Edward succeed in bringing her back to life?”

“Impossible to say, but if he did, I must warn you that she is not the same person she was in life.”

“Then we have to go to the King and Queen now,” Christiansen said. “We don’t know what else she has planned, but they might know what to do.”

“No,” Caitlin said. “We can’t put anyone else in danger. As far as we know, my grandmother only wants me. Involving anyone else is just putting them in danger. In fact, we should leave now. Before she sends anymore bandits to attack the village.”

Caitlin gave Christiansen and Malcot permission to take her on the road. Having saved Eldaroon from the giant man-golem, they were free to continue their journey amid the sunshine and calls of fauna that surrounded the village.

Truthfully, the Princess had an ulterior motive for not informing the King and Queen of their objective. Of course, protecting innocent lives was her top priority, but they’d never let their precious daughter join them on a quest to confront an undead Queen. If anything, they’d force her to remain in the castle until the end of time for her ‘protection’. This was her adventure, her chance to prove herself to her parents and the world, and Caitlin wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip away.

Continuing to dwell on what might be only made her question herself. She needed to focus on something pleasant, like teasing Christiansen about his mystery woman. The topic lost focus due to recent events, but now that Caitlin had a free moment to take all the evidence into consideration, her identity slowly took form.

Christiansen claimed that he was in love with a woman who lived near Skystead and held a job of significance to the people of Amorado. He first met this woman five years earlier in his grandparents’ bakery, where she overpaid for a strawberry pastry. Despite his chronic shyness, he claimed he not only saw her, but spoke with his mystery woman several times after the fateful encounter, with greater skill and finesse than Caitlin would believe. It wasn’t Lilith, and it wasn’t his partner Claire, that left one candidate.

Caitlin was the mystery woman. Christiansen had a crush on her.

Every piece of information he shared about the mystery woman was true, when examined from a certain angle. He likely kept a keen eye out for her when her family made public appearances throughout the years, and they’d conversed quite a lot since the start of their journey. If one assumed Caitlin was the mystery woman, Chrsitiansen spoke to her without fainting or devolving into a stuttering mess. By what she could extrapolate about his social skills, he was doing very well.

The critical piece of evidence was the story of the first encounter. Caitlin recalled a family trip into town four or five years ago where she stole a King’s Medallion from Mother to purchase sweets. She also remembered the vendor was a sweet boy around her age that, when she thought about it, resembled Christiansen and the boy in the painting. The earnestness, the awkward charm, the sheepish smile; it had to be him. He fell for her that day, and had been infatuated ever since. Just considering the truth she always wanted made her feel lighter than an Autumn breeze, like a legion of butterflies overtook her stomach. It was almost too good to be true.

But only because she could use the information to take the torment to new depths, obviously.

She also needed to consider his feelings on the subject. How would he react if she implied she knew about his feelings? She assumed she’d get something close to joy beyond words, but there was a possibility, however unlikely, that he might interpret things differently. What if he assumed it to be another practical joke at his expense? Oh, Christiansen, you uncultured, brutish philistine, how could you think someone so noble and beautiful would ever consider you as a partner? Your ineptitude with women cannot be encapsulated in our limited vocabulary! Arakhum on High, she hated the idea of ruining their relationship over stupid jokes.

“You seem a bit quiet,” Christiansen said in an uncharacteristically dower tone. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” Caitlin said. “Is everything okay with you?”

“I was thinking about the Queen,” he continued. “To have to kill your own father after he killed your brother...I can’t imagine what that’s like. I’m sorry that happened to your family, Caitlin.”

“Don’t be. If she hadn’t, he’d have killed my parents and transformed Amorado into his own personal empire. When you consider the alternative, I’d say everything turned out well enough. My uncle’s passing notwithstanding.”

“Is that why you’re doing this? To be like them?” Christiansen asked.

She was surprised he pieced it together and that he had the courage to ask something rather personal. “Yes. I want to prove I’m worthy of their legacy. It’s something those with a dearth of courage such as yourself can’t understand,” she joked, but ever since she was young, Caitlin admired her parents' temerity in the face of King Edward’s reign of tyranny. They weren’t just fearless warriors and brilliant commanders; to stand up for what you know is right like they did, few embodied such heroism. People of lesser courage would’ve sat by and allowed the cruelty to fester, too afraid to stand against the darkness. It was why Caitlin was here, why she needed to prove herself in their eyes. One successful journey wasn’t going to solidify her in the annals of history, but it was a good first step.

“Caitlin, there’s something I need to tell you. I don’t know how you’re going to react, but I have to tell you.”

She slipped off Malcot mid-trot, excitement almost bursting out of her. “I need to look you in the eyes when you tell me. I need to see your reaction when you finally tell me the big news.”

Christiansen brought his horse to a halt and dismounted, but instead of the blushing terror she loved, he was distressed, almost disturbed. Her mounting joy began to dwindle as he approached, and only took a further hit when the knight said: “I think we should go back to the castle.”

How quickly Christiansen made her regret her kind thoughts. “Again with this nonsense?”

“I know that this is important to you, and it’s even more important now. But I think it’s best if we return to the King and Queen to tell them about what Edith told us,” Christiansen said. “If we carefully explain the situation, I think they’ll understand and they’ll send the King’s Battalion to investigate.”

She conceded to feeling a touch of disappointment. Not only because he failed to rise above his fears, but also because he once again called into question her ability as a warrior yet again. They’d been over this, and Caitlin proved repeatedly that she was the superior combatant. If anything, Christiansen’s presence only served to hamper her because she worried about him!

“I believe you took a few too many blows to the head from that golem,” Caitlin said calmly. “But just to remind you, yet again, I saved your life. I bested you when we first met, so why do we need to have this conversation again?”

“When Caimal attacked that monster, you told her she was acting rashly, that she was going to get herself hurt.”

She crossed her arms and tsked. “I appreciate that I’m being compared to a child.”

His jaw muscle tensed. “I know you’re an amazing warrior, Caitlin, but if we go to the Imanese Mountain to confront Queen Abigail, I don’t know what’s going to happen. She hired the White Hand to kill you and most likely has some sort of magical ability, meaning we don’t know what she’s capable of. This is nothing either of us were prepared to fight.”

“So, what? I’m nothing more than a pampered brat who needs other people to fight her battles for her? Princess Faraday is just some stupid damsel who needs to be rescued by the gallant Sir Christiansen, is that it?”

“Because I don’t know if I’ll be able to protect you!” he finally snapped. “Have you thought about how your parents would feel if something happened to you? Or your sister? Do have any idea how devastated they’d be if you got hurt, or worse? Can you think about someone other than yourself for a second?”

Christiansen put his hand over his mouth. For what felt like several, interminable days, the two stood considering each other. After carefully processing his objection and everything she learned about him to that point, the meaning of his words was dragged into the light.

“Caitlin, I...I didn’t mean to say that. That was incredibly stupid. I’m sorry”

“I see,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “I understand what’s going on here.”

“What?”

“You think that because you failed to save your parents, you need to protect me to redeem yourself.”

He could only stare at her.

“Mairead told me about your parents. She told me about your mother, how you journeyed all the way to Hetrin to enslave yourself to some doctor to try and save your father, how you blame yourself for not being able to protect him,” Caitlin said. “But you don’t, Christiansen. You don’t need to protect me, and you don’t need to live with this bizarre sense of guilt. I know they were your parents, and I’m sorry about what happened to them, but how can a teenager, or anyone else, be expected to stop people from dying? It’s irrational and stupid. And why on earth do you wield your father’s sword? How much have you spent repairing it just to honor him?”

She cut herself off when she sensed something in Christiansen snap. His hands were fisting and unfisting, his jaw was tightened, and the look of confusion had morphed into anger; bitter, untrammeled anger directed squarely at her.

“I-I can see I was wrong to say that.”

“Whatever you wish to say about me, I don’t care, but don’t ever think you can disrespect my parents or my family,” the weariness in his voice was gone, replaced with the growl of unchecked rage. “My father dedicated his life to this country. If I could’ve given my life for him, that’d be a worthy sacrifice, because he’s twice the warrior you or I will ever be. You don't know what loss is," his eyes softened, and she briefly saw the sadness that simmered beneath, the grief that left him hollow and helpless. But only for a moment. He jammed his index finger in her face and said: “You have no idea.”

Caitlin couldn't breath as Christiansen walked to Malcot with a measured stride. She felt like he just punched her in the stomach with his gauntlet-covered fist. Her cheeks were alight with shame as she replayed the expression of his anger. That outburst, she realized, was only a portion of his self-hatred; a glimpse at the cold venom that enveloped him and ate away at his spirit day after day. Because he failed to protect his parents, she realized, anyone close to him was at risk of suffering the same fate. Christiansen fundamentally believed he was unworthy of his mystery woman, or any other woman, because he felt he couldn't protect her. The knowledge squeezed her heart, but thinking back to all the time she spent needling him made her feel sick. Arakhum on High, to be forced to tolerate that unceasing mockery just because her parents were the King and Queen…

She expected to see the horse turn around and stoll straight past her to Eldaroon, or somewhere that was at least one thousand miles away from anyone with the last name Faraday. Part of her almost hoped he’d abandon her, as she wouldn’t have to confront the fact that she just deeply wounded her friend. And if Malcot kicked her in the head as a parting gift, that’d be okay.

But he hadn’t moved yet.

For some reason, Caitlin reflected on all the times Mother was angry with her over a disobeyed order or some prank she executed. Laughing it off was easy because she knew the Queen would never be angry at her for long. Whatever punishments followed, going to bed without supper, being restricted to her room for a day, were inconveniences at best. Soon after, everything returned to normalcy and they fell into their usual dynamic.

Had she always been this inconsiderate?

“No,” she thought. “This is the exception. A terrible exception, but an exception.”

Caitlin forced herself to move forward. After she climbed onto Malcot’s saddle, Christiansen clicked the horse's side with his boot. In the distance, a bird whistled as the wind picked up.