Sabina sat in the garden under the grape trellis where she and Johan had first discussed the incident with the werewolves. Though it had happened just that spring, it felt like an eternity had passed. Maenad and Johan were gone. Peewit was making plans to follow Johan, leaving her alone to face her betrothed. She stared at the ground. Where flower petals had been, now there were fallen leaves, their warm colors contrasting with her black slippers and sky blue dress. Though she was not far along enough to show yet, it was high waisted and voluminous. Her hair was hidden under a wimple and jeweled circlet bearing the family crest.

She still felt numb from the events of the past few days. She'd begged her uncle to reconsider, to let him stay in spite of everything, but it was no use. Three days ago, he had been escorted out of the castle, banished for the dark half of the year. Maenad had left sometime in the night, talking her things and the pony she had threatened to eat when he was first given to her. No one knew where she was going; the castle guards let her pass without question. The King and Dame Barbara didn't seem to care so long as she was finally gone, but Sabina wished she could at least say goodbye. She was allowed a chance to say goodbye to Johan, very briefly and under close supervision. It was the only time she had ever seen him cry.

"Sabina, where are you?" a familiar, shrill voice called her name, taking her away from those sad memories.

"Here I am, in the garden."

"Prince Andrew and his parents have arrived to meet with you. Come inside at once; it's wet out there and you'll stain your dress!"

"Yes, Dame Barbara."

They were waiting in the throne room, having a lively discussion with her uncle.

"So you see, we completely understand about this bit of trouble. Andrew still cares very deeply about her, even if she is…uh, compromised, and he wants noting more than for this marriage to work out...don't you, son?" Andrew gave a half hearted smile, but he looked about as excited to be there as Sabina did. His face lit up with relief when she entered the room and he rushed to take her hand, kissing it politely.

"Princess, you look well."

"Thank you," she whispered. She didn't feel well.

"See how happy they look," Queen Maud lied. King Pepin did not look convinced.

"So it's agreed then, the wedding will continue! We will need to amend the date, I'm sure the prince and princess will want to be wed before the baby arrives…" King Randolph said cheerfully.

"I…don't know…Can't we give this some time...wait until spring, maybe?..." Pepin offered.

"Spring? You can't be serious!"

"Father? I'd like to speak with Princess Sabina before we settle anything. You did say this would be my choice in the end."

"Go ahead, my dear, go ahead and say what you need to," Maud replied. Randolph looked annoyed.

"I'd like to speak with her in private, if I may," Andrew clarified.

"Of course. This is a big decision that can't be taken lightly. You can take her to the garden," Pepin said.

"Fine. Though I don't see what there is to discuss." Randolph said flatly. Pepin raised an eyebrow. Andrew hurried to the garden, still holding Sabina's hand.

"I read your uncle's letter to my parents," Andrew whispered before Sabina had a chance to speak. They both knew they were being watched.

"I'm sorry, Prince Andrew. I should have been honest with you from the beginning."

"Oh, I understand why you did what you did. I'm a little impressed, actually, pulling off a disguise like that. You're not the only one who's being pressured to marry against their will. I don't want to get married either, to anyone. My parents are afraid they'll never have an heir…as far as they're concerned, your 'condition' is a blessing in disguise."

Sabina smiled in spite of herself.

"You told me you were in love with someone else, is that still true?"

"It is. And that's why I wanted to talk to you away from them. I don't need to guess you are in love with someone else as well?"

"I am. Very much so. But he's gone now…"

"He'll be allowed back eventually, yes? And your uncle mentioned he was a prince also."

He did? Her heart soared a little.

"I don't want to have a miserable wife who resents me. What's more, I don't want to take you away from someone you love, especially since you're carrying his child. If I were forced away from my love like that, it would tear us apart."

"So you're going to tell your parents to end the betrothal?"

"I am. But you've seen how insistent they are. I wanted to hear your feelings about this, and I need you to stand behind me. Reject me, like you've always wanted," he said with a dramatic flourish and a reassuring smile.

"Oh, thank you!" She threw her arms around him, taking the prince by surprise.

Sir Edelhart returned to his manor house on the far Eastern border of King Gerard's land. It had originally belonged to his late wife's family, but now it was home to only Edelhart, the steward and his wife, and a small group of servants who kept it in good repair during the knight's frequent absences.

Not that there would be any more of those. After Yvette died, he yearned to escape this place filled with her memories, and he did so as soon as his son was fostered out to the King. Now, with his adventures ended permanently by a crippled leg, he spent his days in front of his hearth in the chambers where she died eleven years earlier.

He had planned to bring Johan here, as this land and this house would be his responsibility someday, but now even that seemed uncertain. The banishment was only temporary, thank God, but what was going to happen after that? He was still angry with his son, but that anger was tempered with concern. Edelhart had volunteered to be the one to escort him as far as the small river that wound around Hauvon's border. He dreaded the thought of watching his son ride off, condemned to the same hard life he himself had lived so long ago, but instead it was watching his son's heart break on the way to the river that proved to be the hardest thing to see. Even the thought of being a grandfather depressed him when he remembered there was a chance the princess was going to be married to someone else after all. His hopes for the future had slipped away before his eyes, leaving the past to close in on him like the growing shadows of evening. Alone again, after all these years.

A knock on the door summoned him from his thoughts. He reached to the side of his chair, looking for his sword, but finding only his cane. He remembered belatedly that he had given the sword to Johan before they'd parted ways; he would need it more than Edelhart did.

"What is it?"

"You have, uh, a visitor. She says she knows you."

"Who would be out at this hour?" He hesitated. "You said it's a woman? What does she call herself?"

"She calls herself Lady Wilczyca, and she's a foreigner, sire. She speaks the language of the Slavs but I got out of her that she thinks you knew her family during your last campaign. It's very strange, though. She's all alone, no servants, no escort, not even a horse, just a pony."

Wilczyca. She-wolf. Who else would come here uninvited in the middle of the night?

"Should I send her away?"

"No. No…invite her in. I know Lady Wilczyca. Her family died a long time ago."