Ysabel was sound asleep when her younger sister burst into her bedroom early the next morning, startling her awake.

"Ysabel! A letter from Court! For you!"

Her sister thrust the envelope into her face, causing her to shrink back a little. It took a few moments before she could blink her bleary eyes into focus.

"What?" Ysabel asked, feeling slow.

"A letter from Court!" her sister said excitedly, shaking the letter under Ysabel's nose. "Did you meet someone last night Izzy? Someone important? Maybe it's an invitation to another party. Maybe you'll meet some nobleman who wants to marry you!"

That made Ysabel sit up straight in bed. The prince had proposed to her last night! Surely he hadn't been serious. But . . . what if he had? Surely he was terribly insulted by her refusal—and the fact that she ran away as soon as he revealed himself.

Maybe that's what the letter was about. Maybe it was a chastisement. If she was lucky. She didn't know what she would do if she had endangered her father's position.

With a cold, sick feeling in her belly, she took the letter from her sister. She tore open the wax seal on the back, impressed with the Royal Arms, and slowly unfolded the paper within, dreading what it might say.

Dear Ysabel,

I wish to apologize for my behavior last night. My Lord High Chancellor warned me that I shouldn't go to the party in disguise—that people might feel tricked—but I didn't listen to him. I'm sorry if you felt deceived. I just wanted to see what people honestly thought of me. When you are a prince, there's no shortage of people who want to be your friend; when you're a nobody, however, you come by your friends honestly. I saw that last night. When I was nameless, you were the only person who came to my defense. Now, were I to fall, everyone would rush to help me and no one would laugh. Those people are false people. You, however, are genuine. I am glad to have met someone so genuine; I just wish that it had not required trickery on my part and I hope you will forgive me for it.

I talked to the Archivist this morning and he said he would be glad to have an apprentice. He's not very old, so you would not be looking at a promotion for a long time, but if you are still interested in the position, it is open to you whenever you would like. Just present yourself to the guard at the gate and tell them who you are and why you are there. Samis will be expecting you.

Kindest regards,

Astir, Princeps

That wasn't at all what she had been expecting.

Her sister looked like she could barely contain herself. "What does it say, Izzy? Who is it from?" she demanded.

"It's from the prince," Ysabel said, still surprised.

"The prince!" her sister exclaimed. "Did you meet him last night?"

"Yes." She didn't elaborate as to the circumstances of their strange meeting.

"And . . . does he want to meet you again? Did you make a good impression?"

Ysabel actually laughed, a little bitterly. "I don't know about that. But he is offering me an apprenticeship with the Archivist. I told him last night that I really liked history and that I would like to work with the Archivist."

"Oh, Izzy, he must have liked you if he gave you a job just because you asked!" her sister said, looking rather enraptured.

Ysabel wondered if that was true. He certainly seemed taken with her last night, but that was before she had turned him down and ran out on him. But . . . if he was still offering her the job—and apologizing for not revealing himself to her earlier—then maybe he still liked her. Or maybe he was just honorable and wouldn't retract an offer that had already been made.

She wasn't sure what to think about him. He was handsome and well-educated and his love of history certainly went a long way towards endearing him to her. But his sudden proposal after just meeting her was odd. And the fact that she was common-born when he had an entire court full of eligible young noblewomen to choose from made the situation even stranger.

Surely he hadn't really been serious. He must just have a strange sense of humor.

"Izzy?" her sister said, looking at her worriedly when she didn't speak. "Are . . . are you not excited? Don't you want the job?"

Ysabel considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I want the job."

"Then what's wrong?"

Ysabel smiled a little. "Nothing. I'm just a little surprised is all."


An hour later, Ysabel presented herself to the guard at the castle gate. She had the prince's letter to show that she had been invited, but she hoped she didn't have to show it to anyone. She felt that the prince's apology to her was something that ought to remain private, if at all possible.

But she was in luck; one of the guards recognized her.

"You're Hadrian's girl, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Here to see your dad?"

"No, actually, I'm here to see the Archivist." She consulted the letter, looking for the man's name. "Samis. I'm supposed to be his new apprentice."

"Oh, alright," the guard said cheerfully. He opened a small door set in the wall beside the large gates, which remained shut. "Go on in."

A little surprised, Ysabel went through the door—which the guard promptly closed after her. She wondered if someone had told the guards to expect her, or if they took her at her word because she was the daughter of their boss.

The other possibility was that now that the prince was no longer being kept from the outside world, coming and going from the castle might be less restricted in general.

Ysabel had been to the castle a few times over the course of her life, and while she knew the general layout, she didn't know where the library was—assuming that the Archivist was there. But she did know that she could find someone in the entrance hall who would know.

"Excuse me," she said to one of the guards standing just inside the door. "Can you tell me where to find the Archivist?"

"He's in the library, ma'am."

"And where is that?"

"Take the hall to the right," he said, pointing the way. "Follow it and it will make two left turns. You'll find the door to the library on your left. That's the only door on that wall, so you can't miss it."

"Thank you."

Ysabel walked silently across the plush woolen carpets, following the hallway as the guard instructed. It was quite a walk, as the hallway took her around the huge throne room where the party had been the night before. The library was obviously located behind it.

She found the library door without a problem, but hesitated. Should she knock? But she decided since it was a public room, knocking wasn't necessary, so she pulled open the door and walked in.

She was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of old books and she inhaled deeply, find the aroma rather heady. Other women might find flowers delightful, but Ysabel thought nothing smelled better than an old book. And the library was packed full of them. All along the back wall, there were bookcases set in rows three deep; books filled the shelves from floor to ceiling. Along the left-hand side, there was another row of cases, but these were divided into small cubbyholes, nearly all of which contained a roll of parchment. In the middle of the room was a long table—long enough to be a banquet table—with candelabras and scraps of parchment and ink and quills on it and chairs set all around. On half of the right-hand wall was a bank of three giant windows that nearly went from floor to ceiling. They looked out over a small flower garden that was completely enclosed by the other wings of the castle.

Ysabel was still looking around in wonder—the library was ten times the size of the one at the monastery—when a man who wasn't quite middle-aged came out of the stacks.

"May I help you?" he asked. His arms were full of books.

"I'm looking for Samis, the Archivist."

The man went to the table and dropped his stack of books on it. "You've found him."

"I'm Ysabel. Prince Astir. . ."

"Oh, yes," he said at once. "You're the one who's so interested in history."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, you've come at a good time." He patted the stack of books beside him. "Lord Fairway mentioned last night to His Highness that he wants to press a claim to the Barony of Sunrise Falls, since the previous baron died without issue a couple of weeks ago. I need to research the history of the barony—who it was given to and when and under what circumstances—then do a genealogical chart to see if there's anyone in the family who has a better claim. Or determine if the Lord is too far removed to have a proper claim, at which point the land will revert back to the Crown for His Highness to dispose of as he will. Which is what I think His Highness would prefer happen," he hinted.

"Isn't that a job for the genealogist?" Ysabel asked.

"Not really. He keeps up with the Royal Family, but not the rest of the nobles so much. Of course, they're marrying into or out of the family all the time, but you end up losing track of them sometimes for a few generations. Plus, we're looking at the history of ownership, which he doesn't track at all. But once we have a family tree reconstructed, he can help us determine which family lines have precedence—although I can figure that out most of the time by myself," he added. "He and I fill in for one another if we're sick or have to be away for any length of time. I'm not as good as him for complicated questions—like how many degrees removed two people are—and I don't know how to make his fancy family tree charts, but I can handle most questions."

They sat down at the table together and began looking through the books that Samis had selected. Samis filled Ysabel in on what he knew of the Barony and who the old baron had been, but, for the most part, they constructed a history of the barony and an ownership and genealogical chart from the tidbits they found in various books about the history of the kingdom and some of its noble families.

Ysabel lost all track of time as she skimmed through books—none of which had a table of contents or index—looking for references to the Barony of Sunrise Falls or the names of any of the people who had once owned it. She didn't even notice when the library door opened and someone walked in. It wasn't until Samis suddenly rose to his feet that she took her nose out of the book that she was reading.

Prince Astir was standing in front of the table, smiling at them—at her in particular.

She hastily put down the book and jumped to her feet, too.

"Are you so busy you can't stop for lunch?" Astir asked Samis.

"Is it lunchtime already, Your Highness? I hadn't been keeping up with the time."

Astir chuckled. "That doesn't surprise me in the least. Why don't you go to the kitchen to get us something to eat?"

"Do you want something as well, Your Highness?" Samis asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes, please. I will take my lunch here with you."

Samis hurried out, leaving Astir and Ysabel alone.

Astir sat down in the chair at the end of the table, nearest Ysabel, then gestured for her to sit as well. "I'm glad to see you took me up on the offer," he began.

She smiled a little, feeling nervous, and slowly sat down. She still wasn't sure if he was going to chastise her or not. "It would be silly of me to say I wanted the job, then not take it when you offered," she replied.

"I thought you might be too mad at me to take it."

She shook her head. "I'm not mad, Your Highness. It is I who must apologize to you for what I said last night."

"You said nothing which wasn't true."

"But . . . I said things that I shouldn't have said to you." Dear gods, had she really told him that he was silly? And she had called him strange!

He reached out and took her hand. "Ysabel, you don't understand. You spoke to me as if I'm a normal person. You spoke like . . . like a friend would. Friends can say things like that to one another. Friends can be honest. I don't have any friends, though. I grew up surrounded by people at court—people who do things for me just because I'm the prince. I don't know if they like me or not. I don't know if they're nice or just do something because I might reward them. People hide their real selves when they're around royalty. That's why I wanted to hide my identity last night; for just a little while, I wanted to be a regular person."

Ysabel felt her heart constrict. She didn't know what it was like to grow up so alone. She had three younger sisters who were all close in age, so she never lacked for playmates. And on their street, there were lots of girls and boys to play with, and later, when she went to school, she made even more friends.

Prince Astir had not only grown up an orphan—like many other children of their generation—but he had also grown up without the comfort of others who understood. He was prized above all else because he was their only heir to the throne, but he wasn't prized as an individual.

"I understand," she said quietly.

"Do you?" he asked, his eyes pleading.

She nodded.

He smiled—a warm smile that made her like him all the more—then he raised her hand to his lips, slowly kissing it. The way he did it made her blush.

"So, do you think you'll like the job?" he asked, releasing her hand with some reluctance.

"Oh, yes," she said eagerly.

"What are you working on?" he asked, eying all the books and their pile of notes.

"We're researching the Barony of Sunrise Falls."

"Oh, yes. Lord Fairway wants it. But I don't think he has a legitimate claim on it."

"What will you do if he doesn't?"

"I'll take it back. I have plans for it."

"What?" she asked, curious. It was only after she spoke that she realized she probably shouldn't question the prince's business like that. But if her impudence annoyed him, he certainly didn't show it.

"I thought I'd make it a wedding gift for my bride. I've been told it's the most beautiful place in the kingdom, so what better gift?"

Ysabel was at a complete loss for words. Who was this bride he spoke of? Had he just been teasing about wanting to marry her last night? Did he already have someone else in mind?

He leaned closer to her. "Remember that you asked."

She was confused. "I asked?"

"Yes. You asked what I planned to do with it, and I was honest and told you. So don't accuse me of trying to bribe you again. I would have kept it a surprise if you hadn't asked." He gave her a teasing smile.

"A-are you talking about me?" she asked, flabbergasted. The idea that he would give her her own piece of land—a barony, no less—in addition to making her his queen seemed far too much. He had already given her the job she most wanted. Why did he keep offering to heap rewards on her that she had no right to expect?

"Of course I am," he laughed. "How many women do you think I proposed to last night?"

"I . . . thought you might be joking. Or . . . that you would be angry because I left."

"I would never joke with a woman about a marriage proposal," he said seriously. "That is beyond dishonorable and hurtful. And I'm certainly not angry because you walked out on me; I deserved it after what I did."

She shook her head. "I didn't leave because I was angry. I-I was ashamed of what I had said," she mumbled, looking at her hands in her lap. "And I was afraid you would be angry with me."

"It seems that we both assumed the wrong thing about the other person. Maybe we should make a fresh start." He stood up and took her hand in his, bowing over it and kissing it with a courtier's politeness. "If you will permit me to introduce myself, I am Prince Astir of Hyrule. And you are?"

She chuckled, then she rose to her feet and gave him a very proper curtsey. "I am honored to meet you, Your Highness. I am Ysabel, daughter of Hadrian, the captain of your guard."

"The pleasure is all mine my lady," he said, kissing her hand again—his lips lingering against her skin longer than was strictly necessary.

Samis walked in a moment later, a servant carrying food trailing behind him. He stopped and looked at the two of them with surprise. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, Ysabel; I didn't think to introduce you."

Astir laughed. "Quite alright. I think we're properly introduced now." He glanced at her, his blue eyes twinkling. She smiled at him in return.