Never After

by Laurell K. Hamilton

  That caused the noise to intensify even more, but somehow Gisele’s cool voice cut across the clamor. “Not for another month,” my stepmother said. “You promised Olivia her period of betrothal.”

  Still in Darius’s arms, my feet ten inches off the ground, my eyes locked on the smiling face of my chosen fiancé, I desperately wished I had not negotiated such a concession from my father. But before I could recant, Norbert’s loud voice came from somewhere among the watchers.

  “The lad must take the princess to meet his family,” the old lord said. “It would be unseemly for her to marry him without such an introduction.”

  “I shall take you to meet my grandmother,” Darius said. Although everyone in the hall could hear him, he seemed to be speaking only to me. “Will you like that?”

  “Indeed, I think I will like anything you have to show me,” I replied breathlessly.

  “Excellent,” my father said. “You can leave in the morning.”

  I was delighted at the notion of wandering off in Darius’s company, so I was greatly displeased when Gisele’s voice once again made itself heard above the din. “She cannot travel alone through the kingdom with a man she has just met,” the queen said coldly. “The possibilities abound for misfortunes and errors in judgment.”

  “She is to marry him,” my father said. “There could be no scandal attached to any of their intimacies.”

  The very word made me blush and suddenly wish Darius would put me on my feet. As if he could read my mind, he set me down gently, but kept my hand in his, and planted a light kiss on my knuckles.

  “I think you are too sanguine,” Gisele said. “There must be a chaperone.”

  There was a movement in the crowd behind us, and a young woman stepped up beside me. I remembered her from the firelit circle two nights ago. “I will guarantee the groom’s good behavior,” she said. “I am Dannette Kent, and he is my brother. I will travel with the princess on this journey.”

  My father spread his hands. “There! All problems solved!” he said. “Let us retreat to the dining hall for a grand meal to commemorate this occasion.”

  3

  The Magical Journey

  My betrothed and his sister and I set out the very next morning, waving good-bye to the servants and friends who had gathered in the courtyard to see me off. My father was not among them. I had elected to travel without a maid, since, at dinner the night before, Darius had made some offhand comment about how tiresome it was to always be waiting for women to primp and beautify themselves.

  “Especially when they are already beautiful,” he had added, smiling at me.

  I had also considerably cut down on the amount of luggage I packed, though even so he had seemed astonished at the number of trunks and boxes I had brought to his campsite. Dannette had merely grinned. “Good thing there’s room in the wagon,” she said.

  I had not realized until that very moment that an ordinary farm wagon, and not a luxurious carriage, would be our method of transportation. It was relatively large and well built, with a raised tarp over the bed to shelter all of our possessions, but it was still a wagon. The bench up front was only long enough to hold the driver and one passenger, so someone would have to sit in back among the crates and bundles. When we first started out, Dannette volunteered to take that less desirable spot, and so I sat beside Darius and watched as the countryside unrolled around us.

  Which it did very slowly. It turned out that traveling in a heavily loaded wagon behind two horses could not be compared to traveling in a specially built coach pulled by a team. The road seemed rougher than I remembered, and much longer, though the lightly wooded countryside offered a pretty enough colorful autumn landscape. By nightfall we had made it no farther than a crossroads town that I had never bothered to stop at before because it was too close to the palace grounds.

  “This looks like as good a place as any to break for the night,” Darius said, and Dannette agreed. I thought glumly if I turned my head and squinted hard enough, I might be able to glimpse the turrets of the palace behind me.

  But what did I care how much ground we covered in a day? I had no particular eagerness to make our destination; I just wanted the chance to enjoy the company of my fiancé. In the wagon, it had not been so easy to talk to him as you might suppose, for we spent more of our energy surviving the jouncing than making conversation, and half the time Dannette took the reins while Darius sat in the back. I hesitated to admit it, but our first day of travel had teetered between boring and uncomfortable, and though I was resolved not to complain, I was glad to finally pull off the road.

  But I was shocked when we checked into a modest inn and Darius requested only a single chamber. “One room?” I hissed to Dannette while Darius paid the fee. “For all three of us?”

  She seemed surprised. “By the time we make it to my grandmother’s and back to the palace, we might be on the road ten days or more. We can hardly afford two or three rooms a night.”

  “We cannot?” I said blankly.

  I thought she was trying to hide a grin. “Well, Darius and I cannot. If you have brought lavish funds with you, I suppose you could reserve your own accommodations.”

  I stared at her. I hadn’t brought any money. I never did. Bills were always paid by footmen and servants. The proprietors this close to the palace would surely recognize my face, but once we made it another fifty miles down the road, would anyone believe me when I claimed to be Princess Olivia? Would they sell me goods on credit and send the bills to my father? Would he pay them?

  “No, no,” I said faintly. “I will share the room with you and Darius. We are supposed to be getting acquainted, after all.”

  Now her grin was definitely visible. “Nothing like a journey to find out everything you need to know about someone,” she said cheerfully.

  After this, I was not as surprised as I might have been to find we were dining in the taproom, and not a private parlor. Still, Darius’s charming smile—and perhaps a little extra magical persuasion—secured us our own table in the corner where we didn’t have to share trenchers with laborers, families, and local shopkeepers.

  “To my bride!” Darius toasted me with his beer while we waited for food to arrive.

  I’d never had beer before, my father considering it common, and I wrinkled my nose after the first sip. “I don’t like that so much,” I said. “It’s bitter.”

  Darius took a few hearty swallows. “Once you accustom yourself to the taste, you find that you like it quite well,” he said. “Plus it gives you a very pleasant”—he swirled his fingers over his blond curls—“feeling in your head.”

  Dannette laughed. “It takes a little longer to get drunk on beer than wine,” she interpreted. “But the effects are very similar. I would go slowly, if I were you.”

  I tried another sip. Hard to imagine coming to like this. “How many more days to your grandmother’s house?” I asked.

  Darius shrugged. “Four? Five? I rarely go straight there—or anywhere—so I’m not sure how long any journey lasts.”

  “Where do you live when you’re not traveling?” I said.

  Darius laughed. “I’m always traveling.”

  My eyes widened. “You don’t have a home? Anywhere? ”

  “Well, technically my grandmother’s house is mine, since the estate was my father’s and now belongs to me,” Darius said. “But I consider the wagon my true home. Everything I need I bring with me wherever I go.”

  I looked at Dannette. “What about you?” I demanded.

  She considered. I had the feeling she was trying to decide exactly how much of a particular story to tell me. “I would just as soon find a place and stay,” she finally said. “But the last place I lived eventually became unbearable. Which is why I have chosen to travel with Darius for a while. I’ll settle down when I find a situation that appeals to me.”

  My eyes were big again. “What made your last situation unbearable?”

  Darius leaned forward. “Scan
dals,” he whispered the atrically. “Accusations in the dead of night. Secrets.”

  I sat back in my chair, staring at Dannette. Who, after all, was this woman? When it came down to it, who was Darius? What did I know about either of them, really, except that they were attractive and friendly and eager to make the king’s daughter one of their family?

  She laughed ruefully and put a comforting hand on my arm. “Don’t let him tease you, Olivia. It is true that there was some turmoil attached to my last situation, but it was all personal and confined to a very few people. We are quite respectable.” She glanced at Darius and back at me, her face amused. This was a woman who found the world around her to be endlessly entertaining, and it was hard not to relax in her smiling presence. “And my brother has developed the most ridiculous infatuation for you. I have never seen him like this with any girl.”

  Now he was the one who was blushing and bashful. “It’s true,” he said. “I saw you the day before the joust. You had just come back from a ride, and your hair was all wild and your face was flushed. And when the groom helped you out of the saddle, you kissed your horse on the nose. I was never so charmed!”

  I laughed. “Oh, that was Bumblebee, my favorite mount!” I said. I had spent some time during today’s tedious journey wishing I were riding Bumblebee instead of sitting in the wagon. Of course, then I would not have had the opportunity to get to know Darius along the way.

  “I got the impression you did not enjoy the second trial that your father set up for your suitors,” Darius went on. “I suppose a girl who kisses horses doesn’t like to see dogs being beaten down by men.”

  “I know that these particular dogs are bred to fight, but no, I do not enjoy watching them. I never attend when my father holds matches on the palace grounds.”

  He smiled at me. His eyes were a misty gray, full of secrets and promises. “Then I am glad I was able to hold them off with magic instead of brute force,” he said.

  I smiled back, a little shy but sincere. “It was one of the things I liked a great deal about you,” I said. “You don’t seem to be a cruel man.”

  “Lord, I would hope I was never cruel!” he exclaimed in dismay.

  Dannette was laughing. “Darius has many faults, as I’m sure you’ll discover, but he’s simply never unkind,” she said. “He forgets things, sometimes on purpose—”

  “Hey!”

  “He dawdles, he develops a sudden passionate interest in the most boring topics, which he then expects you to appreciate, he refuses to be cowed by your anger and is always convinced he can wheedle his way back into your good graces—”

  “I always can.”

  “He is happy to share his time, his campfire, and his food with anyone who stumbles across his path, and he has never been on time for a single appointment he’s ever made. But he’s not unkind.”

  None of these traits sounded particularly bad to me, and I beamed at my happy-go-lucky betrothed. “I’m sure we will get along famously,” I said.

  * * *

  I was a tiny bit less certain of that sometime after midnight. We had settled into our rather small room, going to elaborate lengths to make sure we each had a semblance of privacy as we washed up and changed into sleeping clothes. Danette and I shared the only bed, which was narrower and much lumpier than the bed I had all to myself at home, while Darius claimed to be entirely comfortable on the floor. He must have been; he instantly fell asleep.

  And began snoring.

  It was not a great gusty snoring such as Sir Norbert inflicts on us when he’s fallen asleep during some long dinner or council meeting. The sounds were gentle and muffled, but they did not stop, and I was quite unused to having to listen to anyone even breathe. Meanwhile, Dannette was restless. She tossed and turned and murmured short, agitated phrases before subsiding again. It was a little surprising that someone who seemed so cheerful in her waking hours would betray such distress in her unguarded sleep.

  Well, obviously Dannette would not be sharing our room once Darius and I were married, and I supposed I would eventually get used to the snoring.

  I finally fell asleep, but morning came too soon, and Darius’s jovial manner was a little grating to me in my groggy state. Nonetheless, I endeavored to be pleasant company as we dressed, packed, and headed downstairs to eat a quick meal before taking off again.

  Harwin was awaiting us in the taproom.

  I saw him first, and I came to a dead stop. Darius actually stumbled into me; Dannette, who tended to pay more attention to things, managed to halt in plenty of time. From the corner of my eye, I could see her grinning again. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

  Harwin rose to his impressive height. His face and voice very grave, he said, “I, too, passed all your father’s tests. I, too, am eligible to be your bridegroom. So I, too, am going to take this opportunity to travel beside you and allow you to get to know me better.”

  Darius was nodding and smiling. He stepped forward to shake Harwin’s hand. “That sounds reasonable,” he said. “Have you ordered breakfast yet?”

  Harwin looked surprised at the easy welcome, while I was incensed. “Darius!” I hissed. “He is your rival! You should be angry that he would try to usurp your position and steal my affections!”

  Now Darius was the one to show surprise. “Well, if your affections can be stolen that easily, we won’t have a happy marriage anyway,” he said. “Besides, he’s right. He did pass the tests. He should have a chance to win your hand.”

  “He had a chance and I refused him. You should order him to leave this minute.”

  “I won’t,” Harwin said instantly. “If I can’t join your party, I’ll just follow you.”

  “See?” Darius said. “We may as well let him travel with us. We can’t stop him from coming along behind.”

  “Well, of course we can! You can! Put a spell on him! Make him forget he saw us here—make him believe there’s something urgent awaiting him back home. Do something.”

  Darius rubbed the back of his hand against his cheek and looked apologetic. “I don’t really do those kinds of spells,” he said.

  Dannette touched me on the arm. Now she was openly smiling. “I forgot to mention one of Darius’s other faults,” she said. “He never does what you tell him to.”

  I stared at her helplessly. “But—we can’t have Harwin traveling with us! I mean, how very odd! Not to mention I don’t want him coming along!”

  She moved past me to sit down at the table where Harwin had been waiting. “Nonetheless, I think he’s coming with us,” she said. “So let’s all have breakfast and then be on our way.”

  * * *

  I fumed throughout the meal, refusing to speak to any of them, not that any of them seemed to care. Harwin sat very stiffly, eating his meal with his usual formal manners. Dannette made some effort to draw him out, asking him about his estates and his family, to the point where I almost wanted to make a comment about how she should marry him if she found his assets so desirable. Darius chatted amiably, not seeming to notice that Harwin’s replies were as terse as civility would allow.

  Once the dreadful meal was over, we were finally on our way through more of the gently rolling countryside, all green melting into gold. I sat beside Darius on the seat of the wagon, while Dannette settled in back. Harwin, who had undertaken the journey on a very fine bay gelding, didn’t seem certain about the best way to proceed. At times he ranged ahead of us, but not too far, and he always came back to make sure we hadn’t tried to elude him by turning off on some minor road. At times he rode beside the wagon and attempted to talk with me, but I gave him only the briefest and most unencouraging replies. I could tell that, like me, he was finding our slow pace to be maddening—but, like me, he was more interested in the actual trip than the destination, so he managed to keep his impatience in check.

  I was a having a harder time maintaining a good-natured attitude, though I doggedly pursued my goal of getting to know Darius. Tell me about some of you
r adventures. When did you realize you had magical ability? What is your favorite kind of spell? He answered readily enough, but he was too preoccupied with the horses to go into great detail, so his stories were sketchy and a little flat. I tried to think of amusing anecdotes about my own life to share with him, but even to myself my tales of hunts and balls and celebrations sounded shallow and vain. Was it possible I was such a useless, uninformed creature that I couldn’t even come up with an hour’s worth of decent conversation?

  When we stopped for lunch at a small-town inn, Harwin made a point of sitting next to me and trying to draw me out, but I just sat at the table and brooded. If I was going to be a successful queen, not to mention an interesting wife, I would need to widen my experiences and broaden my mind.

  I wasn’t entirely sure how a person went about doing that, but I supposed that traveling around the kingdom was not a bad place to start.

  Shortly after we set out again after lunch, it started to rain.

  “Shouldn’t we pull over somewhere?” I asked Darius.

  He squinted at the sky and shook his head. “Looks like it’ll continue on like this for a few hours, so no point in trying to wait it out.”

  “We could stop at an inn somewhere,” I suggested.

  “Oh, I think we can make another ten miles or so today,” he said.

  “But I’m getting wet!”

  “Climb in back with Dannette,” he said. “If there’s room.”

  I swallowed a growl of exasperation and, when it was clear Darius was not going to stop the wagon for this maneuver, clambered over the bench with the bar est minimum of grace. The back of the wagon was a welter of boxes and bags and pillows and things—black kettles and dried plants and glass globes and loose shoes and walking sticks and what appeared to be a large collection of desiccated insects. The heavy tarp overhead, loosely stretched over curved wooden ribs, somewhat kept the rain at bay, but even as I pitched to my knees and felt around for an open space to sit, I could feel a few drops of rainwater seep through and fall into my hair.