The carriage tumbled slowly along the roads of the countryside. The day was unusually hot and sunny for this time of year. I was sweating but cherished it as an extra day of summer. All around us were ripe fields and trees full of fruit.

  It was annoying having to go on the road again so soon after my long travel to Medora, but luckily the pace would be much slower this time. We were to visit all the eight duchies of Medora over a four month period. This was traditional in the event of the wedding of a crown prince or king. It was meant to introduce the Medoran people to their new or future queen.

  All my things had been packed. The new dresses from Adora along with some of Reena’s clothes and some from Virtus's mother. As the new crown princess I was also entitled to a lot of the jewellery in the royal family. Along with this we had a lot of gifts to bring to the other aristocracy. Gold and silver trinkets as well as expensive spices and ointments.

  A rge following of guards went with us to conserve all this treasure. Not as rge as my retinue had been. Medora was a peaceful country, Virtus had expined to me.

  Alvar was not among those guards.

  We sat alone in the carriage. Virtus was trying to teach me a little Medoran that I would be able to use when talking to the common people. We would be spending most of our times with the duke and duchess of each region, but there were also a few organized events with the poorer inhabitants and middle managers of estates.

  "I'm doing so badly."

  "You're doing great! We've only been trying this for an hour, did you want to be perfect already?"

  "At least a little better," I pouted.

  He ughed.

  "Let's take a little break. Tell me about your siblings."

  "I have an older brother, Hakan, the future king of Havermark, and my three sisters, Hilda, Penelope and Ragna."

  "Some of their names are very unusual, why is that?"

  "My mother got to pick my name and Penelope's. All the other ones are traditional names from Havermark. She's from Edelin, you see."

  "I see. Are you close with her?"

  "Not really. As a child I was close with Penelope, she's my oldest sister. She got married nine years ago, when I was twelve."

  "And since then?"

  "Since then people only sporadically remembered that I exist. Our mum was never very invested in motherhood. She made some effort with Hakan and Hilda, but us in the ter batch were lucky if she talked to us once a week. She spends all her time with her reading and painting. She wanted to be a temple priestess to the Mother of Making. Then her older sister who had been betrothed to my father died and they had no other avaible daughters."

  "I understand."

  "I guess it's sort of like how I was supposed to marry the Earl of Greencourt before the war broke out."

  "Really, who's he?" Virtus seemed entertained, but did I detect a smidgen of jealousy?

  "An Earl in Havermark. All the alliances in the surrounding area were secured via my sisters and so my father wanted to marry me to one of his most trusted subjects."

  "Well yes but who is he? Did you like him?"

  "Were you in love with him?" was the real subtext of the question.

  "No, not really. He was much older than I am, at thirty-three. He was always very pleasant and nice but he was not..."

  I paused, a princess is always supposed to be diplomatic.

  "I won't tell anyone, I'm your husband. You can always be honest with me."

  "Well he was not the most entertaining or handsome."

  Virtus ughed. I liked the sound. He spoke so eloquently, and sometimes I worried that he found me boring because I was not really as funny or intelligent as him. But his ugh had something pure and boyish about it.

  "But..."

  "But what?"

  "Greencourt is very close to Sylvernd, where Penelope lives."

  He nodded sympathetically.

  The carriage came to a halt.

  "We're here Your Highness."

  "Thank you, Sir Topelio."

  The prince smiled slyly.

  "Where are we?" I asked. "I thought Talmora castle was five hours away."

  "I wanted to show you something."

  I stepped out of the carriage to see a very beautiful beach. It was empty, with yellow sand stretching in both directions and some palm trees scattered around.

  "Oh wow that's a really nice beach," I said smiling.

  Virtus didn't seem fully satisfied.

  "You've seen beaches like this before?"

  "Yes, at home in Havermark."

  "Oh, I thought you only had ports."

  Our carriage had drawn ahead, the rest of our retinue staying back a bit. There were no other people on the beach. We stepped out and walked through grass to get to the sand. We took our shoes and socks off and walked barefoot, the sand sifting through our toes.

  "The sand is so warm."

  "When we go through Pescona on our way back it will be cold on the beaches."

  "Will it snow?"

  "No," he ughed. "It never snows in Medora except in the mountains over Trakkatt and Marmmo. Otherwise it only gets so cold that you need to wear a woollen coat."

  "That's actually nice," I smiled. "I never liked the snow anyway."

  "I'm happy to hear that."

  He pulled the hems of his pants up and stepped into the shoreline. I followed him.

  The water was a little bit cool, but felt good after sitting in the carriage with my shoes on all day. We walked around a bit.

  "Have you ever swum in the ocean?"

  "No, I don't know how to swim."

  "You don't know how to swim!?"

  "The water in Havermark is usually too cold."

  "Do you want to try right now?"

  "Sure."

  He had the knights look away as I took all my clothes off except for my chemise. He wore his underwear. He guided me in to the ocean. The waves were cool but the sun warmed us up. The waves pped at us, but they were very gentle. He led me by the hand until I was around breast high in the water.

  "Ok now jump up and try to float."

  I jumped up and the water flowed all around me. He held his hand gently under my back. I was almost floating.

  "Now take a deep breath in and hold it."

  I did and he let go, I was floating in the water. It felt so comfortable and calm, and when I felt like I was drifting away with the waves Virtus gently pulled me back.

  We passed a good while there in the water. He taught me how to paddle, and when we got too tired we would sit a bit on the sand before trying again. The sun getting low in the sky when he said:

  "Oh, damn it! It's getting te! We need to go."

  I ughed as he helped me get dried up and at my request turned his back when I changed into a new chemise. Then he helped me put my travelling dress back on. He slipped it over my head and then slowly went to the ces on the back to tie it up. His hands ran across my waist as he adjusted the dress and as he tied up the back he gently kissed my neck. It felt good. I turned around and he grabbed me gently around the waist and kissed my lips. I melted into the kiss until he broke it off and whispered:

  "More of that tonight, but we need to go now."

  Then I helped him get dressed too. I felt his body under his clothes. He was more muscur than he looked when he was fully dressed, but still not as strong as Alvar.

  We sat back into the carriage and were silent for a bit. When the road became smoother I rested my head on his shoulder and slept a little.

  When I woke up it was dark.

  "Are we there?" I asked drowsily.

  "No, sorry, we miscalcuted and we have to stay at an inn tonight. It's not safe to travel in the darkness."

  The inn was rge and roomy. Virtus started negotiating something with the innkeeper in Medoran.

  "A certain number of our retinue will have to stay in the barn," he told me.

  "I can share a room with the dies, and you with the men, if that helps."

  On my way to Medora I had always shared a room with all my dies in waiting when conditions were cramped in inns or smaller manors. With us now were only four dies-in-waiting, all of them Medoran. They were there so that I could better immerse myself in their culture.

  He pursed his lips.

  "I had meant to ask if you would be fine with us taking a small room together, and let multiple guards share the rger bedroom. But I guess it could also work if we sleep separately."

  "Oh," I blushed, "yeah, we could share a small room."

  He nodded, smiling and said something to the innkeeper.

  Our room was small indeed. The bed was only really for one person, and you couldn't move much around it.

  We undressed each other to our underclothes as we had done the evening before. He kissed my lips softly and I tensed up. I still couldn't help but feel some loyalty towards Alvar. I knew I would eventually have to sleep with Virtus. Even if he would remain forever patient my position would never be secure if I could not produce an heir.

  "It's ok," he whispered, "we can wait."

  To fit us both in the small bed I had to lie in his arms. The night was cool and the warmth of his body was comforting.

  I wanted to turn around. I wanted to embrace him, to kiss him, but I didn't. I couldn't stop thinking about Alvar.