They began to walk along the well groomed path.  Ildri felt distinctly uneasy in the silence.  She just wanted to go back to her room and wait for Lord Wildwood to be ready to begin their journey.

They followed the path into a denser thicket of trees which completely blocked out the city lights and she could only see by the lantern that Charles held in his hand.  Ildri felt nervous but she stayed close to dependable Charles because he seemed to know where he was going.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Not far," he said and Ildri felt an uncertain shiver go through her.  Why was he being so mysterious?  What did she really know about Charles?  She thought that he was dependable and a good man.  Yet she had been wrong about Saul who she had thought she had loved and known so much longer.

What if she was wrong again? 

Saul had manipulated her thoroughly.  She had not even seen his duplicity coming.  What had possessed her to go with a man that she barely knew?

Maybe that was the real reason that he had not been worried about the threat of city streets.  Perhaps he was the threat.

Ildri could feel her heart speed up and her palms felt sweaty.  She wanted to run but she had no idea where to go.  Surely she was being silly.

"I want to go back, Charles," she said in as calm a voice as she could manage.

He turned and looked at her.  His brow furrowed in concern and his brown eyes looked a bit confused.  "What's wrong, Ildri?" he asked.

Ildri breathed a shaky sigh at her own imagination.  He seemed totally innocent and her imagination had clearly been playing tricks on her.  She smiled wryly.  "It's really dark."

"We're almost there," Charles said and it sounded like a plea.

"I guess I can keep going," Ildri agreed still not feeling completely certain that she wanted to go.  Something in her still screamed to flee, but perhaps it was entirely her imagination.

They continued walking and finally they reached a place where the trees parted into a clearing.  Ildri was almost glad that she had not turned back.  Even though it was dark there was a view of the water and the stars, while not as bright as they appeared at Wildwood, were readily visible.  The river was quite calm.

"What do you think?" asked Charles, and he sounded like an eager schoolboy asking the teacher to look at his answers.

Ildri took another breath.  If she looked up at the sky she could almost imagine that she was looking out the window from her room at Wildwood.  She smiled at the thought.  "It's beautiful."

She imagined that Charles was smiling when he replied.  "I'm glad."

They stood in silence for a while.  The hair was prickling on the back of her neck but at the same time she felt more at peace than she had in a long time.  Perhaps it had not been a bad idea to come here with Charles.  Everything was very quiet.

"Ildri?" Charles said tentatively, breaking the stillness.

"Yes Charles?" she responded automatically.

"I...  I wonder if I might ask you something."

Ildri's trepidation rose sharply.  She doubted that she wanted to hear anything Charles would be nervous to say.

"Oh?" she asked, hoping that she did not know what was coming.

"I don't really know how to say...  But... er... I... have rather come to admire you, Ildri."

"Oh."  Ildri realized that her mouth had been hanging open and she hoped that he had not noticed in the pale lantern light.

He seemed to be speaking very fast to get out what he wanted to say.  "I was wondering if you would consent to allow me to court you," he said breathlessly.

Ildri did not know what to say.  Her words seemed to have deserted her completely, a rare enough occurrence for one so blessed by the power of loquaciousness as Ildri.  She struggled to find the words to extract herself from the situation.

There was a long awkward silence between the two of them.

Ildri finally managed to speak the first thing that came to her lips.  "But I thought we were friends," she protested.

"We are," he assured her quickly, "But I really want to be that and more.  I guess I'm saying that I think I could love you."

Ildri smiled uneasily as she tried to think of a good reason that he could not marry her and it presented herself as readily as if she had always known she would need it.  "But you'll be a baron one day," she pointed out, feeling relieved at the thought.

"And you'll be a baroness then.  But as I said, there's no telling if and when I'll inherit," he said readily and she realized that he had already thought the whole situation through.

"I'm a commoner, Charles," she added.

Charles shrugged.  "By the time I inherit I doubt anyone will even remember your humble beginnings.  I know that you will learn to be a exemplary baroness, Ildri.  I should be honoured to have you by my side.  I don't care in the least who your parents were.  I've never felt this way about anyone else."

"But your family--"

"My oldest sisters have already made good marriages and we are well situated financially.  My family will not mind such a marriage.  And Morswynd is not such an important barony."

"But," Ildri protested lamely.  She could not think of any more arguments to dissuade him.

"Ildri, I know there will be hurdles, but I really believe that we can cross them together.  I believe that it will be worth it.  I want to take care of you."

It would be worth it.  Ildri could learn to be a lady, she had watched them in her time and did not think it would be hard to learn to emulate the good graces of the upper classes.  If she married Charles she would become the wife of the lower nobility, a far better marriage than she could have dreamed of securing.  A baron was not a high title, but it was still as far from a common servant like Ildri as was the moon from the earth.

If she married Charles she would have the security and safety she craved.  She was certain that he would not disappoint her.  She might even gain a family and even have a family of her own.  She might have everything that she could ever dream of.  Perhaps, in time, she might even learn to love Charles.  It would be perfect.

But she could not dismiss the feeling that gnawed deep in her stomach at the thought.  She knew it was ridiculous.  She should and before leaving Wildwood would have seized the opportunity.  It was once in a lifetime opportunity and she knew it.  Someone like her, at best, should marry a fairly wealthy merchant and count herself lucky.  Whatever Charles said, many nobles would never accept her as his wife.

But that did not matter to her.  She thought she could bear that.

But she still could not stop the part of her that was screaming in protest to say no.

Almost without conscious thought the words slipped out of her mouth.  "I can't..."

"Why?" he asked, sounding devastated.  "We could make it work."

Ildri wished that she had insisted on returning before they had reached this spot.  It was wonderful and as romantic as she could ever wish for.  But she knew that she did not love him.  She did not even feel the fake shadow of love that she had felt for Saul, he had thoroughly broken it.  Charles was her friend and nothing more.

"I'm sorry," she told him sadly.

"Are you in love with someone else?" he asked, sounding terribly dejected.

"No.  Of course not."  The idea was preposterous.  Saul had lied, tricked and made a fool of her.  At best he had used her as a petty amusement and she could no longer even pretend to care that he was dead after his betrayals.  Now she only felt a grim certainty at the thought.

"Oh," he said slowly.  "We should head back."

Ildri sighed as she started to follow him.  She had not been wrong about him.  Charles was a good man.  He was just not the one for her.  Not like...

Ildri froze for a moment.  She had been about to think of Ty.

It was ridiculous.  She had only known Ty for a couple of days.  She did not know anything about him, because he had told her nothing.  She would never see him again.  He might even be dead.

The thought of his possible death on top of everything else made tears begin to push themselves out of her eyes no matter how hard she tried to stop them.  He might be dead, it was probably her fault, and he would never know that she had cared about him.

"Oh, no, that can't be right!" she blurted out in horror.  There was no way!  No way at all!

"What?" Charles asked in a downcast tone.

"I just...  I thought...  Oh, nothing," Ildri stuttered having no desire to tell Charles what was really on her mind.

There was no way what she felt for Ty was love.  It was too quick, and too miserable.  Love was not supposed to be torture.  It was supposed to be something beautiful.  Whatever she felt was miserable and made her ache.  It was a feeling for someone who enjoyed pain and loss.

There was no way she had fallen for Ty.  She shook her head.  She would not dwell on such unpleasantness.  Instead she would return to Wildwood, pick up the pieces and everything would be perfect.