Aveline’s POV

The next day, I'm sitting in my room when the door opens.

“Time for dinner,” a servant says.

I stand up and follow her down the hallway.  It still scares me.

“King Morden will not be eating with you tonight.”

“Why not?” I ask, trying not to sound overjoyed.

“He has business of some sort,” she replies.

“What sort?”

“I don't know.  He wants to be left alone.”

“Why?”

She shrugs.  As we approach the table, she pulls out a chair, and I sit down.  Almost immediately, other servants put fruit, meats, soups, cheeses, bread, and vegetables on the table.  A man fills my goblet with juice.  All this for only me?  It's unnecessary.

“Excuse me, sir?”

“Yes, m’lady?”

“I don't think I'll be able to eat all this.  Did you bring any to King Morden yet?”

“He ate an hour ago.”

“Then you and your co-workers must have the rest.”

The man’s eyes light up.  “Really?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you so much, Lady Aveline.”

“You're welcome.”

I eat.  This food is amazing, but definitely not as good as Martha’s.  I miss the cottage already.

As soon as I'm finished, the servants take my dishes and the leftovers.  Where should I go now?  Why not the library?  I haven’t actually been there yet, and I need a good book to read.  I ask someone for directions, then hurry off.

It takes me only a short while to find an intriguing book.  I sit down in a chair and open it.  Dust flies out.  No one must have read this in years.  I cough and try to start reading, but my mind is elsewhere.

I approach the cottage.  Faces peek out of the small windows.

“She's here!” Lilac yells.

Lorand darts out of the house and spins me around.  He has the biggest smile I've ever seen.  As soon as he sets me down, he kneels.  I gasp.

“Aveline, I love you, and I want to stay with you forever.  Will you marry me?”

My words disappear.  I kneel down beside him and hug him as tightly as I can.

Yes, yes, yes!

I smile to myself.

I'm wearing a long lavender dress, not fancy really, but still the most beautiful thing I've ever worn.  My hair is loose, and I'm wearing a flower crown.  The women and Dane are sitting in chairs in the grass.

Lorand slowly walks up to me.  He's wearing black pants and a shirt that matches my dress.  Harriet introduces us.  Lorand and I exchange vows, not looking out of each other's eyes.

“You may kiss the…”

“Lady Aveline?”  A servant interrupts my fantasies.

“Oh!  Yes?”

“Would you like a hot bath?”

That sounds nice.  “Yes please.”

“All right.  It'll be ready soon.  I'll fetch you.”

“Thank you.”

She leaves, and I continue to half-read, half-daydream.  A new life with the boy I love - it’s amazing, intriguing, romantic.  I’ve read so many books about it, but to actually experience it will be beautiful.  We’ll live near the old women, deep within the woods where King Morden will never find us, and we’ll be safe and happy.  I can’t wait!

After my bath, I go to my room.  What should I pack?  I can’t bring the whole chest with me, can I?  No.  I fold up a simple green dress and an old nightgown and manage to fit them inside a saddle bag.  Then I shove my hairbrush in with them.  Already the bag can hardly close, but I have all I need.  I take a blue dress out of the chest, along with a riding cloak, and set everything under the bed before changing into my fancy nightgown and pulling the blankets over myself.  My heart is pounding.  Tomorrow I’ll go to the cottage, and I’ll never come back.  I’ll be with Lorand.  The idea of the future - our future - excites me so much that it takes a long time for me to fall asleep.

“Now, how should I kill Lorand?” King Morden asks himself as he paces around the dark room.

He takes the sword away from a suit of armor and examines it.  It has a glittering golden handle with three sapphires on it.  However, the blade is dull.  No use.  The king casts it aside.

He could use a dagger.  No, the boy had escaped that the first time, and Morden isn't going to let him again.

Perhaps a club?  The king picks it up and swings it, smashing something in the process, and he doesn't care to look and see what he destroyed.  Yes, a club would work!  Morden laughs.  But then something else catches his eye.

An apple.

It’s bright red with shimmering skin, by far the best apple Morden has ever seen.  He’s tempted to eat it himself, but he knows it could serve a much more sinister purpose.

The king frantically searches the cabinets until he finds a small bottle.  Inside is an innocent-looking teal substance with the ability to kill.  The label says ‘POISON’.

Laughing to himself, Morden pours it onto the apple.

Now how would he get it to him?

The king things about this for a short while.  Then he has an idea.  Why not give it to him in person?

On a bookshelf is a book about potions.  Morden grabs it and flips the yellowed pages.  ‘Transformation and Disguise’ - perfect!  Now which one?  He had plenty of options.  There are potions for being younger, being prettier or handsomer, even… being older.  King Morden reads it.  The ingredients are the same, but in different amounts depending how much the drinker is going to age.  The king finds a cauldron and gathers the ingredients.  He drops things in and mixes them, stirring cautiously.  Soon the potion fizzes and turns bright orange.  It's ready now.  Morden scoops it up with a ladle.

“To Lorand's death!”

He drinks.

Immediately, his skin wrinkles, his back stoops, and his hair turns gray.  Morden takes the apple in his thin fingers and smiles.  Lorand will take one bite.  Then he’ll collapse.  The king can’t wait to see.