Spring

On the next crossroad, the party split. The carriage with the King, his mistress, and son as well as their soldiers and servants turned to the left. Lady Orchid's words of goodbye were heartwarming, and Aston waved until they were out of sight. Only then did Nathaniel and Katherine with their entourage of about a dozen - mostly Jack's guards' team - take the right road in the direction of the border.

Compared to their travel to the Capital some weeks ago, the time they would spend to reach their destination would be shortened. On the one hand, this was because they were all on horses now and could take the narrower roads that were impossible for carriages, on the other, there was no patient to take care of. Six days later, Katherine was already used to the harsher living conditions and the fast riding pace all day. She even found one thing she secretly enjoyed very much. It was kind of an unspoken agreement between her and Nathaniel. Since in the evenings she was always very exhausted in the beginning of their journey, Nathaniel had gained the habit to carry her to bed. There, they would lay side by side and talk until she fell asleep. And though he was always gone when she woke up in the morning, she sometimes noticed a suspicious dent in the pillow beside her. When she buried her head in it, she could smell coffee and firewood.

On the harsher days of the journey, this memory alone was enough to make her smile sillily and long for the night to fall. Then, despite her improving condition, she could fake being weak and tired again. Of course, she knew that Nathaniel had already seen through her. It was told by the smile that tugged on his lips whenever she leaned her head against him in a show of exhaustion. Then he would ask: "Are you already this tired?" And she would only yawn and nod in agreement.

This afternoon, however, was different. They reached a small town called Springpetal Valley with flowerpots on the window sills and a river bridged by sturdy wooden planks. Instead of bypassing it as usual, Nathaniel declared they would make camp in the outskirts. Katherine curiously gazed at him.

"What are you planning?", she inquired when she gave her horse, a simple-minded brown fellow, to one of the guards to handle. "Isn't it dangerous to rest here?"

With a rare mischievousness to his grin, Nathaniel took her hand. "A little tour around town will hurt nobody."

"Why do I doubt that is everything?", Katherine complained, but her dimples were showing, and her hand tightened around his.

This was when she saw his grin turning into a teasing smirk. "Don't you find it annoying we're never really alone? Even a tent has thin walls."

Katherine's heart skipped a beat. Glancing up into those red eyes she was so familiar with, she blushed, and narrowed her violet ones. Quietly, she grumbled: "Since when are you so proactive?"

"Since I don't need to care anymore. Thanks to a certain someone." A soft kiss landed on her fingertips, and for a second, her magic blinked to life, before it vanished again.

As their gazes interlocked, Katherine drew in a trembling breath. Having seen it before, she knew the flame of desire flickering in his eyes, though it was more subtle and gentle than at other times. And he knew that she knew it, making the stalemate all the more intense.

"My darling wife, do you want to take a walk with me?"

The whisper was quiet, but full of deeper implications. Though a bed would not be found on a walk, they'd hardly even kissed in the last week. Her imagination went on overdrive in an instant. Thousand steamy ideas swarmed her body with a tingly feeling and warmed her blood until she felt restless. There was only one answer in her heart and soul. It caused an intense happiness that was deep and bubbly at the same time. "Of course. Let's take... a walk."

But when they tried to sneak away, Sam stopped them short. Sternly, he told them that he wouldn't let them be without a disguise. Disgruntled, they accepted the brown-haired, blue-eyed aliases again. Especially when they didn't plan on meeting someone, Katherine felt that Sam was being overly cautious.

Finally alone, they followed the river upstream, away from the town and into a little forest. Katherine would have been fine with just settling somewhere there, but Nathaniel seemed to have something else in mind. After a while, she heard it. The murmur and burble of a waterfall. Her eyes lit up with twinkling stars. Seeking confirmation in Nathaniel's mimic, she hastened her pace, and pulled him by the hand.

Finally, the trees thinned out, and water glistened in the sun in front. If not for Nathaniel catching her, she would have fallen down the two meters into the water pool below.

"Careful", he reminded, and made her step back from the cliff.

It was a wonderful sight. The water had dug deep into the rock below the waterfall, hollowing out a round that was bordered by blooming bushes to both sides. Pink and white blossoms swayed in the breeze, and once in a while a petal fell, got caught by the river and rushed along downstream.

"Finally, spring arrived even in the cold Icelands", Katherine said with satisfaction, and took a deep breath of the fresh and scented air.

"The snow and glaciers are melting", Nathaniel explained, and sat down the backpack he had slung over his shoulder. From it, he took a blanket and two pillows, adjusting them far enough from the cliff, but near enough to see the splashing water.

Intoxicated, Katherine wasn't able to avert her gaze from the scenery. "How come you know this place?"

"I've been traveling a lot. Had a little encounter further upstream and landed here. Like I thought, it's even prettier in spring..." When the seating place was set, Nathaniel gazed up at his wife. Seeing her slender back and the long hair fluttering in the wind, he felt strangely content. Now, she turned her head a bit, and her small hand caught a few fleeting strands, pushing them behind her ear.

"It's so beautiful", he heard her sigh.

That nearly made Nathaniel smile in self-irony. If not for passing by, he wouldn't have remembered this place. More often than not, beauty only left superficial impressions in his mind. Now, he was glad that he still found the path he took a long time ago to flee from his pursuers. It was one of the many assassination attempts on his life, but none of the most serious ones. Even in fleeing, he'd had the strange thought that it was quite a nice natural environment. When this came to mind, he'd suddenly felt the urge to show it to her. As it turned out, it was the right choice.

"Come here", he murmured, barely louder than the water. She heard him nonetheless and turned around. When she saw him, leaning against the tree and waiting for her, her eyes softened.

"To think we'd come this far. Isn't it amazing?"

He grinned and spread his arms wide. His handsome face coupled with the simple brown and blue of his disguise, made him look more like a normal person than a prince or outstanding soldier. Just a young man admiring the scenery. When she stared at him dazedly, he lifted his brow in amused mockery. "How long do you plan to make me wait?"

With a laugh, Katherine flew into his arms, and held him tightly. A satisfied rumble vibrated in his chest as he buried his head in the crook of her neck and inhaled her scent. It had a surprising similarity to the one in the air. The scent of fresh water and flowery roses. Finally, spring was coming.