When the palace awoke the next morning, Aylmar was gone.
He and his entire entourage, minus two sons, had somehow managed to slip away in the middle of the night. It had helped that they had been housed in a wing of the palace that was somewhat removed from those who might try to stop them or even alert Willow's father, but the fact that they had disappeared so quickly took the entire court by surprise.
Willow, Angel, Garwin, Marie, and Thayne all shared a stunned brunch after hearing the news. No one said much, until Willow, incapable of restraining herself for a moment longer, made a sound of exasperation in the back of her throat.
"What a...a...oh, I don't know, idiot, for want of a better word. Ugh! First he attacks Garwin, then he attacks Marie, then he leaves! How pathetic and utterly irritating! I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't speak so plainly-"
Angel silenced her by placing his hand on hers and smiling. "Willow, look around you. Do you think that anyone in this room is going to disagree with you when you call my father an idiot?"
She returned his smile with a small one of her own. "I see your point. Still, isn't ignoring huge problems and putting a brave face on things one of royalty's few strengths? He would have been leaving soon anyway."
"Less than a week, yes?" Thayne asked quietly. "The wedding is next Friday. Not a long time to wait."
"No," Willow murmured. "Not a long time." She was getting married.
To Angel.
On Friday.
Hoo, boy.
"What?" she asked Garwin, shaking herself out of her somewhat frightening thoughts.
"I said, do you think he intends to stop the marriage from occurring by his leaving?"
"I don't think so," Marie answered thoughtfully. "The one constant about Aylmar is that he will generally use the simplest means to get what he wants." Her voice was tinged with distaste and regret, but she continued. "This vanishing act would be accompanied by a demand that the wedding be halted, or something else equally ridiculous. The fact that he left with absolutely no word, to me says that he is turning his back on all of it. Angel, the marriage, his imagined hold on Garwin."
"Let's hope he's not also turning his back on the treaty," Angel added, his eyes worried.
"Indeed," a voice came from the doorway. Looking round, Willow saw her father. Thayne jumped up from his place at the table, realizing just how inappropriate it was that he should be eating with royalty. Garwin unwillingly pulled his hand out of Marie's grasp as she curtsied with her eyes fixed firmly on the floor.
The king laughed, a rich resonating laugh that extended to dark corners of the room. "You all look at me as if I would order your executions in a fit of temper. Marie, you need never fear to meet my gaze, for you are of my wife's blood, and I cherish you as my own kin." His words, though said cheerfully, did much to dispel her horror and shame left over from the night before. "Garwin, though I have not known you long, let me assure you that I am filled with joy that you know your mother at last. And you, young sir," here he turned to Thayne, whose knuckles were white with gripping his pike. "You are, I assume, invited by their highnesses to break your fast with them, and I firmly believe that friendship is sometimes more important that decorum." He clapped Thayne on the shoulder, and the soldier almost fell over, a combination of shock and the strength of the king's gesture.
"I, for one, see no reason to postpone the wedding. If it is Aylmar's wish, then all the more reason not to fulfill it, for he has made it quite plain that he is no fan of many of our decisions here. Furthermore, the entire country is waiting in anticipation for the joining of our two lands. To back out now would merely spread the seeds of doubt that are already rife in a land that has long been at war. I need not say that many of our citizens feel this union will be the end of terror, the beginning of a time when they need not fear sending their sons off to die.
Then again, there is the fact that many in this land are quite smitten with our handsome Prince Alaric." He smiled broadly, and the group laughed quietly.
"Well, if all of you agree with me, I will inform my councilmen that we shall proceed as originally planned. Forgive me for interrupting your meal." With a bow so courtly it would have flattered an emperor, he left the room.
There was a momentary pause which Angel then interrupted with a plaintive, "See, I could never do that!"
"Do what?" Willow asked with a smile.
"That whole...king...thing. He comes into a room and everyone just snaps to attention, hanging onto every well chosen word that he says. He's got such presence. He's swimming in presence."
"He's also about twice your age," Willow pointed out. With an odd look that only Angel understood, she shrugged at the recently incorrect statement. "Besides which, there have been a few instances when I've noticed people stare at you after one of your entrances, or I've noticed people hanging onto your every word. Remember the days when Cordelia didn't realize what you were?"
Angel laughed in remembrance, but Marie looked at Willow in confusion. "Is there a lady at court named Cordelia? The name is unfamiliar to me."
Willow winced, trying to backpedal. "Um, I don't think you ever met her. I'm actually quite sure you didn't. So, would it be awfully rude if Alaric and I were to take Thayne and go look at the rooms full of gifts downstairs? Would you two be alright alone together?"
Marie's eyes were enigmatic as she replied. "We'll be fine."
Willow took Angel's offered arm, and with Thayne leading the way, they left.
Silence reigned in the room before Garwin sighed, closing his tellingly green eyes. "I used to dream about you," he began. "They never told me anything about you, but I tried to figure out what you had been like. I wanted to know how tall you were, whether you were fat or skinny. I wanted to know how smooth your skin was, and I wanted to measure your fingers against my own hand as I sometimes saw Angel do with his mother.
I wanted to know what you smelled like. Even as a child, I knew that every woman has her own unique smell, and I wanted to memorize yours. I thought if they could just give me one piece of clothing that you had worn, then I would be able to learn it so well that I would be able to find you by your smell alone. I could have been a boy shaped bloodhound, sniffing out the mother I had never seen." In a convulsive gesture, his hand shot out and his finger quickly laced with hers.
"I think that most of all, I wanted to hear your voice. You didn't even have to talk to me, I just wanted to hear you speak." He stopped, shaking his head helplessly.
"What do you want me to say?" Marie asked, and he smiled slightly. "Would you like to hear about the way I fell asleep every night thinking of you and woke up every morning wondering where you were? I wanted to hear you cry and put up with your colic. I wanted to watch your first tooth come in, to watch your little bald head grow hair.
The years passed, and I knew I was missing you learning to speak and walk and even love. I knew that I was having no say in what you believed or who you trusted or what you thought of yourself. I didn't get to tell you bedtime stories. I never got to hear you snore.
You'll have to forgive me if I sometimes forget that you are grown, if I sometimes cradle you like a newborn, if I sometimes tell you how much I love you in front of other people."
"If it comes to that, I think you'll find that I can be surprisingly magnanimous." She laughed, bending forward to kiss his head for the forty-third time that day.
****
Leaving Thayne outside, Willow gasped as she and Angel entered the room filled with gifts. "There are perks to being royalty," she finally managed.
"Yeah, but I bet there aren't any blenders," Angel replied, smiling ruefully as he picked up a jeweled scepter.
"Probably not. I don't think we'll find a fondue pot, either." Willow opened a small chest, her eyes widening at the amount of gold it contained. "Wow."
"That'll teach us not to register." He slid his arms into a heavy velvet robe.
"Of course, I don't think they have department stores here," Willow answered. "Ooh, look at this," she whispered, holding up yards and yards of the most beautiful lace she had ever seen.
He slid a huge ring on his finger as she put a medallion around her neck, the lace still wrapped around her shoulders. "Do you think we could get in trouble for touching this stuff?"
"Willow, first of all, we are the authority around here, remember? Furthermore, these are our gifts. We're allowed to touch them."
"Ours. Hmmmm."
"That was somewhat ponderous. Incredibly huge ruby for your thoughts?" he asked, holding out the fire-red precious stone the size of his fist.
"Fair trade. I was just wondering...are we who we are?"
"Once more, in English."
"Oh, you know what I meant!" she laughed. "I mean, here we are, called different names, living different lives, but even those closest to us haven't yet figured out that anything is different. It just seems unlikely that we fit in so perfectly."
"I know what you mean," Angel mused. "Still, I think we're definitely adapting, don't you? I still remember our world, with the vamps and the demons and everything else equally enjoyable. But sometimes, when I'm not paying attention, I think I can almost remember the life the other me had here. Did that make sense? Like I can feel and see memories that belong to Alaric."
"I actually understood that, oddly enough," Willow admitted. "I'd say it was just me trying to imagine what 'Princess Aurelia's' life might have been like, except that I somehow know details that I shouldn't be able to."
"Maybe it's just one of the quirks of travelling through mysterious portals."
"Undoubtedly," Willow replied with a smirk. She trailed along a huge table covered in an intricately worked silver and gold service, eventually coming to another door. "Oh, Angel, more presents! Let's look!"
He followed her as she passed through the doorway.
"I wonder what all this is- oh. Oh my," he heard her say. Coming into the room, he couldn't help but second the sentiment contained in that quiet 'oh my'.
In the very center of the room sat the largest and most elaborate bassinet that either of them had ever seen. The draping gauzy material covering it traveled up to the ceiling, where it hung like a gently swaying cloud. The rest of the room was filled with similarly themed items. There was a very impressive crib, carved out of mahogany. The bars contained images of unicorns and griffins, dwarves and elves all together in a massive forests, all the same color and smelling slightly of wax.
There was a christening outfit so lovely that it seemed a pity its wearer would never remember the occasion for which it would be worn. There were caps and tiny shoes, all elegant and perfect and made on a very tiny scale. There were toys as well, rocking horses that looked so real they might whicker and shy at any moment, dolls more beautiful than most real babies. There were bright shiny balls begging to be thrown and bounced, there were spinning tops and gliders and music boxes.
But all Willow could see was that bassinet.
"They're very...goal-oriented, here," she finally managed. Taking her by the elbow, Angel gently guided her back into the first room. She pulled off the necklace and the lace, and he silently slipped out of the ring and robe.
"I'm eighteen, Angel. I know that on their scale, I'm practically past my prime, but I'm only eighteen. Teen. I'm a teenager." He could hear a hint of panic in her quiet voice.
"I know, Willow. I sometimes forget, because you act so sure and confident and intelligent, but I do know that you are still young. I also know that you're not ready to get married, especially not to someone you know as little as me-"
"I wouldn't say I know you 'little'. All I'm saying is that I hadn't anticipated starting a family before I could legally drink back home."
"Don't worry, Willow. I keep saying that, and it doesn't stop the impending wedding, but I hope you know that however I may care about fulfilling my duties as a prince, making sure you are okay is my number one priority. You can ask anything of me, and if it's in my power, I'll do it. I swear."
She looked into his eyes, and was slightly overwhelmed by the reassurance she found there. She gave him a small smile. "And you say you don't have presence."
The door opened, and Thayne peeked in hesitantly. "Forgive me, Princess, but there is a woman here looking for you. She says it's urgent. Something about 'gown fittings'?" Willow sighed dramatically. "A princess must face certain things, and being poked full of holes by malicious pins is one of them. My prince, I shall see you later." With the majority of her apprehension left behind, she followed Thayne out the door leaving Angel in a state that couldn't be described as anything but bemused.
****