The Reign of Trees by Lori Folkman Page A

wider than the streets of our marketplace and it moves as swift as a team of four horses. Crossing it is nearly impossible.”
    “There is no bridge?”
    “Ah, there is a bridge. Yet it is heavily guarded. The troops stationed there have strict orders to destroy the bridge if ever under attack.”
    “And the river does not freeze?”
    Henrick smiled, but it was not his widest smile. However, it was wide enough to make Illianah’s heart race. “Perhaps I need to reconsider my assessment of your surreptitious mind.”
    “I mean you no harm, My Lord. Just making certain your defenses are adequate.”
    He smiled again; this time he appeared to bite down on the inside of his lip to keep his smile from growing too large. “It does freeze, but only where it is slow and shallow. If one wanted to attack us from the south, it would be best done in the winter.” His eyes bore into hers. He had just offered her a valuable piece of military information. He knew exactly what he was doing; he was giving her his trust.
    “I shall keep that in mind if I ever decided to lead an attack against you with my armies of thousands.”
    “Now that would be a sight to behold,” he said with a playful look upon his face.
    He righted himself, taking his forearms off the wall; he turned to the now-empty courtyard. “It looks like they moved-out without me. You have already proven to be dangerous.”
    She smiled at his flattery and said, “You came up here of your own free will.”
    “Speaking for the entire male race, I would say that there is no such thing as free will when Princess Illianah is involved.”
    Her face fell, along with her heart. “Then this world is ridiculously ironic, as Princess Illianah has neither freedom nor a will that belongs to her and her alone.”
    Her words produced the same appearance in Henrick: his face looked solemn. She did not intend to say he had taken away her freedom, although that interpretation was fitting as well.
    Once the air around them had long since grown uncomfortably silent, he said, “Perhaps I have something that will help you pass the time.”
    ***
    The tower opposite Illianah’s housed the bedchambers for the royal family. Prince Henrick took her halfway up the tower and into a bedchamber much grander than hers. A four-poster bed with intricately carved wood dominated the room. The curtains were drawn on the window, making the room feel eerie and cold.
    Illianah was instantly drawn to the hearth, which her room lacked, but it did not look like it had been used for many years. Above the hearth was a painting of a beautiful woman with black hair and eyes of coal. Queen Sophia. “Your mother’s bedchamber?” Illianah asked.
    “Yes,” Henrick replied. He went to the foot of the bed and knelt before a large chest, also beautifully carved from Deltegran wood.
    “I never had the chance to tell you how sorry I was to hear of her death,” she said. Queen Sophia had been too ill to come to Burchess two years ago when Henrick had come with the intent of claiming Illianah’s hand; the queen had succumbed to her illness just months after King and Prince Henrick had returned to Deltegra. Illianah had wished to send her condolences to the king and his son, but her father forbade it. Relations between the two countries, which had always been tense, had escalated to a dangerous new level. In fact, had Deltegra’s forces been greater in number, it was certain that they would have attacked. It now appeared that Deltegra was finally getting its war, and on their home territory too. The attack on Freidlenburg must have been many years in the making.
    “Thank you,” Henrick said without looking at Illianah. “It is obvious that this castle is still haunted by her absence, as you pointed out earlier.”
    “I am sorry for not being more sensitive. I was being selfish.”
    He smirked. “’Tis a common trait we royals possess.”
    She smiled as well.
    Prince Henrick began pulling items out of the