Page 64 of To Ride the Wind

Charlotte bit her lip. “I haven’t seen him, but…” She fell silent, remembering her promise to Henry. Would he still want her to keep it in the face of this terrible misunderstanding?

Her mother let out a soft cry. “You haven’t seen him! How can you know he’s a man, then? Oh, my daughter!” She flung her arms around Charlotte. “We should never have let you go. This is all our fault!”

“Mother!” Charlotte struggled to free herself from the suffocating grip. “You really don’t need to be so concerned. I’m happy in my life with Henry.” She drew a breath as she finally extricated herself. “I love Henry.”

Her admission, which felt so weighty and significant to her, seemed only to fuel her parents’ unease. They exchanged yet another look, and this time she could read it. They found the idea discomforting—as if it were further evidence that she was under the thrall of someone malevolent.

“He isn’t like that!” she cried. “He’s kind and considerate, and he knows me—the real me. I belong with him.” Tears ran down her face as she realized the truth of her own words and how foolish they made her doubt and uncertainty seem. Why had she been so overset that she couldn’t even manage a conversation?

“Hush, my dear, hush.” Her mother rubbed her back. “We’ll find a way out of this marriage for you.”

Charlotte pulled back. “Aren’t you listening? I don’t want to leave my marriage!”

“We should all calm down,” her father said. “Charli, we’re only worried about you. If everything is as you say, we will be delighted. But how do you know he’s really an ordinary man? Do you have anything to rely on other than his own words?”

He looked at her so intently that she squirmed. She had to defend Henry. Surely she could do so without telling them the full truth of their nights together.

“It’s not just his words,” she said slowly. “I’ve talked to him as a man.”

“I thought you said you hadn’t seen him in any form but that of a bear.” Her father was watching her carefully and must have caught her grimace.

“I didn’t say I’ve seen him, I said I’ve talked to him.”

“That sounds like nonsense,” her mother said. “If you’ve talked to him, why don’t you look at him as well?”

Charlotte hesitated, worrying at her lip. “Because it’s always dark,” she finally blurted out. “He is only a man at night and the palace is shrouded in complete darkness then.”

She didn’t mention the specifics of their nights spent side by side in bed, but it was clear that even without those details, her words had confirmed her parents’ fears rather than allayed them. She should have just remained silent as Henry had asked her.

Fresh tears threatened. She had only wanted to defend him, but instead she had terrified her parents.

Her mother’s voice softened. “You say you love him. Don’t you want to see his face? Just once, so you can be sure—so we can be sure—that he’s really what he claims to be.”

Charlotte scoffed. “What else could he be?” Even as she said the words, she could feel the warmth of his arms around her on the night he had comforted her, his heart beating so close to her own. Of course Henry was a man.

But she couldn’t deny the insidious appeal of her mother’s suggestion. She did want to see his face. She wanted it desperately.

“We don’t really know anything about him,” her father said. “But it would be reassuring to know he truly is an ordinary man. There are clearly strong enchantments at work, and you yourself have pointed out that not all creatures in this world are entirely…natural.”

Charlotte frowned. The creatures that lived in the Palace of Light with the High King weren’t something to be afraid of. But then, neither were any of the godmother objects when they were first given to humans. And yet, some had been corrupted and misused.

Charlotte didn’t believe Henry was someone who deserved her fear. But she wanted a future with him—one in which they could be fully husband and wife—and she longed to see her husband’s face. Even if she only saw it once, for a moment, it would be enough for now. Once she had seen it, she would be able to picture him as he lay beside her in the darkness. Nothing else would need to change, but she would truly know him the way he knew her. And maybe if she truly knew him, their marriage could become real, the way she longed for it to be.

“But I can’t,” she said, sounding more regretful than she should have. “His object controls all the sources of light in our castle.”

“I have an idea about that.” Her mother gave her father a look that made Charlotte wonder about the source of her mother’s idea. “I’ll give you a candle from home and a way to light it. Keep it hidden on you, and when night comes, you can light it and see him for yourself. If that upsets him, then he’s not being honest with you, and at least you’ll know…” She hesitated. “Whatever there is to know.”

Charlotte bit her lip. Her parents didn’t know that Henry slept beside her at night. If she looked at him while he was asleep, he wouldn’t even need to know about it. She could light the candle for a brief minute and then hide it again. She would even destroy it the next morning so she wouldn’t be tempted again. Nothing would need to change.

“Fine,” she said in a rush. “If it would relieve your mind, I’ll do it.”

Both her parents smiled at that, although it didn’t quite relax the tension in her father’s frame. She could only imagine what he was thinking. If she did discover something terrible about her husband, what would she do about it alone in their castle? But she wasn’t worried about that aspect because, unlike her father, she knew there was nothing terrifying to find. All she was going to see was the face of the man she loved. The face of her husband.

CHARLOTTE

By the time Henry arrived to collect her the next day, Charlotte was a wreck. The candle had been received and stowed carefully inside her gown, but she might as well have stored a nest of ants there. She could barely stay still, one minute seized by the certainty she should throw it away and the next by a burning impatience for night to fall so she could finally see Henry’s true face.

She waited outside for him, but since her entire family waited with her, he couldn’t avoid them this time. They greeted him politely enough—even with curious excitement on the part of her sisters now that he had provided the promised wealth. Charlotte just hoped he didn’t notice the tension in her father’s shoulders or the way her mother clung to her and avoided looking straight at the bear in front of her.

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