Once Upon a Winter's Night Read Free Page B

would not wed someone she had never seen, and Giles would not lose the one sister he had come to love, who made him laugh and played riddle games and taught him échecs and who sang so sweetly. Henri did not speak, his ears weary from Aigrette’s late-night harangue. The mother and sisters, though, clamored for Camille to quickly accept the fact that it was a prince whom she would wed.
    The Bear sat silent, though he did share a bowl of the porridge with Camille, who had no appetite at all.
    Finally, Henri said, “We must write a response unto the prince.”
    “Papa,” said Camille, sighing, “we have no parchment, no pen, no ink.”
    “And even if we did have such,” hissed Lisette, “how would we know what she had written on any note we would send?”
    At this the Bear growled, and Lisette snapped her mouth shut.
    “He seems to know what we are saying,” said Aigrette, nodding toward the Bear. “Simply tell him that we accept and send him on his way to bring back the promised gold.”
    Tears in her eyes, Camille silently gazed at her father. Henri once again could not meet her mute stare. He turned to the Bear. “Come back in a sevenday, for then we will have our answer.”
    Angrily, Aigrette glared at him.
    Grunting, the Bear moved to the door, and, before anyone else could stir, Aigrette sprang to her feet and opened the wooden-planked panel and led the Bear outside. ’Round the corner of the cottage she went with him, and there she said, “Come prepared to pay the bride-price and bear Camille away, for I shall see to it that she goes with you.”
    The Bear growled low—whether in ire or agreement, Aigrette could not say—and then ambled away from the stone hovel and toward the twilight border of mysterious and dreaded Faery, for therein strange and terrible creatures did dwell, or so it was said. Hugging herself against the cold, Aigrette didn’t blink an eye as the Bear rambled across a pristine white field of new-fallen snow, leaving heavy tracks behind, to pass into the silvery twilight and vanish; but inside the cottage, with an eye pressed to a chink in the back wall, Camille watched as well, her heart beating swiftly in fright.

3
    Decision
    “B ut,Maman, hemaybeoldbeyondyearsandugly,” cried Camille.
    Pushing out a hand in a swift motion of disallowance, Aigrette said, “Camille, if he’s old, then you will inherit his fortune and estates more quickly”—she gestured at the letter on the table—“and he is a prince with a great mansion and considerable lands.” She glanced at Henri. “And as for ugly, it matters not. After all, look at what I got.”
    For his part, Henri merely sighed.
    “Papa is not ugly,” rebutted Camille, reaching out to touch her father’s sleeve.
    “But Mère is right,” said Lisette. “And if the prince had made the same offer to me, as he should have, I would have accepted without hesitation. Camille, he is a prince !”
    “It is not yours to choose,” said Giles, receiving a glare from Lisette in return.
    “Your frère is right,” declared Aigrette. “It is not yours to choose, nor, I add, is it Camille’s to choose. It is mine to say whom she will marry, or no.”
    “What about Papa?” exclaimed Camille, turning to her sire. “Has he no voice in this whatsoever?”
    Henri sighed and peered at the floor.
    “Would you not marry a prince ?” asked Joie.
    “Aye, a prince, ” echoed Gai.
    “But he lives in Faery among monsters dire and creatures fell,” said Camille, “a place Humans are not welcome.”
    “ Pah !” snorted Aigrette. “As far as not being welcome, the prince invited you, and so you are welcome to travel within that realm, to travel to his principality of Summerwood, for he wishes you there as his wife.”
    “But what of the peril?” asked Giles. “The monsters and other dire creatures of Faery? Ogres and Trolls, Bogles, Dragons, and Goblins like the Redcaps, who dye their hats in the blood of Humans, or so Papa