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“I hope you weren’t bored,” Wulfric said as they walked back to the inn. He had offered to get the driver and the carriage, but Anna said that it was no hassle for her to walk. She would like some fresh air. Wulfric figured that it would not be improper for them to walk back to the inn alone when it was still light due to the long summer days.
“No, they are lovely people,” Anna said. “It’s just... I haven’t been talking to anyone other than the sisters in the convent for almost two years. I guess I just have to get used to it.”
They walked for a while in silence.
“I hope that it was okay, that I changed the subject when Esther Hansen started talking about your time in captivity. You seemed sad about it, and I only wanted to help,” Wulfric said.
“No, of course, it was a great help, thank you,” Anna had stopped while she talked and placed her hand on his lower arm. Wulfric felt it as if her hand were burning through his clothes. Come on, Wulfric, he told himself. You’re just imagining. Her touch can’t feel that great.
He started to walk again to make her remove the hand.
“I have to say that what you did was equally as brave, if not braver. All I did was to sit still and wait for the majority of the time. You were actually fighting.”
Wulfric thought of the battle and the time that they had spent in the woods afterwards. Even though he was a soldier, he had not participated in many battles, and that one had been horrible. Men had been cut in half in front of him and he had no idea how many he had killed or wounded himself. It had taken him months before he was able to sleep properly, and he would still have nightmares about it from time to time.
“And you never left Jonathan’s side, even when it looked most dire,” Anna went on with her soft voice.
Her praise made a warm feeling spread from his chest and down to his stomach. He tried not to smile.
“I only did my duty,” he said.
Truth be told, he did not feel that he had had any choice. He could not support Lord Helmholdt again, and he could not abandon his king. But there had been plenty of times where he had thought that it would not lead to anything except his own death, one way or another.
“I can see that you also don’t like to talk about it. Let’s not anymore,” Anna said.
Wulfric sent her a brief smile.
“I hope you were not too horrified by the story, that commander Hansen told,” Wulfric said. “About how we became friends.”
“I just can’t believe that you became friends with someone that got you whipped.”
“It’s common in the military for offences like that. I’d rather not do it to a man, but discipline is everything.”
“I just don’t understand, why you would want to be friends with him?” Anna said.
“I’d told him all my secrets the night before,” Wulfric said. “What else was I supposed to do?”
He smiled, but he could tell that Anna still did not really understand it. And how could she? Esther had wanted Walter to tell the story of the girl. Wulfric did not know what he would have done if Walter had.
The girl was Anna, of course. He had told Walter, that he was madly in love with a girl, that was madly in love with someone else. The king’s son. The most charming and sought-after young man at court. Wulfric had known back then that it was hopeless, but it had felt so good to say it out loud and Walter had been most sympathetic.
***
“She seems like a nice person,” Walter said as they met the next morning. He had come to say goodbye to them before they went on board the ship. They both looked at Anna, who was standing outside of the carriage about ten yards away. She was looking out over the water. The wind was playing with part of her hair, that had gotten lose.
“But I’m not exactly sure, why you’ve been pining for her for all these years. She seems a little too fragile. You need someone more robust, you’re a soldier for Christ’s sake,” Walter pounded Wulfric on the shoulder.
“You don’t know her,” Wulfric said and tore his gaze away from Anna.
“No, but do you? As far as I know you’ve hardly spoken to her for the past what eleven years, despite being in love with her all this time.”
“I never should have told you,” Wulfric said and looked at his boots for a moment. He remembered though what a relief it had been at the time to finally confide in someone. Especially because Walter was much more experienced with girls than Wulfric.
Walter smiled when Wulfric looked at him.
“I think that you should try to forget her. Unless you simply take her for the money and the looks. She’s pretty, I’ll grant you that, and they say that she’s the wealthiest woman in the kingdom, now that her father has died. But if you want someone that loves you back, you should find someone else. There have to be plenty of women that would like to be lady at your estate.”
Wulfric nodded absentmindedly.
“That would make my mother happy at least,” he said.
“Yes, a man like you should have a wife and a couple of kids by now. Look at me, we’re the same age and I already have four children.”
Wulfric almost felt that Walter could persuade him when Anna turned her head and he gained eye contact with her. She smiled briefly before she looked away. Wulfric could feel it like a pang in the stomach. He looked confused at Walter and had for a moment forgotten what they had talked about.
“Why don’t you use the next couple of days to get to know her? If you still like her, you should simply propose to her. If she says yes, then fine. If she doesn’t, I think that you should start looking for someone else,” Walter said.
Wulfric nodded. Maybe he should try harder to get to know her, he just was not sure how.
“How do I do that?” he said and looked at Walter.
Walter chuckled.
“Ask her questions, answer her questions...” Walter began.
“What kind of questions?” Wulfric said.
Walter rolled his eyes.
“What she likes, what her childhood was like, what her dreams are... seriously what do you usually say to women when you want to get to know them?”
Wulfric thought about it. He had been with other women. He was unable to live the life of a monk, but it had always been about pleasure.
“I’m usually drunk,” he finally said. “That makes it easier.”
“Perhaps, you should get drunk with her then,” Walter said and patted him on the back.
“Walter, she’s the king’s sister. I’m escorting her to her estate, she’s under my protection... I can’t just get drunk,” Wulfric said.
Walter shrugged.
“It worked when you wanted to get to know me, didn’t it?” he said with a smile.
The captain of the ship approached him at that moment and said that they were ready to leave. Wulfric said goodbye to Walter and escorted Anna, Joana, and his horse onto the ship. The driver was staying with his carriage. They would hire a new on the other side.
Wulfric looked at Walter leaving to go back to his house and his family. Was he right? Should Wulfric simply propose to Anna in only a couple of days once they reached her home? It felt like his entire body was itching due to the anxiety that even the thought of it caused him.
“Where do you think it’s best that I sit, if I don’t want to be seasick?”
Wulfric looked startled at Anna, that was standing right next to him. Could she know what he had just been thinking about? Of course not, he thought.
He helped her to a seat at the back of the ship. He did not know whether to sit next to her or not. He looked around the ship and saw Joana stand at the front of it. As always, she seemed exhilarated to be trying something new.
“I’ll just go check whether Joana wants to sit here,” he said at the same time as Anna said:
“Would you care to sit?”
“In a minute,” he smiled and said over his shoulder as he walked to the front of the ship. Joana did not even turn around to look at him.
“I have no idea,” she said with a smile when he asked whether she got seasick. “I’ve never been on a ship before.”
Wulfric smiled briefly. It seemed odd to have grown up in a harbor town, but not have been on a ship. He went back down the side of the ship and meant to sit next to Anna but then stopped. She was sitting looking straight out over the water.
Wulfric leaned on the bulwark. How should he get to know Anna? What did he even need to know about her? She just seemed perfect.