Summer spent all day closeted with her new-found family as father and twin sister explained what would effectively be her new life. Winter was already engaged to a rich aristocrat from another neighboring kingdom, and she wished her bright twin to come home immediately to take part in the wedding.
It all seemed very exciting, but her heart ached for Isaac as well. Even at dinner, though they all gathered once again in the great hall, her family and their retainers surrounded her, keeping the two lovers apart, and there would be no time at all the next day. The Kentish folk would depart at dawn.
He awoke to silence and an empty bed, the space where she’d lain as they’d fallen asleep together cold to the touch and horribly void of his beloved girlfriend’s body. He choked on a sob and curled up, burying his face to her pillow to inhale her familiar scent while it lasted. He would allow himself to wallow in self-pity for a little while.
Some time later, he forced himself to get up and bathe, before he headed down to the fields for some training, hoping that that at least would be a welcome distraction from the pain growing inside him.
Summer searched the small gathering in the chill dawn, hoping for one last glimpse of Isaac’s face, one last chance to promise she would come back to him. He was the one stable thing in her life, she felt in these few weeks of topsy-turvy changes, and she desperately wanted to touch her rock once more.
But she could not find him.
The horse she was mounted on pranced under her, keeping her attention split, and she still had not seen him by the time her father blew the horn to signal their departure.