Back then, they had separated, and did not see each other again for a long time.

Leah knew what Ishakan had endured next. With that battered body, he crossed the desert to reach Kurkan. And after many trials there, he had become its king.

His glorious future was already written, but knowing how painful it would be made it hard to let him go. Couldn’t she at least heal his wounds before he set off for the desert? This was a dream, it shouldn’t matter if she changed things.

“Come with me to the palace,” Leah said impulsively.

“…huh?”

“I don’t want to leave you like this. There’s a place in the palace where you can hide, and rest for a few days before you leave. I will treat your wounds,” she added.

“But first we have to escape the hunters…” Ishakan protested, puzzled.

“You will just have to run faster. If the hounds catch us, they’ll bite us both. I don’t want to leave you alone.”

Because you are my husband.

She swallowed those last words.

“Come on!”

At her insistence, he hesitantly took her hand. His hand was very warm.

* * *

They managed to escape together.

Leah paused to take a report from the soldiers while Ishakan hid, and then they set off for the palace together. Tonight was supposed to be the night she saw Blain with his real hair: gold, not silver. But since Leah knew it was coming, she could prevent it.

This time, she entered the Princess Palace via a different passage. Her mind was working frantically as she returned to Ishakan. She wanted to let him bathe, feed him, and treat his wounds. Suddenly, she remembered how much Ishakan had wanted to feed her the first time she met him at the inn.

Now she understood how he felt.

Pushing Ishakan into the bathroom, she searched her closet for something he could wear and left them near the bathroom. But there was another problem.

Food.

Cerdina did not allow any food in the Princess Palace. Searching her memory, Leah meticulously searched her vast bedchamber.

It took a little time to remember her hiding places, but finally she found an apple and some cookies. Please, Leah put them on a side table as Ishakan quietly returned. Water was still dripping from his hair, and he looked at her, clearly uncomfortable. Approaching with a towel, Leah dried his hair for him.

It was another too-intimate action, but she was so used to it, she hadn’t though. Quickly, she handed him the apple.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized again when he silently looked at her. “It’s all I have.”

It was nothing for a Kurkan. Hardly enough to whet his appetite, but she had nothing else. 

“I will find something more tomorrow,” she promised.

The boy slowly lifted his eyes back to her.

“Why have you brought me here?”

The sound of his voice tickled her ears, and she had to swallow the automatic answer.

Actually, I’m your wife. I’m from the future, and I don’t know why I’m dreaming that I’m sixteen, but we will be married.

He might think she was insane, so she scrambled for another excuse.

“…Because I like you?”