Finding Heathcliff

Five

One year later

As on most mornings, Astrid woke up with a scream wedged in her throat.

In her dream, she walked, barefooted, on the marble balustrade of one of the balconies of the castle when an arrow pierced her heart. She saw herself spread her arms wide, her golden-white ball gown fluttering around her body like a huge pair of wings as she precipitated towards the waterfall...

Shivering, the princess pulled the tangled covers to her chest, leaned on her elbow, and peeked through the gap between the midnight-blue curtains enveloping her bed. The wan light fighting its way inside through the small diamond-shaped panes of glass of the window told her that the sun had not risen entirely yet. She let herself fall back onto the pillows, one hand pushing a few golden curls from her eyes, her thoughts returning to her dream.

Why couldn't she stop dreaming about him?! An entire year had elapsed since she had spoken to the mysterious man on the balcony for the first and the last time. She had never told anyone what had happened that night-- when Arabella, on her uncle's orders, had come to look for her, Astrid had been in her chamber, pretending to be asleep.

Astrid had spent the whole year attacking her lady-in-waiting, Orion, and even maids and servants with carefully worded questions that did not raise suspicions, at least not enough to reach her uncle's ears, and now she was absolutely certain that no one but herself had seen the blond man in the castle.

Had he been real? Had he died that night? Had she simply dreamed him up?

No body had been found on the shores of the river in Starling; she had made sure about that too. Whoever he was, he had removed himself from her life completely after that night, and she should have forgotten about him a long time ago. Why not even the threat of the approaching trial, followed by the wedding, could banish the memory from her mind, she didn't know.

The soft sound of the door being opened pulled her out of her reverie. It was too early for Arabella, her lady-in-waiting never woke her up before sunrise... unless... it was her birthday.

It was Astrid's sixteenth birthday today and the castle had been a-buzz with the preparations for the ball she wasn't supposed to know about for weeks-- an event which meant that she would have to suffer two balls this month. As if the usual Black Night Ball wasn't enough.

How could she have forgotten? Something like this, two balls in as many weeks, had never happened before, not in her lifetime. But, apparently, her uncle who couldn't wait to send her off for the trial soon after her birthday, and Orion who was counting the days to their wedding that would happen the moment the trial was over, had apparently conspired to make a big event of her sixteenth birthday.

Astrid had noticed how close Orion and Uncle Arcturus had become lately and wasn't thrilled about it. She had always maintained a polite distance from her uncle who kept her in darkness about everything, including the real world beyond Starling, her future duties, and even the death of her parents, and now she could see his influence on Orion as a wall of secrets that had appeared between her and her fiancè. It seemed that Orion suddenly knew so much more about life over the castle's walls but was instructed not to tell her anything, and it was annoying her. Astrid had a half mind to refuse to marry him. But Uncle Arcturus had never asked her if she wanted to marry Orion, and she didn't think she was allowed to express her mind on this subject.

Astrid groaned even as Arabella's face appeared in the gap between the curtains, blocking out the first shy light of the new day.

"Please accept my best wishes, Princess. It's time to get up; a long day is in front of you. You can't skip your lessons, and oh, Master Orion wants to see you before you meet your tutors."