Free The Lioness and Her Knight by Gerald Morris

smuggle him out of the castle, but until he showed up nothing could happen. At last, after midnight, Luneta could not hold her eyes open any longer and went to bed.
    When she awoke, Ywain was at the foot of her bed. "Oh, there you are," Luneta said. "Thank heavens. We've got to get you out of the castle."
    Ywain ignored her. His eyes held a distant, dreamy look—even worse than when he had been lost in visions of knightly glory. "I've seen an angel," he said.
    "An angel?"
    "The most perfect creature in all the world! Pray, who is she?"
    "An angel?" Luneta repeated.
    "The woman you led to the bedchamber last night! Who is she?"
    Luneta swallowed and asked warily, "Why do you want to know?"
    Ywain sighed. "I love her," he said.

IV. The Wooing of Lady Laudine
    Luneta sat up, rubbed her eyes with her hands, and said, "I beg your pardon?"
    "I'm in love," Ywain said. "As soon as I saw her, I knew. At first I thought I was dreaming, because so much beauty could hardly be real, but then I heard her crying, and I knew that all my dreams had come true. Pray, why was she crying?"
    Luneta stared at him, then answered slowly, "That would be because her husband just died."
    "The poor thing!" Ywain said. Then he brightened. "Then ... she's not married?"
    "Not currently, no," Luneta said dryly.
    Ywain closed his eyes rapturously. "I stood by her bed for hours, watching her sleep, longing to take her in my arms."
    "You didn't, did you?" Luneta demanded quickly. She was suddenly glad that she hadn't bothered removing Lady Laudine's dress before putting her in bed.
    "No," Ywain replied. "I may have been lost in a dream, but I had enough of my wits to realize that it might be uncomfortable for her to wake up in the arms of an invisible man."
    "Good thinking," Luneta replied.
    "So her husband died," Ywain said tenderly. "From her tears, I see that she loved her husband very much."
    Luneta didn't answer. She was still wondering about that herself.
    "How did he die?" Ywain asked.
    For someone who wasn't at all stupid, Ywain could say some very dense things. Luneta took a breath, then said bluntly, "You killed him."
    Ywain's eyes grew still, and Luneta watched as comprehension, then despair, flickered across his countenance. "Of course," he said. "That was your Lady Laudine."
    Luneta rose from her bed, pulling a gown over her underdress and averting her eyes from her cousin to give him a moment to compose himself. "I'm sorry," she said at last, "but, as you see, you've fallen in love with the one woman who can never love you back."
    "It doesn't change anything," Ywain said. "I still love her and always will."
    "Ywain—"
    "But why shouldn't she love me one day?" he demanded suddenly. "I didn't do anything dishonorable. Her husband attacked me, and I fought back."
    Luneta decided not to point out that he had incited the attack to start with. Neither was it the time to suggest that it didn't matter a great deal to Lady Laudine whether Ywain had killed Sir Esclados honorably or dishonorably. Arguing would accomplish nothing, and her mind was bent on a different task: persuading Ywain to leave the castle.
    "Perhaps you're right," Luneta said. "In time, once she is over the shock and grief, she may be interested in marrying again. What you should do is leave now, and wait for her to finish her bereavement. Then you could come back, you know, to visit me, your cousin, and I could introduce you. How does that sound?"
    "I can't leave the woman I love while she's in such distress."
    "Distress that you caused, Ywain!"
    "All the more reason that I should stay."
    "And do what? Look, Ywain, your hands are tied. If you show yourself, you'll be killed by the guards, and if you stay invisible, you can't do anything for her. As you yourself said, she might not find an invisible knight comforting. In fact," Luneta added, with a flash of inspiration, "if you touch her or make any sound or do anything at all while you're invisible, she'll probably think it's her