‘We should leave,’ Grouchy said. ‘You’ll be safe here and the border is only a mile or so north.’

‘Don’t go yet.’ Snow White turned, crestfallen.

‘But it’s your wedding day. Tonight’s your wedding night. It’s a time for you two to be alone.’

Dreamy blushed and kicked at the earth. Sex wasn’t something dwarves had a lot to do with.

‘But that’s tonight,’ Snow White said. ‘Leave tonight then. Today’s our wedding day so celebrate with us. I know what.’ She grinned. ‘Let’s have a beer.’ She strode off ahead, and then turned, one hand on her trousered hip. ‘Come on, what are you waiting for?’

The prince was staring after her, dumbfounded.

‘She’s probably just nervous,’ Dreamy said, suddenly feeling as if he needed to make an excuse for her behaviour. He’d read that women got nervous before their wedding nights. He didn’t really want to contemplate why.

‘Yes, that’s probably it,’ the prince said, and finally they followed her.

10

‘What was his father going to say?’

It was not quite as he’d expected. In fact, it was not at all as he’d expected. The prince felt somewhat dazed and confused by his new wife’s behaviour. His head was in a whirl, although that could have been the beer. There had been a lot of beer, and as he watched his wife dancing enthusiastically with Dreamy in the middle of the tavern, he realised that not only could she outride him, she could outdrink him too.

It was hot and humid in the bar and although it had been early afternoon when they’d arrived, it was now dark outside. The day had lived up to its promise and given them the last of the summer, but it meant that men who’d spent hours sweating in the baking heat were now crammed into the small space. In the corner a fiddler was playing furiously and several couples joined the dwarf and the princess in a reel, whirling each other this way and that in a clumsy over-enthusiastic frenzy. The prince could feel his hair curling with the moisture and he took another sip of his beer. His time with the dwarves had accustomed him to the bitter taste but he longed for the fine wines of home. Elegant dinners. Polite dances.