There were roses in the vase on the window ledge and he pulled the petals from the stems and scattered them across the floor and bed. There weren’t as many as there would have been for a bride at home – the floor in the palace would have been a sea of them, soft and scented and filling the room with perfume – but it was better than nothing. He took the pink and white dress the dwarves had bought her from its hook in the wardrobe and laid it out on the bed. It was the dress they had met in, after all, and he wanted her to wear it when she arrived in his city.

His heart tightened with love for her and he smiled. He couldn’t help it. He waited impatiently.

At last the door opened and she came in wrapped in a thin robe which clung to her hot, damp skin. The dusky patches on her cheeks were shining from the hot water, and her hair was piled up untidily on her head. She paused, noticing the petals under her feet.

‘That’s very sweet,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’

He could see the wariness still in her eyes after his coolness of the previous night, but that would pass soon enough.

‘I looked for more flowers at the market, but there were none fine enough for you.’

‘Oh, I’m sure that’s not true.’

‘Yes it is.’

She blushed slightly and then saw the dress on the bed. ‘You want me to wear this one? I thought you’d want something finer. You know, for meeting your father. It’s pretty enough but not, I imagine, the kind of thing the ladies of your castle wear.’ She held it up against her. ‘And I didn’t want to tell Dreamy, but I really hate pink. Maybe we should go back to the dressmaker? See if there’s something else?’ She chewed her bottom lip again. ‘I just want to make a good impression.’

She was nervous of him, he knew. After the awkwardness of the previous night, he’d expected it.

‘But this is what you were wearing when we met. When I first kissed you.’ He smiled. ‘And that is what I will tell my father, when I tell him all that has happened to you.’ He stepped towards her and kissed her on her smooth, pale forehead. ‘For me? Please?’

‘Okay.’ She smiled and shrugged. ‘If it will make you happy.’

‘Yes.’ His heart was racing. ‘Yes, it will.’

He turned his back and let her dress with her modesty intact, although she seemed to have no qualms about taking her robe off in front of him, even laughing a little at his good manners after everything they had already done together. She didn’t understand, of course. He didn’t want to see her like that; earthy and cheap. He wanted his princess back.