“Seeing the Bull driving unicorns into the sea,” Schmendrick said. “It was no dream. Haggard has them all now drifting in and out on the tides for his delight‌—‌all but one.” The magician drew a deep breath. “That one is the Lady Amalthea.”

“Yes,” Prince Lír answered him. “Yes, I know.”

Schmendrick stared at him. “What do you mean, you know?” he demanded angrily. “How could you possibly know that the Lady Amalthea is a unicorn? She can’t have told you, because she doesn’t remember it herself. Since you took her fancy, she has thought only of being a mortal woman.” He knew quite well that the truth was the other way around, but it made no difference to him just then. “How do you know?” he asked again.

Prince Lír stopped walking and turned to face him. It was too dark for Schmendrick to see anything but the cool, milky shining where his wide eyes were.

“I did not know what she was until now,” he said. “But I knew the first time I saw her that she was something more than I could see. Unicorn, mermaid, lamia, sorceress, Gorgon‌—‌no name you give her would surprise me, or frighten me. I love whom I love.”

“That’s a very nice sentiment,” Schmendrick said. “But when I change her back into her true self, so that she may do battle with the Red Bull and free her people—”

“I love whom I love,” Prince Lír repeated firmly. “You have no power over anything that matters.”

Before the magician could reply, the Lady Amalthea was standing between them, though neither man had seen or heard her as she came back along the passageway. In the darkness she gleamed and trembled like running water. She said, “I will go no farther.”

It was to the prince that she spoke, but it was Schmendrick who said, “There is no choice. We can only go on.” Molly Grue came nearer: one anxious eye and the pale start of a cheekbone. The magician said again, “We can only go on.”

The Lady Amalthea would not look straight at him. “He must not change me,” she said to Prince Lír. “Do not let him work his magic on me. The Bull has no care for human beings‌—‌we may walk out past him and get away. It is a unicorn the Bull wants. Tell him not to change me into a unicorn.”

Prince Lír twisted his fingers until they cracked. Schmendrick said, “It is true. We might very well escape the Red Bull that way even now, as we escaped before. But if we do, there will never be another chance. All the unicorns of the world will remain his prisoners forever, except one, and she will die. She will grow old and die.”

“Everything dies,” she said, still to Prince Lír. “It is good that everything dies. I want to die when you die. Do not let him enchant me, do not let him make me immortal. I am no unicorn, no magical creature. I am human, and I love you.”