The woman had spoken true. In Arandal he was the crown prince. The heir to the throne. If he asked a subject a question, they answered. In this cave he was only a man who had gone off by himself to think, and he wanted it to remain that way. Back home, women threw themselves at him, and he never knew if it was because they liked him or if they hoped to win the favor of the future king. He was careful in his romantic contacts. His lovers were all married women dissatisfied with their husbands. They told him he was a wonderful lover, and again he had no way of knowing if they were only trying to flatter him. As far as he could tell, this woman had no idea who he was. Unless she was pretending ignorance…which could be true, of course. But if she knew his true identity, she hid the knowledge well. A spy could do that. He pressed his lips together. He’d been on his own for five days. If someone had followed him from the castle, he would have known.
