" What did she say? Why was she blushing?"

Máel looked up at his foster brother whom was stroking his beard thoughtfully.

" She said... That she, hm... Desired to sleep with you."

" Sorry?"

" She is good looking."

" So are many girls."

" And she is the lady in waiting of Echaid's daughter."

Máel suspected there was more to this than just a pretty maiden bluntly asking for his love. He had seen how the girls looked at him, not just because he was a prince, but moreover because he was handsome and skilled.

More than once he had heard rumours, the giggling in the corridors and the hubbub as they spied him when he took a bath in the river.

Yet this girl had come up to him and his foster brothers while they were playing fidchel. She had just stood there in front of them with this scared look upon her face, the blood rushing to her cheeks and her voice hoarse and broken like that of one too frightened to speak.

" What did she really ask?"

" I cannot tell you. Maybe she will once you have slept with her?"

" You are my best friend, Congal, we don't have secrets for each other."

" If you desired to know, then why did you leave the room? It's better that you should not know it Máel. Yet you cannot refuse her. Shall I arrange a tryst?"

" If you must..."

---

That night he was waiting for her. He lay on his bed and stared at the thatched ceiling above him. There was something wrong with this situation, but until she would speak, he could not do anything. Somehow he knew Echaid's daughter had something to do with it. She was playing a game with him. She had been doing so ever since she came from the north... A stepmother younger than himself, it was ridiculous. She was too playful, too skittish. He enjoyed the poems they composed at the fireplace, but there was something behind that sweet face, something cunning and secretive.. And now her lady in waiting wanted to sleep him. Why?

Perhaps he was pondering too much. After all, the girl was a woman herself, a creature with desires and lust, and she was a great beauty, so why should he complain?

He heard Congal talking to her on the other side of the door and a moment later the girl entered. She smiled nervously and waited for Máel to draw back the sheets and reveal his naked body.

Without speaking she came to his bed and embraced him...

The next morning when Máel woke up. He was alone. He later found the girl at the fireplace, embroidering one of the dresses of Echaid's daughter. She smiled at him as he walked by, but they did not speak of the night.

---

Yet in the evening, she came to his room again, this time without Congal's help. Again they slept together, and when Máel woke up, she was lying with her head against his chest. He stroked her golden hair and looked at the ceiling.

" What is it you said to Congal?", he asked.

She moaned and rolled away from him.

" What did you say to Congal?",he asked again.

" I cannot tell you."

" Yes, you can."

" Congal said you would kill me if I told you."

" Why would I?"

" Just... Don't ask me again."

She rose and dressed herself. Then she walked out of the room and left.

---

Yet the third night Máel could feel that she was more nervous than before. Their love making was short and did not satisfy him, but he said nothing. Her tossing about kept him awake most of the time, but he pretended to sleep.

In morning he felt her head upon his chest, and it was wet, not with sweat, but with warm tears. The girl's shoulders were shaking and she was sobbing silently.

" What is it? There, what is it girl?"

" I must tell you, but I can't. If I tell you, you will kill me. If I don't she will."

" Who is she? The daughter of Echaid?"

She rose and looked at him. Then she nodded.

" Oh. How can I tell you without damaging your honour?"

" Tell me what?"

" Echaid's daughter..."

She swallowed.

" Echaid's daughter told me to tell you she desires to sleep with you."

" She does then?"

" Please don't be angry with me."

" You have not said anything dishonourable... Messenger."

At that last word she cast herself upon his chest again and cried hysterically.