A Princess Prays (11 page)

“I shall be more than safe once I have returned to my own home. It was only that I was foolish enough to go to the racecourse with my cousin a long distance away.”

He put the saddle down on the ground and Kilkos came towards him with his own saddle.

It was difficult to talk privately while the two men were attending to the horses, so Attila waited until she and Gesa were riding side by side.

They galloped on until they were well ahead of the carriage and Attila could ask him the question which was troubling her.

“Are you certain that your wicked cousin will not be waiting for you when you do return home?”

“I promise I will deal with him before he has any chance of threatening me again. Now I know how dangerous he is, I will not take any chances.”

“Where do you live, Gesa?”

There was a silence before he replied and she knew instinctively he was not going to tell her the truth.

“What I want to talk about at the moment,” he said, “is
you
. We have had my disreputable cousin upsetting us twice and quite frankly I find your conversation far more interesting than his.”

“I am not surprised!” exclaimed Attila, recognising that he had avoided answering her question.

At the same time she wanted to talk to Gesa about a thousand different subjects, all far more interesting than the horror and fear his enemies had engendered.

She smiled at him as they were driving through the thick grassland with the butterflies moving ahead of them in clouds of fluttering yellow.

“I realise that you are being evasive, Gesa, but I am curious as to where you come from and what you do.”

“I might say the same about you, Lala, except I am quite certain you dropped down from Heaven to help me and it's not possible for me to join you up there!”

“You cannot be too certain of it. But it is very exciting for me to make a new acquaintance.”

Gesa raised his eyebrows.

“Exciting? Surely looking as you do you can have little difficulty in meeting new people, especially men, and you must grow bored listening to their compliments.”

Attila gave a giggle.

“I wish it was true, but I do live a very quiet and secluded life and, although you may not believe it, I see very few people of my own age.”

“I do find that hard to believe! However, I think that we are about the same age, so if I am somewhat of a novelty, please tell me why.”

“It is difficult to put into words what I think about you, Gesa. Perhaps because I have met so few young men, I am more used to having older men talk while I listen.”

Gesa laughed.

“Of course, that is what older men do – even to me. Quite frankly sometimes I find it exceedingly annoying.”

“It is a good way to learn, but equally it is rather a question of all work and no play!”

“Of course it is,” agreed Gesa. “That is why you and I must play and laugh while we do it.”

Without meaning to Attila looked apprehensively over her shoulder.

She was half afraid they were challenging the Gods and at any moment fear and danger would be back again.

“Forget them!” said Gesa, reading her thoughts. “I promise they will not follow us any further.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because once out of their own territory they have no power, and I don't think anyone else would be foolish enough to trust them like I did.”

“You must be very careful in the future, Gesa.” Attila told him seriously.

“Would it matter to you if I was not?”

Attila could not quite think how she should answer that question.

Then as she looked at him, their eyes met.

Somehow everything around them disappeared and she could only see him and it was as if he felt the same and could not look away.

Then his horse stumbled and he had to pull in the reins.

“Is it not time for luncheon yet?” he enquired. “I wish to talk to you.”

“I think there is a place ahead where we stopped on the way out and I expect Lamos intends to go there again.”

She was quite right.

Lamos drove the carriage into the shade of some rocks and Kilkos took his horse and the one he was leading down to the river.

“Let's have our luncheon by the river,” suggested Gesa. “It will be cooler there and I cannot allow the sun to spoil the beauty of your skin.”

Attila laughed.

“No one has ever worried about my skin before.”

“I can only imagine the men you meet are blind as well as deaf!”

She looked at him enquiringly.

“Your voice is exquisite and just like music,” he explained, “and your skin has the beauty and softness of lilies.”

Attila blushed and turned her head away, excited by being paid such extravagant compliments, which she had never heard before.

They found a place by the water where they were in the shade and also out of sight of the carriage.

Lamos had prepared a cold luncheon for them that looked very appetising once it was all laid out on the tablecloth.

There were two bottles of wine, one being Father Jozsef's speciality and the other from the Monastery.

Gesa made Attila try a little of both and she much preferred Father Jozsef's.

She was, however, not very interested in what she was drinking and she really had no idea what she ate.

She was fascinated by everything Gesa was telling her and she listened wide-eyed as he described a visit he had made recently to Russia and another to France.

“I came to know the people quite well,” he related. “Not only those I was staying with, but the ordinary people of both countries. They taught me so much and they had a fascination for life which I believe is vital for everyone to have wherever they live.”

“Fascinating in what sort of way?” enquired Attila.

“Not only in their looks and the way they live, but also what they thought and their opinions. It is so very important in this day and age when so much is happening in our lives to know what people think and why they think it.”

Attila knew what he was trying to say and because it amused her, she started to question him about the way he used his mind.

If he thought in a different way, she said he might be of greater significance to his country and the people he lived with.

It was the sort of conversation she would have had with her father when he was well and it was always very stimulating to criticise, to agree and to criticise again.

Especially with this handsome young man.

She soon realised he was most intelligent and well-read.

“How do you know so much about the world,” she asked him, “when you have obviously only visited a small part of it?”

“I have read a great deal,” he replied, “and I have cultivated men and women from other countries when I have a chance to meet them. Last year I met a man from Egypt who told me so much I did not know. About the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the philosophy that lies behind them.”

Attila gave a little cry.

“That is what I would love to know. Oh, please tell me what you have learnt.”

Gesa looked up at the sky.

“I would really like to do that, but at the same time I think we should be moving on. You have another night to spend before you reach home.”

It was with difficulty that Attila did not say she was glad about that.

Now there was no more danger she wanted to stay with Gesa, as she felt he was telling her so much she had never known.

Equally he was giving her something else which she could not put into words.

*

They rode a long way in the next few hours.

Sometimes they were racing against each other and sometimes they let their horses walk at a slow pace through the grass while they talked.

Finally Kilkos brought the carriage to an abrupt halt and Attila became aware that if they carried on for another two hours they could reach Valdina.

She had no wish to hurry on and she found herself dreading the moment she would be back in the Palace.

She would have to explain where she had been to her stepmother, who she knew would be really furious at her leaving before Prince Otto arrived.

She might even have him still waiting for her, or she might have found another prospective groom.

Attila's heart sank at the mere thought of it.

It would be difficult to obtain her father's support without upsetting him.

Worst of all would be the horror of being married to a man she did not know or love.

But tonight she would have Gesa to talk to and she asked for nothing more.

They had dinner together in a secluded spot and sat talking until the stars came out over their heads and the moon shone down on them, turning Attila's hair to silver.

Gesa told her again and again how lovely she was.

“You are not to embarrass me,” she told him. “I am unused to compliments and although I don't believe them, I find them rather embarrassing.”

“Why should you not believe them, Lala? I swear that everything I say to you is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

He held his hand theatrically over his heart as he spoke.

“Then you must have met very few women, Gesa. I am always being told how beautiful the Russian women are, and the French are reckoned to be the most fascinating in the whole world.”

“But you have something
different
,” he said, seriously this time.

“What is that?” asked Attila looking astonished if a little pleased.

“It is difficult to put into words, but I believe that your beauty is not only skin deep, but comes from your heart and soul, which makes it shine out overwhelmingly. I am certain that once a man has looked at you, it is impossible for him to look away.”

Attila drew in her breath.

“That is something I would really like to believe,” she murmured, “but I suspect because you express it so movingly, you have said it already to quite a number of women!”

“Now you are insulting me,” replied Gesa, “I have told you the truth. I find you so lovely, not only your looks but your thoughts too, that I feel like picking you up in my arms and riding away, so that you will never see anyone but me again.”

The way he spoke sounded completely sincere.

Attila did not know how to answer him and Gesa moved a little nearer to her.

“Now, I want you to answer a question truthfully,” he said.

“I am always truthful.”

“I am sure that is true and it is another fantastic and unusual thing about you.”

“And what is your question, Gesa?”

He looked deeply into her eyes which seemed to have caught the light from the stars.

“Have you ever been kissed?”

“No, of course not,” Attila replied quickly, blushing.

“Why do you say ‘of course not'?”

“Because I would not want anyone to try to kiss me unless I loved him and I have never loved anyone.”

“Are you sure of that?” enquired Gesa.

She became very conscious that now he was almost touching her.

She once again felt a strange excitement coursing through her and she still could not explain it.

“I think, my lovely angel, that at the moment we are in a world of our own and there is no one to disturb us. We are, in fact, at one with the stars and the moon.”

Attila put back her head and looked up at the sky.

As she did so, Gesa pulled her against him and his lips sought hers.

She could not believe what was happening.

Then, as she felt a thrill run through her entire being, he drew her closer still.

His lips became more possessive, more demanding.

Attila had often wondered what it would be like to be kissed.

Now she knew it was beyond anything she could ever have imagined or anything she had dreamed about.

It was wonderful! Marvellous! Glorious!

At the same time it was
magical
.

As Gesa kept on kissing her, she felt as if he carried her up into the stars.

They were no longer human beings on earth but at one with the angels.

His kisses were not human, more like a spiritual balm to her soul.

It was a long time before Gesa raised his head.

“
I love you
, my darling Lala,” he sighed, “as I have never thought it possible to love anyone.”

“
You love me
?” Attila whispered breathlessly.

“I do love you,” Gesa replied firmly. “Now tell me what are you feeling?”

“It is so marvellous there are simply no words to express it. I think perhaps we have died and were not aware of it!”

Gesa gave a little laugh.

“We are not dead, my lovely one, but very much alive. I have now found you when I thought it would be impossible and what I wanted was merely a figment of my imagination.”

“What do you mean?” asked Attila.

“It is
you
. I could not believe that you existed. I thought that all my life I should be alone, because what I yearned for was not only out of reach but did not exist.”

He paused for a moment.

“Now I have found you and you are mine. I will kill any man who tries to take you away from me!”

He did not wait for her to answer, but began kissing her once again, kissing her with possessive and passionate kisses which made her whole body tremble.

It was ecstasy so intense it was almost painful.

Only as he stopped kissing Attila, because he was breathless, did she say,

“I love you,
I love you
, Gesa! I did not know it was possible to feel like this. Oh, Gesa, I have prayed for love too and now God has given it to me.”

“He has given you to me,” he murmured, “and no one shall ever take you from me.”

Then he was kissing her again and there was no need for words.

In their minds, their hearts and their souls they had both found the love they had sought for so long.