After gathering some herbs and fruits from outlying lots for breakfast, the two of them returned to their favorite fishing spot. It was a quiet, foggy morning and they enjoyed the silence.
As if to prove how removed from the world they were, wild horses and deer came to graze and drink from the pond right in front of them. Rebecca looked at one wild horse with envy. Her spotted coat was beautiful. Rebecca wished she could take her in but with their current situation, a horse was just too much for them.
William was thinking of other things. His mother used to tell him about herbs and try to teach him that some could help when one was in a jam. William was in a jam. He realized, the night before, sharing a tent so close to Rebecca with so little between him, why he had saved her. He had always seen her around the castle from the time she had been engaged to the King. She had always smiled and looked so beautiful in the gowns she was given as gifts. Even now, dressed in trousers and with her once long hair cut off, she was still quite beautiful. He had always really admired her but had kept her distance because of the King.
He didn't have to do that anymore now though.
He may have once been the Captain of the Guards, but he knew he did not have the bravery needed to just tell her his feelings. He took a bite of the cinnamon he had picked that morning. The taste was warm on his tongue and it was almost suddenly, but he knew what he had to say to her.
He walked over, guided by his new found bravery. The taste of cinnamon was still heavy in his mouth. He knew he had to act today, now, this instant.
"Rebecca, I have something I need to tell you" He said to her.
"What is it, William?" She asked, turning to him, a small smile on her face. He was just happy to see her smiling. He worried she might find him annoying or worse that she might seek to leave his company soon.
"I...I want to help you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I want to help you get your line onto the throne." He said. Her brow furrowed at this.
"I don't want to put you in danger, William. You have been a good...friend"
He presented her with a group of purple flowers he had picked on the way over. "I have always wished to be more than friends with you" He admitted.
She took the flowers, surprised by the fact he was being so blunt. "William, these are beautiful! Wait, what...what do you mean?"
"I mean I saved you because I could not let a beautiful woman such as yourself die because of a foolish man"
"William..."
He kissed her before he could stop himself and she returned the passion to his surprise. He had not realized she might feel the same way, but he was glad that she did. It was like a dream come true.
As he pulled away, he looked at her in surprise, not knowing what to say to her. It had been bold of him to just kiss her like he did.
"Rebecca...I..."
"William, you are a brave and handsome man." She calmed him at once with her calm and kind words. "I would not have ever thought that in such dark light, I would find such a kind man who returns my feelings"
"I thought you loved the King?" He asked, almost stunned.
She took his face gently in her hands, staring into his eyes. "I loved the King only as much as I feared him. I was nothing but a barging tool to my parents and I was easily replaced with my sister. I would have been lucky in some ways to become his wife, but I would be in many more to become yours."
"Would you? Be my wife that is?"
"Of course"
They kissed gently at the lakeside, sealing their marriage with that kiss. They could not wed in any traditional way, as no church would see to their union. They only had each other to pledge to with only the animals and the water as their witnesses but to them it was enough.
They completed their union right there, in the day, with little care to who might wander upon them. They were in a state of bliss where the thoughts of everyone else mattered little. They were in love and despite the hard road ahead of them, they would make their own path through the world and come even greater than before.
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