Fated Desire

Two - The Knight

‘We can’t stay here,’ Jason lent back so that he could watch her face, smoothing back the tangled blonde locks and tucking them behind her ear. ‘I’m sorry, your Grace. Do you think you can ride?’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Sastra looked up at the man with a heartbeat that had been made sluggish from fear and now suddenly quickened. Why wasn’t she in control of her own body anymore? These things were new, they were terrifying and there had to be a way to regain control. But with Jason, she was reluctant to move away from the warmth and safety of his arms.

‘I’m ready,’ she stuttered, and flushed. The quicker they left the barn behind, the faster she could put the memory of what had happened, what had almost happened behind her. It was never something she was going to want to dwell on.

‘I shouldn’t have let you come back to the stables alone,’ his jaw was clenched as he glanced back at the dead man in the shadows, ‘but someone will find his body and we need to be long gone before then.’

‘I’ll be alright,’ she tried to assure him as he stepped back. He held up a hand, a clear signal to hang back from him. Sastra wrapped her arms around herself, cool despite the warmth of the night. The hairs still raised goosebumps over her skin. She shivered. Jason had spent the last season teaching her signals and silent commands, ready for this. She watched him as he approached her would-be attacker. He bent to check the man’s pulse, fingers pressing almost delicately against the mans’ neck before he turned and kicked him, hard in the head. Satisfied that he was definitely dead, the Knight bent and went through the man’s pockets for anything of use.

Sastra looked away then, careful to hide her disgust. She wasn’t a Duchess anymore. Anything they had, was what they could carry with them and whilst Jason had promised that they could live comfortably, he warned that the journey would deplete the ready cash they had, he was willing to to do whatever it took, to get Sastra somewhere safe, beyond the reach of her Uncle and the arranged marriage he had made for her.

Satisfied, Jason went to the horses. She stood alone in the dim light and watched him ready the animals for riding and led them out into the night. Their hooves thudded on the dry ground and compact earth beyond the stable. Sastra followed the man, mounting up silently as she had been instructed and following him as led the way, away from the tavern and the promise of a real bed for the night. He looked back, frequently, quietly checking that she was still behind him before encouraging the horses to run along the road. It was over an hour until he finally looked back over his shoulder and slowed his horse to a walk. She caught up beside him, muscles aching from the ride, but still offered him a smile.

He looked worried, brows drawn with thought but a faint smile pulled at his mouth in reply.

‘There’s no news of Knight on the road, this far south,’ he explained quietly. It had been the whole reason they’d risked visiting the tavern. That and the thought of a hot bath and warm bed. After five days on the road, Sastra had begged and pleaded with the man for some respite in their travel arrangements. Since leaving the Palace in Milany under the cover of darkness, she’d barely slept. Her clothes were travel stained and she was exhausted. She’d seen more trees and forests than hot meals and Jason, as he always did, had eventually relented. Even though he’d grumbled about it being against his better judgement.

Sastra wasn’t even sure where they were in the kingdom anymore, but Jason assured her they were slowly, but steadily travelling South. Just in a way that would led them away from the towns, villages and fortresses. Away from anyone who might recognise her and raise an alarm with the local Provost’s office or Knight’s Barracks.

‘He recognised me,’ Sastra hardly dared to whisper it, hating the way Jason glared at the night before them. It was awful, being the source of all his worry. But she couldn’t do this without him. Wouldn’t want to.

‘We need to do something about that,’ he stretched out his hand across the road as their horses moved side by side.

‘Next camp, I managed to get some more comfortable clothes for you. I managed to pick up some scissors from the tavern too. I know that he’s the first to spot you…but we can’t risk it Sas - I mean your Grace.’

‘Jason,’ she squeezed his hand gently with her own, ‘please stop that too. You can’t keep calling me Your Grace. Just Sas…that’s fine with me.’

The set of his jaw seemed to tighten before he glanced at her, eyes shadowed with guilt, ‘no matter what I call you, you’ll always be the Duchess to me.’

‘Then it will be our secret,’ she promised with a smile, ‘and ours alone. When we’re past the border and South of Milany…we’ll be making our new home. Our new lives together.’

‘I can’t wait,’ he smiled at her and the expression lifted his features in the star light. He was tall and strong, her Knight and protector. His broad shoulders filled the leather armour that he wore to perfection. And Sastra knew. After all, she'd spent a lot of time watching Knights in armour, leather, plate, chain or otherwise, parading around the city for attention. Jason wasn’t like that. In fact, she could never remember seeing him at court. He made dark leather look good. His pale blue eyes were a rival to her own, bright as the summer skies. His hair was a dark red, and the freckles that dusted his nose added youth to a rectangular face that was often lost with thought or too often since they’d left the Capital behind, drawn with worry. Their eyes met and held as the horses walked. Finally, at long last he lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss to the back of her hand before releasing her fingers. He turned then, leading his horse off the road and into the woods that lined the West of Milany. Determined to see them both lost within the trees’ incase any patrols came sweeping by.

Her heart gave a flutter every time he kissed her hand. It was something he’d done every night now, since they’d left the capital behind. Other than his embrace in the stables, it was the closest he allowed himself to any intimacy. Didn’t he understand just how much she loved him? Yes, she’d been terrified of an arranged marriage to a Barbarian. Yes, she had desperately wanted to run away. But she had chosen him. Chosen his strength and steadfast resolve, his kindness. It didn’t hurt that whenever he looked at her, her heart staring beating a hundred times faster.

She wet dry lips, the horror of the evening had faded in her thoughts as the adrenaline faded from her body. With Jason, she never felt anything but safe. He was right, she should never have returned to the stables without him, but she’d heard a noise and wanted to check the horses were alright. Jason had agreed, just for once, that he would go ahead and see if there were rooms free and she would follow in a few moments. Sastra nudged her horse forward, following the Knight away from the road and back into the wilderness that he knew so well. She was never letting him out of her sight again. Never had she felt so vulnerable as with the belt wrapped around her neck, forced onto all fours. Any hope that she’d been able to set the memory aside was lost as she started shivering again. Focusing instead on following her Knight.

Deep within the tree’s Jason found the entrance to a shallow cave. Satisfied that it didn’t lead anywhere else he set up a tether for the horses and started up a campfire, confident that there was no one around to see it.

Sastra dismounted, and did her best to take care of her chores for the evening. It started with tending her horse, before she was supposed to collect firewood. But once she’d taken off her mount's saddle and brushed down their fur, the shaking in her limbs got the better of her. A wave of sickness rose as the memory of the man’s breath on her neck intruded on her thoughts. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the sight of his silhouette in the darkness, of his body laying sprawled in the straw.

‘Sas?’ Strong arms wrapped around her once more, before Jason bent and swept her legs out from underneath her. He carried her to the firepit, hidden by the lip of the cave and the bloom of summer foliage. Sastra turned into the man, as he sank down. Sitting cross-legged infront of the crackling fire he cradled her in his arms. His lips pressed against her golden hair as she shivered and buried her face in his neck once more.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she whimpered and felt the tension in his arms as they flexed around her.

‘No,’ he whispered against her hair, ‘that was him. That wasn’t you. You didn’t do anything wrong Sassy.’

‘I shouldn’t have been there,’ she hiccuped before jumping as she felt Jason emit a low, primal growl.

‘No,’ he insisted again, ‘you have every right to exist in this world, without being preyed upon.’ He drew back enough to looked down into her face.

Mesmerised by his features in the flickering firelight, Sastra held her breath. His furrowed brow was softened with care. He stroked her hair back from her temples again, shaking his head. ‘I’ll teach you to defend yourself…you’re the most beautiful woman in the world Sassy, and men are going to notice you. Good men and bastard men like the one tonight. I’ll be with you…and for the times I can’t be. I’ll teach you to defend yourself.’

Sastra wiped her face with a hand, it was hard not to feel better when he looked at her like that, when he told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

‘I don’t know how I deserve you,’ she murmured. Made bold by the way he held her, she touched her fingertips to his face. To the rough stubble of a beard that had been growing since they’d set out on their journey.

He laughed at that, a low chuckle escaping as he looked down at her, ‘you’re still shaking,’ he studied her features. ‘How can I help you? How can I make you feel safe?’

‘Kiss me,’ she demanded, voice soft. Would he refuse her again, like he had every other time since they’d left the city behind?