Disclaimer: I own nothing of the story or characters, they are all Sir Walter Scott's. I make no profit, this is just for fun
Note: I just finished watching the 1997 BBC version of Ivanhoe having not seen it for years and remembered how much I loved the bittersweet-ness of the Ivanhoe/Rebecca ship. This is just a little addition to the second last scene between them. If you remember seeing it, hope you like this ficlet the book is very good too.
The Word On Your Lips
"What now?" he asked as softly as his hands held her face
What now? His words reverberated in her head as she kept her gaze downcast, unwilling to meet his eyes which searched for an answer. She was afraid to look up, to see the intensity of emotion that matched her own feelings. She was afraid of the consequences of what might happen between them if she were to give in to her innermost desire – and his. There was too much at stake both for themselves and for others.
He felt as though his heart had split in two when she answered his question not with words but with a single kiss into his hand which she clasped in her own. It was a kiss which told him that she loved him as much as he loved her but that she would relinquish such love for the sake of his future as well as the future of his land and the Saxon woman who had also given her heart to him.
Pulling her close against him, both Rebecca and Ivanhoe savoured these last few sacred moments. Whilst they knew that their paths were unlikely to cross again, both were also certain that should the other say the word, they would leave Templestow together and to face a world united against the love between a Gentile and a Jewess.
However, the word would never be said and all they could do would be to assure those around who might ask that their regard for each other was nothing more than what honour and propriety dictated regarding the events which had brought them together.
Only in quiet moments of solitude would they allow their minds to drift back to a time when they were the only people in the world who mattered to each other and for whom they had readily sacrificed everything.