It had been a month since the night they stayed at the dark horse inn. Bash and Mary have been riding up and down the country trying to find a port in which they could travel to Scotland, without the guards catching them. However, the past three ports had failed. They would be a day away from embarking upon their trip when the king's guards would run them out of the port and fleeing back into the woods they had come from. Running low on food and money, meant that they were limited on what they could eat, mainly living off rations and animals they had been able to hunt and living in a tent which cost them their last few coins.

Tonight they were camped out on the outskirts of the bloodwood, at the far end from the castle. Bash was out catching rabbit for supper, while mary collected firewood. Half an hour later, they came together at the site they had made camp. Bash skinned the rabbits, while mary used her skills from convent to build a roaring fire. The night grew colder despite the blazing fire and the warmth from the now cooked rabbit. Bash moved in closer to mary to try and maintain as much heat as possible. A month with only one person to rely on, meant that they were bonded to each other and therefore much closer. Bash's feelings forever growing, whereas Mary's had started to prosper over the last couple of weeks.

One of the first moments she knew that she was over Francis was a night about a week ago. They had brought the tent just a few days previously. Bash was doing as he was most nights, out hunting. Mary had finished collecting wood and decided to try and put the tent together by herself. With great difficulty, she managed to put most of it together, apart from the last task of laying the material over the top, (mainly because she was not tall enough.) When Bash returned, he was shocked at how much was put together alone, however instead of expression this shock of a woman much less a Queen doing a task such as this, he pulled the material over the top and thanked her for doing the task. After the tent was up, she had fallen asleep. Bash had made the fire and laid his jacket over her as he continued to make supper. Once dinner was ready, he awoke her gently. The loving admiration was fully on display, and as the lay together in the tent that night, she knew she was starting to fall in love with the bastard of France. With Bash, she was able to feel loved without feeling the responsibility of her country or France on top of her. Plus she felt more like herself, she could talk and act anyway she wanted and not feel like she was disappointing anyone.

After this memory passed, Bash and Mary went to bed. Once mary was asleep, Bash pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered 'I love you'. As the sun began to rise over the horizon, they were riding the last leg to Calais to try and get passage to Scotland for the next day. The ride was estimated to take roughly four hours so they decided to split the ride in two, to allow both to rider to rest.

They set off after disassembling the tent just after dawn. Mary planned to ride the first two hours. With bash behind, she was able to lean back as she rode making the ride more pleasurable. With only a short time left of her ride, they were forced to slow due to a fallen tree in the road. Bash jumped of Snow to see if he could move it. As he got round to the tree stump, the stump was smooth, if it had fallen from natural causes it would be rough, he took a moment to piece it together, "it's an ambush" he whispered. Just about to shout out this fact out to Mary, something struck him in the back of the head and the world went dark. Mary heard a thud and called out his name. Just as she was about to jump off snow and follow the noise, a man grabbed her from behind and the world went black.

Bash awoke unsure of how much time had passed, or what had happened. He stood up with a bit of a stumble, unable to see straight, he looked around for mary. He walked to the spot on the side of the log where the horse and mary once stood. On the ground was a black beaded rosary, he picked it up and sat on the log holding the rosary, remembering a conversation from a cold night two week ago.

2 weeks ago at the tavern inn.

Just before bed, Bash had noticed Mary holding a black beaded rosary. Every night she would fiddle the beads between her delicate fingers while she looked away, lost in thought. Bash had often wondered what was so special about this particular necklace as he was sure he had never seen her use it for her daily prayers. That one night, he lay in bed next to her and asked "Mary, what is so significant about that rosary?"

She turned to face him "which rosary? This one?" She held out the black beads. "Yes" he replied "you have another on you?" She looked away for a moment as if, it was a hard memory to talk about. "I'm sorry, i shouldn't have asked or joked…" Bash said worried that he had upset her. She turned to face him again "No, it's alright. It's just I've never told anyone before. It was a gift from a young girl called Rose from the convent, she gave it to me just before i left for French court. She always reminded me ofa younger version of me, naive but inquisitive. I was a little jealous as she could live a life without the attempts on her life or the responsibility of a whole country. Anyway it was one of the few things i've got left from convent, it reminds of both the good and the bad time. She was a good time, we use to play ball together and read stories. She gave it to me as a gift to protect me from the ghost at court, whereas another memory i associate with it was of Sister Helen who died because of me."

She paused a moment, gathering her thought, Bash looked at her to continue, not wanting to push her but to hear the rest of her last few memories at convent. "She died tasting my food, the English had tried to poison me, but instead killed her. It was the attempt on my life that brought me to you… I mean to court, in general." She blushed a moment before carrying on. "I just miss Rose and it reminds me of how many people over the years have died because of me." It went silent for a moment, in which time Bash had moved closer to hug her. They lay there in each other's arms for a moment longer until Bash interrupted the silence, "Mary they died protecting you but they would have done it to honour you, not for you to feel guilty. I would gladly lay down my life to protect you if it meant you could go on to be the great queen you already are."

Another moment of quiet occurred before mary spoke, "I hope it doesn't come to that." She leaned in kissed him on the cheek and fell asleep.

After this memory had faded, he sat for a moment wishing he could be back there, in her arms. The only thought running through his head being 'If only i had kissed her properly'. I need to find Mary and now, he thought to himself. Bash walks to the closest body of water, to take a drink to find the startled horse by the water's edge. He calms Snow down before fixing the reigns. He jumps on, knowing exactly where he must go, even if he never planned to return.