AURIELLA
"What am I going to do with you?" he asked, looking at me as I measured the length of my hand with his.
I looked up at him and kissed his palm again. "What are you going to do with me?" I laughed. "I think we need to find an explanation to give my father or he may have you drawn and quartered!"
He groaned when I reminded him of my father. He dropped his head back heavily, thinking of just that. It made me doubt that he felt the same for me as I felt for him and I was suddenly eager to get away from him.
"Do not worry, warden, I will not inform him of what has happened between us. I do not expect you to bend knee just to keep you at my side!" I angrily said, moving away from him but was caught in his strong arms and he brought me back to him.
"You must know that I love you more than life itself!" he said, stroking my hair. "I can die a happy man tomorrow now that I have found you, love."
I glanced up at his face, seeing the tender look on his face. I sat up and managed to bring my knees to my chest. "But you are a Grey Warden. This cannot be changed, nor do I want you abandon your task. You are meant for honor and glory!" I said, hugging my legs.
"I was not always a Grey Warden." He turned my face towards him. "Once I was a thief. I was conscripted into the Wardens when I was 18. I did…something I am not proud of and was going to be put to death when the Warden Commander conscripted me." He looked at my hair. "I would not have been worthy of you then. Being a Warden gave me the opportunity to travel about and helped me to finally find you. If there was some way…"
"You are worthy of me." I said softly. "It is I that am not worthy of you, Warden. Even now I wonder if this is a dream. To have you here now, telling me you love me," I sighed and looked at the sky. It had gotten late. "Come now, Warden. I do not think I can manage my horse alone. I will need your help and we need to get to the castle before they send a search party out for us."
-)(-
Duncan walked besides my horse as he had left his own at the gate when he arrived. I had hoped to get inside without too much commotion but as fate would have it, Roderick was in the stables when we arrived.
"Cousin! What happened to you?" he asked, helping me down.
"It was entirely my fault," said Duncan. "I walked out in front of her and she was thrown from her horse."
Roderick looked at Duncan and back to me. "Is this true?"
"Yes, of course! I was paying more attention to my targets than to where the horse was going and almost trampled the Warden!" I turned back to Duncan and bowed my head. "I thank you again for your help, Warden. And I apologize for almost running you down. I hope to see you again at dinner." I held onto Roderick and walked away as Duncan dismounted.
Roderick walked me into the castle before speaking to me again. "You do not easily get thrown from your horse, cousin."
"Things are known to happen, dear Roderick. I am lucky not to have broken my neck, or my bow!" I laughed.
He stopped me and looked at me closely. "Did he touch you, cousin?"
"Do I look so helpless? There is not a man alive who can force himself on me and still live, is there?" I was sure he saw through my lies, yet hoped he believed me. "I can manage on my own now. If mother sees me she will not let me meet my master for at least a month!" I walked away as quickly as I could without showing that I was stiff. When he was far enough away, I slowed and limped to the kitchen, asking Nan to warm some water for me. She looked at me and promised to bring it to my chambers.
"Not too much water, Nan. I just want to clean up a bit." I made my way back up to my room. Once there, I sat and began to brush out my hair, waiting for Nan to bring me water to use.
"I see the miss took a tumble," she said as I began to remove more and more leaves from my hair.
"Yes, I did. And I almost killed the Warden as well, Nan. What would they say about me, killing someone such as the Warden with a horse?" I laughed.
"No doubt using that bloody blindfold again!" she said as she was walking out the door.
I locked the door, slowly removing my cloak and ruined tunic. I poured the water into a basin and sat down and soaked a rag to begin cleaning as best as I could. I washed my arms and neck, feeling the bruises that I would have to carefully nurse for the next few days. I used a salve my master had taught me to make for just such occasions. With it, my muscles started to feel warm and soon I knew my bruises would fade. I put on another tunic dress and tossed the ruined tunic in the fireplace. I grabbed my cloak and searched the inside pocket for the dagger I took from Duncan. I cradled it and laid down on the bed, allowing the warmth of the salve to relax me and fell into a fitful sleep.
-)(-
I slept until dinner and felt much better once I awoke. When I went down to the dining hall, I was pleased to find Duncan had stayed for dinner. We were the last to enter the hall and he offered me his arm.
"I seem to have misplaced a dagger," he whispered to me.
"Oh? Are you sure you did not forget it in the woods?" I whispered back.
"I have already looked for it back…..where we dueled and could not find it." He reached into his belt and took out a silverite locket. "I did find this."
"It's very beautiful, Duncan, but it's not mine." I said, taking it and looking at it closely. The face depicted a griffin and a rose. I found the latch and opened the locket, seeing a miniature portrait inside. Of myself!
I quickly looked up at Duncan and he took it back, handing me another locket. It was the same locket, but with a picture of himself in it. He blushed as I touched the picture, smiling. "It must have been very difficult for you to sit for this, but I thank you. I will treasure it." I looked at his locket again. "Do you know what your locket is missing, Warden?"
He chuckled as I pulled a very small knife out of my sleeve and cut a piece of my hair and handed it to him. He smelled the strands and curled them around his finger to place into his locket. "Perfect." He quickly placed it into his tunic, removing the second, remaining dagger he had in his belt.
"I believe my lady should have a matching set," he said as he gave me his dagger. I blushed and it quickly went up my other sleeve, hidden away until I could inspect them alone.
I could see that my cousin was searching for me as I entered, as his eyes reacted at seeing me enter with Duncan. This time, I would not be seated beside him, but across from him, next to Nathaniel, who had arrived when I was out of the castle. I looked around and was happy that once again, his odious father was seated far, far from me. Poor mother, I thought as I took my seat. I smiled as Nathaniel asked me about my training, as he had heard that I had taken to using a blindfold.
"Did I hear correctly, my lady? You were thrown from your horse this afternoon?" he asked.
"Word does get around, I see." I smiled that everyone was talking about my clumsiness for once.
"Yes, well, your cousin told me you rode in with the Warden. I am relieved to see you unharmed." He looked across the table to where Duncan was seated. "He does seem to pop up in the most unusual places to have come across your horse as such."
"Yes, well, that teaches me to mind my surroundings from now on," I was eager to end the discussion.
"If I may be so bold," he continued. "May I have a demonstration?"
"Of what?" I could not imagine what he could be referring to and hoped it had nothing to do with Duncan, who watched us talk rather intently.
"When I heard you had started to use a blindfold, I could not imagine how one could do so and be so accurate," he explained.
I was relieved and smiled. "Certainly. But it's not so difficult. It is all a matter of knowing where your targets are and listening to the sounds around you." I said, looking at Duncan, remembering hearing him creep up on my practice, not knowing what I was attempting. But I was certain that of my aim to be sure and that he could easily block my arrows, even if he once claimed he could not.
