As she ran through the forest Keira found herself constantly tripping over her condensed hair strands getting knocked about the inside of the dress but every time she fell she'd simply get back up and run faster. She had promised Celia that she would return by the next day and despite how much she'd rather not it was one she intended to keep. Soon, she emerged from the trees into Jack's farming field and she spirited towards his house and began to rapidly pound her fist against the door seeing as he was nowhere to be seen outside.
"Jack!" She shouted. "Jack please open the door!"
After another moment of shouting and banging she collapsed onto the door and leaned against it as her body began to finally take into account her recent energy loss.
"Jack…" She said in a soft voice as she slowly slid down the door. "Please Jack…"
She shut her eyes tightly to prevent the tears forming in them from falling.
"Please open the door Jack…" She whispered.
Finally she heard the voice she came to her call out to her from behind. "Hello?" It asked causing her eyes to immediately open.
"Jack?" She asked as she quickly stood up and turned around to see him standing before her.
Before he could even reply she stepped forward and threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest as she started to cry.
"Jack! It's terrible Jack!" She shouted.
He placed his hands on her and pushed her away. "D-Do I even know you?" He asked curiously.
"Jack it's me!" She told him as she gripped the white headpiece in her hair and tossed it aside revealing the portion of her long black hair not hidden by her dress. "Keira!"
"Keira?" He asked as his eyes examined her closely to see if it was really her.
"Oh it's terrible Jack!" She repeated as she latched onto him once more.
"What? What's terrible?" He asked as he slowly placed his arms around her to show his concern.
"M-My p-parents…" She began between sobs as tears started to fall from her eyes and become absorbed by his tunic. "They've… they've…"
"What did your parents do?" He asked when she refused to continue. "Did they hurt you?"
"They… they…" She paused again. "They want me to marry Edwin!"
She felt his body shake at her news before he pulled her off of him. "What?" He asked in disbelief.
"In a week…" She cried, latching onto him once more. "In one week I'm to be wed to Edwin!"
He pulled her close to his chest and spoke softly. "Keira I…"
"I just don't know what to do Jack!" She continued in a heartbroken tone. "They're trying to forbid me from ever leaving the castle grounds again!" She tightened her grip around him. "But I can't allow them to do that because I know my future is out here with you but there's no way I can confront my parents about this!"
"Keira you have to calm down." He advised as he separated himself from her again.
"But how Jack?" She questioned as she looked up at him with tear filled eyes. "How? How can I be calm when the life I want is about to be taken away from me?"
"Look I know you must be worried about the future right now but you have to calm down and trust me." He told her, seeming to cause her to ease up. "Remember? I promised that I would help you rid yourself of your royal status and that's what I'll do even now."
She wiped away some of her tears on the soft red fabric of her maid's uniform. "R-Really?"
"Of course." He answered as he nodded his head. "I… I feel indebted to you…"
"Y-You feel indebted to m-me…?" She asked in disbelief. "B-But why? I mean you're the one who saved my life, if anything I should be indebted to you."
He looked down at his feet for a moment before staring up at the dark orange and purple sky. "Well… I guess it's just because… you make me happy." He stared into her eyes so she could see the faint sparkles from the stars appearing above reflected in his eyes. "And I'm willing to do anything to repay you for the way you've made me feel recently."
She began to faintly blush at his words and looked down to try and conceal her exposed feelings as she placed her eyes around him. "Thank you Jack…" She said quietly.
Slowly, he placed his arms around her as well and began to softly stroke her back. "Always remember that I'll be here to help you."
She tightened her grip around him. "Don't worry Jack, I…" Suddenly, she broke off as she let go of Jack and placed her hands over her stomach as a sharp pain caused her to fall to her knees and grunt in pain.
"Keira!" Jack shouted as he crouched down and placed his hands on her. "What's wrong?"
"It's my stomach Jack…" She answered as she started to take slow deep breaths. "I haven't eaten in two days… and after all that running and panicking I did today…" She grunted in pain again as she fell down a bit more though Jack was quick to react and kept her up. "I guess I'm just really hungry… and tired…"
"Aw you don't seem so well." He remarked as he slowly placed his arms around her and began to lift her up bridal style. "Let me get you inside."
Keira silently shifted in his arms to get comfortable as he began to walk towards the house. Once he reached it, in order to open the door and not disrupt her at the same time he simply raised his leg up and kicked it open which wasn't that hard considering there wasn't any type of lock or knob to be found on the old wooden door. Inside the house, he walked over to the bed and carefully placed her down on the foot of it as she grasped her stomach once more.
"Wait here." He told her in a concerned voice.
She looked up at him and nodded her head in response before watching him walk over to his cabinet and removing a large loaf of bread from it and then returning to her.
He held the load out in front of her. "Here, eat." He said as she took it from him.
Without saying a word she brought one end of the loaf up to her mouth and began to eat. Content that she was eating, Jack smiled before walking over to the side of the bed behind her and leaning against it. Gently, he gripped a portion of her hair strands that was concealed by her dress and began to slowly pull them out from their hiding spot causing her to let out a slight giggle, likely at the way it felt.
"Oh you don't have to do that Jack…" She told him in a much more relaxed tone than before.
He formed a grin as he chuckled while continuing to remove her hair from the inside of her dress. "What do you mean? I'm sure having your hair in there is pretty uncomfortable. I'm just trying to help you."
She smiled as she finished off the remaining piece of bread in her hands. "Thank you…"
Once the final strand of hair was pulled from the inside of her dress Jack got up from his spot on the bed and walked over to the window and pushed aside the tattered dark red cloth acting as a curtain for it away.
"I take it your staying the night?" He asked as he turned back to face her after looking out at the starlit sky.
Silently she nodded her head without even seeming to give his question a second thought.
He smiled. "That's good." He turned to the door but continued to stare in her direction. "I guess I'll go to my usual spot in the barn."
As he began to walk towards the door Keira dropped her head down as she began to enter a brief state of thought.
"Jack…" She said in a quiet voice just loud enough to cause him to stop.
He turned to her as she looked up at him. "Hm?"
"Do… do you think… you could stay here with me tonight?" She asked innocently.
He lowered his eyebrows and let his eyes wander around the room for a moment as he thought of his response.
"Alright…" He finally answered in a tone similar to hers.
A bit slowly he walked towards the bed and came to a stop when he reached the foot of it, giving Keira a hesitant look. Looking back at the bed and seeing the obvious problem, she briefly got up from her spot before getting back onto the bed only this time underneath the covers.
She shifted over to the edge of the small bed and patted the spot next to her. "Come on Jack."
Slowly, he walked over to the other side of the bed and climbed in only to find himself pressed up against her due to its small size.
He looked over at her causing their faces to almost touch. "Um, are you sure about this Keira?" He asked as he grabbed his end of the sheets almost as if he was about to get up. "If you want I can…"
She placed her hand on top of his stopping him. "Yes Jack…" She replied as she began to lightly push down on his hands causing him to gently lie down as she did the same. "I… I just want you to be here with me right now…"
He gave her another smile as he slowly nodded his head.
Slowly, Keira placed her arms around him and pulled herself even closer to his chest as she rested her head beneath his while he placed his arms around her as well.
"Jack…?" She asked.
"Yes?" He answered in a whisper.
"Do… do you really think you can help me get out of this marriage?" She asked.
He took a deep breath. "Of course I do…" He replied as he began to slowly rub her back for reassurance.
She formed a small smile. "Thank you…"
The following morning after another quick breakfast of fruit and bread, Jack stood in the center of his field and watched as Keira left for town with her hair hidden away and the headpiece atop her head. Once more he had assured her that he would help find a way to get her out of her wedding yet he truly had no idea on how he would do so. He tilted his head down and placed his hand on his chin as he began to try and formulate an idea but as he turned around to return to his house he felt as his body ran into someone else's knocking him down. He closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head for a moment and once he reopened them they quickly widened when he saw who he ran into.
"E-Edwin?" He exclaimed.
"Good morning, Jack" He greeted in a strange, seemingly unusual manner. He extended his hand out to him. "Need a hand?"
"Uh, sure, thanks." Jack replied.
He gripped his hand, accepting his offering of help, but was not expecting Edwin to tightly grip his hand and forcefully pull him up.
"Ow! What was that for?" Jack asked as he tried to remove his hand from his grip. "Let go."
Edwin formed a grin. "Sure thing." He replied before tossing him down to the ground.
Jack once again began to rub the back of his head as Edwin walked up to him.
"I'd like to talk about what you were doing with my bride to be last night, peasant." Edwin told him as he now stood over him.
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked.
"Don't try to play dumb with me, peasant." Edwin replied in a commanding tone, using the word peasant in an extremely derogatory way. "I followed Keira here and watched you two last night. Spending the night with her was not a wise move."
"What?"Jack asked. "It was her who wanted me to sleep with her and not the other way around." He told him.
"That's of no importance to me." Edwin told him. "Doing so was a big mistake."
"Oh really?" Jack asked in a threatening manner as he got back up to his feet.
"Calm yourself down peasant." Edwin began in a more relaxed tone as he turned around. "I'm a gentlemen and I'm not in any position to do anything about what's been done. However," He turned back to Jack. "If I see you make any further attempts to try and take Keira away from me I will see that you are both stopped at once."
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, trying to hide the bit of fear he now felt.
"As Keira's fiancé I am very close to her." Edwin reminded him.
"You… you're not going to hurt her are you…?" Jack asked now revealing his fear.
"Perhaps…" Edwin replied. "Then again I do now know where this pathetic place you call a home is and one word to the king could have you executed…"
Jack stepped back from him. "You wouldn't dare…"
Edwin grinned once more.
"I… I don't understand… why would you try to hurt either of us…?" Jack asked.
"Keira's a very powerful girl… and this marriage to her will help make me just as powerful." He answered.
Jack stopped and thought for a moment. "And what's to say I won't warn her about any of this?"
"You could…" Edwin replied in a way as if he hadn't thought about that. "Then again by doing so her parents would have to be informed about her actions with you, and well, let's think about how her father would feel…"
"You're crazy…" Jack remarked.
Edwin simply grinned again before turning around. "Well I have some business to attend to at the castle." He turned back to Jack and gave a mischievous smile. "That wedding isn't going plan itself."
As he began to make his leave Jack remained in still in the center of his field and watched, unsure of what to do now.