The Runaway Royals - Part Three
"Danielle my love," Henry said through the darkness. "Are you all right?" They had been riding now for several hours and were now many miles from the palace. They had spoken very little and could not even see each other it was so dark, but they had been able to stay close together. The distance between their horses could not have been more than two feet. It was as if a magical force kept them side by side. "I am very tired. I had no idea that running away would be so exhausting. How didyou do it so often?"
"Determination not to be caged I suppose. Unfortunately determination was rarely backed up with conviction. I never got very far before Laurent or one of the others caught up with me." "Do you think that we will make it this time?" I would hate to think that we were risking your Father's rage for nothing."
"Of course we will. Your passion, my new found conviction, how could we not?" He reached out through the shroud of blackness between them and lovingly placed a hand on her arm. She lifted her own hand and locked her fingers together with his. The raw energy and passion between them was electrifying. Danielle drew her horse right next to Henry's and removed her hand from his, placing it gently on his face. They stopped moving. Danielle could feel her blood heating in the passion of the moment. He moved his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her closer for a kiss. She accepted his advance by returning his kiss with a hungry desire to be closer to him. For a moment they forgot that they were running.
Eventually Henry was able to overcome the part of him that so desperately wanted to stay like that forever and pulled away. "There is a farm up ahead, with a barn where we can get some sleep, just enough so that we can proceed tomorrow with our eyes open." Danielle was now so tired that she hadn't even the strength to reply, or to protest at the sudden ending to their kiss. She simply nodded They started their horses moving again and made towards the farm. As they got closer Henry saw a light. Monsieur Dupont always left a torch burning just in case the young Prince should happen by and needs a place to stay. He was a good man, but was virtually sealed away from the world. It was probable that he hadn't even heard of Henry's marriage.
When they reached the large wooden building, Henry jumped down from his horse and gently helped Danielle from hers. By now Danielle was almost asleep. He took the torch down from the wall and guided Danielle inside.
"How long have we till sunrise?" Danielle asked, wanting to know how much time she had to sleep.
"At least three hours I would say." Henry replied. "If we leave before dawn we can get another couple of hours on the guard. They will never be able to catch us up then." He sat Danielle down on a makeshift bed that he had constructed on a previous escape bid. "Are you hungry?"
Suddenly Danielle realised that she was starving. As well as making you tired, running away made you hungry. The food at the reception had been wonderful, but she had spent so much time charming foreign ambassadors she hadn't had a chance to eat anything. "I am famished," she said. Henry moved over to a chest at the side of the barn.
"Monsieur Dupont leaves out fresh bread and chicken everyday just in case I should come by." Danielle stood up and joined her husband. "So you have been here before then. This Monsieur Dupont is your partner in crime."
"You could say that. He was a tenant of the Royal estate and an advisor to my father. His farm was like a little haven to my sister Madeleine and I. Father would go hunting and we would travel with him as far as Monsieur's farm. He had one much closer to the Palace then. Maddy and I loved to run among the haystacks in the field, and play hide and seek in the barns. She was only two years older than I. Monsieur was like my grandfather. But when I was 10 his wife died and he became a recluse. He begged my father to give him an isolated farm where he could live out his days in mourning. Maddy and I were always welcome here and when I started running away I stopped here one night and he allowed me to stay. From then on he just acted as if I would be here every night."
Henry lit some candles that Monsieur had left for him, while Danielle sat to eat. She had become too accustomed to the Royal meal routine. Henry had made sure that he had eaten at the reception. The decision to run away had not exactly been a spur of the moment thing. It had been in his mind from the moment he saw Hélène that night. He knew that it was unlikely that his father would allow them to leave the Palace, but he was desperate to get away. As well as wanting Danielle away from the courtiers, who would inevitably tell her what had happened in the past, he wanted time alone with his wife.
"Monsieur Dupont must be very fond of you." Danielle said between mouthfuls of chicken. "I doubt that there are many people who would do all of this and risk being punished by the King."
"This place is so far out of the way nobody would even think to come out of here. The road is barely good enough for horses to walk on. I would not come here if I thought that I would be found. Monsieur has been too good to me." He sat down on the bed with Danielle.
"You are very fond of him aren't you? I should very much like to meet him."
"We shall be gone before he awakes. We shall have to come out here to visit him when we return."
"That is if you father doesn't place us under house arrest. I hear that is his favourite punishment when you try to run away."
"Being shut up with you doesn't seem like such of a punishment to me." Danielle thought about this idea with great pleasure. The thought of there just being her and Henry was blissful. She loved the King and Queen very much, and Steven and Hélène had become like her best friends, but with all of them around, it seemed like there was little time for just her and Henry.
Danielle surveyed her surroundings. This barn reminded her of similar buildings at the manor, before the Baroness had allowed them to fall out of repair. She and Gustave had spent many hours playing their games in there. She could just imagine Henry and his sister doing the same thing. As she looked around, she noticed something carved into one of the beams. She got up to investigate. She brushed some dust away and saw a pretty familiar carving. 'Henry + Hélène'.
"You two must have been very good friends." Danielle said.
"What was that my love?"
"You and Hélène. I've been finding your names carved into wood all over the Palace, and now here. You really have shared a lot together."
"Yes we did. The first time I ran away I came here. Hélène wouldn't let me go alone. Just like my sisters she had mothered me since our infancy. We were the very best of friends. The sort of thing you share with Gustave." Henry could not help thinking that it really was nothing like Danielle and Gustave. For a start they were both too moral to ever do anything like what he had done to Hélène. But he didn't want to think about that.
He stood up and walked over to where Danielle was running her fingers over the carved letters. He wrapped his hands around Danielle's waist. "The bond between friends is very important, but it is nothing like that between husband and wife." He gently moved her hair out of the way and began to kiss her neck. "But we're more than that," he murmured. "We have something that happens only once in a lifetime."
"What's that?" Danielle whispered.
"We're soul mates. The perfect match. You are the one person on Earth who I could truly give myself to wholeheartedly."
Danielle turned to face him. "Since my dear father died I have had no-one to bestow my love upon. For ten years I have searched for that person who I could give my heart to completely. When I found you I thought my heart couldn't take the amount of passion that flowed through me. I thought it would burst. We were put here on Earth for each other. We are God's gifts for each other."
Her speech was so tender and affectionate that Henry wondered what he had done that was so good as to deserve this measure of devotion from somebody as wonderful as she. He placed his hand on her face an drew in close for a kiss. All of the exhaustion that had consumed them was swept away as they became intoxicated in each other. The soft, gentle kiss was overwhelmed by the tide of passion that swelled within their souls. At that moment anything could have been going on outside, and they would not have noticed.
Almost instinctively he began to undo the laces on the back of her gown as she removed his jacket and shirt. They yearned to feel the electrifying sensation of skin on skin. Henry's patience was rewarded with the feel of her silky smooth skin as her dress fell to the floor. Danielle was not rewarded so. Her impatience in getting Henry's clothes off was met with a disconcerting inability to remove his shirt. Sensing her frustrations, Henry assisted her, by pulling the white linen over his head. Now they were both partially satisfied as they could feel each others soft caresses. Danielle moved away from her husband and laid down on the bed, inviting Henry to join her, an invitation which he took delight in accepting.
As they made love neither noticed, the basic nature of their surroundings, the uncomfortable bed on which they lay, the cold chill in the air. All that they knew, or cared about, was that they were together. It didn't matter where they were or what they had, they knew that nature had blessed them with eternity together. This was a gift that needed nothing else to sustain it, a gift that could never be destroyed