Goodbye to the Knight✔️

36. If you wish

I am able to find the garments with ease, neatly folded in the draw as Killian said. Quickly I strip off my other layers of clothes and shoes until I remain solely in my braies and loose under tunic, I finally unpin my hair and let it fall in waves down my back, leaving my hair up whilst swimming has never ended well. I bundle up my other clothes and take them outside with me, ready for me to change into afterwards.

I look towards the glistening waters of the lake and smile, Killian and Sage are swimming around laughing. For a moment I pause, taking in the sight of the both, relaxed and enjoying themselves.

Suddenly they catch sight of me.

"Ell." Killian gives me a nod, his eyes briefly looking me up and down.

"What are you doing dawdling on the shore!" Sage yells, swimming over. "Get yourself in here now!"

I place my clothes carefully down and then let out a whoop of excitement as I plunge into the cold refreshing waters of the lake.

Swimming had been a skill taught to me whilst we lived at the Earl's castle, thankfully a large river ran by the castle and was a common spot for many to go and enjoy including myself and my friend in our spare time.

I surface gasping and blinking water from my eyes. The water is breathtakingly cold quickly overcoming my hot body, I frantically move my body, trying to hold onto the remains of my heat.

"It is so cold, why did we choose to go swimming in autumn, in the m-mountains, whe-where it snows." I splutter, teeth chattering.

Sage laughs. "Just keep moving, you shall warm up soon enough."

And that I do, swimming around until slowly the blood in my system moving again and I can feel my toes once more.

"This isn't even that bad, this valley is sheltered from most of the bad weather,"

"It still isn't warm though!"

Sage merely splashes me as a response and then to my surprise, Killian places both of his muscled arms together, gathering together a powerful wave of water and sends it over Sage's head.

I let out a laugh but then I too get doused with a face full of water. So the knight wants a water fight too, I sink under the water, plotting my plan of action against the two men. I swim around their legs and burst up behind them, splashing a wave of water over them both much to their dismay.

Sage spins round spitting out water whilst Killian shakes his dark hair out, sending water droplets spraying everywhere which I dodge.

"You dare splash water at me!" he exclaims.

I let out a cackle and dive back under, only to have my leg caught by a hand and dragged back up to receive my payback from Killian.

We all continue laughing and splashing water until we get too tired and have taken in our fair share unwanted water for the day.

"Who else is hungry?" I announce.

"Me, for sure!" Sage laughs. "You should know that I am always hungry by now."

We emerge dripping out of the lake and make our way over to our clothes waiting for us on dry grass. Grabbing my pile I walk off towards the nearest tree to change behind, not wanting to get the inside of the hut wet.

Finally as dry as I can get, and clothed once more, I come out from behind the tree and make my way back to the hut where Killian is starting the fire and Sage feeding the horses.

"I'll start preparing the food," I say to Killian who looks up and nods before going back to chopping up the wood. And with the evening sun beginning to curl over the mountains sending shadows dancing, I turn to our bags to look for the bread, a smile on my face.

~~~

I shiver and roll over. My mind is far too awake to fall sleep. The night is clear and stars blink down on us, hard diamonds watching in the sky. Even with the fire crackling quietly beside me I can feel the biting cold, nipping at my body trying to expel any last warmth.

I sit up, pulling my cloak closer to my body. Beside me Sage is fast asleep, letting out little snores and I can't help but smile. My eyes wander across the fire to look for Killian's familiar figure, however he isn't there.

I turn my head, and catch sight of his silhouette sitting on the log beside the lake. Grabbing a blanket I walk quietly over to him.

"Can't sleep either?" I ask softly.

Killian turns his head. "My apologies, did I disturb you?"

"No, I never went to sleep." I pass him the blanket. "I thought you might be getting cold."

"I'm used to the cold by now," he says slowly, but takes the blanket from my hand. "Thank you."

I hesitate a second before asking, "Are you okay?"

He takes a moment to answer. "Being out here allows me to gather my thoughts."

"I shall leave you be then," I say, beginning to turn around.

His warm hand on my own stops me. "That's not what I meant," Killian says. "If you wish to stay, I wouldn't mind."

"Okay." I sit down on the log and only moments later my teeth start chattering. "H-how were you not f-freezing before?"

"Like I said, I'm used to the cold." Killian holds out the blanket. "Here. I have more than enough room under this."

I hesitate for a moment. The idea of being that close to Killian causes an unfamiliar feeling to appear in my stomach. What is up with my body? It's just Killian, not a stranger or anything.

Ah, it must be because he's a knight.

Of course! That has to be the reason as to why my pulse is racing and my cheeks have grown unusually warm.

"I believe I can do an adequate job at keeping a certain maiden warm." Killian adds after seeing my hesitation.

I smile at his words. "I can't deny that. You did a phenomenal job at keeping me warm when I was sick."

"If it would make you feel more comfortable, you can have the blanket all to yourself." He begins unravelling the blanket from around himself. "My apologies, I should have offered you it first."

"No, I brought it over for you to have, not to steal it right back. I-we can share." I shuffle over until I'm seated right next to him, our sides touching.

He wraps the blanket around my shoulders. "There you go."

We sit in silence for a few seconds. The moon's light reflecting on the surface of the still water; a silver mirror of nature.

"Thank you for keeping me alive." I whisper. "Thank you for taking care of me even after I lied to you."

"I gave you my word at the beginning of this journey that I will keep you both safe," Killian says solemnly. "You had your reasons for hiding your identity and I respect them. I, of all people understand that sometimes you must do things in order to stay out of harm's way." He pauses. "I wasn't going to break my word before, nor do intend to in the future."

I feel a wave of calm wash over me.

I am safe.

I am safe with him.

I rest my head on his shoulder. "Thank you."

A moment goes by and then I feel my hand being enveloped by his. I interlace my fingers through his own callused ones and he gently squeezes.

No more words are needed to be said; an understanding has been reached.