The Raven

Chapter Six: Comfort

Hello everyone, who's been reading this story!

Thank you for sticking with me!

I made this chapter longer than the last one, which was just one page!

Enjoy!

Chapter Six: Comfort

“We might spend this night at an inn somewhere.” Nathaniel announced as it was growing darker.

That was a relief. I was worn out after all this travelling and sleeping in the forest. A woman needed her comfort. But what ridiculous ideas he mentioned later really angered me.

“You will pretend to be my squire, so we can avoid being recognised.” He stated.

“But, I don’t even remotely look like a man.” I complained.

“I can take care of that.” He smiled, this time his left eyebrow arching on his forehead. This was a first: a wicked smile.

“I am not going in that inn looking like a man I’m not.” I declared, hard on my word.

“Fine, then you can spend the night in the woods again.” He said, his patience unwavering, his determination as hard as a rock. He was so annoying. There was no point tin arguing with him.

“Alright!” I raised my voice. “I’ll pretend. But just this once.”

A satisfied grin spread across his face. This was the first time I had seen him grin, and to add to the perfection, an oversized dimple appeared on his left cheek. Could he be any more flawless?

Maybe this was a good idea.

The inn was called The Beckerlay Inn. It was a nice place, small, and in the middle of nowhere. He was clever, got to give him that too.

First, we took the horse to the stables, where a young stable-boy took over, promising he would get the horse food and water, after Nathaniel put a few coins in his hands. We walked over to the entrance side to side, like old friends, him a head taller than me. I felt so small.

“’ello love!” The innkeeper chirped as we went inside. The whole place was wooden and had this cosy feel. “One room for your Bride and yerself?” She winked at Nathaniel. He obviously wasn’t expecting that. He smiled and cast a look at me, only to see my embarrassing blush. This was awful, now we were going to sleep in a same room. Awful.

“Yes, please. Give us your best!” Mr. Greene smiled kindly at the innkeeper, and once again glanced at me, smiling with his eyebrow arched.

Nathaniel paid the innkeeper quite a sum and she escorted us to the room. One room. This was going to be a worse night than yesterday. Blimey.

“I’ll send a maid to bring you hot water for a bath. Have a good night love.” She said to Nathaniel and she left.

Oh god, me and him. Alone. In a confined space of this room. My mother would go mental. I smiled at the thought. Driving my mother crazy was a thing I was good at and I liked to do. She didn’t love me anyway.

“I’m sorry Miss Moore, this was not meant to happen.” He apologised.

I nodded once, acknowledging I had accepted his apology.

“I shall go for a stroll and look in on the horse while you take your bath.” He announced.

“Thank you.” I said. How proper.

He left, and I was left alone to let the embarrassment soak me. They had assumed me his wife. What would it be like if I were? Something in the back of my mind screamed danger. I never pay attention to these things.

The maid arrived shortly after Nathaniel’s departure. She brought buckets of hot water, filling the bath with them, adding some cool water to it. When she was done, I thanked her. She bowed and left me to my bath.

I stripped from my brother’s now stinky, sweaty clothes, gathering it in rubble near the bath. Then I took off the cotton cloth I’d wrapped around my chest to flatten it, not that it needed it, and let my hair down, which contained exactly twenty-seven pins. What had previously been sleek and gleaming was now full of leaves, dirt and mud, looking ragged.

The feel of the hot water on my skin was sensational. Every cell in my body was quivering and tingling from the unexpected heat. I relaxed in the bath and put my head, hair and all, under the level of the water, letting it consume me. I thought about how I missed Matthew over the last day and a half. How James was going to miss me, how I’d let him down. I didn’t think I’d ever get over this. I wouldn’t. I resurfaced again, now feeling that I was crying.

I cried for a long time, letting it all out. I was never going to make a good queen. I was irresponsible, naïve, undependable, immature and stubborn. I wasn’t the formula for the kindness. I wouldn’t be able to set example for the generations to come. I was just a girl, just one, selfish girl who had run away from responsibility, who had run away from her problems.

I didn’t know how I’d held my tears back all this time. Now they poured from my eyes like an endless river.

I took my time bathing myself. And didn’t even notice when he’d gotten back. When I came out, only a towel wrapped around me, I was shocked to find him sitting casually across the fireplace in a big, mahogany wooden armchair. My eyes widened when he looked me up and down. I blushed and darted back to the bathroom. Ugh, again. Somehow, I couldn’t avoid these accidents that involved me being embarrassed all the time.

“I’m sorry!” I blurted, “I didn’t know you were back, Mr. Greene.”

“Do you need a change of clothes?” He said. “I happen to have spare ones handy. They are much cleaner than what you’re planning on wearing now.”

I thought about this. Would it be too inappropriate? I did need clothes.

“If you wouldn’t mind…” I said quietly, doubting if he’d heard me.

In about a minute, he knocked slightly on the bathroom door. I opened the door, standing so, that he couldn’t see any part of me bar the eyes. His hand came sliding in the narrow gap, holding a navy material.

“It’s not much, but it’s better than what you previously wore.” He said quietly.

“Thank you. I am most grateful.” I replied, eager to close the door again. He withdrew then and I closed the door.

To my surprise, it was a dress. A very unfashionable, old sort, but still, very elegant. It had a built-in corset and looked precisely my size. I wondered where he had gotten it. I slipped in my undergarments first, and then put the dress over my head. The next thing proved to be extremely tricky, the small buttons ran all along my back and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fix them up. So I decided to leave it.

I fixed my hair up again, sticking only few pins to push it off my face. I left it down on my back, trying to hide the undone buttons. Then I came out of the bathing room and stopped dead in my tracks.

Nathaniel was sprawled on the huge bed. His eyes were closed, his fine, long eyelashes brushing his cheek, his jaw-line framed in stubble, his hair a curly mess. His chest rose and fell rhythmically. I smiled, and felt envious of the peace he was experiencing now. He slept, and in that moment I wanted to curl up next to him on the bed and feel the warmth of his body against mine.

I went over to the fireplace, my dress feeling alien around my legs. Had it been only one day ago that I’d last worn a dress? It seemed weeks ago.

I took a long look around the room then, taking in every detail. Noticing, how it was decorated in different shades of red and how the headboard of the bed was carved in fine detail.

And for the first time, in my seventeen years of life, I felt comfortable.