The Lady Archer (Completed)

III

"Where have you been?" His mother shouted as soon as he arrived at the castle doors.

"The horse was shot with an arrow; I had to get it to a healer before I could ride back with it." He replied.

"Well get off the horse then, I am very certain that you're tiring it out with your obesity, and the fact that it's injured makes it worse." His mother said.

He grumbled as he got off the horse, ignoring his mother's calls. He reached his room and slammed the door shut, quickly rushing to the shower. After he was done freshening up, he went to his bed and lay there, his eyes shutting down slowly, letting himself slumber, a certain maiden invading his dreams in the night.

*•••*
"I met someone today."

Lady Archer sat there, with her grandmother as they slowly ate their food. It had been weeks since her grandmother had visited. She was always busy working to make sure she provided for her granddaughter.

Her grandmother's eyes widened in shocked before she quickly recovered and said, "who did you meet, dear?"

"I did not quite catch his name. Although I must say he is very handsome." Lady Archer replied as she recalled the mysterious man.

"How did you meet?" Her grandmother asked as she dropped the plates in the sink, washing and rinsing them off while giving Lady Archer her undivided attention.

"I accidentally shot an arrow at his horse. I was targeting another creature in the woods. However, as I had just released my arrow, the horse came out of nowhere and just like that, it was hit." She said, not looking at her grandmother's face because she didn't know what to expect.

"Did you apologise to him? Did you tell him your name? Please tell me you didn't show him where you lived? Did you take your mother's bow and arrows? Or did you take yours? If you took yours, I swear-."

"I did not take mine; this time, I thought I could use my mother's." She said, forcing a smile onto her face, " I didn't apologise to him because I told him a different story and he seemed to believe me, and I only showed him where I stayed because I had to tend to his horse. I only told him that my name was Lady Archer."

"Where did you leave your mother's bow and arrows?" Her grandmother said, crossing her arms.

"I left them in the woods, but I'll pick them later on," Avery replied.

Her grandmother nodded, however, the stern look on her face told Lady Archer that she had something else to say, "be careful dear, these boys are not always easy. Remember what happened in the last town?"

She shuddered as she thought about how that man in her previous town did not take her rejection well. She couldn't put herself in such a situation again.

"You could always ignore him, or if you think you can handle a friendship with him, go ahead but don't get too close to him. He might be the fire that either burns you or, spreads around to those that try to hurt you. Think about it," her grandmother said as she went upstairs heading to the bed to get some rest, for she had to wake up early in the morning and go to work.

Lady Archer couldn't sleep the whole night, she pondered and asked herself if he was worth risking everything. The scars of her past always came back to bite her, causing her to be traumatised; hence, her moving out to find another place she could call home.

She continued to watch the stars from the window outside. She couldn't help but wonder whether he was thinking of her just as she was thinking of him.