Secrets of the Night

Chapter 9

Willow panicked. A million thoughts racing through her head all at once. What was she supposed to do? Should she just climb back? But what if the stranger was to inform her brother about this? He'd think that someone broke in. They'd probably end up cutting down those oak trees. And then she'd have no way of getting off the grounds anymore.

She had to say something. Convince him that she was not breaking in, which in fact she wasn't. But what was she supposed to say? How could she explain this, without revealing her identity? She definitely couldn't have that stranger find out who she was. That was WAY too risky!

"Getting off, my Lord." Willow finally answered, trying to make her voice sound somewhat deep enough to be considered a man's voice. "Not on." She added, just in case and climbed down the tree on the other side of the brick wall to somewhat prove that she was indeed getting off the grounds and not on.

There in front of her was a man on a horse. At least that's what Willow assumed. Even though the moon was shining brightly tonight, the shadows from the trees around them prevented either of them from making out any features of their counterparts.

"And why would you have to get off of those grounds in the middle of the night?" the man on the horse continued his interrogation, clearly not too convinced that Willow wasn't a thief.

"I didn't steal anything if that's what you're implying." The young duchess replied in a tight voice. She did feel a little offended that that stranger would just assume her to be a thief. On the other hand she could barely blame him. She would probably be thinking the same thing, if she were in his position.

"Alright. Then I am sure you have another good reason on why you would be climbing over that wall." The stranger challenged. Clearly there was no other explanation to all of this, other than that person in front of him being a thief and stealing something from the Cornwall Estate.

"The Lord of Cornwall likes to know the whereabouts of all the people living at the estate and wants them to be available to him at all times and therefore rarely allows them to leave the grounds at all." Willow explained, really being truthful about everything she had said so far and at the same time, making sure that she didn't spill too much information.

"All I want is a taste of freedom for the night, my Lord." That was most definitely the truth and Willow could only hope that he heard the honesty in her voice.

"I see..." the man on the horse replied, surprised at that story that actually sounded like it could be true. "And what are you to the Lord of Cornwall?" He was asking that merely out of curiosity. The way that man - or from what he could tell, probably more so a only boy - talked had convinced him, that he in fact was really not a thief, but rather someone longing for freedom, just as he himself was.

"I... am... helping at the stables to tend to the horses of his Lordship." It had taken Willow a little to come up with that answer and she hoped that the stranger didn't notice that she actually sidestepped his question.

Technically that wasn't a lie either. In the past years Willow had spent quite a lot of her days at the stables with her brother's horses. She wished she would be allowed to ride them. She even asked her brother once but oh boy did he not like the thought of her on a horse. He not only found it unladylike but also reminded her that she was not to leave the Cornwall Estate. He didn't forbid her from tending to them though. And so she'd often spend her mornings there, petting them or braiding their mane.

"The stable boy, huh?" the stranger replied after a while. Willow couldn't tell by his voice though, whether he believed her or not. She also wasn't going to confirm his statement or deny it. She'd just leave it at that and change the topic instead.