The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 283: Moving on (2)

"I am going to be a long way from Rafael in a few days. I don’t want to hear about Rafael from anyone and certainly not from you. You got your wish of us going home. We should go home without arguing. We have too much to deal with when we get home. I don’t need to add being at odds with you," said Annalise.

"Negative? I am the only one between the two of us thinking straight. Why can’t you see the problem in you falling in love with him?" Thomas asked, feeling the need to shake Annalise so she would go back to normal.

"I also know that there is a problem. We are from two different sides looking to kill each other. I am aware of that. I couldn’t help what I felt and I will not act like I didn’t care for him to calm your anger. Honestly, is it because he is considered our enemy or that you cannot stand someone else stealing your chance that you are so angry?" Annalise asked since she couldn’t tell which it was.

Thomas stepped back from Annalise caught off guard by the fact that she knew about his feelings. He didn’t think she had ever known that he loved her more than a friend. "How long have you known?" He asked.

"For a few months. I realised it too late. I wouldn’t have slept with you if I knew. It is something that I really regret. I don’t see you that way, Thomas. I appreciate that you are protective of me, but I have said time and time again that Rafael did not hurt me," said Annalise, wanting him to stop trying to push her to say something that wasn’t true.

She understood his concern, but she had been honest with how Rafael treated her. Was Thomas only going to stop asking if she said she was hurt?

"It feels like I am coming off as inconsiderate of your feelings right now," Annalise said, yanking on her hair to help her think straight. She felt like she was being mean to Thomas, but she was tired of hearing him go on and on about Rafael. "If your anger with Rafael is about your concern for my safety, I will apologise. If it is just you being angry to know there is a man I like, I won’t."

She didn’t have to keep listening to him speak poorly of Rafael and questioning her being hurt if it was all about him trying to stop her from liking Rafael. She was going to keep having her feelings for Rafael until they slowly faded away so she didn’t need Thomas’s pushing for her to forget Rafael.

She made the decision to return home and be away from the man she liked. Shouldn’t Thomas be satisfied with that? Why did she have to keep hearing about Rafael because of Thomas’s jealousy?

"Why him? I have been by your side for years-"

"Don’t," Annalise stopped him. She didn’t have to explain her feelings. She couldn’t help that she fell for Rafael after knowing him less than she knew Thomas. It just happened. "I don’t want to hear this from you. Stop speaking about him, please. I don’t need this right now. I am going home. What more could you possibly want from me?"

Annalise touched her forehead to try to calm her anger. She was picking her people over what she wanted as she always did. Why couldn’t it be ignored that she loved someone she shouldn’t after she made the decision to walk away from him?

She was already dealing with her guilt for leading Rafael to believe that she was returning to him. Hearing his name made her guilt grow as she thought of how he would react when she never returned to the manor. He would search the kingdom and never find her.

Annalise lowered her head and covered her right eye with her hand. She ended up gently rubbing her eye with her hand to stop any signs of what she was feeling. ’I just want to go home in silence, Thomas. Please stop speaking about him. I’m sorry that I could not return your feelings. If you have been waiting by my side all these years for me to fall in love with you, I ask that you stop."

Annalise hoped he had been by her side because he was her friend and not because he thought she would start to have feelings for him. Before Rafael, having feelings for someone was not something she ever experienced. Everyone was just a friend and finding a partner didn’t cross her mind unless someone brought it up.

"I’m sorry," Thomas apologised. He still didn’t like Rafael, but he had to believe Annalise that Rafael didn’t try to hurt her. He knew her well that if Rafael tried something she didn’t like, she wouldn’t have stuck around him.

He was concerned because of the rule of not being in relationships with anyone not from the border, but it also had to do a lot more with him not wanting to lose Annalise to anyone. He had been waiting patiently and then Rafael came in to sweep her away.

Thomas considered it his own fault for not telling Annalise about his feelings earlier and asking her to give him a chance to show her what it would be like to be loved by him. While he waited, someone who didn’t want to wait came along.

He also realised that he didn’t need to be concerned about Rafael anymore because Annalise would be back at the safety of the border where her father would not let her out of his sight. The two were not going to see each other again and if they somehow did, Annalise would know she could not continue whatever started between her and Rafael.

He had the answer to his question that her unhappy look had to do with parting from Rafael. He didn’t like it, but he understood why she would not want to hear about Rafael now.

"Deep down I have known you wouldn’t love me. I still don’t like that you fell for that bastard before you considered falling for me, but I won’t bring him up anymore. I also won’t tell your father," Thomas promised.

He didn’t want the others to think poorly of her for falling in love with their enemy. No one should question if she would make a good leader because she had feelings for a knight. He was not going to let his jealousy ruin Annalise.

"You’re a good brother even if you are a bastard-"

"Stop calling me that. I will never forgive you for calling me a bastard when I am far from being one," Thomas said, still scarred by what Annalise introduced him as more than once. "You owe me for that. I have never been so insulted."

"It was the first thing that came to my mind. Yes, I could have spoken of you being my friend, but for some reason, a bastard brother seemed fitting. I am sorry," Annalise apologised, trying to touch Thomas’s arm, but he stepped away from her and started to walk toward the others.

"You cannot be sorry when you are trying your hardest not to crack a smile. I am going to get back at you for this one day. Mark my words. You are to tell my family that you dragged me out of my home so that I can avoid my father trying to kill me. Deal?" Thomas asked, stopping to hold out his hand for a deal to be made.

"Deal," Annalise said, shaking his hand to seal the deal.

Annalise already knew that even with this deal, Thomas would try to take the blame when they got home and had to face their families. Aside from everything else weighing her mind at the moment, she appreciated that learning of her feelings for Rafael did not cause Thomas to leave her side.