The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 398: Time to leave (2)

Annalise sat comfortably on the bed, warming up thanks to the fire Rafael started right away when they entered their bedroom. After showing him the letter, the two came to their room to get changed out of their clothes and wash up in warm water before dinner.

"What time should we leave?" Annalise asked, wanting to leave tomorrow but she knew it would be too soon for all the packing and planning they had to do.

"I can tell you are excited to leave, but we need enough time to gather supplies for the long trip, send word to the home that we will be staying, and pack everything we need. We can leave in two or three days. We need to account for how the snow will affect our trip," Rafael replied, reminding her of the current weather.

"Three," Annalise said, her shoulder dropping from disappointment. "I suppose it is better to plan properly and leave when we are ready than rushing it. I didn’t think we would need to inform anyone of your arrival for a place to stay. I’ve waited this long so I can wait some more. Please promise me that you won’t add another day."

Annalise would leave the planning to Rafael since he would think of the little things she didn’t. She was someone who left home with just weapons and a few dresses, not worrying about where she would rest her head for the night.

"I won’t. I will start putting together which knights will join us and send them out to get supplies early tomorrow morning. You’d be happy to know that Travis is now dead," Rafael said, hoping this little news would cheer her up.

"He is? Are you lying to me or is he truly dead?" Annalise asked, surprised to hear that Travis was no more.

"He is dead. I saw my father end his life and then dispose of the body. He’s no longer a problem for any of us. Why do you look upset?" Rafael asked, sitting down on the bed beside Annalise. He thought she would be jumping for joy that they no longer had to think about Travis.

"Because I wanted to see him die. I didn’t get to see him tortured every day so I was hoping that I would see when he would take his last breath. You are lucky that the good news from the palace is stopping me from being more disappointed. Why do you not dry your hair?" Annalise asked, standing up tower over him.

Rafael had this habit of walking around with his hair still wet that she disliked.

Annalise took the towel that was draped over his shoulder and covered his damp hair with it to start drying it. "You were making me sick from looking at your hair. You should count yourself lucky to have someone like me do this for you. I won’t charge you for this as long as you return the favour one day."

"Thank you for reminding me of how lucky I am," Rafael said, leaning his head down to let her do as she wanted. If she was going to dry his hair each time washed his hair, he would purposely leave it wet.

They were to go down for dinner, but with Annalise’s hands in his hair and she was not rough with him, he was close to falling asleep and missing dinner.

Rafael snaked his hands around her thighs and pulled her close for him to rest his head on her body.

"You are a needy giant," Annalise said, continuing her work while Rafael got to relax. "You would have missed out on so much if not for the incident with the snake or Delilah. You would have sent your precious lover away and then we would have stayed enemies. It is quite amazing how one little thing could change the future."

Annalise continued to say, "Neither of us was looking for love and look at us now. Sharing a bedroom and most likely sharing the same thought that we should have dinner here so we can go right to bed. I am surprisingly tired right now and would enjoy it if someone were to bring my food here. Perhaps that is how you can pay me for drying your hair."

Annalise pushed Rafael’s head back to have him look up at her. "How is it possible for your hair to grow so fast? We would have a good business if you would share your secret with me. Now I see why you weren’t bothered to have to cut it. Are you tired? Should we have dinner here?" She asked as he looked like he wanted to go right to bed. "I can get our food for us."

"You can wait in bed when you are finished. I will inform Edwin to send our dinner to our bedroom. Why have you stopped?" Rafael questioned as he missed her fingers moving around in his hair.

"Your hair wasn’t as wet as I thought so it won’t be long before it dries. What will we do after the truce? Must we stay in Lockwood a little longer? Go to my parents? Return here or go elsewhere? We were to go on a trip together," said Annalise, wanting to use this time to go somewhere alone with him.

Rafael remembered that they were to go exploring together. It was during that time he was going to officially ask Annalise to be his wife. He already started to have the ring made for the moment. "We will go to see your parents because you have spent a long time away from them. Then we break away from everyone to have a trip alone if you wish. Wherever you wish to go, I can take you."

"Then, I rather not know where we are going and have fun by going to a new town which will surprise us. The two days sound better because of packing for another trip. Done," Annalise said, removing the damp towel from his hair. "When will you let go of me? Did something happen today? Did Travis say something? There seems to be something bothering you."

Rafael tightened his hold on Annalise’s thighs and lifted her as he stood up. As always, Annalise’s eyes lit up from him showing that he could easily pick her up. "Nothing happened today. I only wanted to be near you. Rest in bed, Annalise. I will bring our dinner and tell the others you will see them in the morning.

Annalise nodded her head, allowing Rafael to lift her around as he wanted and was eventually placed safely on the bed. She hoped Siena didn’t mind eating alone because now that she was placed on the bed, Annalise didn’t feel like moving.

She wanted to start planning their trip to Lockwood right away and now was the best time to start doing most of that planning.

"Wait! Your mother and father won’t be joining us. Is it fine to leave the two behind? Weren’t you worried about the Normans coming to town to look for Travis? I might have overheard you saying that they are here or maybe nearby," said Annalise.

As excited as she was to go to Lockwood, she couldn’t leave Beatrice here if she was going to be in danger. She wanted to leave when she knew that everyone here would be safe.

"My father said we can go ahead without them. He seems to not be worried about the Normans and doesn’t want us to stay behind. Many of the knights would be here to help my father if something were to happen. I share your fear but I have to trust them and leave them be when they say they can take care of themselves," Rafael replied.

"That doesn’t help me to stop worrying. If something happens, I hope it does before we leave. I won’t be able to think about the truce while knowing that Beatrice could be in danger. I love a good fight, but I wouldn’t mind having more peaceful days now. I promise to not pick up a sword if it means there will be no fights while we are away," Annalise said, raising her right hand as she made the promise.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Annalise asked after Rafael just stood staring at her like he didn’t believe she would not take up a sword. "Do you doubt that I can go days without touching a sword?"

"I doubt that you can go many days without touching any weapon. You’ve been making good use of the indoor training room. I’ve seen a few of the practise targets destroyed as if something was clawing at them. I love your concern for my parent’s safety but you do not need to go this far. They will be fine," Rafael said, certain of it because he was going to get his parents to stay here for the knights to protect them.

"If something goes wrong, I am going to blame you too," Annalise said, folding her arms.

"If that will make you feel better, then you can do that. I will send a letter to Lockwood to have the home we will be staying in prepared and then bring up our food. You can get some rest now," Rafael said as he walked to the door.

Before leaving, he needed to check if one of Edgar’s homes were free to use and if it was not, he would have to get his friend to look for another home quickly. He would not resort to having Annalise stay in the palace for something to happen to her and it would be said to be an accident.