Rescue romance

Artus offered her a handkerchief. "Are you injured? Can you walk?"

Rita sheepishly rubbed her face with the cloth. "I might have sprained my ankle."

"Let me see." Artus kneeled by her feet. "May I?"

"Gosh," Rita said through her fingers, "you're learning a lot from those romance novels I showed you."

"What? My lady, this is a serious matter." Artus cradled the foot Rita had limp. He took off her boot, hesitating when she winced. He then peeled off her sock as gently as he could, and studied the injury. "It's not impossible to ride with this, but it may be less risky to stay here and wait for the search party to find us, rather than ride back in the dark." More importantly, he didn't trust that Rita was a good enough rider anymore to ride while injured. "Do you have any food on you?"

"Uh, no?"

"Good. As long as we don't have anything that will attract predators, we should be good to wait."

"Oh, nevermind, I do have some food on me."

"What?" Artus narrowed his eyes at her as she pulled out a cloth full of dried peaches and stuffed some in her mouth. "Sorry, did you lie about having food so you didn't have to share it with me?"

"Huh? No, of course not! No... Sorry Artus, I was just really hungry," Rita admitted. "I skipped lunch, and it didn't hit me until now how hungry I was. You can have one."

"..."

"A few, even?"

"If my lady is starving that much, then it would be unchivalrous of me to take any of her precious victuals."

"You're mad at me! Artus, don't be mad at me. If we get eaten by a bear tonight, do you really want your last words to me to be so snobbish and petty?"

"I'm petty? You were the one trying to hide a few pieces of fruit!"

"They're my favorite fruit!"

Artus huffed. "You basically give valuable books away to anyone who comes into your store, and yet this is where your generosity ends."

"That's different! I can always order more books, but I can't get any other food right now." She tugged his sleeve. Out the corner of his eye, he felt her forlorn stare. "You're not actually mad, right? I think of you as a friend. I'd give you all my fruit if you wanted."

Artus's brain hiccuped. A friend. A friend? He sat back onto the ground, not sure how to digest this. He glanced at her fingers on his sleeve.

"Cake, if I had it," Rita added.

"It's not about fruit." Were they friends? "No, I'm not mad. I just... Forget it, I don't know. I just don't understand you sometimes." He shook his head. "You need to take this more seriously. You're injured in a dark forest with just me until the search party finds you. Why are you so relaxed about this, when you're the same person who's so scared of the prince?"

"But I'm not scared of you."

Artus spluttered. "You should, that is—I mean, I can't protect you, not like Mazarin."

"I guess not. But you have this big, competent aura around you, you know? You found me, and you said a search party is coming, and that we'll be fine waiting."

"Ah..." Artus tinged with shame. "I'm not so competent. It's my oversight that led to the current situation. I should have scheduled a more controlled activity. I... I just heard about your accident. I didn't know."

"Uh, you heard? What did you hear?"

"That you've changed a lot. It should have been clear to me that the current you is very different from the Lady Marguerite I knew. I just couldn't imagine that you truly changed so much. It's as if you're an entirely different person."

"Ah... yeah..."

"I should not have presumed your riding ability was the same as before. As the prince's aide, I should have known better. I apologize."

"There's no need for all that. I, um, I've been trying to keep it secret anyway. The truth is, I...don't have almost any memories from before the accident."

What?

"And I figured I probably shouldn't advertise that. I've told Philippa my memories are fuzzy, but I don't want her to bring me to the doctor, so she still doesn't know how bad it is. I've been learning my way with Philippa's help, but there's still a lot I don't know about. Say, what do you remember about the old me?"

There was a long silence.

"I won't get mad," Rita added. "I mean, I already know people call me the Villainess of Reuchateau."

"I must admit I'm curious, who told you about that?"

"It was a child of a baroness who was visiting our estate. When the baroness found out, she threw herself on the ground begging me to forgive her. It was really uncomfortable..."

"I can see how that would be a shock." Artus considered. "According to rumor, where the villainess goes, ruin follows. Shopkeepers, artisans, minor nobles, young or old, no one was safe from Marguerite Beaudennes' censure. The power of the Beaudennes rivals that of any family, even the royals, so Lady Marguerite's displeasure assured destruction for you and your livelihood. If you were lucky, you lost your business. Unlucky, even your life."

"Oh."

"Some say she's a demon in disguise. There were tea parties where the only subject ended up being how dastardly Lady Marguerite had been last week. Servants of other houses were punished by being sent to the Beaudennes..."

"Okay okay, I get it. I was horrible. You sound like you're just enjoying yourself now."

"Enjoy, no," Artus said, maybe a little slyly, "but it's a story I know very well. I studied up on you after you became engaged to Prince Frederic."

"I see. So you must not have liked me very much when we met? After the accident, I mean?"

"I was hesitant," Artus admitted. "But like you said...we're friends now."

"Eh heh, that's true. Say, do you have any way to make light? I can't really see you anymore."

"Ah yes, it's a new moon so there's no light. No, I'm afraid not."

"Then hold my hand? Since it's really dark. It's a thing friends do." Her fingers found his sleeve again and gave a little tug.

"...All right. Because we're friends." Artus reached for her hand and grasped it. Her fingers were cold and slender. He remembered how they looked when Frederic kissed her hand that day, and his hold tightened, just a touch.

Surely you've made Frederic like you, he thought.

They stayed like that, silent, until they heard the voices of the search party in the distance.