Once Upon a Romance 03 - With True Love's Kiss by Jessica Woodard

struggled against her tears. This was the kind of bravery
sung of by the great bards. To willingly embrace your death, so that another
might live, was honorable and right. It was what he had been taught, and always
believed.
    Why, then,
did it feel so wrong?
    He spoke
words of comfort, while he struggled with his thoughts. “You are brave,
Isabelle.”
    She smiled
up at him. “Hardly. I think you will find, Robin, that love is a substitute for
many emotions. I’m not brave. But I will help Bianca to safety, whatever it
takes.”
    Bianca
choked back a sob, and something in the sound brought an idea forth in Robin’s
head.
    “No.”
    “What?” Both
women spoke as one, looking at him with startled eyes.
    “We are not
leaving you here. Bianca, get on your horse. Isabelle,” he grabbed her blankets
and wrapped them around her, before swinging her into his arms, “with your
permission.”
    Bianca
grabbed her satchel, and then scrambled up on her mount, while Robin gently
lifted Isabelle onto his own horse and vaulted up behind her. He turned them
back the way they had come, until they found the small stream at the foot of
the hill. Then he urged their horses into the water, and they splashed along
upstream, sending cold water flying into the air in a fine spray. Bianca was
keeping up, so he picked up the pace, taking a chance among the slippery river
rocks, letting the horses gallop along on the uncertain footing. The cave was
near. He could feel it. And while Merriweather had said they couldn’t go into
the mists, she’d never said a thing about the cave.
    The
entrances to the world of the Fae were odd things. Some folk they seemed to
draw in, but the vast majority of humans would simply overlook them,
repeatedly, no matter how close they came. It was a risk, to be sure, but there
was a chance that hiding at the very entrance to the mists would shield them
from discovery.
    At any rate,
Robin didn’t have a better idea.
    Abruptly the
trees opened up before them, as the stream they were riding in led to another,
much larger pool. On the far side of the water was a rock face, with a small
waterfall tumbling down it. Robin never hesitated, but steered his horse into
the deepest part of the pool, directly at the waterfall. Bianca gave a small
squeak as the horses all lurched forward and began swimming, but didn’t
protest. At the far side of the pool Robin set his heels to his mount’s side,
and led the beast onto a narrow ledge that ran behind the waterfall. He
sheltered Isabelle from the spray as they rode past the curtain of water, and
there, at last, was the cave. It was too low to enter while mounted, so he slid
down and cradled Isabelle in his arms. The entrance was damp, but a few feet
farther in the cave was snug and dry, and he helped Isabelle to settle herself
on the floor. Behind him he heard a sneeze.
    Bianca had
made it into the cave, but, having not known exactly where they were going, had
gotten drenched by the waterfall in the process. Her hair was plastered to her
face, and that fire was back in her eyes, chasing back some of the fear.
    “What are we
doing here?” She planted her fists on her hips, and glared at him.
    “You are
hiding.” He couldn’t help but smile at the picture she made. She was like a
waterlogged rat. Tiny, bedraggled—but fierce. “I am leaving.”
    “Leaving?”
    “Do not
worry, Bianca.” He grabbed the horses’ reins and prepared to lead them back out
through the waterfall. “I will return. Just stay hidden.”
    She caught
at his arm. “What if they find you?”
    Robin looked
down. She was worried. Worried for Isabelle, certainly, but also, perhaps, just
a bit worried for him. So he smiled at her, in the way she seemed to find so
irritating, and crooked one finger under her chin.
    “Not to
worry, little dove. Remember? It was only you who put me in danger.”
    He waited to
see the sparkle, the fire, reappear in her eye. Then he ducked back through the
wall of water,