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

don’t
have any more of that numbing cream, do you?”
    “I used it
all earlier, before we rode here.”
    “Ah well. Go
ahead and smear that awful stuff on my back. I’ll try to think happy thoughts.”
    Bianca
applied the unguent as delicately as she could manage, but she knew she was
hurting Isabelle. When Bianca was finally done, Isabelle unfolded her lips, and
gave a tiny, wan smile to her friend.
    “Thank you,
Bianca.”
    “Oh, don’t
thank me, after I’ve just hurt you so.” Bianca leaned down and pressed her
forehead gently against the queen’s. “Just rest. It will help you more than
anything else, now.”
    Bianca
covered Isabelle’s back with a clean linen and drew the blankets up. Then she
set to washing the old bandages. She very much feared they were going to need
them.
    ***
    The moon was
in the sky by the time Robin made his way back to the cave. He and the horses
had run a merry chase, covering ground as swiftly as a deer in flight. They
made for the mountains, and Robin had thought to climb high into the range
before doubling back, but by luck they had stumbled upon a scree slope.
Standing at the foot of the rise of loose rocks and pebbles, Robin had judged
it as good a place as any to turn back. He led the horses up the slope at a
sharp angle, and then down again, coming off the scree and directly into the
woods. Then he rode a large circle back to the pool and waterfall, and swam the
horses out to the cave.
    He found the
women huddled in the far recesses of the cave. Isabelle was asleep on a
makeshift bed, her cheeks flushed bright with fever, and her breathing shallow.
Bianca sat beside her, one hand holding Isabelle’s, the other clutching her own
ankles, drawing her legs up into a tight ball. Anxiety was etched in every line
of her body, and her tear-filled eyes stared into the dark crevice of the cave,
as though it held some comfort for her misery.
    “What do you
see in the gloom, Bianca?”
    Her
shoulders twitched in surprise, but she didn’t turn to face him. After a
moment, she answered in an even tone. “I see the past.”
    “And is it
the past you cry over?” He sank into a crouch beside her. “Or something else?”
    She turned
her head sideways, laying her cheek against her knees, so she could look at
him, although she could not have seen much in the dark. “Both, I suppose. I’m
worried about Isabelle. Her back is bad. I don’t know if her body can fight off
the infection.”
    “Are there
herbs that might help her?”
    “Any number
of them. But I don’t have them in my pack. May I go looking for them?” She
asked the question, but he could tell she already knew his answer by the
frustration in her voice.
    “You know
you cannot. My ruse will only work if the king’s men find no other sign of you.
You must stay hidden.”
    “Of course.”
Robin was shocked by how bitter Bianca sounded. “Because Isabelle may die for
me, but I may not risk my life for her. I have to stay safe, and alive, so that
I may be used as a pawn.”
    “Who is
using you as a pawn?” He was genuinely curious.
    “Who isn’t?”
She lifted her head and glared at him. “My whole life I’ve been moved about,
like a piece in the games that great men were playing, while others suffered
because of who I am, and how I am used. Maneuvered by my grandfather, my
father, and now your Dame Merriweather, who sends you to fetch me safe, but
never tells me why!”
    “And do you
not want your life to be saved?”
    “I want a
choice!” she cried, letting her anger loose. “I want to choose where I spend my
life, and who I spend it with, and if it’s worth sacrificing for someone else!”
    She clamped
her jaw shut on the words pouring forth, and whipped her head back to glare off
into the dark. Robin sat silent, thinking of what she had said. Neither spoke,
and they listened to the water rushing by the mouth of the cave, a thundering
roar in the silence. Finally, Bianca’s shoulders began to relax, and