Love your Enemy (Ruby Rose fanfic)

BONUS CHAPTER (Ruby POV)

Dear readers, you already know how this works: this is not a sequel but a handful of chapters to know how our girls are doing. I love these characters so much, I'm very happy to have them back. Enjoy!

"Are you okay?" I ask trying to keep a straight face while holding the horse reins. The Duchess of Falkland shoots an angry look at me sitting on the ground on the dry leaves. I don't think she's injured and this is why I'm trying to hold back my laughter, honestly, I'd laugh at myself if this happened to me too. Saorsa gets closer to sniff her boots but decides there's nothing interesting there and moves away, lifting her leg against a nearby tree.

"Apart from the pain in my ass and the public humiliation, you mean?" Iselen asks bitterly and I clench my jaw because I'm about to burst into laughing.

"I don't understand it, Lindsay. You're able to jump out of a plane at 10,000 meters and land at the predetermined location behind the enemy lines but you're unable to jump riding your horse over a fallen trunk in Alloa forest without landing on your ass on the ground."

"Shut up, Murray!" I can't restrain myself anymore and chuckle out loud while the duchess tries to get up with all the grace and dignity she's able to gather. Petunia watches her confused from the other side of the path between the trees, like she wasn't responsible for her mistress rolling over the dry leaves and mud.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" I ask trying to hide my smile but also worried because I think she's limping. Iselen shakes her foot slightly, leaning it on the ground carefully, before nodding and pouting.

"Yes, I'm not hurt, only in my pride."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Your Grace, I've been told that the Lindsays' pride is bigger than Edinburgh castle, a very wide area to get a punch."

"I don't think the Murrays' pride is smaller," she growls her answer while walking to take her horse back, pulling at the reins, followed by my dog. Luckily, she's not limping anymore although her clothes are coated in mud and she'll throw away those riding breeches, probably, because Mrs. Fraser won't be able to save them with one of her cleaning tricks this time.

"The pride of the counts of Dunira is vast and wild like the Highlands," I reply raising my head haughtily and this time she's the one smiling amused.

"As wild as the fairy of Dunira," she whispers getting closer and putting her arm around my waist. Our horses fidget nervously but we ignore them while looking into each other's eyes. "Who's mine now... mo chridhe... my heart..."

"Shhh..." I hush her putting a gloved finger on her lips. "Be careful, Your Grace, don't say it out loud or everybody will know that we already got married in secret."

"Oh, they know it," my soldier laughs amused and I stare at her in disbelief. "Jacob Banner poured lot of pints of beer for me in the pub a few days ago and his wife Mary wormed the information out of me taking advantage of the fact that I was tipsy, I think they suspected something and did that deliberately, Miss Catriona and Miss Margaret seemed to be in on it too. So I confessed that we went to Edinburgh with your mother and cousin and got married in a registration office. But I swore that the big party will take place next summer, as planned, we're going to gather all the neighbours from both villages and get married again to celebrate with them, wearing white dresses, exchanging vows in Gaelic and all that."

"And what did they tell you?" I ask worried. The truth is that we made that decision for practical reasons, to get paperwork done and pay some taxes, actually. We found out that it was easier for Iselen to pay for the restoration works of the medieval tower of Dunira, as she promised during our engagement party, if she was married to the owner. But we didn't want to offend them leaving them in the dark about it. We both know this marriage is important for our villages, it'll be the icing on the cake that will seal the truce after so many centuries fighting.