Hunted Queen

Chapter Sixty Seven • A Leader

Hello friends! 

The platform is acting up again and centering and/or making the entire chapter cursive. So if you see any of this, know that this is not meant to be like this.  

-Jade- 

"Your grace!" A friendly voice called out behind them. Jade turned around together with William. Moving in a perfectly synchronized manner at the first sound of Brother Richard's voice.

"Is that him?" William asked quietly, speaking in such a low tone that he was on the verge of whispering. He did this so discretely that the monk did not have the slightest chance of seeing that his lips were moving at all.

William pretended to look briefly to the left and spoke directly into her ear so he did not need to raise his voice. Another one of her 's habits which he had been taught, or learned on his own, during endless amounts of audiences held with his father. No doubt. "The one who took you in?" He queried.

Even though she knew that William was perfectly aware of who the person approaching them was, she sensed that he was asking simply to get an official confirmation from her.

"Mhm." Jade responded while instantly feeling her spirit lift at the sight of her friend. "That is the man who saved my life." She said.

She had briefly told William about her two traveling companions and that they had been granted access to whatever they wanted and could go basically wherever they desired on the grounds on her orders. A feeble attempt to show a fraction of the gratitude she carried for everything they had done and gone through for her, but it was better than having them stay at an inn or somewhere no one would know of what they had done. She did not know how, but she would repay them.

William had in fact, demanded a private meeting with the monk and butcher so he could personally thank them himself as well. However, it seemed as if Brother Richard had managed to catch them before William had even gotten the chance to invite them to this meeting. 

The monk came walking towards them through rays of the late summer afternoon, which spilled through the trees around them. The air was slightly damp from a bit of rain from earlier that same morning. It smelled of the divine combination of moist soil and grass. Something Jade knew to cherish for what little time they had before winter would rip it all away.

"Brother Richard." Jade greeted him with a warm smile spreading across her face.

Now that she had practically nothing to fear or run from, it was hard not to smile in the presence of the cheerful monk. He reciprocated her expression with genuine joy in his eyes. Probably from seeing her up and about.

"William, this is the man I told you about." Jade said formally and gesticulated towards her friend politely. Her husband kept his usual mask on, but with a much more relaxed and serene glow in his eyes than he usually had when being introduced to strangers. A different but pleasant side of him.

Brother Richard cleared his throat briefly before he said. "We have met. Ever so briefly that I would not blame his grace if it would have slipped his mind. Nonetheless, it is a pleasure to meet you, King William, Son of Uldard." The monk answered and bowed his head gracefully before William. 

"If I may," William interjected before Brother Richard's eyes had left him. He held his right hand out to stop the monk from bowing, gaining not only the monk's attention but Jade's - instantly.