I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 474: A Moment

It seemed that Irene had fallen right into Henry’s trap because she felt a grin underneath her hands despite her reddish eyebrows raised in shock and her mouth slightly ajar as he spoke secrets into the stables that she couldn’t be sure were entirely devoid of other people considering the amount of stalls and other people’s horses were there at the peak travel season.

"We let our feelings get the best of us," she insisted in a whisper. "I’ll be sure it doesn’t happen again."

She referred to a moment when she snuck up on him while they had a break to bathe at a stream. It was a mistake considering she had requested privacy and no others would be there. Even more of a mistake that their lack of clothing and only donning flimsy undergarments heated the situation far more than it should have.

Henry couldn’t resist as he pushed Irene backwards and into the stall she had just come out of. He shut the wooden gate behind them and removed her hands from his face.

"I need those moments or I’m going to go crazy," he uttered. "Or maybe they’re making me even more crazy, I can’t quite tell."

Irene couldn’t face the double meaning his words contained and with a head so hot from all he was eliciting from her, she stood on an upside down bucket and scanned the stables to see if there really wasn’t another person there.

She then glanced at Henry as she settled back down next to him, looking up at his smug expression. He clearly enjoyed what he did to her.

"Your head is above the wall, lower down," she ordered a bit haughtily, her face feeling hot.

He did as he was told, but it only made it so his forehead was resting against her shoulder and he deftly slid his arms around her waist.

She stiffened up at first, but knowing no one could see them, she relented with a light sigh. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want him to touch her after all. She had missed him terribly. Only in hindsight did she realize she took the nights of closeness they had before leaving for granted.

"Let me stay like this a while," he requested, his voice soft. "I’ve been a fool for a few days." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Since she had discarded her gloves somewhere on the stable floor while trying to stop Henry from speaking, she lifted her hands and one brushed through his hair while the other went to his taut back. She could tell he needed comfort. While not the most comforting with her words, she could at least offer touch.

"How have you been a fool?" she asked. "You’ve given your best self to all these people we’re visiting. They all love you."

He held her a bit more tightly as he responded, "You’re mine, yet I don’t like to see others at your side despite knowing where your relationships with them stand. It’s not as if you’re doing this on purpose either."

She knew something was wrong with her when all his words did was cause her to grin and she turned her head so she could nuzzle into his hair.

"Then I suppose we’re both fools because I feel so jealous when the villagers or townspeople we pass by are allowed to admire you openly, but I’m not," she responded. "Just what have we done to one another to be like this?"

"They don’t admire me," he brushed off with a quiet laugh. "They merely like seeing a Duke young enough to manage these lands."

She pushed at his shoulders which got him to lift his head and the expression she offered him was incredulous.

"You do this with the maids, too," Irene realized. "As if you’re unaware that you have teams of people who find you attractive."

"It’s the money I’ve inherited," Henry insisted with a small grin. "Otherwise there’s nothing very interesting about me."

"I suppose it’s better for me if you truly believe that," Irene relented with a sigh. "Even if there wasn’t a bit of gold to your name, I would have found a way to make you mine. I’ll be the breadwinner and you can take care of the home."

She grinned at his surprise and he couldn’t help closing the space again as he wrapped his arms around her.

"For now, I prefer what we have today where we can adventure at each others’ sides," he admitted. "Even if I miss hiding away with you, I don’t have to be physically apart from you. Soon enough, I will be able to tell everyone that you’re mine. I understand why we can’t now, but I’m impatient."

"So am I, Henry," Irene uttered, her voice coming out a bit desperate as she pressed her cheek into his shoulder and allowed both of them a few more moments to hang onto one another. "I feel that my parents will know right away that something within me has changed the moment I see them. I’ve never been like this with anyone before."

Henry pulled away, his hands finding her waist as he put space between them.

"You miss them a lot, don’t you?" he asked.

"I worry for them," she admitted, brushing off any deeper inquiries than that. "Shall we go inside? I’m sure someone has noticed us going to the stables together."

"Kiss me first," Henry requested as he hid himself just under the top of the wooden wall divider again.

Irene had no choice as she placed her hands on either side of his face and planted a kiss on his lips, but she was caught in his trap as he wrapped his arms around her and wouldn’t let her go. He squeezed her until she couldn’t help the laughter that fell from her lips.

Soon enough, they returned to their individual rooms.

They were forced to return to their duties as well as they pressed on through the valley, pretending that they meant nothing more to one another than what they presented to everyone.

However, the facade was slowly leaving. Their mask was slipping.

When Irene was presented with her father, the dam she thought she could keep up forever crumbled and water rushed forth.