Upon A Time

Chapter Twenty-Seven Part One

After Thomas’s injuries were cleaned and bandaged, he and Sir Etienne conversed by the fire. The Friar, Rowan, and Walter were talking as well, and Charlotte could only sit quietly in the corner, staring across the room at Julien as he tried to take it all in.

“We must return the Prince to the palace with all due haste,” Etienne insisted.

“The ride is too long for him to undertake in his compromised condition,” Walter objected. “Better he were to wait here for the arrival of a carriage.”

“Perhaps there is some manner of carriage in the village we can borrow?” Julien asked. “Just a cart for market, anything that I can ride in upon a bed of hay. Oh, how I hate this!” He cursed himself as he looked down at his injured arm and missing leg in disgust. He felt a strong hand upon his shoulder and looked up into the eyes of the closest thing he had left to a brother; his friend, Etienne.

“We shall find one, Your Highness. Forthwith.”

“If there is one left in the village to be found,” Charlotte whispered. “Most of the carts were sold to try to pay debts to The Crown.”

“I think Rowan might still have something, do you not?” Thomas suggested.

The old blacksmith nodded. “Come with us, Sir Etienne, we shall see how matters are.”

“If it will work, we shall ride with first light,” Etienne declared, looking to Julien for approval. “I think that His Highness has exerted himself quite enough for one day.”

“I am weary,” Julien admitted sadly. “My strength has not returned to me in full, I worry…” he didn’t finish his sentence, and Charlotte hurried to speak.

“It will return in full, Your Highness, you must but give it more time. We all need time to heal.”

Etienne looked down at the ground before he looked at the Prince again. “Rest their souls.”

He was speaking of those who had died in the battle today, as well as his brother, and the King, and the loyal guards who had perished with them by Frederick’s design.

“Amen,” Julien replied. His eyes met Etienne’s and he could barely contain his emotions.

“By your leave, Your Highness,” Thomas said, uncomfortable, sad, and anxious to get things underway.

“Yes, yes. Godspeed,” Julien said, and then he turned to Charlotte. “I fear I have no appetite at all tonight, will you help me, Charlotte, to bed?”

“Of course, Your Highness,” she found herself still calling him that, though he had professed his love for her and proclaimed it for all to hear. “In one moment, please.”

She hurried outside and saw that Thomas was just about to mount a horse. “Sir Thomas, wait!” she cried, and he stopped. Once she reached him, she found he would not meet her gaze.

“I owe you my life,” she whispered. “And Julien’s. How can I ever begin to repay you?”

Thomas lowered himself to one knee and took hold of her hand. His eyes shone in the moonlight as he gazed upon her in a new way. “Be happy, My Lady,” he said softly. “And remember me.”

“Always, Thomas. Always.”

He placed a lingering kiss upon her hand, and then rose. A moment later, in a storm of hoof beats, he was gone.

“Godspeed, brave Sir Thomas,” Charlotte whispered, wiping away tears. She sighed deeply, looked up into the sky at the newborn stars, and then returned to the side of her Prince.

* * *

She helped Julien rise and they huddled together as he ambled, with her assistance, down the hall. He sighed with relief as he sank into the pillows.

“I had better check the dressings on your leg and arm, sir,” Charlotte said, thinking surely he would need new ones.

“Thank you,” was all that the Prince seemed able to say. He leaned back as she tenderly unbuttoned his shirt and revealed his arm, still bandaged tightly to his side. It needed adjusting, but Charlotte hesitated. Undressing him was something she was unaccustomed to; she was used to him in a dressing gown she could move only as needed while sparing his modesty as much as possible.

Suddenly, the thought of further disrobing him to examine his leg felt improper. “Julien…” she paused.

“Perhaps, your father might assist, My Lady?” he offered gently. She blushed and nodded, hurrying off to fetch Walter.

Once the Prince was again garbed in one of her father’s dressing gowns, Charlotte set about bandaging his injuries as she was so used to doing, though touching him at all now felt different than it had before.

Once he was cleaned up, tended to, and settled into bed, Charlotte turned to go. She was anxious to rest herself, though she wished most for a bath after all she’d been through. She couldn’t think of a way to say goodnight to him, and so she did not.

She moved for the door without a word, and Julien was forced, finally, to call her back.

“Wait, please?” He did not command; he merely asked, as any man asks a woman to stay near him that he does not want to be away from.

“Sir?”

“Please, Charlotte, from this moment on and after all, you must not call me ‘sir’.” He patted the bed, beckoning her to sit close. At first she resisted, but the affection shining in his eyes soon wore her resolve away.

He leaned over, cupped her face with his hand, and before she knew what was happening, he kissed her with greater passion and intensity than any kiss that had come before it. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back.

“I owed you that before the night was through, but there is more,” he whispered at last, leaning his head against hers as he wrapped his arm around her. “I must beg you to forgive that I am not on my knees to ask the question, Charlotte, but it is a question my heart cannot hold off asking you a moment longer, or acting upon as soon as is absolutely possible.”

“Julien?” Her heart raced. She'd observed from a distance that he had said few words in parting to Renee before she left to stay with Aunt Beatrix for the night. What could he be thinking?

“I am deeply, irrevocably, and undeniably in love with you, Charlotte.” He grasped hold of her and turned his face into her neck, kissing it softly as he whispered in her ear. “I desire you to be my companion, my wife, my queen, and the mother of my children.” She gasped as he brushed his lips against her cheek and sighed softly. “Will you marry me?”