It was twilight, and Maude was shivering under her cloak. Why did Jaspar insist on going for a walk at this hour? Maude wondered. She looked up at the rapidly darkening sky and noticed that most of the trees had lost almost all of their leaves. The chill in the suggested that winter was right around the corner, and it might even snow within days. Maude looked at the garden and noticed that even though the majority of the plants had died off, there were still a few flowers that were blooming. Maude kneeled and gently stroked the purplish petals.
“Maude,” she heard Jaspar’s voice say.
“Jaspar,” she replied, standing up and turning around to look at him.
“Oh,” he said, looking down at the garden bed she’d been squatting in front of. “There are still a few flowers in bloom.”
“There are,” Maude said with a smile.
He kneeled down and gently picked one of the flowers. He stood, and carefully tucked it behind one of her ears. Maude felt her heart skip a beat. “It looks lovely on you,” he said with a heart stopping smile.
Maude smiled and looked at the ground, touching her hands to her cheeks. “Thank you,” she murmured softly.
Jaspar offered her his arm, and she gladly took it. They started walking away from the manor into the gardens. The sky was clear, and the last few rays of sunshine were fading.
“Can you believe that it’s been a year since you came to Aulbert?” Jaspar asked.
“It’s all passed so quickly,” Maude replied. “But Rosenberg manor has felt more like my house than anywhere else ever has,” she added.
“That could be why,” Jaspar agreed. “But it’s also passed quickly for me too.” He looked up and let out a heavy breath, a puff appearing in the air.
“You’ve been so busy for the last month,” Maude stated, a feeling of bittersweetness running through her. “Did the king really have to keep you so busy after the war?”
Jaspar chuckled a little. “We’ve been trying to help the empire stabilize,” he said. “Lest another person like Emperor Giles comes to power.”
Maude pouted. “Still,” she said. “I haven’t even had a minute to have you all to myself for so long.
Jaspar laughed even more. “I’m sorry,” he told her. “Things should be calmer here on out, though.”
Maude smiled at him, as he looked at her. “That’s good to hear,” she told him. “How are things shaping up with the empire anyway?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. Though she would never move back to the empire, or to Holloway, it was still where she had spent the majority of her life.
“We decided to split up the territories from the kingdoms that Emperor Giles had conquered. The vast majority of the rebellions that were going on were the slaves of the former kingdoms. So, they will get their territory back, and Ainsworth will have some peace. Additionally, a council has been put together in Ainsworth to be a temporary government. They then voted to outlaw slavery, as that was another swath of the rebellions that were occurring.”
Maude’s eyes were wide, and her mouth fell open. “They outlawed slavery?” she asked. “And the kingdoms are being separated? That is incredible progress.”
“It’s been an astonishing amount of work,” Jaspar replied. “As you are well aware.”
“Still,” Maude said. “The war only ended a month and a half ago. That’s a lot of progress in such a short amount of time.”
Jaspar nodded. “There is still so much to do, though. As I said, there is a decision council that has been put together, and one of the things that they have to decide is how to structure leadership in the future so that there is not another tyrannical emperor. We probably won’t help all that much with that, but it is a huge step forward for them.”
Maude nodded. “Absolutely. Did the citizens find out that he had been lying to them all along?”
“They did,” Jaspar said, bobbing his head up and down. “That was part of why the uprising was so bad. Many of the nobles who were not as close as your father with the emperor were furious when they found out. They lost family over the emperor’s territory expansion goals.” Jaspar shook his head, letting out a short breath. “It’s going to take quite a very long time to rebuild the region. The emperor wreaked a lot of havoc.”
Maude nodded in agreement, and then looked up at the sky, the stars twinkling down on them. “I’m glad it’s going to get better,” she said. “I really hope that whatever comes out of the ashes of the empire is a friendly neighbor to Aulbert. I would love to someday take you out there, just so you could see where I grew up,” she said, looking over at Jaspar.
“I would love that,” he said, looking down at her with a smile “There is a long way to go to stabilize that region, though, before it is feasible to go on a trip like that.” He looked away from her, looking up at the sky.
Maude looked back up at the sky. “That’s okay,” she said. “I can wait.”
“I’m glad you can,” he replied warmly.
Inside, Maude felt a small twinge of disappointment. She wished that she would be able to take him soon, before her memories faded, and someone else took up residence in the Holloway manor.
“In the meantime, we can go on other trips,” Jaspar said. “You’ve only seen a small piece of Aulbert. There is so much more to this country I want you to see.”
Maude felt her heart grow warmer. “That sounds great,” she said.
“What have you been up to this last month?” he asked her, changing the subject.
“Waiting for you,” she replied, pouting. “It’s been a really long month.”
“Sorry about that,” Jaspar replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “What else have you been up to?”
“Training,” Maude replied. “After fighting Callum, my father and the emperor, I wanted to get stronger. It really bothered me that we struggled to defeat them. I was terrified that we wouldn’t be able to win, and we would lose our lives and the war as a result.” Maude shook her head at herself. “I don’t want to be in that position ever again.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Jaspar nodded. “At least we won’t for the short-term,” he said. “But you’re right. We will never know what is right around the corner, and if we’ll be fighting even more formidable foes in the future.”
Maude bit her lip. “And Callum had improved so much so rapidly. I need to get stronger to protect our new life.”
She turned and looked at Jaspar, pausing their walk. “I don’t want to take the people I’ve met in Aulbert for granted the same way I did before I fought in the war.”
Jaspar was looking at her, his eyes tender. “You’ve changed so much, Maude,” he said. “It impresses me.”
“It strikes me too, how much I have changed,” she admitted. She turned back towards the manor to look at the moon, high in the sky. “I’ve also been exploring other hobbies and things that I might want to do now that I will have infinite free time…” She smiled at the moon and then turned her head to look at Jaspar again. “I’ve been trying the traditional lady activities like embroidery, sewing, and cooking, but so far, I don’t really care for any of them.”
Jaspar met her eyes and laughed out loud. “No surprise there,” he replied. “You’re as far from a traditional lady as I think you can get,” he added. “I’m not sure you’re going to find a traditional activity that you’re going to thoroughly enjoy.”
Maude nodded. “That’s fair,” she said. “I have never been allowed to sit still in my life, so trying to sit still now probably won’t be very easy.”
“Without a doubt,” Jaspar said.
“What would you recommend I try instead?” Maude asked, biting her lip.
“Hmm,” Jaspar replied, thinking and tapping his pointer finger on his chin. “What about tutoring other young ladies in the art of the sword?” he suggested. “I’m sure there are many young ladies who would love to learn.”
Maude looked at Jaspar, stunned. Why didn’t I think of that? She asked herself.
“That’s brilliant,” Maude replied.
Jaspar laughed. “I don’t know about ‘brilliant,’ but thank you.”
“It’s definitely not something I would have thought of,” she replied, looking back at the stars.
“I bet Countess Melissa Wrighton would love to be your first student,” Jaspar told her.
“I’m certain you’re right,” Maude replied, with a little giggle.
“For as long of a tradition Aulbert has had not training women in the sword, I was surprised when the king so readily accepted my suggestion that we allow young women to more formally study the sword,” Jaspar said.
“It was not allowed before?” Maude asked, her voice becoming shriller.
No wonder Melissa envied me so much, she thought.
“It wasn’t outlawed,” Jaspar replied, quickly correcting Maude’s misconceptions. “But it was very heavily frowned upon. The king is going to make a statement discussing how it is very important in the future for all of the men and women of Aulbert to contribute to the war effort.”
“What made him change his mind?” Maude asked, clapping her hands together once.
“I pointed out to him that we don’t know if we would have had sword saints like you if we don’t allow the women who want to learn sword fighting to learn. And your ability contributed enough to the war that he absolutely thinks it’s a excellent idea. He even pointed out that it’s possible that we could have had a sword saint of our own for this war if we had allowed women to train with the sword.”
Maude’s jaw dropped during Jaspar’s explanation. “That’s incredible,” she said. “How exciting for Aulbert.”
Jaspar grinned at her. “I figured you would find that pretty exciting.”
Maude smiled widely back at him. “I’m sure that the women of Aulbert who wish to learn the sword will rejoice.”
“Absolutely,” Jaspar agreed. “You have inspired many people.”
Maude gently touched her right hand to her chest. “I’ve been inspired by a lot of people in Aulbert, too,” she said.
Maude looked over at the hand Jaspar was using to hold his cane. “Has your injury gotten any better?” she asked. “Or is it still bothering you a lot to walk?”
He doesn’t seem to be limping as much, she thought.
“It’s very slowly getting better,” he replied. “The strength of my leg is coming back, but I still can’t do all of the things that I used to.”
She nodded. “I’m sure it will take time.”
“I hope so,” he replied, adjusting his cane a bit. She could tell that he was leaning on it to help keep him standing upright.
“No matter what happens, I will love you anyway,” she told him.
He turned back toward her. “I would have loved you forever, even if you had never fought in the war,” he told her.
A lump was starting to form in her throat. “Do you really mean that?” she asked.
“I do,” he replied. “Even if you hadn’t fought and become a citizen of Aulbert, I think I probably would have kept looking for a way for you and I to be together.” He shook his head, looking down at the ground and smiled. “I’m grateful that you were willing to fight, though. It was the path of least resistance for sure.”
Maude felt tears gathering in her eyes. All of those times that she had been thinking that there must have been another way, he had been thinking the same. “You pushed me so hard to fight still,” she pointed out.
“I did,” Jaspar said. “I would have kept searching for a way, but I’m fairly certain the king would have never allowed it.”
“I see,” Maude replied, with a sharp nod. “In the end, I think I would have probably ended up fighting anyway.”
“I think you would have, too,” Jaspar replied. Next to her, she heard him take a deep breath in and slowly let it out.
“I’m sorry I didn’t take the war seriously for so long,” she said. “And I’m sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t value your life because of it.” It was Maude’s turn to sigh. “I took you and all of the people I care about in Aulbert for granted, and I’m sorry about that.”
“The past is in the past,” he replied with a smile. “As much as you didn’t want to fight, I also didn’t want to accept you for who you were either. Melissa is a far greater person than I am in that regard.”
Maude couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Don’t feel too bad,” she said. “Melissa tried to push me to fight, too.”
Jaspar smiled a little. “I’m just glad that in the end, you found a way to fight for what you care about.”
“Me too,” Maude agreed.
“And you saved my life multiple times on that battlefield,” he pointed out. “There’s no doubt in my mind that I would have died without you there.” He looked wistful, staring off into the distance.
Maude shook her head. “I’m sure someone would have done their best to defend you.”
“You’re probably right,” he answered, a small smile on his face. “But I’m still glad it was you.” He let out a heavy breath and unhooked his arm from hers.
“What?” she asked, as he carefully began lowering himself to the ground, using his cane to steady himself. “What are you doing?” she asked.
Out of his pants, he pulled out a small box. Maude’s heart skipped a beat, recognizing the size and thinking about what Jaspar had said when he gave her the sword.
He carefully opened the box, and inside was a small, delicate ring with a beautiful diamond in the center of two smaller stones of polished peridots.
“Viscountess Maude Holloway,” Jaspar said, a warm, earnest smile filling his face. “Will you marry me?”
Maude’s heart was rumbling through her chest like a high-speed carriage. After all this waiting the last month, I was wondering if this moment would ever come, Maude thought.
“Of course!” she exclaimed. “Get up, you might hurt your knee!” She offered her hand to help him up.
Jaspar gently took her hand, easing himself up, a wide grin on his face. He gently took the ring out of the box and slid it onto Maude’s ring finger. He pulled her close into his arms, his cane clattering to the ground.
“I love you so much,” he murmured softly, resting his forehead on her shoulder.
“I love you too, so much,” Maude replied.
He lifted his head, and their eyes met. His lips crushed into hers, as if he was thirsty and hadn’t had a drink a long time. Maude heard a little moan escape from her lips, as his tongue found its way into her mouth.
“I want all of you,” she managed to whisper to him between kisses.
“Really?” he asked, kissing down her neck.
“Really,” she replied, having to hold back a moan. “We’re in the gardens. Let’s go somewhere a bit more private.” She managed to escape his arms and squatted down to pick up his cane. As soon as she stood up, the onslaught of affection began again.
“Jaspar,” she murmured between kisses and gasps. “Don’t make me wait too long.”
She felt his hand on top of hers on the cane. He pulled back from her face. “I won’t,” he murmured, his blue eyes flaming with desire.