West Gardens

I whistled as I lightly skipped my way into the garden. It was nothing I had ever seen before it was by far exquisite the green maze taking my attention centered among acres and acres of land. I tentatively stepped into the maze; my feet carefully moving in and out of the leaves as I turned in a circle noticing it's shape.

Perhaps it would have been half an hour by the time James reached Isabel again. He had rushed to his chambers after putting his horse in the stables and had prized out a shirt from his coffers, slinging it over his arm before peering out of the window upon the maze. There he saw her stepping into the leafy bushes and his smile danced with mischief.

He strode down the stairs, walking tall past the courtiers who wandered about the halls. Eventually he reached the gardens and headed straight to the maze - he knew the pattern well and so immediately could guess where Isabel was. He slowed down and quietly approached her, before tenderly shaking her shoulders playfully, "You should be careful going through the maze yourself...don't know who will creep up on you."

My mind was clear as I studied the botanical flower that was trimmed into the lawn. I had shut out the entire world; all worries left behind. With the feel of a stranger's hands on my shoulders caused me to scream until I turned around. "You must really want me to slap you. You can't keep sneaking up from behind me." I took the shirt from his shoulder and flung it over mine instead. It smelled like it had just come from the washing station. "I might have to start carrying a weapon if you like to sneak up on me."

"You should," he replied with a mischievous smirk, "Especially if you are not living in the palace."

James chuckled at her reaction, ruffling his hands through his hair and away from his face. She seemed quite lost in thought when he had approached her, calmer than he had seen her before. In that moment, he realised that she was much too unaffected to be at court - not many would pick flowers from the gardens and look at them with such wonder.

"Will it do?" he asked and nodded towards the shirt.

"I shall let you pick my weapon of choice." I noticed that he wasn't his normally cheeky self like always. I stopped; dangling the shirt in front of my body. It was big enough to be a nightshirt. "Oh aye I only need it for the measurements. And then I shall put it on my head and run around the forest at night." I nudged him gently in the arm as I folded the shirt back up.

He chuckled as she held the shirt out in front of her, casually sliding his hands into his pockets. The shirt was huge in front of her and although she stood nearly heads with him, she was slight and it dwarfed her. As she folded it he grinned, notching the smile upon her lips that warmed him in some inexplicable way, "On your head?" he asked with a smirk, "Whatever for?" he added mischievously.

"Do not tell me I have befriended a pagan who will now perform some strange spell upon me!" he joked.

He had actually called me his friend those words would stay with me for a very long time! Although I had liked him a little more than I knew I was ever allowed to. He would always be the most favourite of my friends not because he was king; but because he seemed to understand me. "No but their is no harm in scaring people in the woods at night. And you thought I was a pagan well; many things I have been called but not that." I had heard of pagan people in fact I had even bumped into a few but never felt the need to dabble in it myself. "You wouldn't want to know the spell I would put on you." I walked faster ahead of him as I noticed that we were somewhat walking like snails.

"It could be worse," he replied, adding jokingly, "I could have asked if you were English and that would be entirely worse than being Pagan!"

There was a kinship James felt with Isabel. Indeed, while he had been familiar with many women, he had also had time to hear them speak and talk about their lives - Isabel was no different. He truly enjoyed her company and felt an almost camaraderie with her. She was a woman in need - he was glad to have helped her in whatever way he could, to have taken her under his wing. She lived as he would if he were not King and so in a way, James perhaps subconsciously, lived vicariously through her and dreamed of travelling about with her.

"And tell me what that is," he said with a smirk, taking a playful step closer to her, "Be careful," he teased, "What you say may be treason..."

I turned on my heel facing him as he stood towering above me. I stood firmly in his shadow which loomed on the ground; a perfect pitch of shade for me. "Tis a bit selfish I would wish for you to be just an ordinary plain man." My words carried no means of treason in them. No malice or hate it was simple wishful thinking on my behalf.

"And who would you have be King instead?" he asked mischievously. He knew her well enough to know that her words were always in good nature, there was no malice in her heart when it came to James...or at least he thought.

Yet, part of him felt that he had only reached the surface of who she was. There was a lingering question in his mind. She was honest indeed but he sensed there was something she withheld - some secret or confession, that he had every intention of - eventually - supplicating from it's hidden place in her mind.

Although this was all but a jest I had to answer with the greatest of care. Moving my hand I let it touch his arm as I nodded. "You are right; their is no other man who can rule apart from you." That was the bittersweet thing about talking with James with a flick of an eyelash our conversations could turn. From being the most non important to the most serious of topics; I only felt truly confident talking to him with Ale supplied. "You scare me." He didn't scare me all the time and I never felt scared im his company or that he would hurt me. But somewhere inside me; that made all the hairs on my neck stand on end he scared me.

He immediately took her hand from his strong arm into his careful hold and placed it upon the hilt of his sword, leaving it to rest upon the cold metal, "Then do not be afraid," he hushed warmly and caught her gaze.

He held his hands at either side of him, his smile soon becoming playful once more, "You have all the power now - so do not be scared]," he repeated - his gestures joking but his sentiment sincere.

Perhaps it was because he was King, he thought, perhaps simply because he was a man and men had taken advantage of her in the past. Yet, he took no offence from her words. He only sought to comfort her in his presence because he found her and her company so very affable.

"Has your sword seen much battle." A tongue in cheek jest that I had heard most men talking about at the tavern. I broke his gaze if his luke warm voice spoke in the calming tone any longer I knew I would end up gawking at him. I blinked a few times before clearing my throat to speak. "I'm not always afraid of you but because of who you are it does scare me."

James chuckled, his gaze dark and playful as he looked into her eyes. He preferred the mischievous side to their relationship. He could talk with anyone, speak with anyone but it was their jokes and her benevolent teases that truly made him grin - bright and warm.

"My sword," he began with a wink, "Has never failed me...indeed, many would say I am an expert swordsman."

He laughed again and ran his hand over the beard upon his chin, he could not quite understand her meaning so he pressed further, "What do you mean?"

I could feel myself losing my self-control around him. When he spoke I wanted to reach out and kiss him; a step that if I took would end our friendship. "I just have these moments where I forget that you are king. Then I remember like a stinging slap to the face." If I could just touch him the way I wanted to run my fingers through his hair and other ungodly acts that I dare not speak of let alone think.

James laughed, "Oh come now, Isabel," he began casually, playfully touching her shoulder. He thought that - surely - she must be feigning her sombre confession. Was it really so bad that he was King? he asked himself. Sure, it had it's limitations and was gaoler to his time - he was not as free as she was and yet it was his position that could be used for good, if he were not King they would have never met.

"Why let a thing such as my Kingship be a barrier to our friendship. Tell me why you think it so bad...You are a woman and many would condemn our relationship - yet I pay them no mind..."

Instinctively I started to raise my hand to touch his cheek. I stared back intensely into his eye's as my heart fluttered like a butterfly. "Come away with me and tangle your fingers in my wild locks. Come taste the freedom dancing on my lips as if you were the devil himself."

James immediately took a pace back after her words, dropping his hand from the curve of her shoulder. There was a time when he would have gone away with her for a few days, taken her into his bed for a couple of months before the flames grew weaker. Then they would discreetly brush away the ashes of their affair, before saying goodbye. She would be married quickly - her eligibility increased, after a royal triste - and James would gladly go his own way, parting with a friend instead of a lover.

Yet, there was barely any temptation for him in that moment. Perhaps he had allowed himself to wonder in less sober moments what it would be like if they were more than friends but he was still mad for Mary, still in the throws of passion, "What say you?" he asked in bewilderment, "You think that I would take you? Isabel, I am married and you are my friend - not my mistress. "

I did not find his words hurtful at all it just made it easier for me to walk away from him. "I do not wish to become your mistress I am speaking what is on my mind." I had thought that maybe he had seen this coming but it seems by his reaction that he had not.

He shook his head and scratched his stubble with one hand, resting his other hand upon his hip, "Then what do you want?"

Had he led her on? Had he in some way given her the impression that he wanted her? He scrutinised over what in his actions could have given her cause to assume he reciprocated her feelings. In some ways, he was flattered and his ego was heightened - he was after all a man and she was an attractive woman...but he could not commit to lust with her. He glanced into her clear eyes, having previously averted his gaze, she was indeed attractive and though her eyes were bright, there was something mysterious in them that very nearly lured him in. But no. Not now, he thought.

I wasn't sure what I had wanted either but I felt pressured to tell him what I was thinking. No one had the ability to read others mind's it is up to ourselves to portray what the heart feels. He would be the first of many men; to sway my heart for only a little while. "I want nothing from you that I can assure you. At least you know the thoughts my mind posses now you know all my secrets. Uhm I have made some arrangements to go to England that was partly as well why I came to see you. A sense of loss started to sting inside one that I was not so familiar with. I felt a double edged sword stinging in my side I had betrayed my own heart.

"Well," he began, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "What of my shirts?"

While he was equally shocked by her confession and her decision to travel to England, part of him could not remain too serious for a prolonged time, especially not with her. Nearly all of their meetings had the benefit of drink to loosen their tongues and to make laughter come easier - this occasion was different. 

He could have almost doubted her honesty - where had she hidden these intentions and feelings of her's? It was strange for he had known her for only a short time and yet he did not want her to leave just yet. In spite of her feelings, he optimistically hoped they would remain friends, for it took a very great deal to blacken James' esteem for someone and he held Isabel - still - in very high regard.

"Why England?" he asked as his dark eyes searched her's for an answer, "What is there for you?"

"I have a friend Ursula who is lady in waiting to one of you kinmens wives. Her duties don't permit her to travel; so I offered to visit her; to clear my head a little." I could only speak honestly with him I just didn't trust myself around him. When their was drink I felt more in control which was rather funny as it was meant to have the opposite effect. "So you don't hate me or regard me in a different light? You don't feel like I have conned you into a friendship with me."

He shook his head benevolently - how could he think differently about her? They were - in James’ opinion - of the same mind. She was different to the other women in court, her sole purpose in life was not to acquire some rich husband - even though her circumstances may require it more than any baroness or duchess. She had an independent will, like James. To be sure, he had known women who had many more stories to be told than Isabel did, they spoke with such candour; entirely unfazed by his Kingship, which he kept a secret from many.

Beyond her stories and her mind - it was how she made him feel. He did not feel like a King around her, he had no role to play - he could be simply James and he would take that opportunity whenever he could, besides, his mind was so absent of malice that he could not judge her for her confession.

“How could I, Isabel?” he asked warmly, “You are my friend and I see you no differently. Perhaps you may not want to sustain our relationship since I do not share your…feelings. I wish you would come back though and not stay in England for too long."