Fleeting hopes

Arkin sprang up when Adela entered his room at the infirmary.

Having grown tired of the collective punishments imposed on their platoon, three courageous members approached Adela and beseeched her to reason with Sir Arkin, their Leader — her knight kept disobeying Baron Gustav's direct orders to forgo duties, and the rest of the platoon was caught between two fires. Regardless of the order they followed, they kept getting punished for it.

It made her feel all the more guilty, she wished she never dragged Arkin along with her to the forest. Is it too late to put that day behind them and forget it ever happened?

The corners of his lips went down, "Is my lady here to see me…" His eyes wandered to find the other man lying asleep on the bed across from him, "Or that boy over there…"

Following Arkin's line of sight, her face brightened up seeing a healthy color on her patient's face. Satisfaction warmed her chest as her eyes roamed the large space around him, this room — though humble and furnished only with two beds and two chairs next to them — was double the size of the cottage she had first seen him in, and the smell of sanitizers was a welcome change to the foul odor of moldy wood back then.

Thank you, father. Adela truly wanted to be deserving of the Archduke's kindness. But how?

"A messenger of the von Conradies came here earlier today,"

She creased her brows, "What do they want from you?"

"Nothing. They offered the boy work at the King's former estate,"

She was taken aback by the strange news. What could they possibly gain from hiring the young man who was yet to recover? His aunt worked in de Lanark's estate, which could open the door for espionage if played right. The thought was an unwelcomed yet possible answer to her question, but Arkin was agitated enough as is, so she kept her doubts to herself.

I must monitor the situation closely...

Arkin scowled sensing her reluctance to share what was on her mind, his eyes glided down her riding gear meaningfully, "Planning an outing with Evita afterward?"

She hesitated, "Larissa and I already took the horses out... I meant to come and see you earlier…"

Adela did not find it in her heart to tell him about the strict orders she received from the Archduke forbidding her from showing her face around the infirmary until after the banquet.

Arkin sighed.

"All right, now that you are here, what aren't you telling me?"

Her spontaneous smile was one that spread on her face without permission, it had nothing to do with happiness, just a natural reaction to how much she appreciated how close Arkin was to her. She searched his body for signs of discomfort, but besides a shoulder support bandage on his bare torso, he looked absolutely fine.

"I came here to thank you,"

The comparison between how easy it was to look her knight straight into his hazel eyes while expressing gratitude and the painful experience she had gone through with Egon doing the exact same thing was ridiculous.

His scowl vanished, "I already vowed my life to you, Adela, it was but my duty to try…" His emotions were on the rise remembering his failure, "You have nothing to thank me for, but I shall accept your generosity because I know you must,"

Her eyes watered watching his slightly glistening, but she knew him better than to talk about that which bothered him most while he was not in full control of himself.

Unlike the healing wound on his shoulder, the one his dignity suffered from was still bleeding. And since a change of topics was due now, she was glad she had something to tell him.

"I overheard things today…Things I shouldn't have heard," She paused and looked at him as he wore a calm expression and gave her an encouraging nod. But she was not ready to talk about what she heard just yet.

"I came here after that but saw Larissa on her way in, we changed into our riding gears then took the horses out for a run..." Remembering her encounter with Egon, she audibly swallowed, "Have you heard about the von Conradie's investment in the King's former estate?"

He gave her a careful nod this time, "I am an injured man, not a dead one, certainly not a deaf one…Did you happen to see them?"

She bit her lips anxiously, "We were at the borderline and Emily got injured. Andreas…Perhaps you remember him... He was the one wearing a dark cloak in the forest,"

"The observer," Arkin murmured darkly, "What about him?"

"He took Larissa and Emily to the other estate's closer stables..." She subtly skipped the part about her exchange with Egon, "I headed back looking for nearby knights and found two of the Archduke's guards... The other three were members of your platoon,"

Arkin grunted, "They went after you? How childish of them!"

It was not just childish. By embarking on that permissionless venture and wasting their morning instead of sparring in the arena, the three earned themselves a heavier punishment than the ones they were complaining to Adela about.

She crossed the room and sat on the chair beside her knight's bed.

"Why are you causing trouble instead of taking this time to rest?"

His shoulder slumped down, "I want to be out of here today before tomorrow... There is something about them, the von Conradies..."

She leaned forward and tried her best to look only moderately interested, "What about them?"

Arkin was haunted by the last image he had of them before he lost consciousness: Two men who were one with the darkness around them, standing on the wrong side of the forest and not dignifying his demands with an answer.

"Forget about that for the time being, word has been going around about His Excellencies's debt. Might that be what you should not have heard about earlier?"

Her face fell, "Precisely..."

"I have a way around it,"

She shook her head, not daring to make room for an optimism invasion before he fully heard what she had to say.

"It is worse than what you think, they are considering an auction! His vessels will soon own their lands and ours,"

"We will not let that happen,"

Hope bloomed in her heart hearing the confidence in his words.

"How?"

"The knights are all loyal to your family and hold it above their own, one alone cannot afford to buy the auctioned lands, but a united front might just be able to,"

She placed a hand on her frantically beating heart, "Is it really possible?"

He smiled, "If nobody sabotaged it, it is,"