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"How utterly predictable. The princess has fallen for the noble knight."
Of all things to worry about, these were the words Isabella had to think about all the way back to the monastery. She didn’t want him to die, but that didn’t mean that she was in love with him. And noble knight? Sure, he had all the skills praised in the stories of
Sir Galavant, but being good at sword fighting was hardly anything you could fall in love with a person for. And noble? Galavant had an awful personality. Arrogant and rash and attention-seeking and inconsiderate, she could start writing a list of all his flaws and wouldn’t be done within the next ten years. At minimum.
The stone walls of the monastery came into sight and she hurried towards the gate. She didn’t need her two companions to see her and wonder where she’s been.
Granted, Gal was capable of surprising her at times. She would have never expected him to be so understanding towards Sid and even encourage him to tell his parents the truth back in the village like that, especially since he was so apathetic and annoyed earlier. Once, when they visited a small town for new supplies, he took the time to help out a little boy. The kid was made fun of by some other boys and Gal had told him that he had been bullied as a kid, too (which Isabella hadn’t known until then) and still turned out to be a hero.
On that same day, he bought her raspberries because he remembered her mentioning they were her favourite kind.
And it wasn’t so long ago, on the pirate ship, when she accidentally woke him up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare and instead of making fun of her or complaining, he stayed awake with her and told her some story about one of his adventures. Something about capturing the king of bandits of Darkwood Forest. She fell asleep halfway through.
She finally arrived at the large doors and knocked quietly. Her monk counselor (she could never remember their names, why did they have to sign everything?) already waited for her. “And?”, he whispered after making sure no one was around.
She forced a smile and said: “Everything is fine and taken care of.” She didn’t want to tell a single lie anymore. But this was about her parents. She had to save them. If only she had never made that deal with King Richard.
"Before you fell for the handsome knight…"
Why did everyone assume she fell for him? At least, the monk didn’t describe him as noble. She could admit he was handsome. That jaw line, those eyes, that cute nose and admittedly, she did stare at him more than once, when he was shirtless.
The smell, though. Very off-putting.
She could already hear the monks’ singing down the hall und walked towards it.
Besides, Galavant was still in love with Madalena, so it would be completely unreasonable to fall in love with him. Although it was beyond her why anyone would love the Queen. In the time she spent hiding, she had never perceived her as anything other than cruel, calculating and with no care for anyone beside herself. She left him for fame and fortune. Her own words. And Gal thought now that Madalena regretted her choice.
He did deserve someone better. Someone who actually understood him. Someone who would bring out the best in him. Someone who saw past the hero farce he put up so often. Someone who really loved the man and not the legend.
Isabella looked into the lighted room and saw the monks singing on a platform at the end of the room. They seemed to try to get Sid to sing with them. One of the monks pulled at his arm to get him to join them on the platform.
"Come on, Sid, don’t be shy!", shouted Galavant. He was sitting across the room at a table with a plate of food in front of him. "We all know you’ve wanted to sing with them ever since we came here!"
Sid finally gave in and stepped onto the platform. The monks let him sing some harmonies to see where he’d fit in their musical numbers.
"Izzy!" Well, Galavant had finally noticed her. "Come here! What were you doing for so long?"
She walked over and sat down next to him. “Oh, you know, just lady things.”
"I thought it wasn’t for another two- Nevermind," he broke off realizing that that probably wasn’t an appropriate topic for conversation.
"Don’t you want to join them, too?", Isabella asked teasingly.
"No. You know me, Princess. I don’t sing songs without solo parts for the hero," he answered. And then, he smiled at her.
Isabella felt a warming feeling in her stomach and then, realization hit. No, she didn’t fall for the knight. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t in love with the man.