The Knight's Mysterious Maid

Rafael let go of her hand to stop hurting her. It had been a long time since she had been here drinking with him, so she was the last person he thought was with him here on the balcony. She had not made her presence known to protect herself from thinking she was an enemy. "I’m sorry," he apologised. Annalise looked down at her hand, which was turning red already. If he had grabbed her any tighter, her hand might have been broken. She told Thomas that she might be able to take on Rafael, but she was wrong.

His earlier grip on her hand made her think twice about attacking him first. She should only fight Rafael if there was a dire situation where her background was revealed and she had to fight her way out of here.

Annalise tried not to let it show that her hand was in great pain. She didn’t want Rafael to have a moment of seeing her in pain that he could look back on and one day taunt her over. "It was my fault for touching someone while they slept. A knight at that. I would have reacted the same way if someone tried to touch me in my sleep. I will go-"

"No," Rafael said, wanting to hold her hand to stop her, but he was reminded of the fact she would pull away whenever he tried to touch her, and he had already hurt her by grabbing her a second ago. "That needs to be looked at. I will help you."

"It is fine," Annalise said, making the mistake of waving her hand around to show that her hand was not hurting. The tear that slipped out of her right eye and her wincing as her hand moved did not convince Rafael.

"Come with me," Rafael said, getting to his feet. Since he had injured her, he could not leave her until her hand was taken care of.

He wanted to question why she was here again, but it was more important to deal with her hand. Rafael could already hear his mother yelling at him for hurting a woman, even if it was just an accident.

A big part of what happened to Annalise’s hand was her fault since not even the knights would approach him while he rested without making their presence known. Rafael was always prepared for an attack, even in his own home. Nowhere truly felt safe, as there were many who wanted to take his life.