“Her Best Friend”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

“I’m leaving, Dar,” Iza stated bluntly. “I’m leaving the Northern Province to be with Kanter.”

Darmoth was silent for a moment. Then, a small smile crept over his face.

“I know,” he said quietly.

Iza stared at him. “What?”

Darmoth chuckled. “I know that you send letters to Kanter every week and that he sends his own to you. I’ve seen you carry them around, giggling and blushing.”

Iza’s cheeks reddened and she averted her eyes. Suddenly furious, she demanded, “So why do you keep pursuing me? How could you be so disrespectful as to keep trying to court me while you know that I’m in a relationship with someone else?”

“I was just trying to help,” Darmoth said quickly. “I thought that if your parents saw that I was still interested then they wouldn’t suspect that you were still with Kanter. They would be more interested in the fact that I’m trying to pursue you to even consider that you still may be in a relationship.”

The basic concept of the idea did make sense to Iza, but she still couldn’t seem to wrap her mind around the fact that Darmoth had known the entire time.

Finally, she started relaxing and nodded curtly. “I guess I should thank you then?” she asked, curving an eyebrow upwards.

Darmoth smirked. “No need,” he said softly. “It was actually kind of fun sneaking around the court, pretending to be one of your hopeless suitors.”

Iza rolled her eyes and scowled at her friend; it was true that she had many suitors and that she had turned them all down because of her love for Kanter. At the time, however, she hadn’t thought that anyone else had known about that and all of her suitors had been pegged as hopeless romantics.

Glancing at the rising moon, Iza’s heartbeat quickened. She needed to leave.

“I have to go,” she said softly.

Darmoth nodded. “I know,” he said, “so let’s go.”

Iza froze. “What?”

Darmoth grinned. “You didn’t think that I’d let you go out into the big scary world by yourself, now did you?”

He whistled and a squire hurried to his side, leading three magnificent horses laden with supply packs. The squire bowed quickly and handed the reins to Darmoth before retreating back down a side street.

Final Comments: Everyone loves a good love triangle, right?

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