Practice (Tag: Alidia) rated M

Gina was in utter shock. "Ummm my lord I'm flattered that you're saying this to me but Lady Jillian..." Gina blushed as her heart started to skip beats. She wipe the bangs out of Randall's face. "that should help..." she giggled "hmm no my lord no one has told me that and are you sure it's not the wine talking..." she smiled

"I'm not much of a drinker, Gina. I did think once that Jillian would be a good woman to marry, but that was before I met her. I do not love her. I don't even like her. She may be an attractive woman, but only on the outside." Randall answered her.

Gina just nodded "Yes my lord I see. But what would happened if she found us like this...and there's a good luck charm us gypsies have..." Gina kissed Randall's cheek and blushed as she rubbed his cheeks. "You'll find your true love I promise...gypsy honor..."

"Thank you for your confidence. I should probably go home, my mother will start to worry. I hope I can see you again, if for no other reason than to talk." Randall told her, happy to have spent time with someone interesting.

Gina was so happy that she had a friend now. She was dancing in the streets and without warning she was caught by jillians spies and thrown in the dungeon for treason... and mutiny. She began to cry but stopped when she saw a hooded person walk in with a whip and Lady Jillian gave them orders to whip Gina. Gina was scared. It was a nighttime when they were doing this... "I love you...Randall" Gina whispered in the wind.

By the time Randall returned home, it was rather late. He was confused and scared when he heard his mother scream inside the house. He rushed inside, though his mother begged him not to go. When he reached the guest bedroom, he saw what caused his mother such a fright.
"Stay away indeed!" he spat with disgust. He had caught Jillian with another man, proof of his suspicions. No wonder his mother had screamed.
"Darling! I didn't know you would be back so soon." Jillian said, trying to be casual.
"Why? Have you been spying on me? I see I have more reason to spy on you just to keep you under after what I've seen. I have never given another woman a second glance out of a duty to marry you, even though I don't enjoy your company; which is more than what I can say you do for me in return." Randall ranted and raved.
"What about that girl you were with tonight? What about her?" she asked him.
"Gina? She's a friend I just made today! She and I watched a meteor shower and talked, nothing more and nothing less. But now I'm starting to wish she was more than a friend." he admitted.
"That will be hard since she's been arrested." Jillian said, before realizing her mistake.
"Is that so? I'll make you a little offer, Jillian. You will release Gina from the bastille, or I will take this evidence to a higher court, they will find you guilty and execute you for adultery. If you release her and never bother either of us again, no one else will hear of this. But I promise that you will never marry me after what just happened. As far as I'm concerned, this engagement is off." Randall declared before heading to the bastille himself.

Gina fell asleep at the jail cell in the shackles they had her in. She was in pain from the whipping. Gina knew theyd cause scars and bruises. She woke up as the jail door opened and they tossed her outside and she slowly walked home. And she felt so much but still she loved Randall...she laid down on her straw bed and fell asleep again.

Randall watched Gina after she was let out. It clear, even from that distance, that she had been beaten terribly. After a while of following her to make sure she would be alright, he decided to make himself known.
"Will you not even talk to the man who helped you get out of there?" he asked her, longingly.

Gina heard a voice...not a strangers voice but the angel's voice she was longing to hear. She got up weakly from her bed and looked at him with her abused self "I guess I'm not that beautiful anymore..." she paused as she bowed "my lord...." she quickly added "Thank you but I'm sure that Lady Jillian enjoyed my pain my lord cause I'm so weak and shatterproof now...and why; cause I'm different and I might be in love...." her eyes widen as she bowed up and down "oh my lord forgive me...slip of the tongue..."

"I'm free to listen to anything you have to say. I threatened to send Jillian to court for adultery unless she released you. I caught her in my mother's house with another man, evidence of exactly what I thought she was doing behind my back. I broken off my engagement to her to prove I was serious. And as for those wounds, they will fade in time." Randall said, gently touching her shoulder.

Gina weakly smiled. "Does my lord find anyone in his favor? Because if not she's always here for him..." Gina ran her bursied fingers through Randall's hair making it prefect. "she loves him so dear into her heart...the skipping of the heartbeats and his sparkling eyes..."

"There is someone, actually. I recently met her after returning something precious to her. She and I watched stars fly across the sky and shared a glass of wine. I just need to know if she cares as much." Randall answered in a playful way.

Gina smiled. "She sounds prefect....your lady...but she has recently has been damaged and broken wondering she'd be whole again because she loves him...so much..." Gina leaned in and kissed Randall.

"Perhaps with the right care, she can be repaired. I have faith in her. There can be no greater beauty than the beauty she holds within." Randall said before closing the distance between them and kissing her soft lips.

Gina felt like she was flying but she still felt guilty so she pulled from the amazing kiss. "I...I can't do this...it's cheating and I'm non-pureblood....Randall I do love you but it's never going to work cause you're a lord awaiting your throne and I'm a gypsy...a common thief... I do love you more then I love myself but..." she buried her head on his clothed chest.

"It's not cheating if I'm not marrying Jillian anymore. And I'm not exactly pure-blooded either. I might have been my mother's first child, but I wasn't her child by her husband. She just made him believe I was. I learned all this after the lord passed away. My cousin will be able to take over my duties for me." Randall explained.

Gina was shocked. "So you'd give up everything in the name and sake of love... Randall this might be your destiny...Jillian will come back..." All of a sudden Gina was getting a vision. Paris in flames, Jillian burning her at the stake because of love and Randall whipped. Gina started to cry. "You have to fill your made-destiny Randall cause if your cousin rules; my people, the citizens will be in danger...Jillian will marry him...and we will be hurt and in my case death..."

"Gina, I don't know if I can do that. Someone would find out I'm not of noble blood eventually. I would be stripped of my title, and my cousin would fill my seat anyway. And I would rather think that Jillian would tie herself down with someone she actually cares about." Randall told her, knowing well what happened to those who were not of pure nobility.

Gina grimaced but then smiled as she embraced her beloved. "Then fate will play this out...I love you..." Gina kissed Randall longer this time. "I'd like to meet your family if that'd be okay...cause I'm thinking they'll be like you; kind, sweet and down to earth." she smiled.

"Of course, Gina. But would you appreciate it if I give you a ride there? I'm not sure if you can walk all the way there." Randall offered.

Gina smiled. The scars and bruises were started to heal. "I'd like that my Lord..." Gina said as she took his hand. "Guide the way..."

"Very well. Right this way." Randall escorted her to where his horse stood waiting. He helped her into the saddle and then climbed in himself. Then, he turned his horse in the direction of his home.

Gina was nervous. She hadn't rode a horse ever since her parents died at the farm. They rode to the place. Gina began shaking because she was bruised, scarred and not that presentable. They walked in. And some servants came and took her to wash up. She was cleaned, primped and looked like royalty. She walked into the study where Randall was. "Well...." she started to say "How do I look?"

"You look lovely, Gina. I could almost swear you were born into the world of nobility." Randall complimented her. Just then, his mother came in. She smiled politely at their guest before turning to her son.
"Darling, who's this?" she asked.
"Mother, this is Gina. At first, I thought she was just a friend, but now I see that I love her. I really got to know her after returning a necklace she lost to her." Randall told his mother. She came and offered a soft hug.
"My son told me about the way you were treated in prison. I'm so sorry. If I had known what kind of woman I was engaging my son to, I wouldn't have agreed to the marriage." the older woman apologized.

Gina curtsied "My Lady..." and Gina smiled as she returned the hug. "It wasn't your fault my lady nor is it Randall's...you're simply looking out for your people...Jillian was just blinding you..." Gina said in her smart gypsy royality voice; she was about to say more until she heard another female voice "Is this peasant gypsy talking about me?" Gina got the shivers but she took a stand "Yes I am..."