23. Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three
Leena
W ith Theodora close behind, I wandered through the village searching for Bratan, but he was nowhere to be found. Theodora was at the house soon after he’d left, but I didn’t want anything to eat, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk. So, after some convincing, she relented to my leaving the cottage so long as she was with me. We’d been wandering for some time, but I still couldn’t find my husband anywhere. And I couldn’t stop thinking of what he’d said and of the hurt on his face when he’d left.
I felt sick. The truth was that I didn’t know the full story of what he’d done or the pain he’d gone through, both physically and mentally. And I was holding him to human standards instead of the guardian spirit he was and who he had to be. I needed to apologize and ask him more questions. To me, killing was never an option. But his job was to protect the forest, and now it was my job, too.
I nervously twisted the dark green fabric of my dress. I chose a simple piece today because I didn’t want the help of lacing a corset or getting anyone to assist me. I was drained. All I wanted to do was find Bratan, apologize, and hear him out. And I had so many questions about what my place was here.
I made it into the part of the woods I’d found him in the day before, but venturing deeper through the trees brought up a newfound anxiety. What happened last night still didn’t make sense, and if I could get hurt in my own house, what would stop me from getting hurt out here?
Having Theodora trail behind me was a small comfort; if Bratan trusted her, I must be safe with her. But still, even with him in the house himself, I was attacked by whatever faceless monster had lurked in the shadows.
With no questions asked, Theodora helped me look for my husband, but the longer we searched, the more my heart sank. He was nowhere to be found, and I hated that we’d left things on such a sour note. I was still figuring things out, and he probably was, too.
The fresh air helped to calm my nerves a bit. It may have been from my new position as the wife to the Leshy, but the aroma and feel of the trees, shrubs, moss, and everything else around me filled me with peace and energy. The woods were a part of me now, and I felt it. A purity that surpassed mortality in the form of leaves and vines.
The smell of fresh pine and evergreens made me think of Christmas. It used to be my favorite time of year. As a child, my parents always made an effort to make Christmas special. We never had much money, but each year, they managed to save enough for fruitcake and materials for a gift. One year, I got a doll made from scraps of material my mother got from women in the village. When I opened the wrapping and saw its hair of different colored cloth, I was elated. I played with it for years, up until it fell apart and grew too soiled to recover. But the memory of how I felt that day will never leave me. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.
Christmas had lost its spirit when my parents were killed. It wasn’t uncommon, but they’d died on a hunting trip. I never knew for certain what happened that day, but I was told a wolf had gotten to them before they could hide or escape. The people of the village used to take turns hunting, but after that day, only a handful of trained archers went out. Until recently, when food became scarce.
I wondered what Christmas or Winter Solstice would be like here and if it was celebrated at all. The thought of Bratan holding me by the fire, a thick blanket wrapped around us, cider and plum cake sticky on our fingers, was a thought I could get used to. Winter would indeed spread through these woods, and so would the holidays. I would make sure of it.
Something snapped behind me. I turned on my heels so fast that I stumbled back, about to catch myself, until a cold ache filled my insides like seawater, and a great mass of darkness shrouded my vision. A cloud of thick, black fog spread above me, engulfing the space around me like a storm cloud brought to life .
It let out a deep croak that sounded like it came from two separate voices as it got closer. Then it pounced.
Gasping, I stumbled, falling hard onto the ground. I thought I heard Theodora’s voice when the dark smoke slithered around me, making clicking sounds as it slid down my throat and clogged my lungs. Clasping my neck, I scratched at it, desperate to breathe. Pain took over, pushing me back to the ground as I writhed for relief.
Then, a cold gust of wind rushed over me, giving back my breath and causing my braid to whip over my head.
“Get out!” Bratan roared. The shadow fled in a flash, a giant storm cloud racing into the distance. I lay stunned on the ground, staring at where the black mist had just been. Bratan scooped me into his arms. “Are you okay?”
“What was that?” I rasped. “Was that what hurt me last night?”
Bratan’s usually green eyes were black. Even after what I’d said, he came to protect me in an instant. Despite the pain I’d caused him, he leapt to my rescue without a second thought. My vision blurred, and I hated that I was starting to cry. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, grabbing the neck of his cape. “I’m so sorry for earlier. I know you must protect your people. I’m sorry.”
He held me against him as I cried. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You’ll learn our duties soon enough.” He paused. “I just hope you can accept me for who I am and that I will always protect you at all costs.”
I blinked up at him. “What do you mean? ”
His eyes returned to normal, but they had a curious glint. His face was still rigid. “I will do what needs to be done to protect you,” he answered, but he didn’t look at me as he said it, then continued. “I’m glad Theodora called for me and that she was here to watch over you while I was away, but we need to be more careful, at least until I find out what’s going on. When I find out who did this, I won’t let it go unpunished. They’ll wish they never laid a grisly finger on your perfect skin.”
“Why?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Why would you do that for me?” I still couldn’t wrap my head around his feelings for me, but I supposed my feelings were just as intense. I’d never wanted to apologize to someone so badly in my life, and I’d never been so inexplicably drawn to someone before.
His hand combed through my hair. “You mean so much to me, Leena. You’re the blood in my veins and part of my very soul. I am now, and have always been, completely yours. If anyone tries to take you from this earth or burn you by harming our forest, I won’t let anything stand in my way from ripping them to shreds.”
It was suddenly hard to breathe again. Excitement sizzled from his words. “Nothing?”
His breath was on my lips. “Nothing,” he growled, and I opened my mouth. The tears instantly dried, and the skin around my neck warmed. “Maybe I am a monster,” he said against my teeth, “But only to protect those I love.” We looked into each other’s eyes. His voice lowered. “I will always be a monster if it means keeping you safe. ”
My legs were liquid, and my body was weak. His lips grazed mine. Slowly, my head tilted back, and he found the space beneath my ear. He kissed it so tenderly, so sensually, I let out a sound of shaky desire. He kissed a trail to my mouth, and slowly, my hands slid up his chest and wound around his neck as I kissed him back. He grabbed me by the back of my thin dress, sliding his tongue against mine. And then we were at it again, voracious and mad. Completely insane. He ripped off my clothes and made love to me on the forest floor, pressing me into the soil, entertaining my every request and desire.
I couldn’t help my longing for him, and he obviously couldn’t help his. We were crazy about each other and so filled with wild, primal passion and a sudden surge of love and affection. Something changed—intensified—when we tied our souls together on our wedding day. And I loved it. I loved that we were wholly and completely each other’s and had this fierce connection.
My fingernails were caked in dirt by the end when we reveled in messy bliss. We allowed a long moment of sweet afterglow with loving embraces and flurried kisses before we got dressed.
We were so consumed by each other that we failed to notice the darkness that never truly left.
***
After our escapade, I accompanied Bratan to the village, giggling when he took the occasional leaf out of my tousled hair.
“You’re insatiable,” he teased, to which I smacked him hard on the shoulder.
“ I’m insatiable?” I tried playfully hitting him again, but he caught my knuckles and kissed them. I bit back a smile and leapt on him, wrapping my legs around his middle and, to my delight, knocking him into a tree. “Do you surrender?”
His grin was wide; I loved how bright it made his eyes.
“Never.” He spun around and pinned me to the tree. It was easy to feel the rough bark through today’s ensemble. Usually, I had a corset and at least two layers of underthings beneath a thick dress and bodice. Today, I only had my underthings, a slip, and a thin dress with a fitted bodice and cream-colored shirt underneath. The olive-green lace that looped up the front of my bodice held it all together to accentuate my figure. It wasn’t stunning or regal, but it did the job well enough. It was a nicer version of the clothes I’d worn back home. Not home—where I used to live. This was my home now.
It was still hard to believe.
“Do you want to greet the villagers?” Bratan asked.
I looked at him in surprise. “ You want social interaction?”
“No, but I know you do, so I’ll deal with it.” He was still smiling, and I realized how much he truly must have fallen for me to subject himself to idle chatter .
“All right, Your Majesty, lead the way.” I drew out his title in a flirtatious drawl, which made his eyes light up in the way I’d hoped it would.
“I like the sound of you calling me that,” he said, playing with my hair and tucking a messy lock behind my ear. “Maybe next, you can try ‘master.’”
“In your dreams,” I said with a playful glare.
He smiled wickedly. “All right. I’ll start there, and then I’ll hear it as you mutter in your sleep.”
“You’re devilish.”
“Only for you, my love.” He grabbed my chin and tilted my face up with a kiss. “Now, should we go to the village?”
“We probably should. I need to introduce myself to anyone I haven’t met yet, or at least start.”
“You didn’t meet anyone at the party?” he asked as we walked hand-in-hand to the village.
“Not many, at least not through anything but my manic dancing.”
His head fell back with a laugh. “I love your manic dancing. I could watch it all day.”
“I’m sure you would,” I teased, but inside, I was warm. He accepted me in all my strange, uninhibited glory. I’d always had trouble making friends, but it seemed that nothing I did deterred Bratan from looking at me in any way other than awe, adoration, or of course, voracious desire, though I wasn’t sure if my dancing could incite that last feeling. If it could, he was more insatiable than I thought .
“I mean it.” His voice was gentle. He cradled my face, looking deep into my eyes. “Everything you do is a dance to me, and I will never stop watching.” He kissed me again, and I rested my arms on his shoulders.
Kissing me once more, he led me to the first house down the path from the trees. “Be a good girl,” he said after he knocked on the hut’s thin oak door. “You’re flushed and giddy. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but if you want to make a regal impression, you need to be a good girl.” He winked and pinched my backside.
Suppressing a smile, I smacked him on the shoulder. “You’re terrible.”
“I never said I was good.” He winked. “That’s why you need to be good for both of us.”
“No. I won’t accept that. Be a good boy, or you don’t get the naughty side of me.”
“I highly doubt that, you little minx.”
“Oh, Your Majesties!” A waif-like, middle-aged elf with orange freckles and pointed ears stood in the doorway, her face crimson. How long had she been there? If the woman was crimson, I was molten. “I deeply apologize,” she said with a bow. “I didn’t mean to interrupt—”
“No, no, we came to your door,” Bratan said, waving his hand. “My wife would like to meet her people. Please introduce yourself.”
The elf nodded feverishly, messy red curls bouncing atop her head. “My name is Mila, My Lady. ”
I bowed my head slightly, trying my best to move on from the awkward situation. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Mila.”
“Please come in,” The redhead said with a smile that indicated she’d pretend she hadn’t heard anything. I breathed a sigh of relief and followed her into the hut. The home was small but cozy—a cylindrical living space with everything one would need: sitting room furniture, a table, cooking space, and a fireplace. Little paintings also decorated the walls, and the air smelled of citrus. My eyes landed on the bowl of fruit in the middle of the dining table—an orange mountain that made my mouth water. I adored clementines, and they were most delicious this time of year.
When the woman noticed my staring, she cupped a fruit and held it out to me. “Please, take it, Your Majesty.”
“O-oh…thank you.” I awkwardly grabbed the fruit, and Mila continued, asking me questions about where I was from and apologizing that they didn’t have better furniture. “Please don’t worry. We are happy to be here.”
We enjoyed the rest of our stay in her cabin and meeting her husband, who soon joined us as he came home from collecting food for their supper. I happily peeled my first clementine, but when I started on the second one, Bratan took over, peeling it quickly so I never had to lift a finger.
“I’m perfectly capable of doing that, you know,” I whispered to him.
“I know, but I want to do it.” He handed me the plump fruit, and it tasted even sweeter than the one I’d peeled myself .
We stayed at the house for about an hour and then made our rounds through the village until the sky was ruddy with the melting rays of sundown.
Bratan and I walked home hand in hand when a brawny man with pointed ears and short black hair bowed quickly and whispered something in Bratan’s ear. The light in my husband’s eyes dimmed.
“Is everything okay?” I asked when the man stepped away.
“Yes, of course,” he said smoothly, kissing my knuckles, “but I apparently have some urgent business to take care of. I’ll likely be gone for the rest of the night, so I’ll bring you home and have Theodora stay. I’ll check the house before I leave, and I gave your maid something that allows her to more easily call for me. You’ll be safe, and I’ll check on you periodically throughout the night. Is that okay?”
My shoulders dropped, and my spirits fell with them. I wasn’t sure if I was more upset at him leaving or at the anxiety that something might happen if he wasn’t home. “Well, if you have to, and if you check the house first and everything is okay, I’m sure it’s fine.”
“I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t important. Dire.”
“Dire?” I asked, and he looked to the man who’d given him whatever message initiated this. “What is it?”
“I can’t talk about it now, but let’s get you home. As soon as things are settled, we can discuss it, okay?” His eyes searched mine, and I could tell he truly did care. Something I hadn’t experienced from anyone but my grandmother in years .
Grandmother…
“Okay,” I said, “but can I ask you a favor?”
“Of course, anything. What is it?” He held my hands in his and kissed them, waiting for me to speak.
“Can you find out how my grandmother is doing? I want to know she’s all right.”
“Of course, little dove. I’ll see to that.” He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek and mouth. He was still close when he whispered, “I’ll try to be back before you go to bed. If not, please go to sleep without me. Just make sure you have supper.”
I nodded, feeling the soft brush of his wavy hair against my temple.
“Let’s get you home,” he said. “Try to rest. I’ll make sure everything is okay.” He kissed my forehead and then the tip of my nose, and my thoughts and suspicions grew.