Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Two more days and they were ready to move.
Michel couldn’t believe the absolute abundance of people coming.
At one point in his life, he felt in command of a great army with a company of thirty, but he had never experienced anything like this.
All of Eve’s family: brothers, wives, and children.
Only Grandmother and Dzhambul would stay, along with his wife and children.
There were the attendants, advisors, and warriors, all to accompany Michel and his future bride back to Chevalerie.
It made his life, the life he had promised Eve, seem so small.
He only wished he could better warn his parents. His mother would have a fit that she did not prepare for such venerable guests.
They would travel for about a month, using some of Michel’s trade lines, opting for more direct routes when they could. Once they reached the Mediterranean Sea, they’d sail until arriving at the docks of Chevalerie.
It would be an adventure.
He saw Eve for the first time as they departed early in the morning.
As she mounted the horse at the front of the procession near her parents, she smiled at him.
Michel, stuck in the back of the line behind the brothers, with the attendants, almost fell off his horse from the thundering in his heart.
Dressed in the traditional garments of a bride leaving for marriage, her beauty ensnared him as it always did.
Grandmother was right. He needed contact with her, confirmation that she was happy.
He would feel uneasy until he held her in his arms again.
He hoped it wouldn’t be their wedding day before he had the chance.
But he supposed the fact that she was there, and her royal house was on the move toward his home, was a good sign.
Many hours later, the sun had come up, traveled across the sky, and started setting again.
Michel nearly collapsed off his horse from the pace when they finally stopped, but the rest of the family stayed at work until everything was settled.
He blinked and saw a stew steaming over the fire, while the children ran and played.
Michel’s focus, the whole day, had been looking for an opportunity to get Eve alone, though it seemed impossible.
He finally got his chance when Eve’s mother sent her down to the stream for water.
Her father was occupied with several of the grandsons, and the brothers were with their own families.
For the first time since she had helped him escape the cell weeks ago, he had a chance.
Michel acted stealthily. He knew he would just have a minute.
“Eve!” he whispered sharply, going after her. His boots skidded down the slope, taking large steps to get to her. She had knelt by the river, and when he came to her, he stumbled to his knees. He grabbed her hands so suddenly she dropped the bowl into the rushing water of the stream.
“Michel!” she laughed.
“Eve, Eve,” he said. “I need to know, quickly, before you are pulled away…” He was suddenly out of breath. “I need to know if this is what you want.”
“What?” she asked. “Going to France?”
“Not going to France.” He smacked his hand against his chest. “Marrying me. Is this still what you want?”
“Michel,” she said. She looked at him quizzically, then playfully, and suddenly he felt stupid for asking her.
“I just wanted to be sure…” he said, deflating. “We haven’t spoken. You were so angry with me.”
“Michel,” she repeated, hands to his chest. “Of course I want to marry you.”
“There was so much that you didn’t tell me about yourself. About your family,” he said. “I didn’t know what was true anymore.”
She looked down. “I’m sorry for the things I kept from you. I only thought I was protecting you.” She touched his cheek. “I won’t do that anymore,” she said. “I want only what is best for you and me.” She touched her stomach. “Our family.”
Michel’s whole body changed. There was relief inside him that muddled his thinking.
Suddenly, he was pulling them both up to stand, and he had her in his arms. He kissed her with abandon, answering a debilitating hunger.
Her arms went around him. Her sighs hung in the air.
It had been far too long since he had touched her, had her scent in his nose.
Then, despite knowing that he couldn’t possibly manage, his brain scrambled for a way to get her alone.
Her effect on him, maddening as always. Her fingers wove through his hair, pulling, urging him forward.
Nothing mattered more than claiming this woman as his own and succumbing to her every will and desire.
Just as his hands began to move, he heard the deep bellow of her father.
“Hands off!” he shouted.
Eve pushed back instantly. Michel stood in a stupid daze, just as Borjigin picked up a rock and threw it at him.
“Ow!” he shouted when the rock hit him on the shoulder.
Borjigin picked up another rock and threw it. Michel ducked just in time to miss a headshot. “Okay, okay!” Michel called.
Eve brought her hands to her mouth in a laugh as she turned to fish her bowl out of the stream. Michel turned and darted away, narrowly missing another stone.
He’d needed to connect with her. Badly. But he could wait. As long as he knew she felt the same way.
At this point in his life, for the emperor and liege of the Chagatai horde, direct descendant of Genghis Khan, and the vector of control for the Western Mongolian tribes, there was not much that Borjigin could say was fun in his life.
There were wonderful moments of pride in his family, victory in his tribe, and deep and consoling meditation.
But fun? Not so much. However, for the weeks that they traveled—in which he reveled in the beauty, intelligence, and love of his family—Borjigin Khan, the Golden Khan, enjoyed torturing his future son-in-law quite a lot.
Ultimately, Borjigin believed it was a good match. During their conversation, he could feel how earnest and thoughtful the boy was. He would have a position of nobility. He would care for and adore his daughter. These things were agreeable.
He did not like that the boy had been intimate with her.
That should have been saved for after the wedding.
The pregnancy was not ideal. Borjigin himself had only ever been with his own lovely wife, and their wedding night was their first time together.
Borjigin thought fondly back to those early days together and wished that Eve could have similar happy, carefree days as she discovered what it meant to be in a marriage.
Eve would have to begin her marriage with responsibilities that should not come so soon.
In his deep meditation, Borjigin forgave the pregnancy.
Their circumstances of falling in love were unique.
In fact, keeping them apart now was nothing more than Borjigin’s own ego.
But he very much enjoyed throwing rocks at the boy whenever he got too close to his daughter.
That was fun. And, Borjigin knew, he had great aim.
At some point, he started purposely turning his attention away, allowing Michel to sneak to his daughter’s side.
It made him laugh every time he hit the unsuspecting future duke.
There was one moment, though, that Borjigin let them be.
On the final boat trip across the Mediterranean, on a ship captained by Michel’s brother, Serge, Eve had been violently seasick.
Coupled with stormy waters and a baby in her belly, the poor girl was green for nearly the entire trip.
At one point, Borjigin had truly lost track of the two of them.
He knew nothing could be happening because Eve was too sick, but as he came down the stairs, he spied them through an open door.
The scene did not make him look for the nearest thing to throw.
Michel sat on a bench with Eve’s head in his lap.
She had closed eyes and a green tint to her skin.
Michel stroked her head, whispering to her.
Borjigin couldn’t hear what he was saying, but Eve was laughing, and the boy was smiling.
Michel would say something, and she would laugh with closed eyes and a hand on her stomach.
Then she would grimace, and Michel would soothe her and make her laugh once more.
The feeling of warmth traveled through him.
As he stood there, spying on them, his wife passed. She peeked in through the crack in the door. “Leave them,” she said, as she put a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “They are doing nothing.”
“I will,” Borjigin replied. Then he put his arm around his wife’s waist and went with her back down the hall.
As a father, he felt a swell of confidence that his beautiful daughter would be fully cared for in his absence.