12. Kiaran
Kiaran
A melie was sitting by the pond with a dwarf. The little woman was just taller than Amelie’s hip, and they were clearly fond of each other.
It wasn’t like I put in much of an effort to have visitors since being here, but for fuck’s sake, the girl made friends with a breed of creature who was historically afraid of everything but their own kind.
I tried to busy myself, but I just kept being drawn back to the window to watch my girl. Her hair fell like melted chocolate around her shoulders so intentionally that you’d think she styled it that way. I knew, though, that she would never go through the trouble.
I was sure she had no idea of how she shined.
How even sitting among the bright colors of the Forest, the one she deemed the most beautiful thing she’d ever laid eyes on, she was all I could see.
The focal point of a painting. There were thousands of details to admire but my eyes always landed back on her.
The Forest was drawn to her, just as I was.
As it neared dusk, Amelie folded herself around the lady dwarf giving her a hug.
Amelie’s back was to us and I couldn’t break my gaze with the woman staring straight at me.
I tried to smile at her, hoping she knew sending Amelie back inside was safe, but apparently I could only use those facial muscles in the presence of Amelie.
The dwarf closed her eyes tight and whispered something in Amelie’s ear before pressing a kiss to the side of her face. Her mouth didn’t move, but her eyes glazed and she held Amelie so tight that I wasn’t sure she could take a deep breath if she needed to.
Then I heard it. Felt it.
She is your tether to life.
You’ve been suffocating for so long.
Breathe, sweet boy. She’s here.
The woman told me to breathe, but there wasn’t any air left in the room to do so. My eyes lined with tears, one after another, at the words of a fate that couldn’t exist within my curse. My tether to life. A tether like that in my world meant only one thing.
My fate was chosen for me long before my mother or hers was even born.
They were sealed with the High Priestess and the stars.
When it locked into place, it changed life as you knew it.
To tether your soul with your fated mate.
It also couldn’t be tampered with. It was the one thing I felt sure of under my curse.
If my Fated Mate found me here, she couldn’t be taken from me. It was against the Witch’s Oath.
But fated mates could only be between the same kind of blood.
Mortal to mortal, celestial to celestial.
“Kiaran?” Amelie called out from downstairs. Still staring out the window, I saw now that the place Amelie and the woman were seated was empty. I blinked away the blur in my eyes and called back, “Be down in a second.”
My voice cracked with more emotion than I thought I had.
Starting down the stairs, I saw Amelie in her cove, hard at work already.
Standing atop her footstool, sweat beaded on her forehead and her silky curls fell forward, threatening to add to the cauldron.
I was beginning to think she did it on purpose so I would braid her hair.
After all, my braids were far better than hers.
“Spit!” She hadn’t even looked up from her madness before ordering me around. Her brows bunched together in frustration. She was upset and doing a terrible job at hiding it.
Ignoring her demand and moving behind her, I gently pulled her hair onto her back to lay between her shoulders. Grazing the bottom of her ear as I passed, she shuddered under my touch.
“You don’t have to do that, ya know. My hair isn’t messy anymore.”
Ignoring her again, I started to weave three bundles of hair down her back and paused to let Fern secure my masterpiece into place. “I told you if you wanted me to touch you all you had to do was ask.” The bare skin on her arms broke out in goosebumps. I smirked to myself at her reaction.
“You aren’t touching me, Kiaran. You’re braiding my hair.” Her words were breathy as she tired from her vigorous mixing.
“Do you want me to touch you, Amelie?” I rasped. The dwarf’s words were on repeat in my mind, making me feel more possessive than I probably had permission to be. I let her braid fall down her back and slid my hands around her waist, holding her gently in place. Her core tightened under my fingers.
“Kiaran.” Her voice was quiet. So quiet, I wasn’t sure she wanted me to hear it.
Tracing her silhouette with my eyes and allowing my hands to follow, they landed on her hips.
“Yes?”
She didn’t answer, but her breathing became ragged.
“What’s got you upset?” It was radiating off of her like a too hot sun. Something was bothering her. I didn’t prefer intruding on her mind when she was upset. It felt like more of an invasion than a privilege then.
Letting go of the ladle, she laced her fingers through mine and squeezed.
Her head rolled back, leaning into this moment.
My heart thudded in slow, deep beats. The smell of strawberries and vanilla took over my senses and the need to spin her around and take her lips to mine was becoming hard to fight.
“It’s nothing. I…um… I just…” She trailed off while I made lazy circles with my thumbs on her round ass, bunching her layered skirt the longer I did it. I’m not sure she realized it, but she arched her back slightly, pressing into me.
“Tell me.”
“No need, it’s not…”—she exhaled a shaky breath—“important.”
“Whatever has you upset,” I moved closer. Taking in the smell of her hair, I whispered against the shell of her ear, “is important to me.”
She spun on the stool, the pads of my thumbs now adding pressure to the top of her hip bone. I pulled her closer to me, her eyes were locked on my lips, her chest unmoving.
Seeming to snap back into herself, she regained her composure and choked out, “It’s done.”
“What’s done, pretty girl?” I asked, tipping my nose to touch hers.
She paused, the gold rivers in her eyes coursed with a raging fire.
“The um… elixir. It’s done.”
I tried to read her face, to see anything that gave me permission to force her to tell me what was bothering her. She gave nothing away, so I fanned off the flames and gave her hips a gentle squeeze before I lifted her up off the step stool and set her on the ground.
The second I released her, my soul longed to touch her again.
“Right, well…” Her eyes darted around the kitchen and locked on the clean vials.
“Oh, there they are!” She hurried for the counter.
Amelie grabbed one and lifted it to show me, throwing on the weirdest smile.
Then she swept her hand through the cauldron and stretched her arm out as far as it could go with a small shot of the elixir in hand.
I walked toward her, forcing her arm to bend so the vial was tucked in tight between her chest and mine. Slipping it from her hand, I said, “Go, lie down.”
She took the invitation and went for the couch. I grabbed a quilt to cover her. I knelt down as she turned her head to meet my eyes.
“Please tell me what’s wrong.”
One lonely tear fell from her eye.
“Later,” she said, giving me a sweet smile.
Amelie joined my hand around the small vile, then lifted it to my lips and watched as the purple liquid slid into my mouth. Her gaze dropped to my throat as I swallowed heavily.
My skin covered again in the feeling of static just as the life in her eyes deadened and her body softened.
Trying to avoid becoming a pile of broken bones, I tested each limb for good measure before stepping fully onto the porch.
So far, so good. I did not want Fern’s help this time.
The clearing was a full blown habitat now, and it was breathtaking to see up close.
I got to the bridge, the soft ground under my feet feeling unfamiliar in opposition to the hardwood floors I’d spent two hundred years on.
I noted any pull I felt to the cottage, hoping I’d have a warning before the increasing proximity became too much.
Amelie had been practicing so much with other elixirs, and she wanted so badly to veil my curse that I wouldn’t be shocked if I could go all the way to the campsite where the Lost Souls gathered.
Where I could put faces to the voices that kept me company in the darkest nights.
Crossing the bridge slowly, I said hello to Amelie’s frog friends. Two more steps and I was on the other side, only a few more and I’d be in the thick of the Forest.
Bones intact, I glanced back to the cottage. It was as alive as it was the day I got here. A pang of guilt rolled through my gut at what I let Fern become.
Fern loved Amelie. I told myself that if something was wrong she would signal me.
Taking one more weary step, I entered the Forest for the very first time.
It was impossible to see out here, I was amazed that Amelie had pranced around with no problems. Normally, I could see miles and miles ahead of me, but not now.
I can hear where I was heading though. Amelie said that whether I went willingly or not, I was leaving the cottage. My first thought was to visit the men who kept me company every night without any knowledge of it. They were already singing the songs I’d become so fond of.
The walk would be long and deciding that wasting time wasn’t an option, I summoned my wolves, hoping I could hitch a ride, since apparently they’re Clydesdale’s now.
The power that usually pulsed through my fingers never came though.
I tried to shift there, nothing. I might have been unpracticed in a lot of magic anymore, but I shifted around the house all the time.
My magic wasn’t working within Amelie’s veil.
Relenting, I picked up a jog and went to find my friends who didn’t yet know me.