19. Amelie #2
“Fuck! What’s going on? Did I hurt you?” He stroked the back of my head. I turned to the side and his face drained of color.
Climbing onto the bed, he scooped me up and held me in his lap. The embrace was so full of love.
“You.. didn’t..” I steadied my breath. “hurt me.”
“Then why are those pretty eyes filled with tears?”
He’d done everything right. He respected what I wanted, he showed me what sex was meant to feel like, he took care of me and didn’t force anything.
I cupped his cheeks in my hands and kissed him, he grasped the back of my neck and kissed me back.
“The guards. That was how they would hurt me, almost always from behind. Crushing my face into whatever surface they had me folded over. They would take turns on me, never making sure I was ready or caring if I asked them to stop. I just wanted to know if it would’ve felt good had it been the right person. ”
“Did it?” Kiaran asked, searching my eyes for a lie I might tell.
But it was no lie. Not in the slightest.
My watery smile and slow nod was all the answer I could muster without falling apart.
Kiaran pulled me in close, his heartbeat against my ear thudding hard.
“I’m falling for you, Amelie. I’m completely mad for you.”
My breath hitched.
I melted into him, never wanting to leave this room again. I wanted to hear him tell me that one million times over, to call me pretty girl and continue to make love to me forever.
I think it, I don’t say it. But I know I’d fallen recklessly for him too.
Kiaran and I spent the next two days tangled up in each other.
Our own little bubble of connection that no one could burst. Fern was virtually non-existent, only showing herself at meal times which we’d accidentally missed every time.
I learned that Kiaran telling me how good I was doing was becoming an insatiable craving of mine so I tried to spend as much of my time as I could earning his praise.
I hadn’t seen Ethel since the calamitous dinner though and I wanted to talk to my friend.
I wanted to sort out what it all meant and ask her about the prophecy my family had mentioned.
Kiaran hadn’t brought it up and I was so enthralled by the rest of the information I was being drowned in that I forgot to bring it back up.
“Where are you going, pretty girl?” Kiaran asked from his perch in the library as I exited the bathroom.
His black curls were messy, tangled in wild knots from my fingers constantly being lost in it.
His crystal blue eyes hadn’t stopped dancing since yesterday morning and he had been so sweet with me.
Every time he called me his pretty girl it sent butterflies awry in my stomach.
It was embarrassing to be so mad for him yet he was meeting my every move so we could be embarrassing together.
“I’m going to go find Ethel. I still have some questions from the other night and I’m hoping she’ll give them to me.”
Kiaran closed his book and strode over to me. Taking my face in his hands, he tilted my head up and kissed me like it would be the last time he’d have the chance. I twisted my hands in his cream sweater to keep him close.
“Okay, be safe. Can you be home for dinner? I have something planned for you.”
My heart skipped a beat in anticipation, a fleeting thought crossed my mind to just simply stay here with him. I kissed his cheek. “Yes, I’ll be back before dinner.”
“Pinky promise?”
I linked my pinky with his. “Pinky promise.” I pressed another kiss to his cheek and floated out the front door.
Leaving the cottage for the first time in two days, I took in the fresh Forest air.
Stepping down from the porch, the gentle breeze from the trees floated me across the clearing.
Everything from the past few days had been nothing short of spectacular.
Even the truth about my family, all of it made me feel closer to finding me .
As upset as I was that Al didn’t give me the answers I wanted, I understood it.
Further, I was used to the idea of if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.
So that’s what I was going to do. I wanted to learn the full extent of my celestial blood.
I still hadn’t told Kiaran everything I knew. Mostly because I could hardly explain it myself.
I wasn’t sure where Ethel lived but she always seemed to find me when I wandered, so I left my paper trail behind me and continued to walk to nowhere in particular.
Amelie…
I heard the call coming from somewhere. It wasn’t a voice I felt afraid of but it was one that held power. There was something familiar about it.
Amelie…
“Yes?” I tried to sound confident but my voice trembled slightly. The wind picked up, swirling around me.
It brings us much joy that you continue to visit us, Princess. Come, we have a story we think you’re ready to hear. Are you listening?
“Yes…” I trailed off as I continued to walk aimlessly. The voice hung from the trees.
It was Frea.
Long ago, when my fellow trees were no bigger than you, the stars watched over us and the sun helped us grow.
It was scary at first. The night, that is.
When we were little, we couldn’t hold each other.
With at least ten feet between each of our trunks, all we could do was share our cries with the howling of the night’s wind.
We had no sense of time, every night felt like a lifetime of dread and waiting.
Then the sun would come out and all would be well again.
We could see each other clearly in the light, tear stained grooves shaped our growing bodies.
As our trunks grew wider and our leaves became stronger, the grooves became so deep that the evidence of our fear as we grew was not only visible but tangible.
Some were humiliated by it while others wore them as a badge of bravery.
When we were big enough to wrap our branches through each other, the darkness of night was less intimidating with our brothers and sisters to hold on to.
When we were all grown up, the creatures of the Forest were protected from the night by our big arms and leafy blankets.
The sun smiled at us every day and reminded us that we were doing a good job.
Like they’d passed on their jobs of helping us grow and keeping us healthy.
Now we were responsible for helping the Forest thrive.
My eyes pricked with tears as Frea laid her heart out for me. I never thought of baby trees as scared children. How terrifying it had to be to stand alone amongst the elements. I guess I related to that in some small way. Feeling small and alone against the ruthless ways of the world .
Travelers told tales of Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses.
They said that they were good and took care of their people.
There were so many of them who claimed lands and kingdoms that we always wondered when one would want us.
One to protect us and let us sleep at night.
We took our job very seriously in protecting the creatures of the Forest.
Then you came to us. Our murmuring turned to music, we were singing the same songs and speaking the same language.
All of us, the grass and the dirt. The Fae and Dwarves, the butterflies, and the pollen that lifted from flowers.
Every single one of us could sing together.
For the first time in thousands and thousands of years, the Forest was harmonious.
You take precious care of us, you ask permission to take what is already yours and because of your kindness, we wanted to gift you something.
We know the nights are scary, we know better than anyone, but something spoke to us that you knew that too.
That the darkness might’ve been what created the grooves in your soul as it did ours.
Tears flowed in steady streams down my cheeks. Poetic, beautiful words all for me, I hoped no one else could hear them.
So we sang our song loud enough for all the creatures to hear, to tell them the good news.
The next night at dusk, just when the scary part of every day was about to begin, everything lit up.
We’d never seen anything so magnificent.
We all agreed to come together every night after in solidarity, not only had our brothers and sisters been afraid of the dark, so had every other creature of the Forest.
Oh my god, the light show. It was for me?
All that time we’d spent in fear, we needed each other. It wasn’t until the missing piece was positioned at our core that we’d finally found peace. It was always known to Frea that a Morgenstern girl would save us, we are so happy it is you.
The harmony you enjoy so much here is because of you, Princess Amelie.
You are the reason we are no longer afraid.
Just as the Forest was mine .
The wind that had been whipping around me stopped dead and the Forest was calm again.
Doing something Kiaran would have surely called strange, I found the nearest tree and ran my fingers down the deep grooves.
Then I wrapped my arms around its sturdy trunk and I swore it melted into my hug.
The way I would when my father held me. The feeling that for just a moment, I didn’t need to be the pillar of strength.
Undoing my embrace, I backed into a brick wall. However, there were no brick walls in this Forest so when I whipped around to see a tall, broad man standing in front of me, my stomach sank.
He looked a lot like Kiaran but his eyes weren’t as kind, his hair wasn’t as black and his energy was enormously more sinister.
“Hello there.” His voice was a haunt. Something conjured in a nightmare.
The hair on my neck stood at attention. I peeked around him hoping to see my paper trail but I couldn’t see the small white flecks anywhere.
I had no idea how far I’d walked since Frea started talking to me, but the Forest all looked the same.
Help. I tried to speak to Kiaran.