Chapter 16 Rivven
RIVVEN
Idid not consider myself to be a terribly angry sort of man.
But that morning, I rather wanted to blast Xennet and Dorn directly into the sun. I’d had hopes, plans for how our first time skating on the pond would unfold.
Those plans did not include two unruly males, now directly competing with me for Shiloh’s affections.
She was too fair, too kind. She would tolerate them, mollycoddle them, give them too much of a chance.
Hence the desire to boot them beyond the border of the breathable atmosphere.
Of course, I could do nothing of the sort. I was certain that any crimes against my fellow convicts would take me out of the program entirely. And Shiloh would likely not appreciate it.
Besides, I’d liked these men before. Mostly. They were good in their own ways.
I was sure I would remember that. Another day. Sometime in the future. Long after Shiloh had soundly rejected them both.
Both Xennet and Dorn deserved brides.
Just…
Not this one.
We all took our shuldu to the pond, as it would be a long distance to travel on foot, especially for Shiloh on a day as cold as this one. Both Xennet and Dorn offered Shiloh a seat before them on their mounts, but I was already lifting her onto mine.
“Oh. Thank you, guys. Maybe another time?” she said as I settled in behind her. “I’m kind of used to Foxitt!”
I got a little closer to her than was strictly necessary. “And she’s used to me.”
“Well, of course she is,” Xennet said. “She’s been living in your saloon this entire time! Shiloh, I promise you that I am very easy to get used to, also.”
Dorn laughed at that. Xennet shot him a look.
When we reached the pond, Shiloh gasped and leaned forward on Foxitt.
“It’s all done! Did you do more without me?”
“Got a little done this morning before dawn,” I told her.
I’d needed an outlet for the nervous energy running through my limbs.
The energy that told me I should be doing nothing else but kissing Shiloh all day long.
But she’d been asleep, and the other men were coming, and I’d needed something to throw myself into.
As a result, the surface of the pond was entirely cleared and brushed. Sparkling and smooth where the sun touched it, ringed by trees.
“I’ll have to do another painting!” Shiloh said. “It looks different now!” Before dismounting, she captured an image of the scene with the data tab. “Maybe I’ll do a whole series,” she said, somewhat breathlessly, sounding excited when I lifted her down to the ground. “The pond in each season!”
“Sounds perfect,” I hissed with something close to vehemence, my guts tightening, chest hitching.
Perfect. Because it would mean she was still here. In all the seasons.
I was not sure if Shiloh even realized what she’d just admitted. That at least some subconscious part of her was making permanent plans to live here. With me.
Even if those plans revolved around her art instead of around our marriage, it was something.
Though what she’d told me last night had given me pause. The words telling me she hadn’t really come here looking for a husband. That marriage had never been what she’d wanted, had never been her goal. I’d wrestled with them, chewed on them. Went over them in my mind.
When I wasn’t going over the world-shattering pleasure of putting my tongue in her mouth.
Whether Shiloh realized what she’d just said or not, Xennet and Dorn did. They shared a wordless look between them.
“I do not know anything about painting. But my property also has many things that look different, depending on the day, weather, and season!” Xennet told her. “Just so you know!”
“Same with mine,” Dorn grunted.
“Yes. Well. Neither of you have got a pond,” I challenged.
“I have got a creek! A very nice creek!” Xennet cried.
“It sounds lovely,” Shiloh said soothingly. “Maybe you can tell me a little more about it today.”
I scowled, digging my fangs into the side of my cheek. I wanted to argue, to retort that Xennet didn’t need to tell her anything about any stupid, blasted creek. Because if she ever saw his property, it would only be on a visit. Accompanied by me. Her husband.
But I knew this would make me look like a jealous, foul-tempered fool.
I doubted Shiloh enjoyed being around jealous, foul-tempered fools.
Dorn, Xennet, and I tied our shuldu to the nearby trees. I had brought the skates for Shiloh and me, and I unpacked them now.
“It’s just something simple,” I told her, kneeling at her feet with her pair.
The construction had not been overly complex.
I hoped they worked alright. I’d used the measurements of her boots for create a sort of stiff half-boot to fit over top.
Then, I’d drilled holes in the sides for leather laces, which would tie securely over the tops of her current boots.
“Just something simple?” she exclaimed as I knelt before her in the snow at the pond’s edge. “This is amazing! When did you even have time to do this?”
I’d made time to do it by losing out on sleep. But I did not think she would like to hear that. So I mumbled something that didn’t really mean anything at all. Then, I grasped her right ankle and lifted her foot.
“Whoa!” She wobbled slightly, before leaning forward and using my shoulders as support. And it felt so cursedly good. That when she lost her balance, I could be the one she leaned on.
“Sorry,” she said on a huffy, laughing breath. “I could sit down…”
“It’s too cold and snowy,” I told her. She had on a jacket, but her trousers would offer her no protection from melting snow. And if there was anything I would not stand for, it was Shiloh’s backside getting cold and wet on my watch.
“You just hold on tight to me,” I reiterated, repeating my words from before. I heard her breath give on a slight sigh.
“OK, Rivven,” she whispered.
I eased the first skate onto her right foot, over top of her boot.
Between my left hand, right arm, and tail, it took some finessing, and a few moments of shoving.
But then, the skate slipped into place. It seemed to fit pretty well.
I tied the laces rapidly and securely with my fingers and tail, then carefully lowered her foot.
“Oh! Wow! Thank you, Rivven! I look like I should be on a Christmas card!” She beamed down at her foot, and for a moment, my mind was entirely blanked by the beauty of her. Her smile truly was the prettiest I had ever seen.
And I had put it there.
My throat felt oddly tight. Heat thrummed, spiking and vibrating, beneath my skin.
“Do I just put my weight on it like this?” she asked. Her fingers clenched harder at my shoulders as I gripped her other ankle.
“Yes. Just stand on it. Let your weight go straight down into the blade. Don’t let your ankle lean over to either side if you can help it.”
She gave me one of her human nods and let her weight sink down onto the skate.
I watched closely, to make sure nothing happened with the construction of the thing, now that it was on.
But it held just up fine. The other skate was a little quicker to get on, now that we’d already fastened one.
Once she had both on, I swapped from my knees to briefly sitting down to get my own skates on.
Shiloh kept her right hand on my left shoulder.
I could feel her swaying slightly, getting used to the narrow blades of the skates, testing her own balance as she shifted from foot to foot.
“We may not have brought skates,” Xennet said as I finished tying my laces, “but do not think we have come entirely unprepared, Shiloh! We have brought our tuxerados!”
“Your…Pardon me?”
“Not tuxerados,” Dorn admonished. “Tuxedingdongs.”
“Sorry,” Shiloh said, a pucker of concentration forming between her brows. “I’m not sure I…”
“The human formalwear,” I told her, standing and testing the feeling of my own skates. They were not as good as the proper ones I’d once borrowed from the school I’d lived at as a young child. But they would do. “The outfit made up of the dark suit and the white shirt beneath. Tuxedurango.”
“Oh!” Her expression cleared. “Are you talking about tuxedos?”
“Yes. Is that not what I said?”
She lifted her slender shoulders and let them drop, smiling. “Close enough.”
“We did not want to get our tuxedealios wet or dirty on the ride over here,” Xennet explained. “They already got damaged that day in the rain. When we rescued the other warden from that broken beam he was unfortunate enough to be standing under when it fell.”
“Mine got pretty torn up,” Dorn admitted. “But I’ve repaired it well enough.”
“I’d love to see them,” Shiloh said. “Maybe later. You can wear them for dinner, if you like.”
If they were wearing theirs, I would wear mine, too.
But right now, I was wearing skates. And I intended to use them.
“Shall we go?”
Shiloh was still gripping me. When I’d stood up, she’d let her hand slide down from my left shoulder to the crook of my elbow.
“You go ahead,” Shiloh said. “I want to watch you for a minute.”
I did not want to leave her there. Did not want to go without her.
“I’d like to watch someone who actually knows what they’re doing before I give it a shot,” she said. She gave my arm a small pat, then let it go.
If that was what she would like, then I would give it to her.
I stepped onto the ice. And for a vastly disorienting moment, it was as if I’d stepped into my own past. So strange how cycles and cycles later, an entire world away, and the cold, clear cut of a skate on ice could feel just the same. My muscles responded at once, fuelled by memory.