Chapter 62
I wasn’t sure why I was running, but the fear of someone chasing after me released an adrenaline rush that had me sprinting. I lifted my red dress by its sides and climbed the steps of the Sand Castle two at a time.
I had almost made it to the second floor when I fell face-first. My knee snapped against the penultimate step. I lay there, injured, confused, scared, alone.
But then I saw it. The silhouette of a brawny man—male. He moved towards me, each step deliberate, calculated. Then he knelt at my side, and when I met his stare, I swore his eyes were the most striking to ever exist.
“What’s your name?” he asked, his voice calm and soothing like a gentle caress on a restless night. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
“I—I am Princess Yasmina.”
“You look hurt, Princess,” he said, twirling the ends of my hair around his index finger.
“I am. My knee,” I whispered.
“I can make the pain go away, you know.”
“You can? How?”
“Well, we can make a bargain, of course.”
“What kind of bargain?” I asked curiously.
He leaned in and whispered, “I will heal your knee, Princess, but only if you promise to let me claim you.”
Soft words left my trembling lips. “If—if I agree, would you leave me then, after you claim me?”
He came so close, his lips pressed against my ear. Then he murmured, “Never.”
It felt so real—its familiarity—the whisper of that one little word had both my heart and belly fluttering.
“All right,” I breathed.
He lifted me and carried me in his arms. I buried my face in his broad chest and quickly forgot about the dreadful feelings from earlier. Now, I felt at ease, comforted, safe.
He sat me down on his desk and leaned over me. He brought his face so close to mine, my lips trembled at the scent of his breath—crisp and inviting. Then he drew closer, slowly, until our lips touched.
He kissed me so attentively. I lost myself in him for as long as I could, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself undressed, my knee healed.
He moved his hand along my thighs, his thick fingers soon reaching between my legs.
They spread for him without my command. My breath turned serrated and my back arched.
I exposed the left side of my neck. And when he bit me, his canines making their way into my flesh, I held him tight against me.
I found myself breathing his name, though I was almost certain that he never got to tell me what his name was.
And when I was left breathless and panting, he looked at me, smiling, then extended his palm towards me. I placed my hand on top of his. My ring finger, I noticed, was adorned with a thin band of intertwining delicate golden branches. Its vibrant emerald gem, the shape of a kite, glistened.
When I lifted my eyes, finally meeting his gaze, I, too, smiled broadly at him.
At first, he kept his beautiful smile, but then…then he stared. He just stared and stared as if he was gazing into a hollowed face. And then his brows knitted, the expression of shame and disappointment replacing that of beauty and promise.
His hand clamped around mine and he pressed. He pinned me to the desk, his green eyes glowering at me, an ice dagger pressed against my neck as he growled, “You are not who you say you are.”
My breath caught and my heart beat just as fast as it had been when I ran for my life earlier.
“I—I’m—”
I jerked awake with a sharp gasp that was followed by heavy panting. Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of my face, down the length of my spine, and I could tell that I was…wet.
“Yeesh, Delia. Was I that good?”
I snapped my head towards Marshen’s bed and winced in embarrassment and discomfort. Unfortunately, he was awake, grinning, his back resting against the headboard.
Just lovely!
“Shut up.”
“You’re going to have to get a little bit more creative with your replies. You’re boring me with all of your lovely shut-ups,” Marshen replied flatly.
I leapt out of bed. I needed to very badly wash myself. And to compose myself. I needed to clear my mind. As I was making my way to the bathing chamber, Marshen said, “Oh, and by the way…you’re bleeding.”
Fuck! So I wasn’t just wet, then. I looked down, then sprinted towards the bathing chamber.
It was very likely that Marshen had watched me come in my sleep, yet what I was about to do felt not only more humiliating but also more daunting. Emika was sitting at a small table on the front porch. She was admiring the little blue birds that fed on the crumbs she scattered.
Her brightness glowed as the sun rose in front of her, its rays reflecting off her pale skin. The sight of her was enchanting.
I approached her, two cups of blueberry tea in hand. She turned her head my way and smiled broadly at me. Her blue eyes shone.
This is going to suck.
I had gone through what I would tell her an uncountable number of times, yet I couldn’t remember how I was supposed to start the conversation.
I sat down next to her with pursed lips and finally found the courage to look into her smiling eyes. My own welled up and I tightened the press on my lips. I extended my hand towards her, a gesture to take the velvety green box.
She gasped. “My girl! Has he already given you the ring? Why didn’t you tell me yesterday, and why are you not wearing it?”
Tears started making their way down my cheeks, little sobs escaping my lungs as I watched her confused face.
“I’m so sorry, Emika, I didn’t know it was yours.
Aegir and I, we—we are no longer an item.
I am not even sure if we ever were. He—he has found someone else, and—and I took the ring.
I took it. My intentions were not sincere, I’m sorry.
Here, take it back. Take it and give it to him so that he could give it to her. ”
It broke my heart, the way her expression hardened. I made this kind, elderly woman who was waiting to join her husband and son in the afterlife feel dismal.
“My girl, I do not know what happened between you two but you are going to give it back to him yourself. I don’t believe that he would want to take it from you. I know my Aegir.”
I stared at her, blinking my tears away, then shook my head.
She took my hand in both of hers, forcing me to clench the green box. Then she pushed my hand towards my belly and said, “Don’t you realise, girl? He claimed you. Promise me that you’ll talk to him.”
I hated the implications in her words, the sense of false hope that they carried.
She seemed so certain, so much so that she did not yank the ring from my hand.
She did not curse me and send me away like I thought she would.
No, instead she asked me to hold on to it, to keep this thing of such emotional value. What else was I supposed to tell her?
“I promise you, Emika. Again, I’m terribly sorry.” I meant my promise. One day, I would return it to him. Her next words surprised me.
“I forgive you. Honesty is the strongest virtue and you, my girl, you have a good heart.”
I couldn’t understand how she could say that, but the words sounded so familiar, I absorbed them the same way cracking soil absorbs water.
“A Sand Priestess told me similar words once.”
“You see, I must be right, then. Right?” she said, nudging me with her elbow. She even managed to make me smile.
I just hugged her. I may have squished her a bit too tight but she hugged me back.
Marshen carried our bags outside, then strapped them onto our bridled and saddled mares.
“You’re leaving so soon?” Emika asked. “You are bleeding and a storm is approaching from the south. It will chase you all the way north and it will not be easy to outrun. Stay for another week at least, until the storm passes and you no longer shed.”
I looked up, towards the bright blue sky and an unobstructed bright yellow sun. It didn’t look like it was going to rain to me.
“Thank you for your kindness and hospitality, but we have to deliver an important message to King Ryvar. I’m afraid it cannot wait. We have life-altering news and people that need us.” She nodded in both confusion and understanding.
“Well, I certainly cannot get in the way of that, can I?” she said, giving me a small smile. “You know you can visit here whenever you’d like. I hope that the next time you do, you will be accompanied by a different male.”
“Thanks, Emika,” Marshen said as he approached us, hearing her last few words.
“I’ll take it that you are thanking me for my hospitality, and for that you are welcome.”
Indeed, we should thank her. As if she wasn’t already kind enough, she asked Braun and Vinnie to escort us all the way to the Florentine Port.
She handed me a small burlap bag filled with leaves of red raspberry tea for the pain. She also gave me a blue furry coat. “For when you arrive at Silch,” she said. I gave her another tight hug, hoping that I would get the chance to see her again one day.