Chapter 20 Belle-Belle
Belle-Belle
Matteo’s gregarious presence bolstered my mood, uplifted as it already was after the previous evening’s amusements with Lucas and Benoit.
We had, indeed, summoned water for another bath, and while it seemed a pointless luxury in some respects, I had found it both arousing and comforting to be bathed by two beautiful men at once.
I had been too tired and sore for further pleasures, but nonetheless they had stayed with me for the night, and I discovered that something coiled up and painful inside me had begun to unwind, just a little.
My new comrades could not in any way replace the pieces of my heart that had withered to dust when my mother had died, and my cousin Claude had disappeared, and the other half of our family had moved away entirely…but I believed they could help me grow fondness and companionship anew.
Perhaps even love.
As Matteo walked beside me, with Benoit and Lucas leading our party, I turned to the back and saw Guillaume and Aubert deep in conversation. Aubert smiled serenely and waved; Guillaume did nothing to acknowledge me, though I had no doubt he perceived my twisting movement on Comrade’s saddle.
Being ignored sent a thorn wriggling into my heart.
I knew I should not let it irk me so, but I had spent much of my childhood being ignored by my sisters: Marguerite had been imperious from a young age, and Colette had followed her in that regard.
When they chose to play without me, there was little I could do to force my way into their affections.
Still, I spared a smile for Aubert. Since we had come upon him in the forest, he had taken to civilized life quite adeptly, and now only sported one or two twigs or sprigs of moss in his tousled blond hair.
He was quite good-looking when he smiled, and I allowed myself to briefly speculate further about his charms. Perhaps in time.
I allowed myself to be drawn back into conversation with Matteo.
As of now, it was almost an even split as to which of my men had been surprised by Comrade’s speech: Benoit and Lucas had both been shocked, and Guillaume and Aubert had taken it in stride, seemingly because their gifts had predisposed them to seeing or hearing through faerie enchantments.
Comrade had not yet spoken in front of Matteo, and I found myself curious as to which way it might go.
Instead, both Comrade and I remained silent as Matteo regaled us with stories of his upbringing on the southern continent.
It seemed they had their own contingent of fae folk, but faeries from our region had taken a keen interest in their matriarchal cultures.
Our faeries had also armed them with the best longbows and crossbows, instructing them to beware of traders from our region.
“And it was one of your faeries, a short woman with eyes like thornbushes, who took me from my people and brought me here,” he concluded mournfully.
I frowned. The faerie who had aided me was tall and had eyes like lightning, even if it was common knowledge that faeries could change almost anything about their appearances on a whim. Still, it seemed unlike her to have abducted someone.
“Surely it was difficult leaving home?” I was thinking, selfishly, of my own travails.
I was relieved to be given a respite from my sisters’ torments, but I missed my father.
And while Guillaume’s cold eyes tortured me every time I remembered the memory of his lips, I had found great pleasure and solace in Benoit and Lucas.
“Yes, you northerners live in such strange structures, having adapted to this miserably cold weather as best you could.”
I looked around the valley we had been passing through all day—it was spring and quite temperate, in my opinion. Winter had already departed with its frosty caresses, and only at the apex of the night was it truly cold.
Matteo launched into a description of cultural differences, ending with an impassioned invective against those of our staple foods that were lacking in appropriate levels of spice, in his opinion.
Soon I was laughing aloud, though as I noticed him growing more fervent, he began to blow the leaves in little whirlwinds in front of us, and I cautioned him to cool his fervor.
Another question occurred to me. I knew not whether it was impolite to ask, but I also knew that I had little to lose by not trusting my men, even if Matteo did not yet know all there was to know about me.
“Do you know why she took you?” I asked.
He stopped smiling, closing his lips as his face turned into a dark storm cloud of an expression.
“She said something about a wager. That my people were easy to subjugate, and that perhaps it was best to let history take its course.”
I gaped at Matteo. I could not imagine such a thing being said about me, though of course, in the centuries before the faeries had started overlapping their world with ours, I suppose such things had been said about women more often than not.
Then he let loose an ear-splitting grin, the whites of his teeth shining against his ebon skin.
“But she did not find me easy to subjugate, oh no! She gifted me with the power to summon wind with my breath and commanded me to use it this way and that, and she taught me your language so that I might accompany her on her travels, and I managed to wreak such havoc on her plans! One time, she wished me to stand on a rotating pillar and gently blow in all directions, where she had set up other members of her retinue holding wind chimes. She had tried to instruct us in music theory as well, so that I was to create a symphony for her guests, the other faeries of the region. But I was so curious about the other guests, some of whom bore wings and wore strange accoutrements, that I could not focus, and I ended up blowing down her tent full of refreshments, and half the guests tumbled off their feet as well!”
As he spoke, I noticed Comrade’s ears flattening against his skull.
“The faerie was so displeased, that’s when she chained me up for a month, after giving me a terrible whipping with thorny vines she summoned out of nowhere. I was so slow to heal from that beating, I scarce minded the first week of being tied to the rocks.”
I could not help but stare at Matteo. “Why did the faerie mistreat you so? My only encounter with one of their kind was one in which she rewarded me for helping her.”
His face—which I gathered was normally quick to smile—sobered.
“Not all fair folk are of the same temperament, nor do they have the same attitudes towards us humans. You were lucky not to encounter her kind.” In an instant, though, he was grinning again.
“Oh, but before I ran away, I managed to play one last trick on her, and I doubt she shall forget me for it. You see, I—”
“Enough talk!” Comrade snapped, startling me, and likely Matteo as well.
“Oh-ho, you are also faerie-touched!” Matteo exclaimed. “As I am named Impetuous for my breath, you are named Comrade for, hm…I wonder what kinds of enchantments might you hold?”
“Nothing I am at liberty to say,” Comrade said stiffly. “And I suggest that we revisit our agreements around such talk before we reintegrate with humankind at the capital.”
I patted his mane, even though I knew he was not a normal horse, for I had no idea what had suddenly distressed my faithful companion.
“Fleet Foot,” I called ahead to Lucas. “Can you scout ahead a little to let us know where we might stop to refresh ourselves?”
He turned around and smiled at me, a warm and generous smile that made me melt a little in my saddle. “As you wish, Milord!”
I called Aubert to me, thinking to ask him to forage for food along the way to our next step. But he was already in step with Comrade, and his serene green eyes were comforting.
“I shall look for berries and greens while listening to the path Lucas takes.”
I looked around, seeing Benoit and Guillaume muttering something to one another. Benoit grinned at me, another delightful reminder of the time we had spent together the previous evening. Guillaume merely scowled, though, inciting in me some combination of pique and lust for another few moments.
What was it with that man? Could he never cast a smile my direction? I found myself scowling slightly as well, uncertain whether I was more irritated with him or with myself.
Soon, though, it would not matter.