Chapter 41 #2
Guilt twisted in Trewoofe at his venomous thoughts towards the man. He had assumed he was abandoning his daughter because of the way she looked. He extended his tongue and brushed it over the infant’s skull, face, and chest. Immediately, her pants and wheezing eased.
What is happening? Bramble yawned, head popping up from by the hearth.
“Another one,” Avice said, scooting off the pallet.
Another what? He rose, stretched, and ambled over to them. He blinked down at the child. Poor pup. This is cruelty. It is like a Faerie tried to change her but not all the way.
“I think so too,” he agreed.
“Which mother? Did the man say?” Avice asked, she had already begun getting changed.
She had not warned Trewoofe what she was doing – as though she was too focused on getting to her patient – and she had not even asked him for privacy. He blushed and turned away when she dropped her shift.
She had not been wearing a breast band under the gauzy material, and he was sure he caught a glimpse of the pink pebbles that had peaked tantalisingly through her dresses in the past. He cleared his throat and cooed down at the settled baby in his arms, swaying his body to sooth her further.
It felt right.
Trewoofe had sung and rocked his daughters to sleep when they were newly hatched. Those were the memories he often grasped for in the middle of the night when the loneliness and grief was at its worst.
“Alright, pass me the baby and take your tunic off,” Avice ordered from behind him.
He spun on his heel to face her. She was back to her practical self.
Layered dress and chemise, stockings, and boots on her feet.
She left her hair up in its crown braid, and the sheen of shimmering magic still clung to her raven waves.
Her chin stuck out, and she had that fierce determination on her face that he adored.
Trewoofe arched an eyebrow at her. “Why?”
She extended her arms. “You need to remove your tunic so I can take out your remaining stitches. I have not put so much effort into your care to neglect you at the last moment.”
He burnt with embarrassment. “Oh, of course.”
He handed her the baby, who had settled into sleep from his cooing and swaying. Avice took her seamlessly with a tender look upon her face.
“Hello, Mary,” she whispered. “The Well King is going to find some Good Neighbours to look after you.” She pressed a kiss to her skull. “Somewhere where you will be able to breathe easily, and it will not hurt anymore.”
The scene made Trewoofe weak at the knees. Just when he thought Avice could not get lovelier, here she was, compassionate and nurturing to a baby that would have repulsed other humans. Though the infant slept, she curled her hand around Avice’s finger and pulled it close to her.
She narrowed her gaze up at him. “Lord?”
Trewoofe looked dreamily back at her. “Yes?”
“You are supposed to be taking your tunic off.”
He blushed. “Oh, yes!”
He yanked it over his head. The neck of the garment snagged on the tips of his horns. With a final tug he pulled it off and dropped it on the pallet. Avice nodded and shuffled the baby back into his arms. She swept over to her medical satchel on the table and pulled out her copper knife.
Will you be going to the mother? Bramble asked. If so, I am coming with you.
“Yes, of course. The Lord can take the child to the Underneath, and I will attend…” She turned to Trewoofe. “I assume it was Emma?”
Trewoofe pouted. He had a flicker of hope that she may come to the Underneath with him to deliver the child. That they could visit Hope and Boarden together, and he could show her his cavern and nest. The thought of Avice in his nest made his clawed toes dig into the rammed earth floor.
The Tall Ones. He shook his head. I must deal with them first, make my Kingdom safe for her. And what of the poison? What if they do it again?
Despite his anxieties, he could not tear his thoughts away from last night: the glint of the Moon on her raven hair, the hot place between her legs pressed up against him, her tongue dancing in his mouth, and her little whimpers.
“Lord?” Avice prodded. “Your mind is somewhere else this morning. I would ask you to focus, the life of the child and mother is at stake, and I must get moving.”
Trewoofe blushed from the gentle admonishment. His mind was somewhere else, and it involved bringing Avice into his nest, and rutting her into the soft, mossy bottom.
“I apologise. My thoughts wandered to last night.” He coughed. “But yes, the human male mentioned his wife, Emma.”
Avice blushed and crouched by his lower belly. “Then I will go to her once we are done here.”
Trewoofe bit his forked tongue, she was a hairbreadth away from his groin.
“Ashling?” she called. “It is a little gloomy, and I could use your light.”
The Wisp gave a sleepy chime and wafted over to her. “I am tired from last night.”
“I know, my darling,” she comforted. “Just a moment and then you can rest.”
Ashling bobbed in the air and brightened his illumination.
“I never asked,” Avice began as she unwound the remaining bandages from his lower belly. “How do you know you can turn back into a Knucker?”
Trewoofe chuckled. “Is this really the time to seek information?”
He peered down at her as she ducked before him. Words to excite her caught on his tongue at the sight. He swallowed them back, sensing it was not the time for that.
Avice shrugged as she pulled away the final wrap. “You will have to stop your swaying when I take out the stitches, and the sound of our voices may help the baby stay asleep. She went to sleep listening to us talk, so a change may wake her.”
“My little witch is clever,” Trewoofe praised. He had not even realised he was still rocking; it came so naturally to him to soothe a youngling. “I know I can, because Lindana could. She had both a Knucker and—”
Avice brandished her tiny copper knife, and he stilled. “I am about to take out the first stitch.”
“—human shape.” A snick and tugging sensation at his skin had him scrunching his nose. “She loved a woman; many turns of seasons before she met me. The woman – Guinivere – had given her some of her blood so she could change into a woman too, so they could be together in the physical way.”
“What happened to the woman?” Avice asked. “Second one now.”
“She…” He paused as the peculiar feeling made him want to squirm, but like the good patient he was, he kept still as a stone. “She got sent away, to marry a human male. It broke Lindana’s heart.”
Avice leant back and smiled up at him. “But then she met you.”
Trewoofe nodded with a gentle smile. “But then she met me.”
He had never seen Lindana in her human shape. Once they were together, Lindana saw no reason to shift from her Knucker body.
She hovered her knife above the final stitch, pausing for a moment. “Did it not concern you?”
“Did what not concern me?” he asked, drawing his brows together.
“That Lindana was in love with a woman.”
His frown deepened. “Why would it concern me?”
Avice beamed at him. “No reason. It is just, it troubles many humans.”
“I…” Irritation needled at him. “…do not understand. If you love someone, you love someone. It is that simple.”
Like I love you. He bit back the words. Calm your fire, Trewoofe.
“I agree,” she replied.
She cut the last stitch and tugged it through his twitching skin.
How is it? Bramble asked.
“The wound has healed well.” Avice rose stiffly, her knees clicking.
“Can I stop now?” Ashling asked.
“Yes, get some rest,” she encouraged.
The Wisp dipped in the air and floated over to the hearth.
“Alright, time for you to take off your hose and go outside.” Avice offered her arms to him.
Trewoofe jolted. “I am sorry, what?”
Avice huffed. “Lord, I really need you to keep up with me here. You are taking Mary to the Underneath. I am going to attend to the mother. You should change to take her to your well; you will be much faster as a Knucker than a man.” She pointed to the door.
“Also, you are huge, you would flatten my home if you changed inside.”
“Avice your thoughts are striking faster than lightning, and I cannot keep up with the speed of your mind. Will you not come with me to Knucker Hill? Or allow me to take you to the mother?” he asked, desperate for a scrap of more time with her.
She did not hesitate. “No, this is what is best for them, and how we can help both the most quickly. You will go to the well, and I will go to Emma.”
Doubt gnawed at him, and while she was not being cruel to him, this stoic practicality made him feel rejected.
She had slipped her mask back on. The Avice before him was the version more digestible to the villagers of Lamorna.
Gone was his Avice, the one who would toss a spoon, snuggle into him, braid blooms into his hair, dance with him in the flowers, and kiss him under the Moonbeams.
“Am I still courting you?” he blurted, unable to keep up with the switch.
Avice bristled, and he immediately knew he had erred with his question. “Lord, do you think me so fickle?”
“Of course not.” He shifted the sleeping child from his arms to hers. “I am feeling… overwhelmed. I had hoped today that we may have that discussion about our courtship that you mentioned last night.”
She pressed Mary to her chest. “So did I, but the day is conspiring against us.” Avice looked up at him then, face pinched and expression raw. “I very, very much want you to court me.” She bit her lip. “More than anything.”
All his doubts evaporated, and he swooped to press a kiss to her forehead. “So do I.”
He beamed down at her as she rewarded him with a light sigh.
Trewoofe began to fumble with the laces of his hose, ready to do as she had planned.
Avice’s gaze dropped to his hips. She flushed and turned away, jiggling the baby in her arms. Once he was bare, Trewoofe ghosted his claws over the nape of her neck, tickling the whorls of ink, making her roll her shoulders and giggle.
“I will meet you outside,” he said, before opening the door and stepping out into the garden.