by Tina Lee
“Then I wish you well, Leo,” she said with such indifference.
“Why did you come here, Elizabeth?”
“I want you to teach me all that you know. I want to know all the kingdoms and their history. I want to be wise.”
“And what will you do with such wisdom?”
“As I please.”
A woman interested in the knowledge of the kingdoms struck me as strange. Why learn something you will never have to use. “I will teach you all I know.”
She smiled. “Thank you. We start tomorrow, at dusk. Goodbye, Your Grace.”
“Wait. As King, I must invite you to join us as we welcome my future bride and King Agnor. You carry the Badge of Hector so you are expected to attend, but if you were to suddenly catch a cold, then you could be excused.”
She sniffed, “no, no cold here. I’m actually honored to be invited. I can’t wait to see our future Queen.”
“Are you sure?”
“Oh yes. She must be beautiful, I imagine.”
She was certainly not pleased, and I couldn’t blame her. “So I will see you then, Elizabeth.” Having these two women in the same room did not seem like a good idea.
The drums started and people, young and old, came out to see King Agnor, who many lauded as a good man, being carried through the streets. A hundred of his warriors behind him. The people rejoiced that we were once again close allies.
Madam Irvine made their arrival too big of a spectacle. It seemed I needed to remind her that our coins did not fall from the sky. She deemed it necessary but I did not.
We gathered at the entrance to my castle to escort my future bride and her father inside. Diana, Elizabeth and my uncle were those among us. My uncle was especially happy to see King Agnor in the North.
“Oh my, look at that Chariot!” Madam Irvine was amazed by what they were able to afford. She remembered a poor King Agnor, and was surprised to see what she saw before her. She had just as many questions as I did.
There were here, and I put on my best smile, “Welcome, King Agnor, Princess Victoria, Prince Kronus.” Victoria greeted me with a kiss, and all I could think of was how Elizabeth was taking this.
“You two will look so lovely as King and Queen.” Diana was full of excitement.
“This is my cousin, Diana.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Diana. The Lukas blood run strong in your veins. Your beauty is breathtaking.”
Diana blushed, “Thank you. I need not tell you about your beauty. Which is as radiant as the sun.”
“And who is this?” Victoria approached Elizabeth and it made me uneasy.
“This is Elizabeth, she—”
“The Badge of Hector!” Victoria was surprised. She looked closely at the badge pinned on Elizabeth. “I’ve never heard of a woman receiving this badge.”
“I am the first,” Elizabeth said, coldly.
“So you’re tough. I’m tough, too.”
“Perhaps one day we will see who is tougher.”
Victoria smiled, “I like you already.”
I quickly turned Victoria’s attention to Madam Irvine before it went on any further.
The dinner went well and more importantly no fights broke out. King Agnor babbled about my father to my uncle. Victoria and Diana spoke about the wedding. Kronus, who I didn’t particularly like, whispered in Elizabeth ear all night. I didn’t believe myself a quick tempered man, but I wanted to kill him, and I could if I wanted to. I could kill him in a blink of an eye.
“Where’s Dante?” King Agnor asked.
Dante absence was noticed. I had not seen him since he was with Elizabeth. Maybe she knew where he was. “Dante, I’m afraid is feeling ill.”
King Agnor chuckled. “I didn’t know such a man could fall ill.”
“It happens to the best of us.”
“Ah, yes. I will pray to the Gods for his health.”
Victoria’s hand brushed my hand. “Diana told me of the beautiful view of the city from your balcony. Would you care to show me?”
“Yes, he would love to,” Madam Irvine answered for me.
She gasped at the view and held my hand. “It is crazy to believe that this will be my view until the end of my days.”
She kissed me again, and this time, she realized that I did not return her kiss. “You don’t feel anything for me, do you?”
“I don’t know you, Victoria.”
“But you will get to know me.”
“Perhaps then I will feel for you.”
“I don’t want to be a Queen that is only here to fill a role. I want to love and be loved.”
“This all happened so sudden. A marriage is not supposed to be like this.”
“Sometimes extraordinary things happen out of the unexpected. It is so because we cannot see what the Gods see. They know our fate and they choose us.”
“If it is what the gods want then nothing will ever change that. Regardless of what I want or you want. So cast all your worries away.”
She smiled, “then I will kiss you and kiss you, hoping that one day you will return my kiss.”
Then she kissed me.
Chapter Fourteen
Elizabeth
He taunted me with whispers. He moved here, then there, then here again. He was obviously too swift for my human eyes. He hid behind the trees, watching me.
My arrows waited patiently between my fingers. I would release when I had to, and no sooner. After weeks of training with Dante, I knew his tactics. If he wanted to disappear then so would I. I dashed off into the forest, stripping myself of all clothes and washed myself with mud. My body laid flat, blending in with the pool of mud. There was no difference between me and the earth. I became the earth.
My eyes were useless. I could only rely on sound. Before I concealed myself with the earth, I laid dried leaves ahead of me. It was a tactic that the East would use. The dried leaves made a distinct crackle when being stepped on, and you could know your enemy’s location if you listened hard enough. Leo taught me that.
There is was; the crackle. So soft that you could barely say it was a sound at all. I had him; I knew this before the arrow left between my fingers. I win, Dante.
Dante’s roar sent all the birds flying leave their homes. He pulled the arrow out his leg and smiled at the air, for he did not know where I was. The look on his face as I rose from the earth amused me. He was surprised at the length I went through to defeat him.
“I’m starting to think you just like being naked,” he said.
“Maybe you’re right.” I sat beside him with my bare ass on the dirt.
“You’re one of a kind, you know that?”
“No. I’m just as ordinary as anyone.”
“Not in my eyes.”
“Those amber eyes must be special.”
“No. It is you who is special,” he said.
Loving a man like Dante took patience, and faith. You had to wait, and even after you have waited, you could never be sure if he would truly love you. I should have hated him and his brother. Instead, I found myself pitying them. Men who grew without a mother. Never knowing what it felt like for a woman to truly love you. The tenderness of a woman’s love. Poor souls.
“Why do you and Leo have bad blood?” I asked.
“The witch saw it her vision. She saw everything. I am the darkness and Leo is the light.”
“That witch is a fool. All people possess light and darkness within them.”
“Perhaps I possess more darkness than some.”
“I don’t believe you do,” I held his hand, and I think he was surprised to see me do that. “I see the light in you.” There was confusion in his eyes, like what I said was unfathomable.
He pulled my body closer, and I allowed him. I missed his firmness. The way how he would take control while I let loose. He didn’t mind the mud I was covered in. His hands moved along my body and stopped at my breasts, squeezing them.
I was wet for him, and he knew. There was never a mom
ent where Dante didn’t turn me on, even in slumber his naked body heated my dreams.
He whispered hot groans into my ear as he nibbled on my lobe, all while his hands went lower, the moment I had been waiting for. His fingers rubbed my clit gently and that was enough to have me twisting. Sharp jolts running through my body.
“We can’t,” I came to my senses.
“No one is around to watch us.” he rubbed faster.
I willed myself to break free of his pleasurable touches and stood on my shaking legs. I grabbed my clothes. “See you tomorrow at dawn.”
He licked the fingers he used on me and gave me a look that had me weak. I left quickly before I changed my mind.
After bath I was surprised to see flowers at my door, and a lot too! Ben and Sia came just in time. Great. Now they could tease all day.
“Who is it from?” Sia took one of the flower and placed it in her hair. It complemented her eyes.
“These flowers are not easy to find. They only grow at certain time of the year,” Ben said.
They had white petals with pink around the center. Certainly a kind I had never seen before. They were beautiful. To think, I was on someone’s mind that they took the time to get me flowers. I think it might have been the sweetest thing someone has ever done for me.
It must be from Leo, Dante would never get me flowers. “There is no note or anything,” Sia said.
“Any ideas?” Ben asked.
“Could it be Leo?” Sia asked.
“Leo? Isn’t he getting married soon?” Ben asked.
Sia scoffed. “Victoria or whatever her name is. She should go back where she came from and leave Leo alone. Leo should be with a Northern woman…like Elizabeth.”
I scoffed. “I don’t fancy being Queen.”
“Every woman dreams to be a Queen.”
“Not me,” I smiled.
“If it is Leo, then I bet he wants to keep it a secret,” Ben said.
It did seem odd that Leo would send me flowers. If news of this were reach the wrongs ear, then the next few weeks would become really complicated.
“I’m going to take some to my room,” Sia said.
“You can take them all,” I said. They were a warm gesture, but flowers die. I would have rather something that could stay with me throughout the seasons.
“By the way, Jaknor wants to see you. He has been feeling a little ill,” Ben said.
“Tell him I’m on my way.”
Sia went off with my flowers, smiling like a kid eating a sweet.
“You have been training hard I see. This means you’re not a healer anymore?” Ben asked.
“I can be a healer and other things.”
Ben smiled, “I think shorter hair would suite you, since you’re warrior now.”
“I’m not,” I blushed.
“You think Leo would let you in his wolf pack?”
“I’m not a wolf.”
Ben chuckled. “I have a feeling you’re going to change things. See you later, Elizabeth.”
Soon after there was a knock on my door. Dante? “Coming.”
“Hello Elizabeth,” he said with a smile. Only, it was not Dante.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Did you like my flowers?” Kronus said.
“They were yours? Why?”
“Because I see something in you, Elizabeth.”
“We only spoke once at that dinner.”
“And once was enough. You’re not like the other Northerners,” he said, and walked in, admiring random things around my room.
“Look. Whatever you think we had that evening, it’s all in your mind. I was just being polite at the dinner.”
He stood by my window. “My sister is getting married, and soon, I am expected to select a wife.”
“Select a wife? You have the wrong idea of what a marriage is.”
He sat on the window ledge. “You don’t belong here,” he said.
“And you know where I belong?”
“You know it. I know it. They will never truly accept you. You’re a human.”
“And what do you suppose?”
“Come with me.”
I laughed. “Are you mad?”
“What reasons do you have to stay here?”
“What reasons do I have to go?”
“Well, for one, you’ll be treated no different because you’re a human. You’ll have riches and many doors will be open for you. Think of the many things you could do, Elizabeth.” He walked behind me, speaking into my ear, “At the dinner, you told me of your pursuit for knowledge. Imagine what you could achieve with unlimited resources. You would be the wisest person of all the lands.”
“That does sound tempting but—”
“You will only limit yourself here,” he said. “Marry me, and be the woman you always wanted to be.”
“You don’t know me.”
“That’s the exciting part, Elizabeth. There are so many things about you that I haven’t discovered and I’m eager to start.”
Kronus and his hair looked weird. The West sure do dress funny. There wasn’t much about him that I found attractive at all, except his humor, and the way he spoke to me. I could laugh at him all I want, but he was right, I would always be a commoner here. As long I was human, I would always be limited. The Northern pride run strong, and it would take a while for them to truly accept humans.
“Thank you for the flowers, Kronus. They were truly beautiful. But I can’t leave the North.”
“Amour Blanc.”
“Huh?”
“The flowers, they’re called Amour Blanc. Do you know why I gave you those specific flowers?”
“No, why?”
“Well, it is a rare flower, and I could say that about you. But not only that, the pink ring around the center is poisonous, and kills all insects who come to feed off it. It is beautiful, yet deadly.”
“Oh wow.” I didn’t have any words. All of a sudden I regretted letting Sia take all the flowers. It was much more now. It had meaning.
“You should reconsider my offer, Elizabeth. You don’t have to answer now. My sister’s wedding is in two weeks, after that, I will return to the West. You can make your decision by then.” He left, closing the door behind him.
I fell on my bed, playing through scenarios if I left. Was I really going to consider this?
At dusk, I met with Leo at the library, going over the history of North, the fore fathers and their names. I would very much rather shoot arrows at Dante than this, but I wanted to learn more about the past. It was boring, very. And if it wasn’t for Leo’s handsome face, I would have fallen asleep. Strands of his blond hair fell over his blue eyes. His lips red from the constant wine drinking all day.
He skipped the page and read to me, taking a while to realize that I wasn’t listening. “Elizabeth, are you listening?”
“No, I’m not. Sorry.”
He didn’t scoff nor grumble, like Dante would, he instead read the page again. I watched his eyes as he read, moving along the old page, then I remembered that I should be listening. “They defeated the South using the snow. The South could not tell our white fur from the snow, you see? That was the North’s advantage,” he said.
“Do you like being called Snow?”
“It was given to me.”
“But if you could have named yourself, would you have picked Snow?”
“I don’t think about it. Back then, when we were being named, one member of the pack was called Cloud. I liked the name Cloud.”
“I like Snow better.”
Leo smiled, “I like it too.”
Leo’s smiles could brightened any room, or anyone’s day. It just had that effect without even trying.
“We should get back to reading,” he said.
“Agreed.”
Leo knew this Library well. I bet he could close his eyes and still know where everything was. He spent a lot of time in here, and I think how lonely that must have felt. Just in here
, reading, while a world carry on outside these walls.
I wondered what it was like for Leo as a child. Such great expectations on such small shoulders. A child that could not afford to be a child. A lonely youth.
Leo took a sweet from his pocket. “If you listen to the next page then I’ll give you this sweet.”
“I could do that, or—” I took the sweet from his hand threw it in my mouth. “I could just do that instead.”
“You didn’t deserve that. I want it back.”
“Oh yeah,” I showed him my tongue, “come take it.”
His lips quickly locked on to mines, sliding his tongue in, fighting for the sweet. I fought away his tongue, defending my sweet, and enjoying Leo Lukas pressing kiss.
He gave up, allowing me to keep the sweet, smiling in his defeat. “Okay, you won this time.”
I chewed it loudly to annoy him. “Shall we continue reading?”
He licked his red lips. “Yes, we should.”
Chapter Fifteen
Elizabeth
“I saw her parading through the street.” Sia scoffed. “She isn’t even Queen yet and everyone loves her. I don’t trust her.”
“I know what you mean. There is something about her.”
“You should definitely kill her and take Leo back.”
I laughed, “and destroy the relationship with the West?”
“True. Then I hope she gets struck by lightning or something.”
“I don’t care if they get married. Leo was never mine anyway.”
“Will you go to the wedding?”
“I am expected to be in attendance, but to honest, I’d rather not.”
“Don’t go. You don’t deserve to see that.”
“Sia, I’m fine. Really.”
She didn’t believe me. “If you say so. I’m going to get us some drinks.” Sia stopped at my door and said, “Who sent the flowers?”
“Kronus.”
“Who?”
“I’ll explain when you get back.”
Kronus was waiting on my decision, and although it seemed like an obvious choice to stay in the North, I kept the option available. If I marry Kronus, then I would be Queen when King Agnor dies. I had never really cared for being Queen, but as a human, I have never expected to be a Queen either. That thought was far beyond me. As a Queen, I could do so much, and help so many, but the title scared me. If Kronus was to be true to his word, then a life as a Queen would be a fulfilling one.