by Kira Freitas
- Aideen, it's not like you're imagined...
- It doesn't matter! - she smiled sadly. - Really, nothing else matters to me.
I saw in her gaze that she was aware that she had nothing more to lose in her life and I went into a state of alert. It was the same look she gave me in that forest. Suddenly, fear took hold of me. Aideen climbed the stairs heading for her room, where she locked herself for the rest of the day. I took a deep breath because of the repentance that befell me. I decided to leave her alone, so I went back to the bathroom and just took a quick shower and then went back to the library. That night, I entered the room and without saying a word I went to my bed in front of the fireplace. Aideen was sitting on the armchair in front of the balcony door, contemplating the sky through the glass as she had been doing. I thought I'd go to her and apologize, but I'd rather shut up. Maybe in the morning everything would change.
However, the following day nothing had changed and the weeks that followed were no different. Aideen wouldn't talk to me even if I walked into a room she was in. She would just stop what she was doing and leave without saying anything at all. The spell had turned against the sorcerer and I felt terrible. He deserved every second of his contempt.
Some time later, I received a letter from Alec saying that he had arrived well at the camp and that Keilan was letting him know everything. He said that Bree was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and that he seemed to know her from somewhere. It was out of place, but he was enjoying dealing with a lioness. I had a laugh. Alec wasn't good at it. I just hoped he wouldn't get so mad, Bree, or I'd have to go to the front and get my brother's body. Alec also reported that they were keeping an eye on a possible entrance to the east of the fortress and that Bree kept the men on constant lookouts around the castle. That news cheered me up. We could only wait for the right moment to attack and protect the border.
- I need some time. - I whispered by passing my hand over my face.
I've been in that library reading and writing letters too long. I went to the kitchen to make sure Rose was there and wouldn't come tormenting me again. Wally said he sent her to the fair and she'd be there all morning. Relieved of the information, I went to the bathroom. On the way I met Elaine, who confided in me that Aideen was not eating, so I was very concerned about her health. She was also very pale, and sometimes she falls into fainting spells. I walked to my destination with that information hammering my head. How could I have been so stupid... Aideen would die if she still didn't eat. That was my fault. You wish to see your smile again. He longed to see the glow in his gaze. I'd love to hear your direct words again.
I stopped petrified at the narrow entrance of wood and stone when I realized that Aideen was inside. She had her back to me, sitting on one of the edges. He had his head resting on one of his knees embraced by his delicate hands. The hair was stuck by a wide band at the top of the head, but because of its length the curls fell almost touching his shoulders. I was able to observe the scars better and tried to make as little noise as possible. I swallowed dry when she raised one of her hands in the shape of a shell and played with the water. She rubbed her lips against the skin of her knee and rested her head again. I closed my eyes trying to contain the urge to go there and kiss her again, but I knew I wouldn't just stay in one kiss. Part of my body wished to go to her, but the other body said that I should not. I decided to be rational and let her finish. Only then would I go back in. As I was about to turn around and leave, Aideen stood up showing all the generous curves of her body that I hadn't noticed before, for always possessing her in the dark.
She was naked. The waist was thin and well shaped. The hips were wide and the legs were well turned. The buttocks were generous in size. She turned to get the towel that was under one of the stone benches and was scared when she saw me.
- Oh! Oh, my God! - she said going back into the water. - What are you doing here? I thought you were in the library, focused on your letters.
- I was! - said softly turning my face. - I began to feel very tired from reading so much. I didn't mean to scare her. I just wanted to bathe a little before lunch and...
I took a break seeing that I didn't say anything coherent.
- You know what? Never mind! - said sighing. - I can come back another time.
- It's okay! It's okay! - Aideen said softly. - I'd already finished, and I was just leaving. Make yourself at home!
Aideen's voice sounded cautious and I held my breath. I noticed that she was embarrassed and tried her best to get tangled up in the huge cloth that she used to cover herself. He stuck to his silhouette so that I could see the outline of his full breasts. She did not look in my direction and tried to ignore my presence. I noticed that she was really thinner and soon I remembered Elaine's words.
- Elaine said you've been eating for days. Is that true?
- Elaine is a big mouth! - she grumbled, picking up her dress.
- You have to feed or you'll get sick, Aideen.
- Does it matter, by any chance?
- Of course it matters!
I shot her looking worried, but she ignored me. Aideen picked up the things that were lying on the floor while he was mumbling. I just stood there admiring the fun scene that came out of nowhere.
- I'll cut out that girl's tongue! Big mouth! - Aideen took a break.
I noticed she was pale and frowned. I ran towards her to support her before Aideen fell to the ground.
- Did you see what I said? - I asked by depositing it on one of the banks. - Are you all right?
- Yeah. I'm just a little dizzy. - she whispered with her voice a little weak.
Going to a fountain, whose water was coming from the lake, I took a mug that was willing and filled it.
- Give me your pulse.
She stretched out her hands without resistance, so I started to wash her wrists rubbing from wandering with her thumbs. I also bathed his neck and forehead. She started to breathe slower, until I realized she wasn't dizzy anymore.
- Better?
- Yes, thank you!
- I appreciate it. - said smiling. - I know you're the one who feeds the fire and covers me in the early hours.
- The room gets very cold at some point. I know what it's like to feel cold at night.
Franzi the forehead without understanding. Has Ravenna ever let you get cold? Aideen pulled her hands gently. She rubbed one wrist on the other. I noticed your arms were creepy.
- I have to go. - she said getting up. - Thank you for your kindness, but try not to do that again.
- Why shouldn't I? - I asked in a confusing way. - Why can't I be nice?
- Because you confuse me, Your Highness.
I closed my eyes taking a deep breath. If I was waiting for a moment to make up for everything, he would finally come. I grabbed her wrist gently and kept her from walking away.
- Please don't go! - I whispered. - I'll do whatever you want, but don't go. I miss you. Your smell, your mouth, your skin...
- Alistair...
- I miss you!
Her breathing accelerated and Aideen was raising her face. Our eyes met and I could no longer contain myself. I grabbed her hair hard and kissed her. The kiss started soft, but it became urgent. I squeezed her against my body and brought Aideen closer to me. She groaned when I put my tongue in her mouth and felt when her hands went into my hair. The time around me stopped as I enjoyed those fleshy, sweet lips. Slowly I lowered my hands to the side of her body and lifted her up on my lap. Aideen wrapped her legs around my body and I laid her on her back. I stared at her before I pulled the towel that covered her and threw her on the floor.
- You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen in my life. - I whispered ecstatically and kissed her again.
Aideen gasped when I abandoned her lips and kissed her lap, then each breast round and full. She pulled my shirt with both hands, pulling it out of my head. Kneeling between her legs, I contemplated her. My gaze was all over your body. Aideen really was very pre
tty. I noticed that there were some thin scars on his abdomen and others on his left arm that I hadn't noticed. Those, I recognized as fighting marks. A chill came over my body, but I ignored it. In desperation, I pulled out the pants I was wearing just to release my limb and slowly penetrated them. Aideen moaned by frowning and biting her lower lip. I kissed her again before leaning my hands against the bench to start a back and forth movement. I pulled one of her legs up, bringing it to meet my shoulder. It made me penetrate it deeper. I squeezed your thigh when I felt your nails penetrate the skin of my arms. Aideen moaned rampantly and I grunted with the sound of her voice in my ear. I speeded up the movements even more, because I wanted those whispers more and more. I kept quiet, because I wanted to focus on every move. He tried to read her body and decipher every emergency. I nibbled on Aideen's ear before penetrating it with the tip of my tongue. She bowed her neck and I took advantage of it to lick the warm skin of her throat. I started biting her shoulder and felt that she was coming to a climax. I started to speed up the stabs even more. She clung to my hair demanding more and more. We looked like hungry savages running after the hunt. It didn't take long and Aideen fell apart in my arms. Her scream came out in anguish and I had to kiss her so no one would hear her. I kept moving until I made fun, falling exhausted with my head on her shoulder.
Never making love to a woman had been as intense as it was with Aideen. We remained silent as we listened to our breathless breaths. While we were recovering. I smiled when I realized she had her eyes closed and I kissed her cheek slowly. I was about to kiss her again and start all over again, when a voice made me raise my head.
- What a beautiful actor you are! - said Rose clapping her hands. - How about you? Are you a big idiot?
I took the towel to cover Aideen.
- You again! - said Aideen wrapping herself in the towel and standing up. - Don't you get tired of humiliating and crawling?
- Me? Crawling? By humiliating me? - Rose returned it ironically. - You are the one who is nothing but a delusion, believing in the words of a man who only wants to use it. Is this how you lost your virginity? Deluded by a man?
I felt in my skin the slap pain that Aideen hit Rose's face and smiled with satisfaction.
- I've already warned you not to speak to me. - Aideen said between her teeth. - My life is none of your business.
Instead of getting angry or trying to fight back, Rose raises her face and laughs.
- What did he tell you to get what you wanted? - she continued to provoke her. - Let me see if those were the words: "I miss your body, your smell, your skin, your mouth. I miss you. ”
Aideen looked horrified at Rose.
- Were you spying on us? But you're very low indeed!
- I don't need to spy on you to know what Alistair said. - she smiled at me. - Isn't that right?
Aideen looked at me. She didn't need much to know that I had actually used that argument with Rose. The problem is, this time, I was being real with Aideen. I really missed her, but it seems that everything I did to fix the donkey I did only made things worse.
- I don't believe it! - she screamed angrily.
- Aideen... I... - I tried to argue, but the words didn't come out.
- You're a bastard! - she said harshly and turning her back. - He said he hates being fooled! Hypocrite! How could I have been so foolish as to believe your words when you said you missed me?
She'd put the dress on quickly. Your voice coming out clearly hurt. Rose took advantage of the confusion to leave us alone.
- Aideen, I know I made a mistake when I said that, but how true you were!
- Is that so? - she said ironic. - Yeah, I don't believe you. You know I didn't even want to come to Dunhill? Maybe if I had torn my throat that day in the forest, I wouldn't be going through all this.
- Don't say that! - I said panic. - I know I haven't done the right thing with you, but you should remember it's your fault.
- Mine? - she let out a laugh. - You're a fucking liar. I'm nothing but a hopeful delusion.
Aideen didn't give me a chance to argue, so she left the bathroom. I ran after her who cried copiously.
- Aideen, come back here! - I screamed.
She kept running, but I reached her and made her stop.
- Let go of me! - she screamed. - I'm tired of being someone's object. It ends here and now. I'd rather die alone in the woods than be fooled again.
Before I could even say anything, Aideen held my shoulders and kneeled me so hard that I fell groaning on the floor. I stood there moaning, unable to get up. I saw it when she entered the stable and then left mounted on Chimera. Despair took hold of me, for she had no sense of direction. I didn't know the forest, let alone the dangerous paths that led to cliffs on the hillside. You didn't have a gun on you and no saddlebags with food or water. She would die of thirst, hunger, cold or worse, attacked by the wolves that inhabit some trails.
- Aideen! Damn it! - I grumbled by standing up.
- Are you all right? Elaine asked when she reached me and helped me up. - What's going on? Where's Aideen going like that?
- I don't know! I don't know! - I mumbled still feeling pain and walking as fast as I could to the stable. - I have to stop her before she gets hurt.
- Get hurt? - Elaine said in a confusing voice.
- Yes. Aideen is a terrible horsewoman and will certainly get lost in the forest or end up getting hurt. I need to find her fast. - I answered by sealing the Sovereign. - Tell Rose I'll kill her when I find her and that was her last warning. To get her ready to leave the castle.
- But why is that?
- Just tell her that!
Taking my bow and sword, I rode on the horse and left in a shot following in the same direction as Aideen. I had to find her before night fell and then I'd kill Rose with my bare hands.
- Ah! This time I'll kill her! - ...I've stirred up.
Chapter 12
Aideen
- Not so fast, Chimera! - I asked for it by hitting the mare's flanks.
I had grown fond of the animal as soon as I saw it. Pick her up and leave without a certain destination was a big mistake. I was not used to riding often and had become a horrible horsewoman. Everything that Aila and my grandfather had taught me had been lost with the cloistered time, but I still had some tricks up my sleeve. I was just praying to get to Inverness alive. Then I'd cross from there to Edinburgh and then I'd go to Gretna Green. The troops were in Edinburgh, I believe it will be safe to cut there. Problem is, I didn't know how to get there.
When I was little, my sister had taught me how to track and walk without being seen, but the only one who had become good at it was Annabel. From an early age it had been proven that my sense of direction was ridiculous. In fact, everything about me was ridiculous. Maybe that's why she was always being cheated and used. I only knew how to get to Inverness, because I'd been on the road a few weeks ago.
- Aideen stop! You're going the wrong way! - I heard Alistair's voice as soon as I entered the forest. - Aideen!
- No wrong direction! - I whispered before I ignored him.
Taking the direction of a denser part, I tried to lose Alistair and I think I managed, because I looked back and I didn't see him anymore. Smiling I continued with the gallop trying to be as careful as possible, because the forest was beginning to close.
- Damn it! I don't remember that way. - I said in a desperate voice.
Suddenly Chimera whinnyed frightened and pushing me to the ground. The action was so fast, I didn't see what had scared her.
- Chimera! - I grumbled by passing my hands through my arms and getting on my knees.
I had fallen under a part of the ground that was earthy and scratched my arms, because my dress had no sleeves. Wiping my arms, I looked in the direction the mare had gone and shook my head putting my hands on my waist.
- Wonderful! - I grumbled. - Stupid animal!
I let out a scream of dread when a huge hand grabbed the top of my head, pulling
hard on my hair and making me stand up.
- Let go of me! - I screamed scared.
- Look what we got here! If it isn't Mrs. MacCalister! - the man who was staring at me said with a dark smile. - I don't believe it! I've been camping for several days trying to figure out a way to get it and then you came to me. How lucky!
I looked at him terrified, for he was very ugly and frightening. He had, in one of his eyes, a scar through it. She was thin, but very deep. The color of the iris was blue, so I assumed you were blinded by that view. He was tall and wore battle clothes. He pulled my face up to his and spoke in a cold voice.
- Scream! - he whispered. - I love it when women scream.
- What are you? What do you want? - I asked, in a terrified voice. - If you want money, know I don't have any quarters here with me. I don't have anything, really. Not even food.
- We don't want your money! - he said coldly. - We're here to take you.
- Us? I asked with my eyes wide open.
He nodded and went when I saw another man coming out from behind a tree bringing Chimera down the reins. He was exactly the same as the other, except for the scar on his eye, which he did not have.
- I see you're really very beautiful, as we've been told.
Another man came up from behind a tree and smiled contentedly. He ran his index finger through the skin of my arm and smiled. I closed my eyes hard, disgusted by his touch and almost threw up.
- We're in no hurry to deliver it, are we? - he asked the other guy who still held me by my hair.
Not even my fingernails stuck in his skin would get him to let me go.
- No, but we have instructions not to touch it. - the other answered with a grumbling. - Try to keep your pants on or she'll kill us.
- But she's beautiful! No one will know! - the other responded.
I widened my eyes when I realized what they were arguing about. I took advantage of their distraction and pulled my nails hard, tearing the skin off my hand from what was holding me. The man shouted at me and I went down and grabbed a handful of sand to hit the other one's eyes. I tried to run, but the man who had been holding me by the hair again grabbed them.