Betrothed

  ‘Save it for her,’ I muttered. ‘Surely you don’t think I’m a complete idiot.’

  ‘No need to be hostile.’ He sniggered, his blue-grey eyes icy.

  I could see through the servery that Ashleigh was just finishing the sandwich and would be out in moments. ‘What are you up to, Jason? Why don’t you just leave my sister alone?’

  ‘Why would I do that? I’m only just getting started, and she’s so hot for me.’

  I didn’t want to leave Ashleigh with him, but I couldn’t hang around. I had no idea what he was planning. I’d thought it would be as basic as seducing my sister and then dumping her, leaving her broken hearted and feeling used. But I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he wanted to hurt me, personally. It was my heart he wanted to rip out.

  I went to Leif without even bothering to change. He opened the door to my silent call and took me into his arms.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Jason’s upstairs with Ashleigh. And Leif, I have such a horrible feeling. He hates me, he really does, and he scares me. The way he looks at me . . . ’

  ‘I won’t let him hurt you, Marla.’

  ‘But he’s so cunning! I didn’t realise till now.’ I buried my face into his chest. ‘And I’ve left Ashleigh alone with him.’

  ‘She’ll be all right. I’ll sense it if there’s anything wrong. Perhaps I should go and see him.’

  ‘Don’t, Leif—I don’t want him to know about you.’

  He held me away from him and looked into my eyes. ‘But he does know about me, Marla.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I wish I’d thought to confuse him that day at your place.’

  ‘Can’t you do it now?’

  ‘It doesn’t work that way. Confusion is something that can only be achieved in the moment.’

  ‘So you can’t make Jason forget you?’

  ‘I can make him forget me and ever having been with you.’

  ‘Do it then. We’ll go now!’ Maybe I’d even get him to make me forget while he was at it.

  ‘If it is your wish, Marla, I will do it. You know the risk he poses better than I. But . . . there is a price involved.’

  ‘What price?’

  ‘For Jason, the price will be side effects.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘They can be unpredictable. Certainly a good portion of his memory will be lost. But other side effects are also possible.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘They might include delusions, anxiety, paranoia—that type of thing . . . but it might only be the memory loss.’

  Only the memory loss! I thought about Jason and the effect he’d had on my life. What had he really done that had been so bad? I suspected he was up to all kinds of no good, but was I so sure I would risk my prince messing with his mind?

  ‘I don’t know, I wouldn’t like to injure him . . . but if he puts a foot wrong, Leif—’

  ‘Only say the word, my love.’

  I had my own personal hit man.

  I sighed and brushed my face against his chest. My sigh turned into a frown. ‘This shirt is getting in the way.’

  He pulled the shirt over his head and dropped it on the lounge.

  ‘That’s much better.’ I placed my palms flat against his chest and looked up. He smiled down at me as I slid my hands around his back. I can’t stay worried when I’m with you, Leif.

  He leaned down to kiss me. I won’t allow anyone to hurt you, Marla.

  I closed my eyes. I don’t know whether it was his magic, or just the natural effect he had on me, but whichever it was, when his lips touched mine, my worries about Jason disintegrated like a tiny curl of smoke in the wind. There was only his mouth, opening mine—his teeth nudging my lip, gently nipping—his heat coming into me, melting me from the inside out. By the time our kiss ended, I was completely at ease and Jason might have been a million miles away. Leif took my hand and brought me with him to the balcony.

  ‘Did you just use your magic to relax me?’ I asked, as I sat in the chair he held out for me.

  He smiled as he took the seat beside me and picked up my hand. ‘That depends on what you mean by magic. If you mean did I cast a spell on you, then no. But if you are speaking of the natural influence I have over you, then yes. Yes, I did.’ I opened my mouth to protest, but then he grinned. ‘Don’t try to deny it, Marla, I am your man. It’s only natural you respond to me so.’

  ‘You’re doing it again!’

  ‘What am I doing?’

  ‘Going all eighteenth century on me—you remind me of Edmund from this Jane Austen book I had to read for English.’

  ‘Edmund, hmm . . . I hope you don’t think me as stupid as he—to take so long to recognise his love when she is right before him.’

  ‘You know that book?’

  ‘I do, and I have to say, you are nothing like Fanny Price.’

  ‘How do you know that book?’

  ‘Human literature is popular in Faera. Austen happens to be a favourite of Aren’s wife. She used to read it to me at bedtime when I was in her care.’

  ‘And you didn’t object?’

  ‘I was an obliging child—besides, it sent me off to sleep very well.’ He chuckled. ‘She met Jane in fact.’

  ‘She did not!’

  Leif laughed and kissed my nose. ‘It is true, she did. But you must ask her yourself if you don’t believe me.’

  ‘I believe you, Leif. What did she say about her?’

  ‘I hardly recall—it was of little interest to me. Something about her enjoying cups of tea, I think.’

  We lost the next few minutes discussing Jane Austen and her works, specifically Mansfield Park and the relationship between Edmund and Fanny. How chivalrous but stupid was Edmund, and how refined and perfect Fanny.

  ‘Fanny is too perfect,’ Leif insisted, ‘bordering on dull—a female must have some naughtiness about her.’

  I erupted into laughter.

  ‘What is funny?’ he asked, looking down to where my head rested on his shoulder.

  ‘You! There you are wanting naughtiness, but whenever I try to provide it, you shut me down!’

  ‘Ah, but when you turn eighteen we will marry, and you can be assured, I will not shut you down then.’

  I lifted my head and looked at him. ‘Is that really usual in Faera, Leif? Do people really get married so young?’

  ‘What would be the point in waiting? Faera is not like this place, where people might have any number of partners before finally choosing the one they wish to marry.’

  What he said made sense, and certainly my ideas were formed by my human experience, but to just assume something as enormous as marriage seemed . . . wrong. ‘You know, you’ve never actually asked me if I want to get married.’

  He turned to look at me directly. ‘You do not wish to marry me?’

  ‘Geez, I didn’t say that, but you haven’t even asked me, Leif. You always just speak about it like it’s already decided.’

  ‘We are betrothed—of course it’s decided. But if you don’t wish to marry me . . . ’ He removed his hand from mine and turned away from me, ‘I would never insist upon it.’

  What I was beginning to wish was that I’d just kept my big mouth shut. He picked up my hand from his thigh and placed it into my lap as, back straight and chin lifted, he found something interesting to look at in the park across the road. I had offended him, deeply offended him. I suddenly recalled what he’d told me about Fae pride and, smiling to myself, I placed one hand back on his thigh while I pressed the other to his cheek until he turned to face me.

  ‘Of course I want to marry you, Leif. I can hardly wait to marry you. It’s just that . . . here on Earth, it’s usual for a man to ask first.’

  He frowned. But at least he was looking at me again. ‘So you wish me to ask you to marry me?’

  I couldn’t stop the exasperated sigh. ‘Look, can you just forget I said anything? I would marry you this very second. We both know it.’

  He sat back and pick
ed up my hand again. ‘Sometimes I worry about the effect this world has had on you, Marla.’

  That made two of us.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Waiting for the assembly was like waiting for Christmas, but with a good dash of fear thrown in. Leif was suffering. He tried to conceal it, but I was so in tune with him that I could feel the effect of his entrapment. It was like a kind of sorrow that lingered around him, stealing the light from his smile. He reminded me of one of those exotic birds that some people keep, uncaged but with wings clipped to prevent escape. Those birds always look out of place, sitting on a perch all day, regal and defeated when they should be soaring free above the jungle.

  On the plus side, Ashleigh was talking to me again. Every now and then she would try to convince me of what a great guy Jason was. I kept my opinions about him to myself. I didn’t want to upset her or open old wounds. But I refused to be conned—Jason was up to no good, I was sure of it. At school they were always together. Jason made a point of me noticing and when Ashleigh wasn’t watching, he’d look over and catch my eyes, his smile triumphant. None of it was lost on Jack. He was furious as he watched Jason work his magic on my sister, and full of helpful suggestions to get rid of him.

  ‘We could start a rumour about him on Facebook,’ he suggested. It was Friday lunch time, and we sat under our tree with the rest of our group. Not far away, Ashleigh sat on Jason’s lap, surrounded by his friends. ‘Better idea. We could carry him up to the oval and chuck him in the scrum. He’s only as big as a football. It’d be nothing to ditch him right in the middle of it. No wait,’ he hurried on, ignoring Hilary’s protests that he should be the bigger person. ‘Pick a bit of his hair off Ash’s clothes, Marla. We can make a Jason voodoo doll, stick nails in it, big long ones, and staples. We could staple it right on the—’

  ‘Jack!’

  ‘Hilary!’

  ‘You’re impossible.’ She sighed, shaking her head.

  ‘I know, we could push him off his skateboard,’ he persisted, disregarding Hilary’s outrage. ‘I drive past him all the time when he’s hurling down the street thinking he’s so great. A fleet hand out the window—bam!’

  ‘You’re pretty much talking murder now, Jackie,’ I pointed out with a grin.

  ‘Damn, I suppose he’s not worth going to jail for,’ Jack conceded.

  And so it went on, Jack’s fantasies of ridding the world of Jason becoming increasingly ludicrous. His ideas involved rat traps and cement mixers, Jason’s friends often among the carnage. If Jack’s plotting was too bloodthirsty to be feasible at least it provided laughs. Hilary was appalled, but Leif was in stitches when I told him about it later.

  Had I known what was going to happen the next day though, I might not have taken Jack’s ideas so lightly. I might have paid more attention. I might have even pushed Jason off that skateboard myself.

  I spent the earliest part of Saturday with Leif, curled into his side watching television. We were home alone, which was just how I liked it. Mum and Dad were out shopping and Ashleigh had left early to spend the day with Jason. Leif was waiting for Jack; they were going to Dave’s garage to help out for a few hours, to work on cars, apparently. It made me happy to see Leif and Jack getting on. I knew it couldn’t be easy for Jack.

  At eleven o’clock, Jack was beeping his horn out the front. Leif kissed me, assured me he was only a heartbeat away, then jogged down the stairs to join my friend.

  Just before midday, there came a knock on the door. I looked through the peephole—Jason, ugh. I contemplated tiptoeing back to the family room, but then it occurred to me that Ashleigh wasn’t with him. I wanted to know why, so I opened the door. Jason didn’t come inside.

  I said, ‘Ashleigh’s not here, I thought she was with you.’

  A cold smirk crept up Jason’s face. ‘She was with me.’

  ‘So where is she now?’

  ‘I don’t really know—or care. Cronulla, I think. But I don’t want to talk about Ashleigh.’

  My skin began to prickle. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘All of a sudden I don’t need your sister any more.’

  Fear snaked through my limbs, settling into a hard lump behind my ribs. I waited for him to speak again. His expression was victorious. He handed me a piece of folded paper.

  ‘Look what I found at Cronulla. There’s plenty more of them too—plastered all over the place, they are. Couldn’t believe my luck when I spotted it. Then when your sister started panicking, I knew it was payday. She tried to tell me the dude wasn’t your boyfriend. When she knew I wasn’t buying it, she started rambling about you being in danger, or trouble—some crap like that. It kind of made things simple for me. Too easy.’ He laughed.

  ‘Did you really think you’d get away with dumping me?’ he continued. ‘I do you a favour by going out with you, and you just chuck it back in my face.’

  I unfolded the piece of paper. It was an A4-sized poster. One giant word took up a third of the space: ‘MISSING.’ Beneath that was a photo of Leif, and below that was the mobile phone number of his ‘very worried family’. My belly churned as I stared at the poster for several long moments, my throat becoming increasingly thick. I had to concentrate on my breathing. My eyes drifted back to Jason’s.

  ‘I recognised your boyfriend straight away. Don’t know how your stupid sister thought she could convince me it wasn’t him. What’s the matter, Marla? You look a bit pale.’ He laughed.

  ‘What have you done?’

  ‘What do you think? I called the number to find out what was up, of course. Your sister wasn’t too thrilled about it, tried to tear the phone out of my hand. Went nuts she did, crying and raving about some awful people being after you. But whatever, that only made me want it more.’

  I felt like I might collapse. I could feel my heart rate increase as a strange ringing noise began in my ears. But Jason, calm as can be, just continued.

  ‘Brittany and Simone kept your psycho sister off me so I could make the call. I told the very interested dude on the other end of the phone that I had no idea where the guy in the poster was, but I could sure point him in the direction of his little girlfriend.’

  My blood was turning to ice and my voice trembled as I said, ‘Please tell me you didn’t give him my address. This is my life, Jason. If he finds me, I’m dead.’

  ‘Really.’ He grinned. ‘That bad? But you didn’t really think I was going to let you get away with humiliating me, did you?’ He turned away, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled down the stairs.

  Horrified, I watched as ten young men, broad shouldered and strong with clear and luminous skin, marched up the stairs towards me. Save for the two in front, each carried a bow over his shoulder and a clutch of arrows at his side. All wore a uniform of loose pants tied at the ankles and hip in the green of the forest of Telophy.

  I managed to hold myself together as the man at the front of the group looked me over before turning to Jason. ‘This is Marla?’

  ‘Well that’s what her gay friend calls her,’ Jason confirmed with a satisfied smile.

  I was wound so tight I could only stare as the man returned his attention to me and made his declaration in a voice devoid of emotion: ‘I am Lorsen of the guard of King Telophy. I have been commanded by His Majesty to return with you to Faera.’ Then he stepped forwards and reached for me.

  I came undone—completely. Screaming, I backed behind the door and flung my whole weight against it. But I didn’t have enough weight to fling, because Lorsen simply leaned into the door to stop it closing. In the same movement he reached for me, took hold of my upper arm and, clutching hard, dragged me to him. I struggled to free myself, flailed about, twisting and shrieking like a trapped cat. I think in that moment I had superhuman strength, because I felt his grip falter. But then another man grasped my right arm and, sharing my weight between them, my kidnappers made for the stairs. The last thing I saw as I was stolen from my home and dragged down the stairs was the colour leave Jason
’s face as the horror of the situation registered. A moment later Lorsen ordered one of the guards to go back and confuse him.

  I screamed as I was taken to the front of the apartment block and pulled at the hands that held me captive. But it was hopeless, I couldn’t escape. Steel bands clamped around my arms would have been no more possible to budge. Then, ignoring my anguish, my captors opened their wings, confused the protesting old lady watching the spectacle and took to the air. They flew south, locking my arms behind me, leaving me powerless to deal with the long strands of hair the cold wind whipped into my face. Then I remembered Leif—our betrothal connection. I called to him in my mind, a silent plea that he responded to immediately. He kept my mind busy with conversation, assured me that I would be all right, that he knew where they were taking me and would be with me in moments.

  In less than a minute I could see him—a dot of light in the distance, rapidly taking form.

  ‘The prince approaches,’ Lorsen yelled. ‘Cover and prepare.’

  Mesmerised with terror, I watched, as—barely losing speed—the two men holding me were encircled by the other eight, creating a barrier to keep Leif from me. Once in position, the eight began loading arrows into their bows.

  ‘My father could send his whole guard and they would not get through me.’ Leif’s words replayed in my mind and I prayed he was equal to this challenge. I didn’t see how he could be. He was one against eight armed men, each poised with weapons ready and as he came nearer I felt a gripping fear for him. The thought of my betrothed being harmed made my insides come into my throat. He was close now, almost upon us, and the eight arrows aimed directly at him were released in quick succession. I watched in horror as they arced through the air to claim him.

  But Leif was too fast. He zigzagged in the sky before us—a flash of dazzling light, ducking around the arrows as they whizzed towards him, or simply plucking them from the air with hands too fleet to track. The eight soldiers continued to reload, aim and fire as they flew on to their destination like a flock of giant birds.