Chapter 179 - Husband To Wife

ETAN

Etan waited until Falek and Borsche had both melted into the trees around them. 

"Ayleth." He took the final step to pull her into his chest, but she stepped back, shaking her head and his hope died.

"Don't Etan. I can't… touch you yet. I need answers."

Heartbroken, he stopped reaching for her, but didn't move back. They were toe-to-toe and he loomed over her. Did he imagine he could feel the heat rising from her, or was it only his own fevered skin, yearning for her? 

"Ask me. I'll tell you everything," he repeated.

"Then don't make me ask," she said, suddenly brittle. "Just tell me. Tell me everything that happened. Everything that was said. And why you decided as you did without even speaking to me about it!" Her eyes were suddenly red, shining. She folded her arms, which pressed her breasts higher, even in the leathers.

His body ached for her, but he swallowed it back. She was right. She deserved an explanation. 

And so he gave her one. All the way back to when he returned to the castle after their time of reflection.

He told her how he'd been intercepted by the servant and taken to the library to meet her mother. How her mother had tricked him into revealing the depth of his feelings and commitment to Ayleth. And how she had plunged the knife into his back…

…Ayleth's mother stood before him, cold and calculating. "Do you really believe that I, of all people, would see your love and loyalty as a virtue? That would you steal my daughter away to be a broodmare to my enemy—that you would twist and shape her into the very thing I designed her to fight—is offence enough. But that you spout this pledge to her and your devotion, as if I will somehow find it endearing?!" Her expression turned dark and she pointed at his chest with a single finger. "You are my enemy! You tried to kill my daughter six years ago, and now you will succeed in bringing her death just by clinging to her against her own father. Your devotion means nothing when she ends up dead!"

"No! I will fight for her! Protect her!"

"That is precisely my point! Can you not see what will come of this?" 

She'd gone on, describing how they would lose Ayleth to Etan no matter how this progressed—convinced that if the King learned of their relationship, he would kill Etan, which would make Ayleth hate her own parents. "No matter which way I turn, my daughter is dead and removed from me, and for what?!"

"For a love that would keep her safe! A love that would sacrifice itself for her—how can you see that as evil?"

"Because anything that removes my daughter from me, from her father, from our people is evil!" she snarled, her beautiful face twisted with hate and derision.

Etan gaped. "I wish nothing more than that our families, our Kingdoms could come together, not be torn apart—"

"Then you should not have married my daughter. But it is too late, and so you leave me no choice."

Etan froze, hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. "No choice for what?"

She smiled a vindictive smile that made Etan's heart race. "You are vowed to protect her to your dying breath, yes? Oh, what a very special vow. Do not forget it when you hear this, oh pretty prince: If you do not convince my daughter that you have abandoned her, if you do not leave our Kingdom appearing to prepare to marry someone else, I will kill her myself…"

Ayleth paled and shook her head. "She… wouldn't. She might have made the threat, but she would never… she wanted to scare you. That is all."

Etan took a deep breath. "I hope so, Ayleth. I do. The fact that you're here and safe… it gives me hope. But if it's true that she has fixed this spell to your soul… it terrifies me. She could kill you at any moment and I would be left here, holding you. Ayleth—please, see me. Understand, tearing myself away from you… it's broken me. Sarya followed me tonight because she acknowledged the depth of my feelings for you! She understood that my heart was completely unattainable and she was… she was hurt by that. But willing to remain a friend—"

"A friend? A friend, Etan?! I watched her kiss you!" Her eyes flashed with her fury.

"You watched her try to kiss me, Ayleth! I would never betray you that way!"

"And yet, the first time I lay eyes on you when you don't know that I'm here, it's in the clasp of another woman!"

"A woman that I deceived in order to protect your life! Ayleth, please, you have to believe me!"

"What if I can't?" she asked, no longer shrill. Her voice a bare rasp. "What if I can't, Etan? It has… these last two days have… they have made me feel… I have never been so—"

"Ayleth, love," he whispered, pulling her into his chest instinctively, almost crying with relief when she allowed the touch.

He pulled her into his chest, his hand clasping the back of her neck, kneading the muscles at the base of her skull as he whispered her name, kissed her hair, her temple, wrapped her in his arm and kept her close.

At first she was stiff, burying her face in her hands and only allowing him to hold her. 

But after a moment she dropped her hands and pressed her face into the hollow under his chin, wrapped her arms around his waist, and clung. 

"I love you, Ayleth. To my bones. I would never… no other woman holds any interest for me. No other woman is your match, let alone your better. Please, believe me. I fled only to look for a way to bring you with me safely. I lied to Sarya only to keep my parents and my people safe. We had to sign the accord. I couldn't be the barrier for that. Please, you have to believe me."

Ayleth pulled her head back to look at him, tears silvering the corners of her eyes. But her face was clear and smooth, her dignity intact.

God, he loved her. 

"I believe you, Etan," she said.

His breath rushed out of him in relief. But he tensed again almost immediately, because she wasn't finished. And her words put a spear of ice into his heart. 

***** 

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