Girl In The Woods (14 page)

He stops when we
reach a path of light colored soil. The place looks oddly familiar. He faces
me, looking deep into my eyes.

“I am the
luckiest man on earth.”

He gently puts a
lock of hair aside from my forehead. It’s a simple gesture, yet full of
tenderness.

“When you told
me that night at this very spot, that you would choose my path, I could not
believe it,” he goes on.

At this very
spot? Yes. This is where he had brought me the night I met him. Where the road
divides in two paths. Why are we here?

“You really were
like a nymph,” he says. “A mythical creature. All the other girls that I helped
in the past were looking to learn what you did. But you…you belonged here. You
were already one with the forest. I wanted to uncloak all the beauty that was
hidden inside you and that only I could see.”

“Thank you, my
Lord.”

His features
twitch into a painful expression. My heart clenches. What is going on?

He takes a deep
breath and closes his eyes momentarily.

“Calista, you
know who you are now. And you know how to be happy. You deserve a better life.
You deserve someone who will offer you the world.”

“What are you
talking about?”

“I told you that
night that you wouldn’t be able to leave until I wanted you to. But I promised
I would get you safely back to your house. I release you, Calista. Take the
other path and go back to your parents.”

“What?” I feel
like I am falling in an abyss. This can’t be happening. 

“You deserve to
live in a palace. Not in a hut. I am poor. I can’t offer you anything.”

“Do you really
want me to believe that? Conor, is it because I was sad for being far from my parents?
Because I can just visit them and assure them I am fine. I won’t tell them the
truth. I can say that you are rich and that you took care of me and we got
married.”

“Don’t be
ridiculous, Calista. You can’t go back to being a princess and then return to
me. How would it seem to you if you could eat delicious meals again and sleep
in your comfortable bed? How could you want to come back to me?”

I look at him
stunned.

“So, you don’t
know me at all? How can you say such a thing? I don’t want to sleep in a
luxurious bed alone or with another man. I want to be with you. Wherever you
are.”

“Calista, just
obey.”

“I’m sorry. I
can’t obey you on this. I love you, Conor. How do you expect me to leave? Don’t
you want me anymore?”

“Of course I
do!” he shouts. “I love you more than I love myself! And that is why I can’t be
selfish. I want what’s best for you.”

“If you truly
loved me you would know what’s best for me,” I say weeping now hard. “We got
married, Conor. Bound to one another forever. Did that mean nothing to you?”

His mouth
becomes a straight line and anger flushes in his eyes. He grabs my waist and
crashes my body against his.

“It meant
everything to me. It was true, Calista. It will always be. But it was a ritual
recognized only in my world and you don’t belong in it. I was impulsive and I
let my passion for you to control me, without thinking what is best for you.”

I am sobbing
now.

“No…I won’t
leave. You can’t push me away,” I yell muffled words.

“Don’t make this
any harder than it already is…Please, just go. You are free,” he utters in a
pained voice.

My heart pounds
fast as I am trying to breathe. Nausea comes over me.

“Baby, just
obey. Trust me. It is for your own good. Don’t you think this tears me apart,
too? I barely have strength not to fall to pieces.”

“Then if we both
want to be together, what’s the point of letting me go?”

“You have no
future here…”

“I have
you
.
You
are my future.”

I kiss him and
he responds with excitement that lasts a few delicious moments.

“No. Calista,
stop,” he says breathless. “We can’t go on. Remember…I will never forget you.
Never. Here is the key to your bracelet.”

I feel like he
just slapped me.

“The bracelet is
a symbol that my heart belongs to you. Just because you want me to go, it
doesn’t mean that it’s not true anymore. I am not taking the bracelet off.”

“I don’t want
you to leave. Don’t you understand? You
have
to leave. Your destiny is
different than mine. Otherwise you would have been born in the forest.”

“Conor…”

“If you love me,
just obey. You parents need you. They have to know you are alive. You owe
them.”

And then he
steps back and gazes at me with almost grieving eyes. Without thinking, I fall
on my knees and bow my head.

“Please, my
Lord. Don’t let me go. I belong to you.”

He kneels too
and raises my chin to look at him. He is in distress. A tear runs down his chin
and I want to taste it so badly.

“Do you think
you can go visit your parents and then come back?”

I crack a smile,
hopeful again.

“Yes,” I hurry
to reply before he changes his mind. “I am sure I can. I will find a way.
Please, trust me like I have trusted you.”

“Can you be back
in three days?”

“I will. We
shall meet here during the sunset of the third day.”

“I will be
waiting for you,” he says and approaches to kiss me. I close my eyes but I
don’t feel his lips. When I open them, he has turned into a wolf.

His ears crinkle
backwards, as if trying to capture a sound coming from afar. It doesn’t take me
long to realize why he shifted. I hear a gallop in the distance. A white horse
appears fast with a man riding it. He has fair hair and breathtaking blue eyes.
He doesn’t seem a lot older than me. He can’t be…Could he be? I mean I had seen
him younger in formal ceremonies I attended with my parents. Oh, he definitely
is. The emblem on the horse’s saddle is that of our kingdom. He is the son of
the King. This can’t be good.

Conor hasn’t
moved a bit but he is growling at him.

“Miss, stay away
from this beast,” says the prince.

I remain in my
position and so does Conor. The prince takes an arrow and a bow from a case
hung on his back and aims at Conor. He turns away to run from him, but the
arrow scratches his ribs.

“No! What have
you done?” I scream to the prince and move to Conor. He is still growling.
Fortunately, the arrow hasn’t stabbed him. However, his wound seems deep and he
is bleeding a lot.

“Go,” Conor
says.

“I am not
leaving.”

“Go with him.
Our deal is off. I will not be waiting for you. You need to leave.”

Two strong hands
pick me up and I push my legs in the air.

“Let me go!” I
scream. “Let me go with him. He needs me. He is wounded.”

When he has
finally let me down, Conor is not here anymore. He has escaped into the forest.

I fall on the
ground and break down in unruly sobs. He is gone.

“He…needs…me…” I
mutter.

The prince
kneels beside me.

“If he needed
you, he wouldn’t abandon you.”

“It’s your
fault! We love each other and we were going to be together again. But you
ruined everything! And you injured him.”

“How was I to
know he was a shapeshifter? I have only heard rumors about their existence. I
thought he was a wild wolf. I am sorry. Please, let me take care of you.”

He lifts me up
in his arms as if I am a helpless child and carries me to his horse.

“What’s your
name?” he asks once we are both sitting on the horse.

“Calista. And
you are Prince Ellard.”

“That’s right.
Nice to meet you, Calista. Let’s get you to the palace. A nice, warm bath will
make you feel better,” he says.

I know that
nothing will make me feel better, but I remain silent accepting my fate as we
gallop across the forest, away from Conor and my true self.

The palace is
enormous, made of white bricks and surrounded by ornate gardens. There are
guards everywhere. Beside the entrance of the garden, strolling in the yard
casually and guarding the main door of the palace.

The prince helps
me get down from the horse and leads me inside.

I am not focused
as to what is going on. My mind is with Conor. The prince gives some
instructions to a maid and I follow her as she climbs a wide staircase that
emerges in the middle of the entrance hall. Sure, I have been before to the
palace, but only in the gardens and the bottom floor to attend formal parties
and ceremonies. The second floor is luxurious as well but it is mainly composed
of long hallways laid with thick red carpet that absorbs the sound of our
footsteps.

We enter a
bedroom with light blue walls and white sumptuous furniture. I watch her as she
skillfully opens a drawer and hands me a towel and a robe.

“The bathroom is
through that door, my lady” she says and points to a door opposite the bed. “I
will go prepare a bath for you, with your permission.”

“Yes. That
sounds good. Thank you.”

I am at a loss.
What am I doing here? I should be at my parents’ house, not in the palace.
Perhaps, the prince is right and the bath will help me loosen up.

After a long
bath, I am somehow more tranquil. I lie on the soft bed and I stare at the
ceiling lost in my thoughts. What do I do now? I have to ask the prince to take
me to my home. Of course, now my home is with Conor. And he is wounded. What am
I thinking? I belong where
he
is. I have to find a way to go back to
him.

The door opens
and the prince enters. He keeps his head lowered.

“Are you
dressed?” he asks.

I have become so
unaccustomed to noble manners. Conor would never ask. He would just barge in
and ravish what is his. Ellard is a prince. A gentleman. He would never behave
impulsively.

“I am wearing a
robe. Is that fine?”

He raises his
head.

“Yes. How was
your bath?”

“Very relaxing.”

I sit up and he
joins me sitting on an armchair by the bed.

“Calista, who
are your parents?”

“Count and
Countess Merrick.”

“Oh. You are the
daughter of the Merricks? I know them. But I didn’t know you were missing. They
must be looking for you.”

“Well, not so
much. Otherwise, you would know I was missing.”

“My lady, you
have to understand their position. They have a respected social status in the
kingdom. I don’t suppose you expected them to tell the whole world about your
disappearance. They possibly kept it a secret and told a lie about your
absence. Like that you were studying abroad.”

He is totally
right. My parents would never risk their position in society in order to find
me. I wish I understood them as much as Ellard does. Then again, they are made
of the same material.

“I will send
someone to call them for dinner. There are some dresses in the closet that belonged
to my sister before she got married. I am sure they will fit you. You have the
same figure. Pick whichever you like for dinner. The King and the Queen will be
present, as well.”

That is not
stressing at all. Dinner with my parents and the King and Queen? I miss Conor’s
hut and its serenity. Most of all, I miss being myself without false pretenses.

When he leaves,
I fall on my knees and weep. Why, Conor? Why did you have to do this? We would
still be together if the idea of letting me go hadn’t crept into his mind. He
was right in a way. I understand that. It wasn’t fair for my parents not to
know that their daughter is alive. Still, the situation got out of control.

Hours pass with me kneeling by the bed, exhausted from all the
tears. I should probably start looking for a dress. But the bed is soft and
inviting. I climb on it, coiling and I close my eyes. I don’t want to fall
asleep. I just wish to get some rest before the excruciating dinner that is
about to come in a few hours.

I am in the
woods and I run in desperation, trying to find him. Thorns scrape my legs and I
can’t find him anywhere. I spin around, but nothing. And then I hear a faint
howling. I hurry towards it.

I gasp when I
see him. He is in his wolf form, lying on the ground, covered in blood. With no
further delay, I rush to him and hug him.

“I found you,” I
whisper relieved.

But he doesn’t answer. I look up and his eyes are closed. When I
press my ear on his chest, there is only hopeless silence. He is dead. I was
too late.

I wake up sweating.
He is dying. I know he is. I have to get out of here. But I can’t do it now.
Not when there is still daylight and there are so many guards outside.