Heart of the Forest (Arwn's Gift Book 1) (13 page)

“So you want to marry me?” I cocked my head, and he nodded eagerly.

“More than anything, were it possible.”

“You don’t know me, Aneurin.”

“I know you. I lived with you for a month or so, remember. And we wrote each other for an entire year… We’ve made love. I know you better than I know my own brother.”

“But I don’t know you,” I countered with a sigh.

“What do you mean?” His brows furrowed, making him seem in an instant impossibly young.

“I saw you with Islwyn last night.”

My words made him pause and run his fingers through his dark locks. He stopped for a moment, then tugged at his hair in frustration. After muttering something under his breath in the elven tongue, he let out a sigh that was almost lost in the rustle of the green leaves in the forest around us.

“Last night I was exceptionally drunk. It was part of the ceremony, the drinking. It wasn’t until I had…finished that I knew what he had tricked me into. Islwyn has confessed his love for me on numerous occasions. However…I will be honest with you and say that for a time I thought I had similar feelings. But then I met you. Since meeting you, you’re all I can think about. I don’t think I’ve been happier than when my leg was mangled and I had you all to myself.” He stared at his hands before looking up at me. “Do you forgive me?”

“You thought I was dead. I don’t hold it against you. I just wanted to know what it was between you two. Yorwrath called you a catamite.” I left the hollow of the tree, and he followed me into the open.

“Yorwrath is a brat, if you haven’t noticed.” He smirked at me, quickly closing the distance between us to place a kiss on my forehead. My sexual frustration revived with that innocent act. “Even if no one would honor it…” He dropped to one knee before me. “Will you marry me?” I blinked at the proposal.

“No one would honor it, and you don’t believe in the gods,” I teased him, tussling his hair. That mismatched gaze of his was deadly serious as he stared up at me. My knight, true heart, who rides a milk-white stallion and believes in true love, I mused with a smile.

“I’ll swear on my blood.” He took a dagger from his shoe and pulled the blade over his palm, slicing into his flesh. “My heart will never belong to another save you.” After a moment, I dropped to my knees in front of him and took his bleeding hand in mine and placed it over my heart. “No others shall grow fruit from my seed as long as you draw breath. I will honor and keep you, and cut down those who aim to bring you harm.” And then he said some gibberish in his native tongue and the wind picked up around us. With that odd breeze enveloping us it seemed like a bad idea to make a blood oath with a Swynwr who couldn’t control his magic. He opened his jerkin, exposing a pale expanse of that perfectly sculpted chest. And then he held the dagger out to me. I hesitated for a moment before I took it by the hilt. Wincing, I drew the blade across my palm, slicing open my flesh. A single drop of our mingled blood touched the leaves beneath us, and the world screamed like twisting metal. I placed my hand on Aneurin’s chest above his heart and with a shaky breath composed my oath to him.

“I swear to love you, and hold none other above you in my heart until I breathe my last.” I was careful in my wording. Holding my hand to Aneurin’s chest, I felt the wind kick up once more.

The squealing earth continued to confirm our vows as the trees cast odd shadows on the forest floor—shadows that seemed to move like creatures with wills of their own, creatures who came to view our vows taken before no one in front of a crypt. The breeze intensified. It tossed my long hair about and blew some of the fallen leaves away from the ground at our knees, revealing that we weren’t kneeling in just any spot. We had chosen the middle of a circle of white quartz to make our vows. I quickly grabbed Aneurin’s bleeding hand with mine and kissed his lips, sealing the oath. The wind whistled through the trees as he probed at my mouth with his tongue and my hair whipped about, stinging wherever it touched. The moment the kiss broke everything stopped.

Birds chirped overhead, and the sun came out, casting its rays through the heavy canopy onto the small piece of exposed quartz, illuminating it. I quickly stood and wiped my hand on my trousers, my earlier ardor completely snuffed out by a vague feeling that the power that had been evoked during the blood oath wasn’t only Aneurin’s.

Ys, Aneurin’s horse, was still standing where he had been before, as though the world hadn’t screamed in agony with the mingling of our blood. I dug through the saddlebags until I came across the gauze I had purchased the day before. I was still a Cunning Woman at heart and I would always carry gauze. I wrapped my hand silently as Aneurin wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, careful not to smear his blood on my bodice.

“I cannot wait to take you to bed tonight, wife,” he purred happily in my ear. His light, loving tone coaxed me out of my mood almost instantly. A smile slipped over my lips as he placed a trail of kisses down my throat. Standing there with his warm body resting against mine I found myself suddenly in an amazing mood. I didn’t care about the mystical garbage that was probably lurking on the horizon.

“Me too,” I agreed. It was an honest agreement. The thought of lying with him as wife and husband made me feel warm inside, like everything was as it should be. A quiet giggle left my lips.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head, and he squeezed me, rocking me back and forth.

“It was something, tell me,” he whispered in my ear, before placing the softest of kisses on the ridge.

“I was thinking that tonight will be rather fitting. Every king beds his bride for the first time publicly.” A dopey smile parted my lips, and I felt a fool for it.

“Ah, but I doubt the king’s advisors will taste and touch their future queen’s secret parts.”

“In Vanotti, the advisors would place their fingers inside of the future queen to officially declare that she is a virgin intact. I’d much rather Islwyn and Yorwrath’s hands on my sex than nine horny, toothless, old men.”

“The only fingers that will be inside of you tonight will be mine, wife. That I can assure you,” he growled into my ear, nipping the lobe, cajoling a playful yelp from my lips.

Aneurin and I rode back to camp as we had ridden from it. Only now, he clearly took the long way around, not stopping until I had climaxed against him from the maddening pressure of the pommel against my sex. Needless to say, when he dismounted, I was glassy-eyed, flushed, and trembling. As he helped me down from the horse, a knowing smirk spread across his lips, and as we made our way through the camp, he stole kisses from me constantly. It was as though the oaths we took made everything instantly okay. But through the warm afterglow, I knew something dark awaited us on the horizon. The whole world felt like it was taking a deep breath before a scream.

“It’s growing late, and you need to be made ready for tonight,” Aneurin said as we paused outside a medium-sized tent. Beyond the flap was giggling, and on the flap itself was a symbol embroidered in gold that seemed familiar to me, though I couldn’t place it.

“And what does being made ready entail exactly?” I quirked a brow and Aneurin grinned.

“I love that you always question. You’ll be stripped, they will shave your secret parts and your legs. Then you’ll be bathed in rose water and covered in oils. They’ll comb your hair and thread lilac blossoms through it. And they’ll also give you some sort of sacred liquor to imbibe.”

“So I’m to trust strangers with sharp objects around my most sensitive bits.” I sucked my teeth. “Good to know.”

“They do each other every other morning. You’re safe in their care.”

“If you say so. But I’d rather do it myself.”

“I know. But will you humor me?”

“Fine. I’ll just let strangers ogle what’s between my legs for the night.”

“That’s the spirit.” Aneurin chuckled as he pecked my cheek. His laughter was infectious, and after a few moments I too giggled.

We walked into the tent together, with Aneurin leading me. Thin exotic white silks hung from the ceiling; Yorwrath spared little expense for his collection. I noticed one of the slaves was missing. The blonde with the green irises wasn’t to be found, but Catrin was there now, dressed as the others were. They looked like goddesses almost, and the moment their gazes fell on Aneurin, all their charm came out in full force. They closed in on us, separating me from his side as they fawned over him, ushering him to a heavy cushion-covered bed. Their hands tugged at his jerkin, but he stilled them every time, though I couldn’t hear his words among their soft, lilting voices, speaking in that language that I didn’t understand.

After a few moments, I cleared my throat, and the women paused as though they hadn’t seen me all this time. The silence brought on by the shock of realizing I was there gave Aneurin time to speak. His entire speech was in the elven language, and I realized I should probably try to learn it.

“Stay right there. I’ll linger for a little while,” Aneurin offered, as I was advanced on by six women. My gaze locked with Aneurin’s as the slaves’ small, diligent hands untied my bodice and deftly removed my shirt and hood, which they passed to Catrin, who was waiting nearby. Then they removed my boots, belt, and trousers, leaving me in the short shift that didn’t even cover the curve of my bottom, let alone hide my sex. Aneurin watched with greedy eyes as they slipped the shift over my head, unveiling my nude body.

Standing there naked in front of a room of women wouldn’t have bothered me except for their stares, which were perhaps too long. One left and quickly returned with a steaming pitcher of water, which they poured into a shallow pan. With a small sharp blade, they shaved me, giggling among one another in the elven tongue as Aneurin watched me curiously. His watchful gaze caused my nipples to harden in spite of the warmth. The aching points soon made me all too aware of the weight of my full breasts. One of the women took note. A sultry brunette with amber-colored eyes, she cupped my heavy breasts, feeling their heft as she glided her thumbs over my aching nipples. I swallowed as I felt my cleft moisten at the touch of her soft hands… But still I slapped them away. The women pouted, and another of them, with auburn hair in loose ringlets, said something huskily that I also didn’t understand. She and the brunette peeled away from the group and began kissing and stripping each other beside Aneurin on the large bed. Catrin walked my clothes over to Aneurin, and he took them from her, but his attention was all for me. He didn’t seem to notice the two fondling each other beside him. Catrin left and returned with two more pitchers of water, and others slowly peeled off, ceasing their voyeuristic behavior. They brought a massive bronze tub to the middle of the room and proceeded to file out to fetch more hot water.

The moment of peace afforded me time to admire the ornate metalwork on the side of the tub. The bronze was embossed with a forest scene full of animals frolicking merrily and a hooded figure standing beside a large oak whose branches wrapped around the tub. Returning, each slave emptied steaming water into the washtub before retiring to the couch where the brunette and the auburn-haired woman had turned their amorous efforts toward Catrin. She squealed in delight as they held her down and one slipped between her thighs, pressing her mouth to the half-elf’s sex. Two more attended her nipples, one at each, suckling and nipping the tender flesh. There were enough slaves remaining to stand around bored while others prepared the bath. Standing in the damp warmth of the tent, I shifted nervously from foot to foot. I wanted to sit on Aneurin’s lap, but something told me everything I did would end up whispered back into Yorwrath’s ear.

Many believed that if you thought of a devil or demon, they would appear, and at that moment, as Yorwrath entered the tent carrying a cask, I was almost a believer myself.

“I thought I’d find you here.” Smirking, Yorwrath removed his bandanna, before taking a seat next to his brother.
Oh, this will be good. He’s speaking common, I wonder what he wants me to hear.
Without the crude cloth over his forehead, even with his gauntness, there was a boyishness there that they shared. It was odd to see it in Yorwrath’s eyes.

The women ushered me into the steaming bath. I could smell something heavy and earthy underneath the scent of roses wafting from the water. The scent made me hesitate for a handful of moments before I sank into the warmth.

“What do you want, Yorwrath?” Aneurin growled, his attention darting to his brother for a moment before returning to me.

“This is my collection you’re visiting. I wanted to see the sights.” He chuckled darkly as Catrin’s moans filled the room. “Lovely tits, I’m glad I was right about them. Usually, the large ones don’t seem as large out of a bodice, but not those beauties. They actually look bigger with that tiny waist…and those hips. Why is it that you get everything nice?”

Two women knelt beside the tub with a cloth and a cake of soap each. There was no sensation like being washed. It was so calming and relaxing that I melted in a sleepy haze as they caressed my body with the sweet-smelling soap. Yorwrath approached the side of the tub and held a goblet out to me.

“Drink,” he commanded. His voice seemed to echo, and the world went fish-eye. There was something in the bath. “Drink,” he repeated impatiently. I took the goblet from his hand and sipped the liquor. My gaze settled on Aneurin, who was taking a swig from the cask. I lost time. I couldn’t recall Yorwrath pouring the wine at all.

“I’d have gone willingly, sheepfuckers!” I snarled after I finished the bitter wine and tossed the cup across the room. Yorwrath laughed. The sound was distorted. I tried to keep my lids open and focus, but I couldn’t. The liquor and the herbs in the tub made concentrating impossible, and nothing looked or sounded as it should. I grabbed the side of the tub, but I couldn’t feel my fingers. All I felt was a dull pressure and the vibration of my fingers skidding across the polished bronze.

I blinked. “When I sober u—”
Awe, fuck.
I stopped speaking when I realized it was dark, and I wasn’t in the tent with its white silk anymore.