LOVE & MAGIC

Chapter Twelve: Surprise, Surprise

At the Lhite Castle

"Father, we have gone through this, I don't know where Kaze is." Marco repeated tiredly. "And even if I knew, why would I tell you? So you can marry her off to Melnick?"

"Lord Melnick is one of my best friends."

"I wouldn't go around saying that, father; it doesn't cast you in the most positive light."

Emily knocked softly in the door of her father's den and let herself in. "Sorry to interrupt. Marco you got another letter from the Windam Valley." She said handing over the letter.

"Thank you, Emily." Marco answered being careful not to look nervous –if the letter was from Kaze- or too excited – if the letter was from Carla.

"I didn't know you had friends in the Valley," Emily commented, she knew how much her brother hated being interrogated like that by their father and wanted to give him some time.

"I didn't, till very recently," Marco answered. "I met Carla when I went inquiring about Kaze because I don't know where she is!"

Their father yelled a profanity and walked out. Brother and sister laughed. Then Marco sat down on an armchair and began to read, the letter was from Carla.

"You really don't know where she is?" Emily asked after awhile in silence. "You don't have to tell me where, I'm just... worried. I want to know if she is okay. I've been worried for months but..."

"Why didn't you talk to me before?"

"Because I know how much you love Kaze, and I knew that her going away had you worry, I didn't want to add my worry to yours. But she is my little sister, you know, and I love her, even if we don't have anything in common I want her to be okay." Emily began to sob; Marco had never seen her like that.

All those months Marco had wondered more than once what the hell was Emily thinking as she kept on planning her wedding and acting as if nothing were wrong. Emily had been worried for him and their sister and had tried not to be a burden.

"Em, calm down." Marco said while moving to hug his sister, the big brother part was something that just came to him. "I know that Kaze is fine. Okay? I can't say much more because I don't want to get you in trouble with father, but believe me she is fine, more than fine even."

"You sure?" Emily asked, for once not caring if her dress got all wrinkled with her brother's hug.

"Yes. Now cheer up." He said giving her his handkerchief so she could blow her nose. "And listen, you and Kaze -my little sisters- are the most important thing in my life,"

"Okay, I'll cheer up." Emily said and then giggled, "Hey, should I include your girlfriend in the banquet after my wedding?"

For all answer, Marco blushed.

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Kaze

At first, the idea of being queen terrified me, when Chris first presented me to the court –the first day of the King's festival- I was gripping his hand so tight that my knuckles were white but he held my hand all the way and his presence was so reassuring that I let go of my fear little by little and eased into my position.

From Lady Stephanie I learned of my responsibilities and what people expected of me as queen: from running the Palace to look that the Hospital had all what they needed to provide good medical care for the villagers and making sure the Orphan's House provided good education for the kids and a bunch of other charity work. Back in Lhite, mother had been more a symbol than a power and her only responsibility was to produce heirs and throw nice parties; on the other hand I was expected to be something more than a glorified house wife and I found that reassuring,

The down side was that Chris and I couldn't be together as much as we wanted, he had his responsibilities and I had mine and neither of us was one to walk away from them. But we cherished the time we spent together. And, to tell the truth, it never really bother me, I knew that if we were to be attached by the hip all day long we would hate the likes of the other in days - with luck, weeks - and I was thankful of having a life on my own besides being his wife.

I loved him. But only by being something more than his wife I could be the woman he loved. I missed him when we weren't together, or when he worked too much and couldn't be with me but I knew better than to get jealous or start hovering over him.

Besides, there was a part of me that always knew where he was. If I concentrated enough I could see him through my mind's eye. Sometimes I would think of Chris and he would show up minutes later, sometimes I found myself walking through the palace halls without a particular reason, just that my feet wanted to take me there, and I would bump into Chris and he would say he had been thinking of me.

When we had married we had bounded our lives- our magic too - and as such part of him was always with me, and part of me was always by his side.

One of the few times we got to spend time together while 'working' was when we walked the marketplace on Mondays. When the villagers had something that they thought needed to be brought to our attention, they would do so then. Complains were few and Chris was usually able to solve the problems in the spot. When I got tired I would walk to my favorite bakery, buy my favorite cookies and go sit where the story-tellers practiced their art. I could just sit there for ours listening to their lore.

At first Chris had been reluctant to let me wander around alone, but I reminded him that I could defend myself if need and that nothing bad ever happened in the market.

One November afternoon, I was enjoying myself listening to my favorite story – the one about a unicorn that fell in love, for some reason it made me think of Jadzia – wolfing down some cookies and drinking apple juice while Chris was setting some problem they were having with some weapons the King's Guard had ordered for its newest members.

When the story ended I decided to go back to find Chris, it was getting chilly and – since earlier had been warm – I wasn't wearing a sweater; and the last thing I wanted was to catch a cold. I felt someone grabbing me by the arm, just above the elbow, I turned to see who it was and immediately started to fight to free my arm.

"I've told you before, little girl, don't fight me." Melnick said, very pleased with himself

I could feel his nails – rather long and sharp for a man – digging into my flesh, it hurt but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing it. "Let go of my arm." I said as calmly as I could.

"Or what?" he laughed. "You're mine, little girl. Your father sold you to me. I'm sure you already knew that."

I didn't know about the sold part but it wasn't hard to figure. Father would try to get as much as he could out of his daughters since he didn't need them to preserve the family name, I thought he had gotten something out of engaging Emily to Adam too, but I just didn't feel it was the time to wonder about it. "I don't belong to you, if you made some trade with my father, fix it with him. But he has no power over me."

"Would you disgrace your family by refusing your father's word?" he asked, gripping harder.

"My father manages to disgrace the family on his own, especially by being friends with a scummy rat like you. Now, let go of my arm."

"Or what?" he repeated.

I slammed my free hand to his nose, my palm hitting upward as my brother had taught me. Melnick shirked and gripped harder. But by then we had an audience and someone hit Melnick in the back of the head and he finally let me go.

I stood there in shock till the man who had hit Melnick said: "Run, milady." And I ran.

Unfortunately, Melnick decided to chase me, and he moved quite fast for someone his age. My heart was drumming fast, I could feel it in my throat and I realized I was scared. I knew I had been lucky, if Melnick caught with me before I found Chris...

Melnick was close and I tripped, I braced myself for the fall but it never came, someone caught me by the arms kept me on my feet.

"What's going one here?" Chris asked in his most king-like voice as he put his arms around me, I realized I was shaking.

"Melnick is here," I said trying to catch my breath. Just as I said it, Melnick appeared, bleeding from the nose.

"You did that?" Chris asked and I nodded.

"Milord," Melnick started but Chris interrupted.

"Melnick, would you care to explain why are you causing mayhem in my Market?"

"Milord," Melnick repeated. "That girl," he pointed at me, "ran away from her family months ago I was just trying to convince her to go back to them, since they are worried," Chris snorted but Melnick either didn't notice or chose to ignore, instead he murmured a bit about being friends with my father and ended with: "... and her father gave me her hand in marriage, I just want her to keep her part in the deal I made with her father."

"That," Chris said dryly, "Would be very complicated, Melnick, since Kaze is already married to me,"

"But her father..." Melnick cried outraged and in shock.

"Marry her father if he is the one who gave you his word." Chris said. "But you leave my wife alone."

I shifted so I could take a good look at Melnick's stupid face, but when I did so I had to flinch, when I moved my left arm it hurt like hell, I looked down and saw that I had four deep scrapes where Melnick had dug his fingers, two of them were bleeding and all of them had bruises surrounding them.

Chris looked down and saw it too. His expression was boiling with anger when he spoke next, surprisingly his voice was cold, so cold it made me shiver a little, "Guards," he called and gave orders for Melnick to be put on hold until he could be dealt with.

Then he walked me to our room in silence and left me there with Carla- who helped me to clean my wounds and patch them up – while he went to deal with Melnick. Then Carla made me change into a nightgown and had dinner with me in my room. I wasn't feeling that hungry but she reminded me I need to eat well in my condition. I had told Carla already, I had bumped into her a few moments after I found out and I couldn't control myself; though I had yet to tell Chris.

Chris came back late, he was pacing around – looking restless – and still seemed plenty mad. And I did the worst possible thing I could: I burst into tears.

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Chris

I stopped my pacing when I heard the crying sounds, I had only heard them once before but I wasn't likely to forget. Kaze was crying. I rushed to her side, she was seating on the bed and I kneel in front of her. "What's wrong? Does something hurt?" I asked frantically.

Kaze shook her head but then started to talk very fast through her tears, I only got the last part; "... and I was careless, I felt safe and forgot about him and he did this and I got scared," she lifted her arm, now with a proper bandage around it, "and now your mad at me."

"What?!" I yelled and that sent her into fresh tears.

I tried to calm down and sat next to her, pulling her to my arms and rocking her gently, "Please, don't cry, I beg you," I pleaded feeling the moisture of her tears against the skin of my neck where she had buried her face. When her sobs quieted I asked gently, "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because I was stupid and got myself hurt."

This time I shook my head, "Kaze, listen. I am mad, that's true, but not at you, never at you. I'm angry at myself because I was the one that forgot and got careless, I forgot to tell you I had summoned Melnick to discuss some things he has been doing since King Lionel fell ill and I let you alone, I knew he was coming and forgot to put a guard with you and he did that to your arm and it looks like it hurts and it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault." Kaze said, she wasn't crying and I felt relived, "And it doesn't hurt that bad anymore."

We were in silence for a while, "I don't know what I would have done if something..." I said, just the thought of something bad happening to her...

"I know."

"When I felt your fear, Kaze, it was like... I don't know how to explain. I just knew I had to find you, you were so scared..."

She sat up and looked at me. "Yes, I was," she admitted, there was no point in denying, she knew that when her emotions were strong enough I could feel them through the bond we shared since binding our lives and magic together. Right then though, she wasn't feeling at all scared, in fact there was something playful around her... "I was afraid something would happen to us if I didn't found you in time."

"Us?" I asked confused, "You mean to you and me?"

"No." She said and smiled. "I meant our baby and me."

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End of Chapter Twelve.