Chapter 49
As she was seconds from joining her men for their first night of destruction since Capricorn had been gone, Meggie looked into the mirror as she stood in the bathroom part of her still expecting her husband to appear behind her just like he used to, but he wasn't there this time. She was all alone, yet, in that moment she couldn't help thinking that she looked as calm as she could remember being since he had been gone. There were no longer red circles under her eyes, or the lines of tears left behind on her cheeks. She was on her own, but as prepared for that as she could ever remember being. It eased something inside of her as she prepared to do this thing. For the first time since marrying Capricorn, she wasn't wearing a dress, but something that she might have worn before she knew who he was. She hadn't thought she'd kept any of her old clothes, but right when she needed them, she knew where they were at the back of her closet. All the large plaid shirts she used to wear, all the T-shirts that swallowed her whole, and her jeans with all the rips. At the bottom of the first box were all her boots and tenna shoes. As Meggie stared at what was her old wardrobe, she felt like she was looking at a picture of who she used to be, and she wasn't sure how to feel about that as she picked out what to wear. First, a plaid shirt then some jeans that weren't as ripped as all the rest, and finally the only heeled boots she'd owned before Capricorn entered her life. Meggie couldn't help thinking that as she looked at herself, she in many ways looked like the perfect combination of the girl she had been before Capricorn knew her and the woman he had helped create. She felt secure in these clothes even as her nerves fluttered in her veins until taking one last look at herself, Meggie told herself she was ready, but still those butterflies were there as if determined to stay with her. And yet she did what she could to ignore them as she repeated the thought that she was ready as if to make it true. She was ready. To go lead her men in the type of chaos Capricorn usually waged on the world, but as she pocketed the blades she'd taken from the torture room, she found her nerves wouldn't go away. There was only one guard waiting when she stepped outside her bedroom. He was standing straight, his eyes not daring to look at her until she was standing in front of him and stepping close, he slipped another weapon into her hand. Meggie held it, letting her fingertips gently touch the hand until breaking eye contact with the guard, she looked at it. A breath left her lungs involuntarily as she took it both her hands slowly working up the courage to try to wield it on her own.
She now held a large ax in her hands.
"This weapon will serve you well tonight" whispered the guard sharing her smile as she finally took the first experimental steps back until twirling in a circle, she swung the ax just to see how it would feel in her hands. She enjoyed the heft of it. The way the weight barely felt like anything as it swung in the air suddenly one with her arm. As new as the weapon was it didn't feel new in that moment, it felt like it had always been part of her, and with that thought her smile melted a little to become bittersweet. Meggie could suddenly think of no one, but Capricorn in that moment as her heart longed for him more so then usual. Of Capricorn and for a moment, she remembered the first time she held a blade in her hand. That was before she loved him. Before she'd known what love was supposed to be. Capricorn had been the closest friend she'd ever had then, they were not lovers or husband or wife or anything yet, but merely at the cusp of something on that day when she'd come along to find him in what she could only deem his element. It was the beginning of their love story.
All she knew is that she was no longer his prisoner, she was allowed to roam the castle at her will, and in doing so, Meggie had found Capricorn out in the yard.
"He's so graceful…beautiful even as he throws them with such precision" thought Meggie watching as he stood in the very center of the yard a bullseye in front of him a few yards away, he was throwing knives at it, and with a precision that made her belly tingle. She thought she was being quiet as she stood in the shadows even as the sun was all around her. She should have known Basta would be there watching from somewhere and he was, appearing to walk just behind her to where Capricorn was. With a nod of his head, Capricorn knew she was there, and turning he smiled when he looked at her.
"Meggie…how long have you been standing there?" said Capricorn watching her with this look in his eyes that she couldn't quite decipher yet.
"Not long…I didn't want to bother you. I can leave?" exclaimed Meggie, looking all around her as her face turned bright red as if she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to, but then she saw his face. The way it fell at the very idea of her leaving him now. Meggie saw immediately that he wanted her to stay. It gave her a thrill even as she didn't completely understand why. All she knew was that he wanted her to stay as much as she wanted to stay too and there was a spark of something in the pit of her stomach.
"I'd like it very much if you stayed, in fact, don't stay back there. Come here and stand next to me" called Capricorn, as he spoke, he was walking towards her. When she was close enough, he took her hand to lead her back to where he was before, and Meggie couldn't remember him ever touching her hand before that. It made her shiver.
"I quite enjoy your company" whispered Capricorn, his lips so close as he twirled her until they stood back to front with his hand suddenly leaving hers to rest on her stomach.
"Have you ever handled a blade before?" whispered Capricorn as he gently took her hand.
"No, never" said Meggie, more calmly than she would have believed, in that moment, he placed a blade in her hand in response letting her feel the cold of the steel in the same moment as she felt the chill of his breath as it tingled the back of her neck.
"I'll teach you. It's simple really, you must be very delicate with it, but also firm. When your ready, aim it, and once you have your target, you throw" said Capricorn, making her feel suddenly so sure of herself as he controlled her every movement. In one move, he had made the blade leave her hand, and the grip they shared until it flew away from them to land at the center of the bullseye. As the knife hit its target, Meggie couldn't help letting out a breath, and laughing as she saw then heard it hit its mark.
Meggie's mouth instinctively fell open and looking at him, she found him smiling at her.
"Now, I want you to try it on your own. Don't worry…I'm right here…I just need you to relax" breathed Capricorn moving the hair away from her face as he placed another blade in her hand. That was when he took a step back, but even as she stood facing the bullseye, she could feel his hand at the small of her back. It seemed to help relax something at the center of her soul. She kept staring at the bullseye as a breath left her. She didn't want to disappoint him in that moment, but as if reading her thoughts, he took her by the shoulders, and that thought slipped away. Another breath left her as she followed his instructions and took aim. She looked at it before copying his movements just the way he'd shown her. There was only a moment of hesitation before the blade left her hand landing just below his on the bullseye.
"Wow…that was actually…kind of beautiful" whispered Meggie turning to find Capricorn right there behind her.
"I did it" exclaimed Meggie not realizing until that moment that he was so close her chest pressed into his and her hand suddenly in his.
"You're very beautiful" said Capricorn, his voice gentle. He kissed her hand then before laying it to rest on his chest. His hands found the slope of her waist as his eyes looked into hers. There was an intensity that as his wife she now recognized, but back then she hadn't known that look. It had simply just given her those shivers over and over until she didn't know what she wanted more, to run from him or be closer to him. It wasn't a choice that she ever really had to consider.
"No one's ever thought I was beautiful before. I…thank you…for seeing that in me" whispered Meggie finding in that moment that she wanted to hug him. Of their own will her hands reached for his and with that movement, she was pulled to his chest, and he had her as close as she could be. They were looking into each other's eyes in that moment and as they were Meggie found that she was counting every breath she took as she waited to see what he would do next.
"I want to kiss you, Meggie. Would you mind if I kissed you now?" said Capricorn the look in his eyes both thrilling her and startling her. She stood there then considering just what he was asking her in that moment the thought of saying yes always there. It would take them one single movement for that kiss to be more then just a question between the two of them, but first, he stood there waiting for an answer that Meggie didn't completely have the answer for yet.
"I don't know…I…I don't kiss…I've never been kissed by anyone before. I don't think anyone's ever wanted to before" said Meggie, she realized as she was rambling until finally, she found herself taking a breath as her eyes looked away to stare anywhere, but up into his eyes until his hand came to draw her eyes back to his.
"Everyone else in this world are fools for not wanting to kiss you, but if you don't want me to, I swear I will not. The decision is yours and shall remain yours always" breathed Capricorn, the way he said it making her insides flutter. All of a sudden, he was holding her face in his hands, and looking at her in a way no one had before. It made her decision for her. Now all she needed to do was find the words to tell him what it was. She wanted that kiss and she wanted to stay there with him. Because he was the only one who treated her like she was more then a little girl who never understood anything. He made her feel smart and powerful and like she was more then even she realized. All that ran through her mind as she kept looking at him trying to find her voice to bring their lips all the closer.
"I think I'm falling in love with him" thought Meggie, the thought shocking her as the nerves suddenly swam in her veins all the stronger, but even as they did, she was still looking at him part of her wondering what he would do if she simply moved the distance to initiate the kiss all on her own.
"You can kiss me…I want you to—" said Meggie never getting the chance to finish as he moved the small distance needed to kiss her.
"That was the beginning of everything. I wouldn't be standing here now if we hadn't shared that kiss" thought Meggie finally feeling the heft of the ax as the memory faded away. All her nerves were still there, but she couldn't let them get the best of her. After all, if she had let them do that once, she wouldn't be with the love of her life now, and thinking of that still, Meggie walked down the hall with the guard at her heels until suddenly they were in the courtyard where the cars were being loaded. She decided that that could happen this time too as she prepared to leave that night.
"Let's pullout. Everything will go as planned" whispered Meggie receiving only nods from her guards as they all piled into the cars, but once they were inside the guard handed her something else.
"I found this in a box in the dungeon safe, my lady, I think you should take it as well. Just in case things should get out of hand" said the guard handing her a revolver and an empty holster.
Meggie took it, she even let the guard help fasten her into it, but as she sat in the car, she sensed she wouldn't need this. The ax felt like all the weapon she would need as she stepped into the car and drove off with her men into the night.
"I need to be like Capricorn now. I need to have his strength now" thought Meggie in that moment her eyes were suddenly drawn to the passing countryside as she thought of her husband feeling suddenly closer than she did a moment ago. She knew he wouldn't have let her come along on such a trip. Not with him gone as he was, but Meggie couldn't let that hinder her now.
He was not here now, and she had to protect his kingdom the only way she knew. She would tell him when the time came, and she hoped that he would be proud as they began to approach the dim lights of a small village. Meggie looked at those lights and as if on instinct, she took a breath. There was no going back now.
