Jaythen felt a hard shove to his wounded shoulder. He sat up in a shout of pain, confused, still lingering on a dream that he had been lost in the Great Forest with a beautiful, intriguing maiden. The assaulter shoved him again. His vision started to clear and his anger was sparked.
"I have a few bones to pick with you," a girl's voice seethed with annoyance. He saw her clearly, and when realizing the wound in his shoulder was not from a lingering dream but reality—all of the day's events crashed down upon his mind in remembrance.
Avalyn stood at the side of his bed with her hand on her hips, she was wearing a simple gown, but it looked worlds better on her than rags.
"What are you doing in my bedchamber?"
"They have no qualms letting their Lord's fiancée into his bedchambers." Her emphasized words were spoken a harsh bite.
He groaned and rubbed an eye to rid it of his tiredness, it must have been approaching dusk for the light was dim in his room. She shook her head and then jumped onto the bed next to him, pushing him down against the mattress and pinning him there by pressing into his wounded shoulder. He moaned at the soreness, but she didn't seem concerned—only disgusted. Her face was inches away and her eyes bore into his, an untamed anger burning in them, "Why? Have I not suffered enough by your hands?"
"What are you talking about? I gave you credence of nobility, you may now have the power to do anything, command anyone with authority without question—which is no light matter. You are now able to be someone else entirely."
She shook her head rather ungratefully, "I did not know you were a noble and I did not ask for such privileges. How can you claim we are betrothed?"
His heart started to flutter with panic, his inner conscious gloating that it had been right—that she would refuse him.
"I know you have just met me but—they were going to force me to marry a girl that I didn't really know, much less like—"
"You do not know me and I doubt you will like me if you do."
"Please Avalyn, just for now pretend it is so. Once my Father dies I won't be under so much pressure. He is unwavering on the subject of me securing a bride."
She bit her lip, crossed her arms, and refused to look at him. A deep frown set in her brow.
"Avalyn?"
She sucked in an angry breath with a hint of despair or disappointment, perhaps both, "You used me."
His heart sank, realizing it was true and becoming disappointed in himself for being so manipulative just as his father, "If you do this favor for me, I promise to give you anything of your desire. I will do anything you ask of me." He hoped that would entice her but she stayed silent and still did not look at him. "Besides where else have you to go?"
She finally turned her head so he glimpsed her profile, "Do you promise we won't have to be married?"
He laid his hand across his chest. "I promise I will do everything in my power to stop it from happening."
Avalyn was displeased with the whole situation, and took leave of his room. He noted of the way she carried herself when she was annoyed—confidently—enough not to be suspected of a common birth. He stretched out and fingered the stitches of his wound; it still hurt, especially after what she had done to it. He wondered who had informed Avalyn of their engagement since his father was bed ridden and couldn't be up and about to tell her.
He dressed into fresh clothes and joined his Mother, Halden, and Avalyn at the formal dining table for supper. When guests of court were present, they had to always dine there—and Avalyn was considered a guest of court.
He thought his mother would be overjoyed at the prospect of gaining a daughter-in-law but when he walked into the dining room to join them, he saw his mother only regarded the girl with a cold expression.
"Greetings," he coughed to get their attention.
"Hello darling," his mother smiled warmly—transforming her face into its usual pleasantness. He took a seat at the head of the table since his father wouldn't be joining them. His mother was on his left and Avalyn to his right. Halden sat on the other side of her.
"You surprised everyone with the announcement of your engagement," his mother began a conversation—one he would have rather not have had so soon.
He nodded, "Yes, I should think so."
"But—"
"What's the matter? Don't you believe in love at first sight?"
His mother's pleasant face darkened, "You've never have."
"She's right," Halden nodded as he cut into his roasted boar.
Jaythen felt prickled at their attack. Why couldn't they accept it? They had been nagging non-stop for him to find a girl and now that he had, they were just as displeased.
He put down his fork and took a hold of Avalyn's hand. He noticed she had barely touched her food. He interlaced his fingers within hers, nearly forcing them apart, and looked his mother in the eye, "I love her."
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. She pulled away quickly with a blush and took a sip of her drink. His mother raised a brow, letting her son know she wasn't convinced.
"Excuse me," Avalyn said softly and removed herself from the table, walking hastily out of the room.
Once they could no longer hear her footsteps his mother spoke with a hard tone, "That girl is very odd, and I'm having trouble believing that you truly love her."
"Why is she odd?"
"She demanded one of the chambermaids to remove the fire-poker from her chambers."
He felt his lips twitch in an amused smile, "She has her quirks, and those are the reasons I love her."
"What about the fact she refused to remove her jewelry for a bath?"
The only Jewelry he knew of Avalyn to own was the silver-chained amulet.
"Mother, she is recovering from being attacked by bandits and she may have a few…discrepancies from the ordeal. She will overcome it though, from what I know she is a strong lass."
His mother nodded, "I do hope so. Vitoria was so hoping to become your wife, and it would be a shame if you married a lady with less class."
Jaythen bit his tongue, wanting to chide his mother for insinuating Avalyn had less class than Vitoria. Vitoria was selfish, and Avalyn had helped him. He wasn't surprised to find that Vitoria had been chosen for him and even less surprised that his mother was sour over the loss of her.
He finished his meal, noticing his cousin as uncharacteristically quiet.
"What say you about my fiancée?"
Halden was just finishing his meal as well, but looked over to his cousin, "I think she's a quaint lass."
"Is that all?"
"Well, she does have an otherworldly beauty no doubt."
Jaythen looked his mother, hoping she at least considered the fact Avalyn was more beautiful than Vitoria—and beauty counted for something in the court. His mother absentmindedly nodded, considering it.
Avalyn had not come back since she had excused herself. Jaythen started to worry maybe she had run away. He was done with dinner entirely and so excused himself. He went to her bedchamber and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He rushed through the rest of the corridor, asking servants if they had seen her. No one had. His heart was tossed into dreaded feeling, beating against his chest. Where could she be?
He left the main hall to the outside, and asked the guards if they had spotted her. They would have seen her if he left the castle.
"She informed us she was going on an evening stroll around the castle. I offered to accompany her but she declined. Now that I have you here, might I say congratulations on your engagement to such a fine lady."
"Thank you," Jaythen was curt and quickly headed off in the direction the guard had pointed—the path to the forest. He turned the corner of the castle wall and saw her figure standing by the old oak tree at the top of the hill. He slowed his pace and climbed the hill to her. The sun was setting in the far west, and its last rays of light caught in her hair, causing it to shine like gold.
"I was afraid you had run away."
Her gaze was removed from the sunset and onto him, "I thought about doing it."
He leaned against the tree, noting the rough texture that rubbed through his clothes, and missed that sensation from when he was a child, "You know, I used to climb this tree when I was younger."
She titled her head back to look at the towering branches, trying to imagine him doing it. "Do you not anymore?"
"I haven't had quite the time for such leisurely activities," he smirked but said in tone of disdain. "I would look for falling stars, to wish that I could be someone else."
"Falling stars don't grant your wishes."
"I know that now, for I still am who I am."
"I can understand how you would want to be someone else, your life seems confined and unpleasant, but you must know that it isn't so terrible—you have much more than others."
He didn't know how to respond, but felt a hint of insult at her words, "Your life seems uncomfortable and lonely—I can see why you'd want to be another."
She whirled around with a fierceness in her expression, "I've never claimed to live a charmed life. I manage enough on my own and choose to be alone for my own reasons."
He slid down and perched himself at the base of the oak tree, staring up at her near profile. He noticed that she was fiddling with the jewel attached to her necklace between her fingers, and he had never been close enough to tell what kind of jewel it was but he caught its shine from the setting sun—a brilliant violet.
"So tell me how a poor, orphaned, farm girl comes to own such a piece of jewelry."
She immediately tucked the necklace under the neckline of her dress, "My real mother left it to me, perhaps as an apology for abandonment."
"She must have been wealthy to part with such a gem—I do believe it is an amethyst."
"Amethyst, is that what they call it?"
"It's rare—only the likes of royals and high clergy are seen to wear it."
She considered his words but shook her head, "I don't remember, perhaps."
Why would a wealthy woman abandon her child with a pair of farmers? He didn't understand humans and their motives at times.
"We'd better head back, they'll be wondering of our whereabouts," he stood and offered his arm for her to take. She took one last look toward the sun. It was nothing more than a bright sliver on the horizon. She swiftly brushed past him, subtly refusing his arm and going on ahead of him. He felt as though she didn't want anything to with him. Then why does she stay? He certainly was not forcing her to.
She retired to her bedchamber, even though she probably wasn't the least bit tired from sleeping all day. Jaythen wasn't tired either but went to his room despite the fact. He needed to think. Halden was waiting for him to his surprise.
He gave his cousin a questionable look, urging him to reveal the reason to why he was there.
"Do you remember the noise we heard in the forest?"
How could he have forgotten? He recalled how it echoed through him, vibrating off his bones. "Yes."
"Well, we had gone off after it and ran across a small farm on the western edge of the forest, right off the Southern Road. The family there had locked themselves inside their cottage."
"Why?"
"They said a dragon had terrorized them."
Jaythen's eyes widened, "Impossible!"
"They swore up and down it was so. Think of the noise—there is nothing like it—it must have been the dragon's call."
"We would have seen it, they are said to be large creatures." Jaythen brought his fist up under his chin and thought, "There haven't been dragon sightings around this part of the realm in nearly twenty years—at least." He knew of it because when he was younger he recalled overhearing the court elders mumble rumors of a dragon that had terrorized Griswold, a city northwest of Wendbury. Then he remembered the gouges in the rock surrounded by flame licks—only made possible by such a creature. Could it be that it has returned—the dragon from long ago?
"Also, the farmers had feared that their daughter was killed by the beast because she had left the day before to chop firewood but never returned."
"That is unfortunate," he replied, not taking in that his cousin was hinting at something.
"Their daughter who is called, Avalyn."
Jaythen looked up immediately with frown, realizing his cousin knew that she wasn't a noble. His cousin had meant for Jaythen to be startled that she was deceiving him but by Jaythen's concerned frown he realized that his cousin had known the truth all along.
"You knew, and you lied for her? How could you have done such a dangerous thing?"
"The farmers are not her real parents—she could have been born to anyone, even someone of noble blood. Besides, it doesn't matter now, father is appeased."
"He will certainly not be when the breath of truth reaches his ear," Halden scoffed. Those words sent Jaythen lunging forward and pushing Halden against the wall and forcing him to stay there by his shirt collar. His next words were uttered in the most threatening tone he had ever used, "And by whose breath with my father hear the truth? Certainly not mine. Will it be yours, cousin, or would you have me unhappy the rest of my days?"
Halden wrestled out of Jaythen's grip easily, "I don't understand you. You had your pick of any of the girls at court but the one you do choose comes from nothing and nowhere."
He opened his mouth to declare that he had no serious intentions to marry Avalyn, but stopped and decided it was best to let Halden believe otherwise—for now something dark was dividing them and he questioned the stretch of his trust towards his older cousin. He let out a decisive breath, "She causes the world around me to seem less dull." At least that part was true.
"I will keep your shameful secret for now," Halden straightened his collar and shot Jaythen a sly look. He didn't speak anything more and simply left the room. Jaythen found his heart was beating in alarm—hoping his cousin would keep to his word.
A/N - I'm kind of disappointed that no one else is reviewing this because I'm so excited to be writing it. Oh well, that's what I get, being spoiled off all the reviews of my other DB stories I guess ;) AiDeeKay, you rock my socks.