The Nightingale

Chapter 30: Rumors

The bed felt too comfortable, and the birdsong in the morning was lovely, but all she wanted was to keep sleeping. She remembered Ichigo's kisses on every part of her skin, behind her neck, on her throat and between her breasts that bristled with his hot breath; the way he caressed her, not touching her completely but making her feel so many sensations at the same time, made her feel that everything was unreal.

She still did not know how she had dared to do what she did when she was on him, but she did not regret anything, especially since he did the same to her and that was like touching paradise with her fingers.

Just remembering her legs on the sides of Ichigo's head, while he ran his tongue in her intimacy, made her want to feel him again in that moment. She remembered clinging to the sheets when the pleasure was so great that it made her arch her back at the same time that she felt all the muscles in her legs tense before she was completely relaxed on the bed.

They had played before, there was a lot of pleasure in those games but they had never done anything like what had happened that night, and Ichigo was right, it had taken away their peace. The trip would be torture because at that moment she wanted him again and she knew they couldn't go further because she didn't have the tea there; had she known that he would reach them, that they would be alone that night, Rukia had asked the Kahya to give her that tea.

The wedding night could go to hell, she wanted him at that moment.

The maid who worked in her uncle's house, which was the place where they were, entered with some servants, a couple of them carried a bathtub and several more carried buckets of hot water; she must bathe at that time because the journey would be long and she could only bathe until she reached the Great House.

She came to the kitchen dressed in riding gear, a comfortable blouse, tailored pants, and riding boots; it was better for her to look like a boy and not a lady if she was going to ride a horse on such a long journey. She had learned to ride while she was in the castle, Ichigo had taught her to do it, and it was an activity she found entertaining until her buttocks ached from the galloping leaps.

The first one she saw was Ichigo, who walked into the kitchen with a smile that made her blush. He was right, she didn't know how to see him after seeing his dark eyes while he did those things to her with his mouth; it was torture.

— Good morning, Your Highness, did you sleep well? — She asked sitting down to eat breakfast. Her father entered the kitchen at that moment and he seemed annoyed for some reason that Rukia attributed to Ichigo's presence there.

— I slept wonderfully, Miss Kuchiki. The air in the mountains is incredible. — Ichigo said with a charming smile. Rukia greeted her father and Ichigo did the same before the servants served them breakfast.

Her father looked annoyed and avoided seeing Ichigo while they had breakfast, Rukia had the impression that perhaps her father had noticed something strange at night. She didn't remember much from the night before, and if she thought about it, she could only remember Ichigo looking at her and caressing her, so she didn't know if what they did was heard outside her room; but the very idea that her father knew about it made her feel ashamed at that moment.

They had breakfast and prepared things for the trip; her uncle was not at the farm, he was in Maranni for the birth of Byakuya's son, and her father had explained to her that everyone was going to gather there to celebrate the baby, even Hisana's brother was there.

It seemed to Rukia that Koga loved Hisana very much. Despite the fact that Hisana had been exiled from her kingdom, Koga tried to see her, and even Hisana's father seemed to be watching her; which was undoubtedly strange. Sometimes Rukia thought too much about Hisana's situation because her parents kept trying to find out about her despite being exiled; without a doubt it was a sign that Hisana was loved by her family. Rukia wondered if her brother would have a title if he had stayed in Jetaiya with Hisana; maybe Byakuya would be a Prince Consort.

— My dear Rukia, would you do me the honor of joining me this morning? — Ichigo asked her when a soldier had approached her with the horse at the ready.

— I thought you wouldn't ask me. — Rukia smiled as she said that and she ordered her horse to be taken away. Ichigo helped her onto his horse and immediately after, he got on the horse as well. — Do you think my father is suspicious about last night? — She whispered when they were both settled on the horse.

— He doesn't suspect it, he knows it. He was waiting for me at the door of the room when I left yours. — Ichigo whispered in her ear with a mischievous smile, but Rukia blushed violently. — Don't worry, I told him that if he wanted to, I would marry you when we got to Maranni. For me, that would be better, so we could sleep in the same bedroom and I wouldn't have to infiltrate yours like a thief; but he didn't want to.

Those words accentuated the blush on Rukia's cheeks, it was embarrassing that her father knew about it but she was grateful that he hadn't said anything to her at breakfast or it would have been even more embarrassing. Her father gave the order to advance and the whole caravan began to move, they were going ahead, and her father on a horse near them, as if he did not want to lose sight of them.

— You look like a boy, dressed like this. — Ichigo said with an amused smile. This time, Rukia was sitting in front of him, feeling Ichigo's chest on her back and one of his hands grasping her waist in a possessive gesture that she loved. — But your mint scent tells me that you are my Rukia; you look adorable dressed like this. — He told her and kissed her neck making her skin crawl completely. Rukia bit her lip. — Marry me in the next town, Rukia.

— I do not want to spend my honeymoon between conspiracies, I prefer to wait a little longer; but Kia has no problems. — Rukia said in an amused whisper when she was sure no one was paying attention to them.

— Kon loves the idea. — Ichigo said as he kissed her neck again making her blush.

— Are you going to tell me why you are here? — Rukia asked, aware that they still had that talk pending.

— We are going to talk about that, but we will go a little ahead of the way; Uryu is going to go after us taking care of us. Whatever I do and whatever I say, don't react violently, I don't want to die from a fall from the horse. — Rukia noticed the warning in that comment even though Ichigo's voice sounded amused.

The queen had told Rukia that sometimes keeping quiet and listening was a woman's best weapon. "No one would suspect a pretty woman, who is silent in the face of men's talks. You listen and smile, pay attention to what men say who sometimes underestimate women, and then use that information to gain power. The kingdom belongs to men, but men are ours."

In the conversation Ichigo had with her father the day before, she had kept quiet. Ichigo had told her that he would be spending a vacation in Maranni, and to her father that he would go to Neikel because of a rumor of bandits. Rukia wasn't stupid and she didn't have to think long to realize that Ichigo was blatantly lying to her; she knew that he had come to talk to her at night, but the desire outweighed her desire to know, and Ichigo hadn't refused to answer her initial question before everything got sidetracked.

At that time, talking while riding a horse was the only way to have a private conversation.

— Before I tell you anything, I want you to read something. Last night, when I returned to my room, Kholtan had arrived with a prey; it was a black dove. Tell me if you know who wrote the message. — Ichigo said when they were well ahead, and handed her a rolled piece of parchment.

Rukia unfolded the paper and read the contents. It was not difficult to recognize the handwriting of her father, nor the signature at the end of the note; only she didn't understand the note. It was not written in code, it was just a couple of sentences that, for her, made no sense: "The Commander is coming with us, get out of there. I think the king is suspicious. S.K."

Rukia was silent for a moment, reading and rereading those sentences, trying to make sense of what was written and the fact that her father had written it. It was supposed that they to go to Maranni to celebrate Byakuya's son, why should someone leave there? What did the king suspect? Her entire family would be in Maranni, and Hisana's family would be, at least Koga would be. Why should Ichigo's presence change something? It was just a family reunion and Ichigo was her fiancé.

— Rukia, talk to me. — Ichigo's voice sounded very soft near her ear but she couldn't respond, her mind was working very fast. She needed more information because she didn't understand what that note could mean.

— Why did the king send you? — She asked but didn't dare to look at him, she didn't want to see the expression on Ichigo's face; she was afraid to see something that might scare her.

— There is a rumor about Maranni. It is said that in Maranni your father is assembling a larger army than he claims the city possesses, and it is said that in Maranni there are foreign soldiers, of whom your father has not notified the king. The king sent me to Maranni to check if those rumors are true.

— That's why you rushed to catch up with us, isn't it? — She asked quietly, in the same tone of voice as Ichigo. Rukia had the impression of Ichigo struggling with himself saying that to her. — Why you?

— Because I'm the Commander of the Kingdom. — He paused. — Because I swore my allegiance to the kingdom, and because you are my fiancée.

Rukia gulped. She was trying to process what Ichigo was telling her, he was answering her questions but she felt that something was missing there; Rukia read the note again. Ichigo had arrived with many suspicions about her father, he had intercepted a message without even questioning anything just because it was a message that someone sent at midnight and had to be intercepted. What was he going to say to her father if the message was personal? "Excuse me Lord Kuchiki, my eagle ate his carrier pigeon". It was ridiculous.

Nobody sent a pigeon with a message at midnight if there were no problems, that's the way things were supposed to work. Rukia realized that she didn't know the soldier inside Ichigo, and that scared her; she remembered that he was more than a soldier, Ichigo was the commander of the kingdom, the one who controlled all military power after the king.

Ichigo, with a single order, could start a war. Ichigo was the man whose hands would always be stained with blood, from both guilty and innocent people; he was the man who would do what he had to do to get to the truth, whatever it was. Ichigo was the kind of man she was going to marry.

The further they went down the road, the more Rukia tried to remember about her father and his strange attitude; she didn't want to suspect him, she didn't feel good about suspecting him. The note in her hand was strange and Ichigo hadn't confronted her father, but was still with them towards Maranni; he was waiting for something.

— Do you want to see what's in Maranni? — She asked after a long silence that was only broken by the sound of the horse's hooves. She had many more questions to ask, but she couldn't find the right words to express them; she never imagined that Ichigo was there because of a rumor. Rumors weren't good, a rumor could end someone's life if she couldn't prove they were false words.

— That is why we are going to Maranni, because I want to see if what they say is true or not. If it is false, then with my own hands I will execute the Lord of Neikel for insulting my future wife's family.

— What if they are real? — Rukia asked swallowing hard.

Ichigo's voice sounded angry and determined, but she couldn't stop thinking about her father's attitude; in the refusal he gave her when she wanted to return to Adelaar, in his anger because she had chosen Ichigo; in the words he had said to her at Kaien's engagement dinner: "If I tell you to go, you will leave here without looking back."

Rukia felt Ichigo's forehead lean against her shoulder, for a moment that seemed eternal; the internal struggle of a man behind her back. She swallowed again because she didn't want to hear that answer, because she already knew it and for Ichigo to say it would only be confirmation of the inevitable.

— The king will prepare an attack if necessary; men are trained to attack as soon as the order is given, and your father knows it. — Ichigo seemed to be in pain at the moment. Rukia felt just like him. — Rukia, tell me that rumors are that, rumors. Tell me that there are no soldiers from another kingdom in the Great House, tell me that your father did not write that note.

Rukia wanted to tell him that they were rumors, but at that moment she herself questioned what her father had been doing, because there really were soldiers from another kingdom in the Great House but she had never seen them as enemies or as a danger to the kingdom, she only saw them as Koga's escort. Rukia didn't respond to Ichigo's request.

— What will happen to us? With you and me. — Rukia asked. Her voice broke, she felt that she was going to cry, her eyes filled with tears and her heart was pounding in a painful way. Ichigo grabbed her around her waist, as if he feared she would pull away from him.

— I have twenty days to return to the castle, you have to come with me. If you are not in Adelaar in twenty days, they will attack; your absence means that the rumors are real, everyone knows that your father will not let you go back to the castle if he really is planning something big. — Rukia nodded at Ichigo's words. Twenty days, it was actually less if the travel days were subtracted; they still had enough time to prove the rumors false. — Even if the rumors are not real, you have to go back to the castle with me.

Rukia just looked at the road, her teeth were clenched, avoiding crying or saying something, because she felt that she could really cry, and at the same time she was angry; her mind generated many doubts and questions. What Ichigo was telling her was a rumor, a simple rumor, and that was making her question many things; she did not want to imagine what the king might be thinking at the moment.

— In Maranni there have always been many soldiers, the last times I was there, there were soldiers training young people. Soldiers from another kingdom are from Jetaiya; my brother's wife is from Jetaiya, an exiled princess. — She said breathing heavily, at least she would tell him what she knows, because she didn't want Ichigo to misinterpret what was in the Great House.

Rukia didn't want to think that her father was committing treason, but she was afraid; the punishment for treason was death. Ichigo just hugged her a little more tightly when she said what he might find in the Great House.

— Will you return to Adelaar with me? — Ichigo asked her, but she didn't know what to answer. — Come back as my wife, Rukia; because if you come back as Lord Kuchiki's daughter, you will be a hostage. As my wife I could take you out of the kingdom, send you to Vayalat; protect you.

— And what will happen to my family? — The words clumped together in her throat and didn't come out.

Ichigo was giving her options even though she knew she didn't have them; since they made their engagement official, she knew that the agreements bound her to the will of the kingdom; and yet her father allowed it. Perhaps that was the proof that the rumors were false, but she felt it so fragile that she did not know whether to trust it, because her father had told her that if necessary, she would have to flee from there.

— I will prove to you that those rumors are false. — She promised even though her voice shook, and Ichigo just nodded and kissed her neck one more time.

Thank you for reading.