Maya highly suspected he was ripping her off, but she also knew she had fifty lyres on her. “Sure.” She handed out the money, and his smile widened further. “If I find out you haven’t sold me what you’ve claimed, I can assure you, you will regret it.” She took her bow from the strap on her back. The werewolf seemed amused at first, since she didn’t have arrows. However, his expression soon transformed into alarm when she pulled back the string, and it erupted into flames, with a molten arrow forming at the peak of the drawback.
“It’ll work,” he said, but his voice came out rather hoarse. “I swear it on my mother’s grave.”
Briefly entertaining the thought of piercing him just to see how far the bolt would go, she released her magic, letting it evaporate to nothing in sudden horror. “Your mother?”
“Yes, ma’am. Dragons took her,” he said, now spitting to the side. His eyes went dark, and his lips curled in a snarl at the memory. “It’ll work. I won’t risk cheating you on that factor, ma’am.”
She nodded, feeling slightly cold. “Sorry about your mother.” Had she really been thinking about killing him?
“It’s a good thing, what your kind are doing,” he said. “A good thing.”
Maya left the stall with her new ring, cut with a dull green gemstone in the middle, after the werewolf briefly explained the mechanics. There wasn’t much other than “Gives off a glow when in a magical weak spot.” She tried to ignore the people now giving her fearful glances on the street, thinking about the cellphone back in her room. Maybe she would be able to get a signal if she found a weak spot. Maybe if this thing worked – she’d be able to call home. She needed to do it before her battery ran out.
Before her last connection to earth faded away.
Making it back to the castle, she’d only been in her rooms for a few minutes, when the knock came to her door. She’d already felt who it was – the Bond made sure of it – and opened it to see a rather nervous Renne waiting outside. Even if he looked sublimely confident on the outside, she felt the quiver of emotion within – the part he kept hidden from everyone else except her. “Is everyone okay, Renne?”
He responded to her with a quick jerk of his head. Maya noticed he kept one hand behind his back. “Yes. Of course. Listen, uh, I was just thinking… we’ve not done that much with each other with the time we’ve been together. I mean, yes, we’ve done things together, but not anything that could be seen as… nice. Like… taking you out for meals. Seeing… nice things. Doing nice things.”
Oh God, Maya thought, gaping at him. For some reason, her stomach decided at that moment to do a little lurch. “Are you asking me out on a date?”
“And I was think – wait.” He blinked at her several times, processing her words. “How did you know what I was going to say? Can you read my mind now?”
She suppressed a snort of laughter as best as she was able. “No. You act exactly how a nervous guy does when he wants to ask someone out. Have you ever asked someone out before?”
“No,” he said, now appearing rather desperate. “Damnation, I’m no good at this.”
“It’s fine,” she said, now watching him with folded arms, leaning against her door frame. Smiling, because somehow the situation appeared so sweet. “What did you want to ask me?”
His brow furrowed. “I wanted to ask if you’d like to take a journey with me. I have a really beautiful spot in the nearby mountains. I was wondering… if you wanted to go there, and… have food there?”
“You mean like a picnic?”
“Picnic…?” He frowned further. “I’m unaware of this word.”
Was picnic a modern word? Maya realized she knew absolutely nothing about it. “It means what you said. A picnic… is when we put food in a basket and go and sit somewhere outside, maybe on a blanket, and… eat said food.”
“Oh. Well, yes. I mean that. I was thinking we could do it tomorrow. The weather should clear up by then. It usually does after periods of heavy rain here. We’d have to wrap up warm… but I think you’ll like it. If you like visiting things.”
It could be a chance to find a weak spot. “Absolutely,” Maya said, plastering on a smile. “I’d love to go. Are we going there normally, or…?” She gestured vaguely at him, which he interpreted correctly.
“Yes, I was thinking you’d ride me. I can get a saddle on my back if you’d prefer that.”
A saddle sounded reassuring, but Maya knew she’d have to help him buckle it on the way back from the mountains as well, unless he planned to spend the whole picnic as a unicorn. “Maybe I better practice bareback riding. I only rode with saddles.”
“Yes, of course. Oh, one other thing.” He whipped out the hand he’d been positioning behind his back and presented her with a single, colorful flower. It looked like a rose, but Maya had never seen a rose colored silver before with gold trimmings on the tip of each petal. The stem appeared as a deep forest green. “For you.”
She took the rose, noting its weight, admiring its beauty. She probably would laugh if a guy back on earth brought her flowers, but somehow, now she understood. It was a gesture – a nice gesture if you didn’t know the other person. “Thank you. She sniffed it cautiously, and a faint aroma not unlike lavender hit her nostrils. “Is this a real flower?”
“No, actually. It’s enchanted,” he said with a delighted smile at her reaction. “A talented ironsmith shaped it, and an enchantress added the finishing touches. The enchantment makes it lifelike and adds a smell. Since it’s made of iron, it won’t ever wilt. An Everlasting Rose, it’s called.”
Maya suspected this Everlasting Rose to be very, very expensive, judging how the werewolf had priced his wares earlier. “It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She went and searched for a vase, something to hold the rose, and found one with some dead flowers dripping brown leaves over a mantelpiece. Renne watched her from the outside, not stepping in. A part of her wanted him to. She knew her excitement, her appreciation was radiating through the Bond. She felt something similar in him. He didn’t move, but when she leaned against the doorframe again, he took her hand, and planted a kiss upon her knuckles, bending down in an elegant, noble fashion. Her cheeks flushed at the gesture, and a warm, molten sensation went through her insides.
He glanced up at her, still with his lips pressed against her hand, and something wicked gleamed in them. “Until tomorrow for the date,” he said, his hot breath tickling her hand, causing all the hairs on her right arm to stand on end. “I’ll be seeing you later for riding lessons.” He walked away from her, and she suppressed a groan. If he thought she was going to disappear in her room and attend to herself again…
And he said “riding.” Why am I not surprised a certain image comes to mind? Curse him, he knew exactly what he was doing. She felt that uncontrollable glee in their connection. Smug little dick.
She eventually chose to splash her face with cold water to cool off from the uninvited heat in her body and prepared herself for yet more training with Yvonne. She chose to leave the ring as well, though she wasn’t quite sure why.
Making her way to the training grounds, wearing her newly acquired outfit from the market stalls, gained after she’d obtained her ring, she strode to Yvonne with confidence. She liked the way the brown cotton pants felt against her legs and the way the leather clung to her skin from her top, lined with fur for added warmth along the long sleeves and waistcoat. It looked far more modern than everything else on display – but only if you thought the 1800s was modern. The best part in her opinion was the small hood and cloak fastened to her neck. She wore her small bow so that it instead stretched across her back like little curved wings.
“You look ready to kick dragon tail and kill some slimes,” Yvonne said with an approving nod. “I like this. I should ask where you got it from.”
“I’ll tell you later. Renne wants me to learn to ride him, by the way.”
“He does, does he?” Yvonne grinned. “Did he mention what kind of ridin
g he intended?”
“The normal kind,” Maya said, expecting this response. “He wants to take me on a date to some scenic spot tomorrow.”
“Nice. He’s learning.”
“I was wondering...” she hesitated. “If this was something to do with the fact… that he’s expected to marry me. Just, you know, being nice. Buttering me up for it.”
“That’s a strange expression to use,” Yvonne said. “But no. He’s been awfully insistent on not pressing this forced marriage on you. I suspect it’s because he wants to try things with you for real. He’ll be inexperienced at it, though. Royals traditionally have arranged marriages. So they don’t get raised with a sudden knowledge of how to date – unless they happen to have access to people who tell them these things. Tara does. Renne, though – not a chance. He’ll need to ask for advice.”
“That sounds like he’s making an effort, though,” Maya said, feeling reassured. She couldn’t quite shake his words from her mind, about expecting marriage. She’d been avoiding the thought as best as able, but it returned to her in the dark and quiet when there was nothing else left to interfere.
“Question; would you accept marriage if it came down to it? To preserve both your reputations? Or does the notion fill you with unspeakable horror?”
“Mild horror,” Maya said with a smile. “I won’t go out of my way to ask for it. But… if it’s really that bad, then I’ll accept.” Just don’t expect me to stick around forever. “I won’t consider it a real marriage, though.”
“Alright.” Yvonne summoned water from her pouch, getting herself into a fighting stance. “Let’s get some practice in now.”
The practice turned to a session with Renne a few hours later – and it was… interesting, if nothing else. For a start, because his horse form was so huge, he needed to bend down on his front legs for her to clamber on. His long, dark mane was easy to grip, which she appreciated, but sitting high on him, legs spread on his path, felt disconcerting. Such a tall creature… and how painful would it be once he started trotting? How in hell was she supposed to ride this and shoot arrows at the same time? When she asked the question, Callum, also overseeing the training, laughed.
“When you go into combat, it’ll be with a special saddle that keeps you strapped to his back. It’s a traditional unicirim saddle. Don’t worry about it for now.” He watched as she gripped Renne’s mane tightly, as Renne walked carefully around in a tight circle. It wasn’t a difficult rhythm to get used to, but she did feel like she was in danger of slipping off at any second when he increased his gait to a trot, then a canter. She also suspected her thighs and crotch would end up incredibly sore with too much riding. Still, though – riding a magnificent stallion like this, with his enormous wings tucked on either side of her, ready to expand out to huge lengths, to take them into the sky where she’d most likely be screaming and hanging on for dear life.
She felt his apparent amusement under her, simmering through their connection, and his deep pleasure at having her on his back. He felt how she admired his bulky, powerful body, and the pride that resonated from that knowledge. Their first flight together was a short one, where he swept low over the training grounds and gardens, wing tips brushing the hedges. She clutched his mane, breathing heavily, trying to squeeze her thighs as tightly into his body as possible, utterly terrified she might slip off. Maybe she had acrophobia and hadn’t realized it until now…
A second flight, a few cycles later, slowly going higher and higher, she became more relaxed in his ability and desire not to let her fall, and in her security staying on him. She wouldn’t be shooting arrows bareback any time soon, though.
She ended the flying lessons with him, confident enough that when they went to the picnic tomorrow, she wouldn’t drop off him mid-flight and die.
It was something.
Renne
Thoughts about the “picnic” made him nervous. Thoughts it might go wrong, thoughts she might hate the food, or hate his company, or someone would attempt to assassinate them in such a remote location all went to mind. He barely slept, thinking about it, wondering how ridiculous he was being for fretting this much over something as ordinary as a date.
Fighting in combat? No problem. Taking a woman out somewhere in the hopes she’d like it? Shoot him with an arrow and bury him deep. and pretend he never asked her out in the first place. But with his sister cooing over his decision, and even Yvonne acting like it was a smart thing to do, what choice did he have, really? If he wanted Maya to stay. To not leave him. Not when they were now finally discovering… something between them.
He pranced about nervously in his unicirim form. His siblings had helped secure everything he intended to take in baskets hanging over his sides, from food to blankets, and extra rugs in case it got colder than expected. The weather was good, warmer than usual, and all he needed to do now was wait for Maya to turn up. And hope she didn’t pay too much notice to the sneaky braid Tara had put in his mane. He dug his front hooves in the ground with the edge of them. Out of all the things he had learned in his lifetime – he now felt firmly clueless.
She approached him from her quarters – he sensed her moving and marveled at the increasing range of the Bond shared between them. At this rate, they’d sense one another over vast distances.
Her eyes traveled up and down his form when she moved into the gardens where he stood waiting. She wore several layers of clothing and smiled when he got down onto his front knees so she could hoist herself on.
I wish I could communicate with her like this. He tilted his head to eye her, making sure she was settled. A peculiar expression entered her face before she said, “Can you try… thinking something to me again?”
I’m thinking of you, right now.
Maya grimaced. “No, I’m not catching words. But… I’m sensing that you’re thinking to me. I can… hear that you’re thinking.”
A strange vibrating resonated in his skull, followed by faint, inaudible words.
Wait. Is that her thinking? Is that what it feels like? His ears pricked forward in interest. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to explore this connection further, but at the same time… if they had one, it made sense to use it. Especially if he could end up communicating to her in his unicirim form.
The buzzing continued, but the words made no sense to him. Perhaps their Bond wasn’t strong enough for it.
“I’m ready,” she said, clutching his mane tight. He pawed the ground in eagerness and began to walk, trot, until with a great swoop of his wings, he launched them into the air. Even with the additional weight on his flanks, he carried them with ease. His heavy wings beat the air, lifting them higher, and he used his legs to propel them, to retain some kind of balance. She nestled herself against him, and they continued in silence, not trying to test the connection any further. He focused on the journey out of Bastion, over where they used to camp and all the way to the mountains, where he explored over the months sitting in the region, as the generals sieged Bastion.
It took around an hour for him to reach the desired destination in a section of the Coldrest Mountain chain, riddled with hot springs, and one notorious thermal lake in the region. The springs themselves were too hot and had a dangerous, sulfuric quality to them. The thermal lake itself was named Horn Lake due to its shape tapering off to a point. It couldn’t be accessed by normal mountain climbers. It was too ringed off, too tricky to get to. But from the air? No problem. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw no one else using them. He didn’t think there would be, but unicirim weren’t the only aerial creatures in this world.
Dragons might come here, too.
He circled, landing himself onto a relatively flattened rock surface that reached to directly hang over a section of Horn Lake. He knelt down and Maya slid off, tugging the bags after securing her footing. He morphed into his human, clothed form, checking himself over in case he’d forgotten to meld back a piece of his clothing.
Everything seemed in working
order so that was nice.
“Wow,” Maya said, leaving the baskets behind for a moment so she could take in the sight of Horn Lake. The rocks had a sandy quality to them, varying from colors of white to yellow to pink, and the lake itself lay in a basin, like a volcanic crater. Stray plants grew on the edges, from scraggly greens to tough, hardy grasses and lilies. A small group of white and gray birds sedately lay among the taller grasses. “Are we in a volcano?”
“No, but it’s easy to make that distinction. This whole place is warmed by geothermal activity. This is the one place where we can bathe in safely. The others are too hot, too dangerous, and smell like rotten eggs.”
“This one does have a little bit of an eggy smell...” She wrinkled her nose, leaning over to inspect the dark blue water with a slight tinge of pink.”
“That’s normal. It’s the sulfur from the ground that creates that smell.” Already, he’d just realized a problem with his choice of outing and felt like an idiot. If they wanted to get into the lake, they’d need to strip down. They had towels, blankets, and could comfortably sit and eat here in the rising heat of the place… but you probably weren’t supposed to strip naked on a first date.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” She seemed dubious.
“Certainly.” Projecting a huge smile, he began to wriggle out of his clothes, until nothing but his men’s underwear remained. Pretending he didn’t notice how wide her eyes went and how she partially hid her face behind the gray furs of her top, he crouched and jumped off the overhang to gently approach and wade into the waters. The heat licked at his legs and ran right up his spine, leaving a deep pleasure sinking into his bones the further he moved in. When he made it to the middle, he let himself float on his back, closing his eyes and resting on his arms. “If you see my skin melt off in about a minute, you know it’s not safe.”
The Last Unicirim’s Bride Page 11
