Kyou was glad to see Aeron was showing some measure of contentment. Even though there was occasionally a glimmer of sadness in his eyes, for most part, Aeron seemed recovered from his heartbreak. Part of the reason why he had come to Eden Ardhen was at the request of Arianne who was worried about her old friend and though Dare did not say it out loud, Kyou could tell the King too was concerned about the elf's welfare.
Fortunately, Aeron seemed to thriving, immersing himself in the business of building himself a new home in Ardhen. In fact, being in charge of his own colony seemed to suit the elf who in the past had always seemed content to follow instead of leading. He would only speak when offering much needed advice, usually to keep them from getting killed when they ignored good sense.
‘See what you have done?’ Aeron turned to Kyou. ‘You have frightened away the captain of my guard.’
‘Elves scare easily,’ Kyou said smugly. ‘Its all that time you spend hiding in the bushes.’
‘Why are you here?’ Aeron retorted. ‘I thought you came here to help. All you seem to be doing is complaining about everything that is ill to your liking.’
‘Well I had to see the Lord of Eden Ardhen,’ the dwarf replied sweetly, reminding him of all the times he had called Kyou Master Builder, an ostentatious and important title that could not be bandied about as the source of a joke simply to annoy him. It was nice to be able to return the favour.
‘You have ridden all this way just to call me that, have you not?’ Aeron accused.
‘Absolutely,’ Kyou grinned not all ashamed to admit it.
Suddenly, the elf’s face drained for colour.
Aeron’s eyes fixed over his shoulder and his jaw became set as if he were going into battle. Kyou followed his gaze and saw what he was staring at and understood immediately at Aeron’s sudden turn. In some ways he was going into battle, Kyou thought as he saw Melia walking across the grass towards them both.
She was clad in the dress she had worn the night they had dined together at Sandrine, her dark hair worn loose over her shoulders. In her hand she held a bundle of clothes and a crossbow.
When she stopped walking, Melia and Aeron stood before each other, staring. The space between them was only inches part but it still felt like a great chasm. Neither said a word as they took in the sight of each other. Aeron looked like a statue carved out of marble, his expression unfathomable. Melia's expression was equally cryptic. Time seemed to stretch into an eternity as neither said anything and the waiting drove Kyou mad with impatience.
Finally, the dwarf could endure no more.
‘Well if you're both just going to stand there I'm going to leave! But before I go, let me be the first to say that its about time you both grew up and get on with things!’
With that the dwarf made a less than discreet exit, hoping that his words would spur one of them into resolving the matter that hung above them like a rock about to fall. Aeron’s gaze wavered slightly at Kyou’s departure before his attention returned to Melia, boring into her mercilessly.
If his stare was a dagger, he would have drawn blood by now.
Melia dropped her belongings at his feet, hoping that would prompt him to speak. It did not. Instead, he continued to stare at her, his jaw clenched and the thoughts behind his eyes were a curtain drawn to her.
Finally upon realising that he would not, she spoke and said the words that needed to come first before anything else, ‘I am sorry.’
For once, it was she who was begging. She who was coming to him as supplicant. She behaved badly and she knew it. Though he remained as impassive as stone, she knew she hurt him badly and there was no adequate apology that would ever make up for it. Still she had to try. Melia was here because she loved him and the time apart had taught her that she was helping neither of them by staying away. However, she had shattered trust by her actions at Gahara and this time, it was she that had to work to earn it back.
‘It was cowardly and unfair to leave you as I did. I was wrong,’ she continued to speak, never believing an apology could be so hard to make. ‘I used my mother's death as an excuse for why we could not be together when in truth I was afraid. I was afraid that I would fail you. You said you loved me and that you would never hurt me. I believed you all too well but I did not know if I could be trusted myself to feel the same when the years begin to age my body. I did not wish to see my love for you become resentment because you would be spared of all the things I would endure when I grow old.’
Tears were running down her cheeks and she wiped them away quickly, looking for some assurance in his eyes that her plea was not made in vain. He offered her no such comfort and all she could think to do was to keep pleading her case.
‘I returned to the Baffin thinking I could go on without you but my heart felt as if it were torn apart every morning I woke to find you were not there. I have not been able to stop thinking about you or yearning for your touch for every second of every day we were apart. I am sorry I made you suffer Prince. I am sorry I made a choice for both of us without thinking what it would do to you.’
Aeron's silence remained and Melia found herself weeping before him. She wished he would speak. She did not care if he screamed at her. She just needed to hear him say something.
‘Please,’ she begged, her voice broken and desperate, ‘Please say something.’
‘What would you have me say?’ Aeron finally spoke, his voice low.
‘Tell me you understand or hate me, tell me how you feel, anything!’ She exclaimed.
‘Understand what?’ He demanded, the anger that he had been holding back for months finally frothing over. ‘Understand that you left me there, without a word of explanation? Not even to say farewell! After everything we had endured together, you could find it so easy to simply leave?’
‘I was confused and afraid,’ she stammered a weak explanation.
‘THAT IS NO EXCUSE!’ He roared. ‘You broke my heart when you left! Do you know that? I thought I would die when I heard you were gone! And you are here now for what purpose? To play with my affections again? For me to give you my heart and soul only to have you toss it aside at a moment's notice when you begin to doubt? I may be immortal Melia but I am invulnerable! My heart can only take so much!”
‘I know that! I am so sorry!’ She wept harder, trying to convince him, unable to deny anything he said. ‘I have no right to expect anything of you but know that I love you and if we are bound for tragedy then it is something I swear to you on my life we will face together. I have disappointed you for the last time Prince but no more, I promise! I am here to stay!’
All these months, he had abandoned the hope that she would ever be with him. There was not a day since that morning in Gahara to find her gone, when he had not longed for her. If it was not for the goal of rebuilding Eden Ardhen, there was every possibility he would have died of grief. Sorrow had that power over the heart of an elf. However, he had forced himself to heed his father's advice, to manage and for most part he had.
Now she was here again, begging him to trust her with his heart. What was he to do?
He glanced at the clothes and the crossbow at his feet and saw the symbolism of what she had done. Those leathers and her weapon was her whole identity and she had lain it at his feet, a sacrifice and penance for leaving him. Aeron stared at it and then at her. He saw her tears and knew he really had no power against them. She had come here, seeking him out and that gave him hope.
Crossing the space between them, he pulled her to him roughly and embraced her hard, holding her so tight she might snap from the strength of his arms. He held her close, hating the fact that he could not refuse her, even as he took in the scent of her hair in his nostrils, the softness of his body against hers. How could he do anything but surrender to her when she had his heart and always would?
‘I will hold you to that, Mia,’ he spoke firmly as he threw off the last moorings to safety.
‘You can hold me as long as you wish Prince for I do n
ot intend to let you go,’ she replied in turn before pressing her lips to his in a kiss that showed him that there would be no more walls between them. For the first time, they were on equal ground as she surrendered her heart to him as completely as he had given her his.
When Aeron and Melia took breath again, the Prince could not bring himself to let her go, not after waiting so long to feel her in his arms again.
‘So Lord of Eden Ardhen,’ Melia asked smiling at him, happiness apparent in each word she spoke. ‘What now?
‘Well,’ he returned with a teasing smile. ‘I am still quite angry with you. You will have some making up to do.’
‘I see,’ she laughed. ‘I do recall a proposal being made. How about we start with that?’
‘Oh so now you want to wed?’ Aeron snorted though he was secretly elated that she was finally going to be his wife. It was an affirmation of her belief in their future together. ‘I do not know if I want to marry you. You mortal women are a fickle lot.’
‘Fickle?’ Melia exclaimed playfully, ‘You elves are stubborn!’
With a grin, he pulled her close once more and replied before kissing her again, ‘I am not the only one.’
Epilogue
With the Gahara Plateau behind her, she walked towards the Gorge.
Her senses sought out with the accuracy of a wolf tracking a bleeding stag, the life she could sense in the caves. Above her, the moon shone its full light upon her bare body and the coldness of the air could be seen by each warm breath that escaped her lips. She felt did not feel the cold that would reduce most beings to a shivering ruin by now. She felt nothing of the kind as she walked across the land, seeking out sustenance after her enforced hunger.
Her main concern was to feed herself though she was consumed with another hunger that would not be as easy to satisfy.
Memories of fire branded her thoughts and the cries of her sisters who perished in the flame, accompanied her solitary journey from the city of Tal-Shahar. When she had emerged from her shell, her intelligence had overridden her instinct to attack when she saw the fire. In the chaos of smoke and flame, she left her sisters and the battlefield, opting for survival instead of solidarity. She had walked out of the cave and hidden herself away, hoping that the others would do the same.
She had waited until the smell of smoke had died before returning to the birthing chamber to find the enemy gone but the grisly remains of their crime was left behind.
She did not know how to feel grief for she was not constructed to feel the gentler emotions. The dead bodies of her sisters, some who had never even emerged from their cocoons lay before her in mass of charred and blackened flesh. Even the body of the father was among the dead and she could only stare as growing rage filled her soul and made her understand she was alone with vengeance her only ally.
The enemy's face was in her mind and like the fire that branded itself upon her consciousness, so was his face upon her memory. What had the River Daughter called him with the bow and torches carrying fiery death?
Aeron.
Prince.
She would find him.
Someday, she would find him and then she would destroy him.
THE END
Avalyne Series 02: The Easterling Page 30
