He groaned and dragged his fingers down his face. “I tried to be sweet and just ask you to take me home, but you were insistent on dancing first, so we went to the back room and danced. I tried everything to get you to leave. I was even mean to you, but it didn’t work. Finally, Faric came back from taking Rachel and Aria back to their rooms and wanted to drag you back as well. I didn’t want him to hurt you because you were so wasted. He told me to get you out of there anyway I could and basically to go seduce you into leaving.” I lightly laughed at the thought of my being any sort of a seductress. “I made a deal with you, I kiss you, and you leave with me. It was that simple. And it worked, so no harm done, right?” I look up, hoping things were mended between us with this candid conversation.
“I’m so sorry, Solara. I should never have even started drinking. I just...I saw all of the men lined up to dance with you. I waited all night for a chance at the same, and then you were gone. I started drinking with the guys at the bar in the ballroom until they shut it down. I didn’t want to go back to my room, so I went to the pub. And you just filled me in on the rest of the story,” he said, grabbing my hand, careful not to touch my seaweed wrists. I looked at his pained face and my hand in his and asked, “Why was a dance so important, Wesley? I mean, you said you wanted to make it a tradition. Didn’t you get to dance with Lil and Aria?”
He inhaled sharply before answering, “Solara, you are the most beautiful creature that I’ve ever laid eyes on. Not just the dressed up you from the night of the ball. You’re amazing every day. You’re intelligent and kind and bold, and I wanted to dance with you... to see if I thought you might want me to...apply for your hand in marriage.” He looked down.
I raised my eyebrows in shock. I had not expected that at all. “You could just apply and see what the council decides like everyone else. No one has ever cared about my opinion before.”
“I care, Solara. I don’t want to apply if you don’t want me to. It’s that simple,” he said, looking at me with his piercing green gaze. He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand, back and forth, back and forth.
“I think that I don’t know you very well, Wesley,” I started. He shifted and glanced away until I continued, “But, I think that I know you better than any other who will apply for my hand. And I would be honored if you would apply for my hand, provided you still wish to do so.”
His eyes grew wide and he smiled, revealing his lone dimple.
“Of course I do.” He kept rubbing my hand. His warmth radiated from his palm to mine. “I will apply tomorrow if that’s okay with you.” I nodded and returned his smile, slightly so as not to aggravate the corners of my mouth. He just proposed. My heart and stomach fluttered with excitement.
“I just want you to promise me one thing, Wes,” I said, the smile leaving my face. “If you are not granted permission to marry me, please don’t—”
He stopped me midsentence by placing a finger to his lips and shushing me. “Hey,” he said, leaning down to my face, his warm breath tickling my skin. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got everything worked out. Okay?” he whispered. I nodded, my gaze drifted between his lips and his eyes, my breath quickened. He lightly feathered his lips over mine, moving on to my cheek to my ear. I inhaled sharply.
He moved back, and a sinking feeling emerged in the depths of my stomach. Altair. He had said his father was on the council and had promised him the hand of any woman he chose. “Wes, there’s something you should know about Altair.”
“Who is Altair? That asshole on the balcony?” he tensed, raising his eyebrows in question.
I nodded. “I had an incident with him at the introduction, which Faric thankfully stopped.” He growled and tension filled the muscles of his face. “No, I don’t care about that, but he said that his father is on the council and had promised him that he could choose his bride. He said it was guaranteed and that he had chosen me,” I sat up, tucking my hair behind my ears.
“I want to hear about this incident at another time, but I don’t want you to worry about him anymore. He isn’t the only one with connections. And with tonight’s events, I am sure that he has garnered a lot of unwanted attention—the kind that could embarrass his daddy.” He winked. “In the meantime, please run the other direction if you see him come anywhere near you. No more balcony by yourself, and I will make sure that either I or someone else is with you constantly until the reveal. Your safety is my top priority.” My knuckles lavished in the moisture left by his soft kiss.
Miss Annette announced her return with a soft knock on the door before swinging it open. Wes pressed his lips together and locked eyes on mine. He whispered something to Miss Annette before heading out the door, looking back at me once before disappearing. I suddenly felt panicked. What if Altair is out there? Is Wesley safe? What about Lil and Rachel and even Aria? I wouldn’t even subject her to Altair. What happened with Faric? We left him alone with Altair. I started breathing rapidly and grabbed my chest to calm down.
Miss Annette ran over and hugged me tight and said, “It’ll be okay, Lara. He won’t bother you again if I have any say in it.” Did she have a say in it? She lifted my face to hers, and her eyes widened and mouth dropped open.
“What?”
“What? Oh, nothing, dear. My thoughts trailed off. It happens when you get older.” She looked away with a slight smile, but her breathing was ragged. What did she see in me that elicited such a reaction?
“Solara, Faric will remain outside your door for the remainder of the night. The girls are asleep, and I sent Mr. Wesley to his room to get some sleep as he needs to be rested in order to properly hold your classes tomorrow. There will be changes to your instruction as we are drawing so near to the reveal, so don’t worry tomorrow when your daily routine changes. If you’d like, I can stay with you in your room tonight. I’ll just go get my mattress and bedclothes and be right back,” she said, standing up stiffly from my bedside and turned to leave.
“Miss Annette?”
“Yes, dear?” She turned to face me again. I cleared my throat and fought back the tears that began to emerge in my eyes. “I am really sorry for my reaction when you told me about my parents. I know it isn’t your fault that they’re gone. I was just angry that you hadn’t told me everything and that you raised me, and I had no idea. I was just hurt, but I shouldn’t have hurt you in return. I’m so sorry.” With the apology, I lost the battle with my teardrops.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Solara. I’ll be right back, okay?” She nodded and forced a smile. Warmth radiated from her tawny gaze.
“Miss Annette, please go get some rest. You don’t have to stay with me. Faric will make sure that I’m safe. You need rest for tomorrow. I know your duties are tiring.”
“Solara, I’d really rather—” she started.
“No, please. I need to be alone for a little while, and I need some rest. I won’t be able to sleep if I worry over your comfort. I trust Faric to watch over me. Please go get some sleep. I promise, I’m okay,” I urged, hoping that she would honor my wishes. Dark circles draped heavy underneath her eyes, and her gray bun was disheveled.
“Are you sure?” she asked, nodding her head forward to look closely at me.
“I’m sure,” I said, my voice confident, though inwardly, I prayed against its betrayal. “Good night, Miss Annette.”
“I’m just down the hall, if you need anything. Please don’t be afraid to wake me, even if you just want to talk or—”
“Okay. I promise.” And with that, she left my room. I caught sight of Faric’s profile as she pulled the door shut. What happened to Altair? I had to know so I waited until I heard Miss Annette’s door close down the hallway. I crept over to my door and cracked it. The squeaky hinge startled him, and he jumped around, his muscles coiled and ready to strike. Seeing me peeking out at him, he relaxed and released the air pent up in his lungs. His dark chocolate hair had been cut since the introduction, and he sported stubble along his jaw line. Unlike M
iss Annette and Wes, alertness and adrenaline rather than exhaustion hung on his brow. I stared at him, unable to speak for a minute. Thankfully, he broke the awkward silence and said, “Solara? Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“I need to talk to you,” I said softly. “Can you come in for a minute?”
He exhaled and looked away and then pushed the door open. I sat on the edge of the bed, and he stood just inside the door, arms weaved across his chest. I looked down, wringing my hands.
“What happened to him?” I heard him shift.
“He won’t bother you again,” he muttered.
“What happened to him?”
“Why? Are you worried about him or something? He tried to...God, I don’t even know what he was going to do with you.” He stared at me with his intense teal eyes.
“I’m not worried about him. I just need to know. I don’t expect you to understand, but I need to know, okay?” I said, looking up at him, praying he would tell me what happened with Altair after
Wes took me back to my room. “Short version...I beat him within an inch of his miserable, pathetic life and dragged him to our superior. I let him decide what to do with him after explaining what he’d done to you—a potential. He decided that he should be taken home to his father, so we took him there. I told his dad what happened the night of the introduction and how he’d threatened to punish you at that time and then what he’d done to you tonight. His dad was so furious, he was shaking. So we left Altair in his father’s custody.
He jerked him in the house by his shirt collar, and that was the last we saw of him. My superior said he’d be removed from the guard entirely if he had his way, but if the council pushed for him to keep a guard position, he’ll make sure he is stationed as far from you as possible,” he said, stopping to look at me.
I nodded, choking back tears. They let him go? He’s just out there somewhere. I thought he’d be arrested and thrown in jail. What if his daddy’s tough guy act had been just that—an act? Faric strode over to me, grabbing my hands to steady them. They shook so hard that I thought they would shatter and fall in pieces to the ground.
But when those teal eyes pierced me, I lost it. Sobs erupted from my soul. He dropped my hands and put his arms around my shoulders and held me in his strong arms while I wept into his shoulder, soaking his shirt with my tears. I held onto him like my life depended on it, and in a way, it did. Where Wes was soft and loving, Faric was strong and protecting.
When I finally calmed down, I saw the sea-green streaks that my wrists had smudged onto his black tunic. “Oh, my goodness! I’m so sorry. I got this green crap all over your shirt. I am so sorry,” I said, running over to get a rag. I dipped it in the water basin and ran back to him to try to get the mud-like mixture off of his shirt.
“Solara, don’t,” he said, looking back over his shoulder at me. I ignored him and frantically tried to rub and blot the streaks away. “Stop, Solara,” he said, sterner and turned around. I tried to move around to his back to keep scrubbing. He grabbed both of my forearms, avoiding my ragged wrists, looked in my eyes, and said, “Stop. It’s okay.”
I released my grip on the rag, and it dropped to the floor beside us. He pulled me down toward him, where he sat on the edge of my mattress, and I fell on my knees in front of him. He sank down to the floor beside me and softened his grip on my forearms before letting go, holding his hands up in surrender.
His chest rose and fell heavily, and he reached forward and took my hands, combing his eyes over my bracelets of wound and herb paste. “It’s not that bad,” I whispered. He continued his inspection. “Faric, I said—”
“I heard what you said,” he said, softly looking up at the corners of my mouth. I must look like a complete freak right now with that crap the healer spread over me. “Do you know that you smell like lavender?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“You smell like lavender, Solara,” he said, lifting some of my long dark blonde hair toward his nose.
Pulling away, I said, “You probably just smell this pasty crap the healer put on me.” I shrugged.
He shook his head slowly. “You do. You smell like lavender. You smelled like lavender the night of the introduction too. It’s you, not the healer’s herbs.”
“Well, does lavender smell good or bad?” I ask. I hope he’s not saying that I stink. He released my hair and laughed.
“You’ve never smelled lavender?” He raised his brows, a smile still hung on his lips with unbelief.
“Not that I know of. I don’t even know what it is,” I admitted, sitting up straighter. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t know. I’d never seen lavender, let alone smelled it. Or if I had, I didn’t know it. What does lavender smell like? It sounds pretty. That’s a good sign, right?
“It is an amazingly fragrant purple flower. I have some in my garden. I’ll bring you some so you can smell it.” He smiled, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Well, it’s not like I have a garden up here, you know.” I scoffed, crossing my arms in front of my chest. He just laughed lightly and nodded, looking down.
“I should probably get back outside unless you need any more information,” he said, nodding toward the door.
I shook my head. I didn’t need to ask any more questions. My heart sank at the thought of being left alone in my room. Though knew he’d be just outside, I couldn’t see out my door and didn’t know what lurked behind it. I felt small and nervous, my chest grew tighter, and my breathing became rapid again. He started to get up, but I grabbed his hands and pulled him back down.
“Please don’t leave me in here,” I begged. “I’m afraid.”
“I’ll be right outside your door. You should get some sleep,” he said, his thumbs rubbed the backs of my hands.
“If you leave me alone in here, I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Solara, I can’t stay in here. I don’t want to cause any more problems for you and Miss Annette—”
I interrupted, “You can leave after I fall asleep if you want. Just...stay with me until I do. Please?” I begged him with every fiber of my being not to leave me alone. Altair was out there somewhere. He wasn’t behind a locked door in a little stone cell.
He was home, or maybe he was outside my door right now. His freedom scared me more than anything. He finally released a breath and agreed to stay until I fell asleep at which time he said he would move to guard my door from the outside.
I fell asleep against his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat and the rhythm of the air rushing in and out of his lungs but woke to the dust motes dancing in the sun beaming through my window.
Miss Annette rushed into my room, closing the door quickly behind her and taking a deep breath. I could hear Lil outside and then Rachel and Wesley. “They want to see you, but I wanted you to have the option of getting cleaned up first,” she said, catching her breath. I nodded and threw the quilt off of my legs. I spoke through the wood, telling them that I was fine and was going to take a bath and get ready and would meet them in class. Lil continued to protest heavily but eventually silence was the only sound on the other side of the door.
Miss Annette poured water into the tub and removed the kettle from the fireplace, dumping it in as well. The steam wafted up to the ceiling. She tested the water and nodded. She’d seen me naked plenty of times, and I was comfortable with her staying in the room as she always respectfully averted her eyes. “This might hurt. But you need to get the herbs off of you before you go to class. The healer said to apply the paste again before bed tonight to get the most out of its healing properties,” she said, helping lift my dress over my head. I shimmied off my underclothes and stepped into the small metal tub, wincing as the warm water bit into the green shackles that encircled my ankles. I breathed in and sat down and dabbed the seaweed-colored paste from my wounds. They didn’t look as bad as they had after I had initially cleaned the blood off of them.
It was awkward walking into class. My
hair was twisted into a long wet braid, courtesy of Miss Annette, and I was dressed in a fresh cream linen gown that was fitted to my body at the waist and draped to cover my ankles. The wrist wounds only showed when my sleeves rode up. I tried to keep my arms down and ankles crossed to keep the others from seeing my embarrassment.
I’m sure Aria would have some smart remark about me liking it rough or something. She was so perverted and sick and evil. The only thing I couldn’t hide were the scrapes along the sides of my mouth. I tried to keep my lips pursed and head down as much as possible. My hair provided a curtain, avoiding everyone would be hard but might allow me to save some pride.
The morning passed slowly, and when we were dismissed for lunch, I retreated into my room with my food before even Lil could catch me. When she banged on my door and pleaded with me to let her in, I just kept chewing, remaining silent. I didn’t want to face her or anyone, and I definitely wasn’t ready to explain what had happened to me in detail, which she would undoubtedly demand. She loved me, and I knew it, but I just needed room to catch my breath.
I didn’t have the same luck in the afternoon. Lil scooted her chair next to me and grabbed my hand, giving me the look that she knew everything. She was there for me and loved me. I squeezed her hand back. Miss Annette wasn’t joking about having different instruction. Mr. Wesley taught us about life in the kingdom, society, expectations, and rules. Once we were married, if one of us wasn’t revealed by God to be the chosen, we would immediately go home with our new husbands. Our belongings would be packed up and sent to us in the days following the wedding ceremony. Wes’s eyes caught mine, and a small smile crept on his lips as he talked about how we would be going home with our husbands that night. I hoped no one else noticed. Could he really get the council to approve our union?
All couples united by the kingdom’s council would be given a house in which to begin their new lives. All basic needs—food, clothing, kettles, water, firewood, candles, everything would be provided as long as we contributed to society by working productively at the jobs the kingdom provided us. We would be free to garden on our own should we choose to do so. The main rule was that any grievances we would have or someone would have against us would be taken directly to the council for them to decide how to best proceed as their experience made them wise and unbiased judges of all situations effecting the kingdom and its inhabitants.
Pariah (The New Covenant Series) Page 7
