by Shea Berkley
I whipped my head toward the forgotten widow and blinked. “Nari can’t marry. She promised me she wouldn’t.”
The old woman snorted and shook her head. “A young girl’s promise is a worthless vow. Easily made, easily broken.”
But Nari was not like other girls. We had a blood pact...an understanding…the two of us, forever. She would never marry just anyone. As I stood in the brightness of a clear morning, the world turned gray, all the joy leeched from it by one word.
Married.
I spun on my heels and ran.
“It’s time, you know,” the widow Jens yelled after me. “If left on the shelf too long, her beauty will grow stale, and then where will she be?”
I ran until I came to a newly built cottage, stopping only when I collided with the stout door. I pounded on it as if I were a hare being chased by wolves. I would not let up, banging until the door was jerked open from beneath my fist.
Gordie, his trews riding low on his hips and his chest bare to the cool morning air, shot an irritated look at me and rasped, “You dare to knock on my door on my wedding night?”
“It’s morning.”
He pushed his hand through his tousled hair and peered past me, a look of surprise on his face. “So it is.”
“Who is it?” a young, sweet voice called from within.
“Just the village idiot come to beg for a hot bun, my love. I’ll be just a moment.” He stepped outside and closed the door, then faced me. Displeasure creased his brow. “This had better be good, Ryne. The next five seconds of your life depends on it.”
“What do you know about a man coming to wed Nari?”
Gordie put his hands on his hips and laughed. When he saw I was serious, he cocked his head questioningly at me. “Have you been drinking?”
“I’m serious. Your stepmother said some man is coming to make arrangements to marry her.”
“Well, he’ll not get far. Nari swears she’ll have no one.”
“Do you think your stepmother would promise Nari without her permission?”
Gordie thought for a moment. “That would be a bold move, but–oh bloody hell, she would. Her one real challenge has been to see us out of her house. And now that Nari is back…well, she’ll want to get her out for good.”
Alarm gripped me. I grabbed Gordie’s shoulders. “I’ll find Nari.”
“I’ll find my father,” he replied.
We broke away, each running in the opposite direction. I didn’t know where to look. I hunted the forest in a haphazard pattern, panic skewing my search. Just by chance, I found myself beneath the tree we had used to lie in wait for our victims. And just by chance, I glanced up.
Nari, dressed in one of Gordie’s old trews and a shirt, stared down at me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Nari?”
She curled her bare feet under her as if she were embarrassed to be caught up a tree. “Hello, Ryne.”
“What are you doing up there?”
“I like the view.”
I turned, but all I could see were trees and trees and more trees. I quickly kicked off my shoes and climbed up. It had been a few years since I’d been up this particular tree, and to my surprise, all the handholds and footholds remained. When I got to her branch, I scooted out beside her.
She cast me a nervous look, but didn’t say anything. I looked out to where she had been staring and I could see through the break in the trees the sparkling waters of the lake and my house.
“It’s a lovely view,” she said.
“It is,” I agreed, seeing once again why my mother loved her house on the lake. “Why did I never notice it before?”
A shy smile touched her lips. “You were always looking down, ready to spit…or worse.”
I smiled back, drinking in the way the wind gently blew her hair against her cheek. “I guess so. I never knew you weren’t doing the same.”
“I usually was. I only saw it once you left. I’d sit here for hours praying you’d come back.”
My smile faded and a tightness entered my throat. “I’m so sorry, Nari. Please believe me. I was being thick. A complete ass.”
“I’ll not argue with you there.” She slid a curious look at me. “Why are you here?”
“I was looking for you. I went to your house, to find you, and your stepmother said a man was coming.”
She looked blankly at me. “And?”
“And that he would be making an offer for you.”
She blinked, and her gaze shifted away. “Did she say who?”
That was not the reaction I expected. “You don’t sound surprised. You can’t be thinking of marrying?”
“Why not? Gordie’s wife is not even a year older than me.”
I watched her swing from the limb and climb down as quick as when she was just a lad. I couldn’t have heard her correctly. I followed her down, and once on the ground, I faced her. “You cannot get married.”
“What?”
“You cannot.” She was mine. We belonged together. The day of our pact sat so clearly in my mind. “What of this?” I said and held out my hand where a small scar had formed across the palm, an exact replica of the one on hers.
She pushed my hand away. “Be serious.”
“I am.”
“Well then, you do not remember well, for what I remember is saying exactly what we all vowed never to do, and trust me, I am the only one of you lot who will never break that vow.”
She spoke of the pact we all made, though I spoke of ours. Yet even then she lied. “How can you say that?” I pointed up the tree in an effort to bring her memory to the oh-so-recent past. “You just admitted you’ve been thinking of marrying.”
She let loose a deep laugh. It reminded me of times past, and I felt some hope. “I vowed what you did, Ryne. Never to marry a girl, and I can honestly say, I plan on keeping that vow.”
“But…you cannot marry him.” I heard the whine in my voice, and to my utter disgust, I couldn’t stop it.
“Cannot? You lost the right to tell me what to do long ago, Ryne. I do what I want now.” She turned, her face set, her shoulders squared, and started down the road.
I’d never felt so sick in my life as when I watched her proudly walk away.
8
The sickness which had settled in the pit of my stomach didn’t last long. Nari couldn’t marry some stranger. This was a poor joke. Punishment for my behavior of last night. She was always one for big talk. I raced after her, catching up once we neared the village.
Without looking at me, she said, “Go away, Ryne. This is none of your business.”
“Cannot a man walk where he will?”
An unpleasant smile cracked her lips. “Oh, so you are a man now?”
“I am what you see,” I said, holding out my arms, begging her to take a good look.
She did, her gaze sweeping me up and down. “Well, then …” she said, not agreeing or disagreeing. “You may not walk where you will if your walk is in the same direction I take.”
I dropped my arms. “Sadly for you, I believe it is.”
I ignored her heated glare and continued on my journey of discovery, half teasing, half terrified. “Tell me, have you even met your future husband?”
I saw the muscle in her jaw tighten, and then relax. With a forced air of cheer, she said, “Has anyone truly met anyone?”
I knew her game. “So,” I said with a smile, “this does come as a surprise. Poor Nari.”
“Do not dare pity me. I have had several men of late who have voiced interest in me.”
I made of show of looking around. “And where might they be? Hiding in the bushes readying themselves to snatch you from your family? Come fellows,” I called. “Have you not heard? Her stepmother will gladly give her away.”
She smacked me in the stomach, causing a loud woof to escape me and snarled, “I have refused them all.”
After recovering from the hit, I cast her a quizzical look. “Why?”
Her eye slanted tow
ard me before she raised her nose in the air. “They had the unfortunate ability to remind me of you.”
“I see.” She meant it meanly, but I took it to mean something different. “Why settle for an imitation when the original is what you want. Very perceptive of you.”
She suddenly stopped and began to look around. I frowned. “Have you lost something?”
“Not yet, but my breakfast is soon to come forth, and I’m looking for a bush to be sick on.” After throwing me an angry glance meant to put me in my place, she quickened her steps, giving me a quick backward glance.
My lips twitched against a coming smile. Cheeky girl. I chased her as was her want. Soon, the village welcomed us, and seeing as we were nearly trotting down the lane, her house loomed quickly before us. I had to do something before she made the worst mistake of her life…and mine.
Mere steps from her front door, I stood my ground. “Nari,” I yelled, stopping her in her place. She didn’t turn, but held her back in rigid defense against me. I wouldn’t be put off.
“Please. I know you are angry with me. You have every right. I behaved like a…a stupid, half-brained pig. But you must know how you terrify me. You have since the day I realized you meant more to me than anyone else. That is a terrifying thought for a lad. But not anymore. If I would have been given one scrap of hope that you loved me, I would have cured this constant ache you have plunged me into long ago.”
She twirled around and pinned me with her dark blue stare. Her cheeks flared scarlet and her mouth twisted as she spoke. “And how would you have done that?”
How would I?
A frown creased my brow and into my mind. Indeed, how would I?
I quickly sought the cure for this horrible ailment, and when it presented itself to me, it was as if the answer came straight from God. “I am told that to get over a fear you must look it straight in the eye.”
“Stop saying that you fear me. It’s—”
Before I lost my nerve, I swooped down and kissed her. This was no sweet peck. It was the kiss of the desperate, the lost, the hopeful. Our breaths melded, our hearts combined. I pulled her tightly to me and poured every ounce of my being into that kiss. I felt her respond, but I dared not hope. She had a wily nature. When our lips parted, I dared not open my eyes, afraid of the condemnation that awaited me.
“Do not ask for my regret,” was all I could mutter, still holding her securely against my chest. I placed my chin on her head, fighting the sick feeling that washed over my skin. “Without you, I…bloody hell. I just cannot see you married. You are mine. You and me together, forever. Do you truly not remember?”
Slowly, she pulled away, her fingers trailing against my chest where she had placed her open palms to ward me off. Yet something in her touch felt more like a caress. I opened my eyes to find a soft smile on her face. She tipped her head back, her eyes twinkling merrily.
I tensed. Was this another of her tricks? Should I push her away to save my body further harm?
Her tongue dashed against her pink lips as one of her fingers twirled against my chest. “I do remember. But if you deny me marriage, then you put us in a sad state indeed, for I see myself quite happily married. To you.”
“Me?” I mouthed, as if saying it aloud would bring about disaster.
True to form, she slammed her fist into my chest before she threw her arms around me and planted her lips quite firmly to mine. The soft rosebud mouth branded me forever as hers, leaching all energy from me until my legs felt more skin than bone. I’d died and gone to heaven.
“Nari!” The shrill sound of the demented tore us apart. Gasping, we faced the new wife seething before us in all her outrage. A man, clearly in possession of some wealth yet with the unfortunate luck to be of round stature, broad face and stubby appendages, stood beside her, glaring bug-eyed at me. His lip curled as his gaze turned to Nari.
I clutched for the sanity that seemed to have deserted me. Mine. Mine. Mine. That was the litany that coursed through my veins. I would squash this pathetic toad that stood in the way of my happiness. My fingers sought hers and once found, entwined like a vine not easily pulled from its mooring and tugged her behind me. If he wanted her, he would have to go through me.
“Is this what I am to claim as my wife?” the man croaked. “A woman of easy conquest? I would have given her everything, and you a goodly endowment for your old age. Providence has surely smiled down on me. I shan’t trouble myself over her a moment longer.”
The new wife’s face paled at the thought of such a fortune and its sudden evaporation. Her lips flapped soundlessly like a land-bound trout. “P-p-please,” she finally said, “Oh sir, please do not be rash. It is all the boy’s fault. He is a scoundrel at best.”
The man pushed his way to the lane, and without a backward glance, brandished his rolling gait as a farmer would a plow, cutting a wide furrow through the villagers as he made haste to leave. Hurrying quickly toward us, Gordie and his father were forced to jump out of the man’s way.
“Husband, husband,” the new wife screeched, waving her arms and pointing after the furious man. “Do something.”
Nari’s father glanced after the man and shrugged from across the lane. “What am I to do?”
“He is getting away. As you dawdle, our future son-in-law escapes.”
We all stared after the poor rich man and watched as he pushed his way through, knocking over a cart of produce and pushing aside the old widow, who raised her cane and plied it toward his head. Unfortunately, she was too late and he moved on without injury. I was not upset at her failure, for such a knock on the head could have put some sense into him and shown him the prize he was so eager to leave, and one I was so eager to take from him.
Nari’s father crossed his arms over his chest and glowered after the man. “Then I say godspeed to him, wife. By his manners, he is not a man I would have enjoyed as a son-in-law.”
The new wife wiggled her fingers toward the end of the lane as if that alone would call the toad back. Her mouth flapped open, lips quivering against the forthcoming fit of temper. “B-b-b-b…”
With an amazing ability to ignore the oncoming storm of tears and howls, Nari’s father turned to his son. “A fine morning this is, eh Gordie?”
Still gazing down the lane with a smug smile on his face, Gordie replied, “None finer.”
“And your wife? Does she appreciate this morn?”
“My wife?” He turned a blank gaze on his father and then his face lit with horror. “My wife.” He whirled around and ran down the lane like a raw-boned lad toward his new house and his hopefully still starry-eyed wife.
Nari’s father turned toward me and focused on my hand earnestly clutching his daughter’s. That gaze clearly stated he would be more than happy to break every bone in my body if I didn’t disengage myself from his daughter immediately. Like a well-trained dog, I ripped my fingers from hers and scuttered back a healthy distance. “Good morn to you, sir. I’ll just be on my way.”
I shot a meaningful glance at Nari, but she found herself trying to cut off the new wife’s tantrum at losing a wealthy son-in-law by way of ushering her into the house, a job too large for her to notice my impending danger. With a quick bow to the man, I shot down the lane with all my bones unbroken, but more importantly with the taste of Nari still on my lips, the tingling brand of her hand against mine, and the hope that the curse I’d lived under all these years would finally be over.
9
Bliss. My life, once a sad collection of hours in a day, exploded into a never-ending moment of pure bliss. For the next two months, Nari and I spent every free moment together. We returned to the familiarity of our youth with amazing ease. We laughed. We teased. We remembered whispered secrets and life and death vows. One day, I snuck up on Nari as she was pegging out the laundry.
“Practicing for the future?” came my quick whisper before I pulled away.
We were careful to appear as friends in public, but the strain of not touchi
ng her was beginning to take its toll.
She spun around and smiled. “A woman does not need to practice. She is born with a ladle in one hand and a laundry peg in the other.”
“How very…practical.” I gazed around. “Home alone?”
“Asked the wolf to the woman.” She cast me a challenging glance. “I am.”
A thrill raced through me. I immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a kiss. When we pulled apart, I rasped thickly, “Finish your chores.”
The rest of the laundry was pegged, though not nearly as neatly as before, and we scurried away.
I took her to the lake to walk along the shore. It was one of the few places I was certain we could be alone, for most were afraid to draw too near. We rested in a small copse of trees where the lap and pull of the water sounded behind me. Nari sat on a felled tree, her gaze wide and uncertain. “I still cannot believe it. To see you so near the lake. It feels wrong. Dangerous.”
“Why? I live just past those trees,” I said pointing toward the tight jumble of trunks and branches. “On a windy day, my back door gets wet with lake water. The lake and I are familiar foes, and yet we share a familiar secret, one you will never guess.”
Interest flared behind her intense gaze, for Nari loved a good secret. I held out my hand and she grabbed hold. With a light tug, I pulled her close and began a slow move backwards. “There is much you don’t know about me.”
She scoffed at the idea and ran her free hand up my chest teasingly, confident in her knowledge. “I doubt that.”
“It is a daring secret no one else knows.”
I felt her squirm with anticipation. Bending low, I whispered in her ear. “I can swim.”
She reared back and yanked me still. “You lie.”
I swept her into my arms and twirled her in a circle. She laughed and yelled for me to put her down. I did. Right into the lake.
She yelped as the water lapped at her dress, and she threw a startled gaze up at me. I pulled my shirt off and tossed it on the dry shore. She cocked her head and merriment colored her voice, “What are you about?”
