Lunamae (19 page)

“I don’t want to go back to the feasting
hall. Can we go outside and take a walk around the village? I would
feel much better getting some fresh air,” I requested, although
deep down I also wanted to cuddle Eclipse.
He
would never
lie to me. Theron agreed to my wishes and led me out, his hand
still linked with mine.

“Do you want to visit your brother?” he asked
gently. I shook my head. I just wanted to be alone with Theron. I
didn’t want any more drama or wandering eyes.

“So what happens next?” I inquired. “What do
I do, what do
we
do?” The brown eyes of Theron coated my
insecurities and every time I looked at them I felt less
apprehension.

“We don’t have to live in Fanarion, if that’s
what you mean. We will at some point in time of course, as I do
intend to rule. There is no way I’d let my brute of a brother take
over the kingdom. The people are too good for him. Once we are
married, I should like to go to Aelisonia and strengthen the
relations between your clan and my country. You haven’t ever been
to Aelisonia have you?”

“No,” I murmured as we walked past my old
house.

“I’ve only been there once, to visit
Slievenamon through the mountain pass between Fanarion and
Aelisonia. Our city of Lermeri is quite close. I wanted to see the
paintings of the kings of long ago. They are still hanging there,
you know,” Theron told me. I could only imagine how large the
fortress was. I had never seen anything built in the construction
he began to describe. It was like the keep of Feyris only so much
larger and better protected. There were hundreds of rooms and the
city was practically all inside the fortress. It was like a city of
stone.

“So where would we live after visiting
Aelisonia?” I wondered. Truthfully, I loved to travel. The trip to
Fanarion had released some desire to explore the whole of
Orinda—even maybe Cragash! The idea of getting to visit new places
made the thought of marriage much easier to take in. Anyway, it
wasn’t as though I would be marrying a stranger, or even someone I
didn’t like. I quite fancied Theron, until I had found out
everything was a lie—except our love for one another.

“We could come back here to see your family,”
he said and then chuckled. “I
do
have a house here.” I
laughed. There was no way the chief dame, knowing he was royalty,
would let him stay in accommodations such as those. We walked
around the apothecary shop and turned around to head back.

“We will figure it out, I suppose,” I
said.

“Quite,” he added. “Oh, I forgot to mention.
You know that sealed letter from the royal family?” I nodded.
“Well, that was to tell the chief dame of my position and to allow
me whatever profession I should choose to take on in the village.
My parents still don’t know of my healing gift. I don’t know if I
will ever be ready to tell them.”

“Would they be coming to the wedding,
assuming it is here?” I speculated.

“Since I am the king’s favorite I should hope
so,” he grinned.

“When do you think would be an appropriate
time for the wedding? With my sister-in-marriage pregnant, I
wouldn’t want to upset the baby by having it nearing the end of her
term,” I asked him.

“Next fall perhaps? Maybe in your month of
Sedfyr? Given it’s almost the end of Aust now, you have about a
year to plan. I know your aunt will be involved in it considering
the lengths she went to with Logan and Brynna’s, and that wasn’t
even a royal wedding,” Theron said. When we finally arrived at the
keep we were met by the chief dame, who was by herself—highly
unusual. Her head was held high and she wore a light overcoat she
tugged close as the air was getting chilly.

“I thought,” she started. “Theron could have
an apartment prepared in the keep. Since you’ve told the whole
village who you really are, it would be highly inappropriate to
still live in your house. I have already discussed the situation
with the servants. They have found a suitable place for you to
accommodate. I hope you don’t find it too awkward, but it was my
husband’s apartment. Before we were married, he stayed there while
visiting from Moir Awin. He still kept it after we were joined in
order to have private time for himself to work on his writing. He
liked to write, although not many people knew that about him. He
had one of the monks from Bexweth as his tutor growing up and he
weaseled out the art of script from them.”

“Thank you for your kindness and hospitality,
Chief Dame,” Theron addressed her formally which she was quite
prepared to handle.

“Have you decided on a time to wed?” Angharad
asked curiously. “I do not want to rush you into it, of course, but
the union would be welcomed at a time like this. Kryie has yet to
respond to us. We need our allies.”

“Next year,” I stated. We all walked into the
keep to keep out the nip of fall.

“Splendid,” the chief dame smiled widely,
removing her jacket as we entered. She handed it to a servant
waiting for her nearby. “The chapel would be done by then. You
could be the first to join in marriage in it.”

The chief dame wanted to show Theron the
apartment so I was left by myself in the keep’s foyer, not wanting
to go any further. I didn’t want to face the village.

Lunamae popped her head in. “There you are. I
wondered where you went. Your mother has been asking for you. I
didn’t think you wanted to talk to her, though.”

“I don’t, but I think I’ll agree with
everything she has to say anyway,” I said. I hesitated for a
moment. “Lunamae, can you bring her to my apartment? I don’t want
to go in that room again. I don’t want all of those people looking
at me, even though most are all family.” She nodded in
understanding. I went up the stairs, noting that Theron and the
chief dame were nowhere to be seen. They were probably around on
the other side of the keep where the men’s apartments were
located.

I gathered myself in my room, Eclipse waiting
patiently for me at the doorway. I took off my shoes and sat down
on the bed. Eclipse jumped up and curled up next to me, putting his
head over my legs. A few minutes later, my mother entered. Lunamae
didn’t accompany her—most likely because she knew it would be a
private conversation.

“Before you say anything mother,” I began. “I
want you to know I was furious with Theron.”

“You were?” she gawked, thoroughly
surprised.

“Couldn’t you see my sour expression the
whole time he made his too public of a speech?” I inquired.

“I was not paying much attention to you. I
was too angry at
him
,” she admitted. I noticed her age was
starting to show. Strands of grey hair started to intermingle with
her light brown hair. I wondered if secretly she wasn’t attesting
to eyesight issues.

“I had a talk with him. I know it’s pointless
to argue the marriage at this point. The chief dame is set on the
wedding. She’s already started thinking up plans for it,” I told
her. Mother sighed and walked towards me. She sat next to me on the
bed and held me in her arms.

“He is not a stranger, you at least have
that. I met your father at the altar as is typical in our
clan-arranged marriages. It was not easy. We had planned to meet
before, but the snows came in and we had to turn back. I worry
about you. Theron would be a nice character I suppose if he was
trustworthy. I know I haven’t been there for you much but you still
are my daughter. I want to you be safe. I do not want him to hurt
you. I have heard of these outsiders and what they do to women—even
their wives. It is horrible,” Mother reflected. “I was lucky your
father was not that kind of man. I was even luckier to be allowed a
matron position.”

“I don’t think Theron would do anything to
harm me. He likes me,” I noted. My mother patted the cat who was on
the other side of me.

“You have Eclipse. I would assume he was a
present from Theron rather than Alexo now, right?” Mother asked and
I nodded. “He cannot be all that troublesome. Not to give you such
a nice and useful pet. He also gave one to Lunamae. Flurry has been
a good mouser.”

“Eclipse too if I trusted him to roam the
keep without getting into mischief,” I added. Mother nodded
affectionately.

“I think I will leave you to bed. You have
plenty to think about in the coming months. I will support you no
matter what, even your husband. I know I do not like what he did
but he had his reasons and they do make sense to a degree. He was
not as tactful as he could have been.” She got up off the bed and
walked out of the room just as Emylyn was entering. When Emylyn
closed the door she prepared herself for bed and I followed
suit.

“So you’ll be marrying into royalty then?”
she asked, obviously knowing the answer as she gathered herself in
bed and brought up the covers to get comfortable. “I suppose the
chief dame will release you then and I’ll get someone new in here.
I will miss your company Muirenn. You are nice, not at all like
Tegan.”

After transplanting Eclipse, I got under the
covers myself and shifted underneath them.

I yawned and answered her, “Thank you Emylyn.
I hope the replacement is every bit as nice as I am to you.”

I fell asleep with the words of my mother in
my head. I had plenty to think of. How would I begin to start
planning a wedding? Brynna.

The fall of the year 890 was ushered in with
decorations, planning, and visiting. Brynna had delivered a
beautiful and healthy baby girl which Logan and she named Annadel.
She had time to help me plan the wedding as Logan offered to take
her to his shop daily. In Feyris and the other clan villages, it is
customary to marry where the woman lives but since I was to wed a
Fanarion man, Angharad conceded to me having the wedding in Feyris
first and more celebrations in Fanarion afterward. We had already
met with the cook for the menu for the wedding celebrations and had
been in correspondence with the cooks in Midonia. The one here had
to be massive and extravagant since the rulers of Fanarion were
scheduled to arrive, and fortunately without the company of Alexo.
The flower arrangements were going to be made by the maidens of the
keep. We had been lucky to catch a traveling musical troupe a few
months prior and they were more than willing to provide
entertainment for a meager sum on the day of the wedding—and even
travel to Midonia to perform later. The chapel had recently been
completed so we were in the process of figuring out how we would
decorate it for the ceremony.

Theron and I were a little closer. We often
bumped into each other since we were both living in the keep now.
It was unusual at first, but I figured I would have to get used to
seeing him more if I was going to marry him. There was still some
mental hindrance I had about marrying him. It felt odd and I
couldn’t explain it. The lie was haunting me.

We were never alone, he and I, always under
some sort of escort. Emylyn volunteered herself a lot, probably
because she felt lonely. I didn’t mind the extra company because it
made the whole situation a little less awkward.

I was on my way to the fabric shop to pick
out a suitable pattern for my wedding garments. I was keen on
getting a white brocade that I could embroider with silver thread
and embellish, but Lunamae had come to me the previous day telling
me about Theron’s parents giving the shopkeeper some silk for my
dress. They had silk in Fanarion but only the very wealthy could
afford to buy it and it was even more expensive to import so many
places seldom did. They told the owner any leftover could be sold
for full profit. Eclipse had been following me around while I did
my errands for the day. When I went into the shop, the cat
dutifully waited outside for me, although he made sure I knew he
was there by his meows.