Mist on Water (9 page)

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

T
he 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 toward 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

B
li
ss. 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 touching 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?”

“Proof.”

Her smile waned. “Proof of what?”

I backed away, the water slipping over my feet, past my ankles and up my calves. “That I can swim.”

In the distance dark clouds began to form. Neither of us paid much attention as Nari took my hand and tugged me back to shore. “Oh no you don’t. You need not prove anything to me. If you say you can swim, I believe you. If you say you wish to be a hoary old billy goat… well, that is very believable, too.”

I ducked my head and butted her until she came up against the fallen tree. She placed her hand on the crown of my head and laughed. “I yield. What would you have of me?”

“A kiss,” I said, though I wanted far more.

She pulled my face close, wrapped her arms around my neck and with a sigh, pressed her lips to mine. An ache of longing speared through me. I tugged her close, fitting her as tightly against my chest as I could and bent her backwards until we dangled over the edge of the tree. A squeal of alarm rose in her throat, but there was no fear in her eyes. For good measure I twisted and we fell, landing softly on the ground with her atop me and not once loosing her lips. I held her face in my hands glorying in the touch of her soft skin. Never would not let her go.

We stayed in the small shelter of trees and brush, protected from the rising wind and the spray of turbulent water. Her lips teased my skin, leaving a trail of heat wherever they touched. I didn’t think my heart could stand such torture, but it seemed quite capable of accepting the punishment and actually wanted more.

Placing my forehead to hers, I drew in a jagged breath.

“Is aught wrong,” she whispered her concern.

“Never. It’s just…”

Our hands were clasped, and I drew them down and flattened her palm to my chest. I lifted my gaze to hers. “Do you see what you do to me?”

Her face softened and as we stared into each other’s eyes, she placed my hand to her chest directly over her heart. It merrily tripped along matching my pulse beat for beat. The tip of her tongue darted over her lips before a shy smile formed. “I know exactly how you feel.”

My love for her had never been greater. As we explored each other, the trust she offered, the love she gave to me, a doomed man, humbled me. I wished fervently that time would stand still. That today would always be and tomorrow would never come. Yet all too soon our moment ended. The stomp of feet and the boom of a male’s voice interrupted us.

“Nari.”

The call broke through the haze of my longing and I pulled away. Nari tried to pull me back, but I refused and peered through the brush. “Someone calls for you.”

Her name ripped against the wind, again and again. She struggled to a sitting position, never looking lovelier with her hair mussed and her lips a burnished pink. I wanted to pull her to me and burrow further into the brush where we could hide from the world that threatened to pull us apart, but I knew my wishes were not to be.

She turned toward me and frowned. “I-I think it’s Tait. He visits nearly every week now.”

“I thought you told him to go away?”

“I did, but you know him. He doesn’t listen well.”

He must have heard us talking, for the next thing we knew, he poked his head between the trees and scowled down at us. “What are you doing?”

The condemnation in his voice was not lost on me. I rose and faced him. “Nothing that concerns you.”

Tait forced himself into our haven and pulled Nari to her feet. She yanked her hands free, and he watched as she straightened her clothes and smoothed her hair. “Your parents are worried sick. You’ve been gone far too long.”

Nari cast him a suspicious look and stepped closer to me. “I highly doubt that.”

Tait stepped closer and a haggard whisper tore from his throat. “Don’t do this, Nari. He’s not worth it. He’ll never be able to care for you like…” He hesitated.

“You?” she sneered. “As if I would have you.”

His face darkened. “People are talking.”

“I care not.”

“Think of your family.”

She entwined her fingers defiantly between mine.

The wind brought the sound of her name again. It was Gordie. Nari glanced up at me in surprise.

“See?” Tait pounced on her concern. “They are worried. A storm is rising and you were nowhere to be found.”

“Go,” I said, and gave her a little nudge.

Reluctantly, she let go, and with a careless hand, she pushed by Tait.

When she was gone, he turned on me, his chest heaving with suppressed rage. “She’s too good for you. She deserves far more than what you could ever offer, so I’m going to say this only once. Let her be. Disappear. It’s your fate, Ryne. Your time on earth is numbered.”

I stepped closer to him. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s the truth.” With one last hate-filled look, he left.

The wind that only a moment before had whipped through the treetops grew still. The waves gentled. Not me. I stood with hands balled into fists at my side trembling with rage. I picked up a few flat stones and whipped them out over the water. One. Two. Three skips until the waves gobbled up the first rock. I glanced in the direction Tait had gone, turning the second stone in my fingers. “She’s too good for you, too.”

With a snap of my wrist the stone zipped across the water. One. Two.

I turned, not bothering to see its final skip as I pushed my way from the shelter of the trees. I would not be scared off. Nari was mine.

A few days later we climbed our tree, and I settled with my back against the trunk and Nari leaning against my chest. Even the simplest contact between us stoked the fires of my desire. Tait’s threats held no sway over me, for there was no doubt in my mind. Nari and I were meant for each other. Even when we were apart, our hearts never wandered far. Ours was a love that had grown despite the stubbornness I’d inherited from my father.

Yet the curse of my birth would not fully disappear. How could it when everyone latched onto ridiculous superstitions and continued to talk of the nix? If I wanted Nari, I would get no help in doing so. I must make a life of my own. Break free from the curse. Show everyone the tale of the nix lived only in their minds.

And now, the time was nigh. I stood on the precipice of my future, where panic fought with logic, and I wasn’t sure which would win.

We sat in our tree, legs dangling freely on either side of the branch. I pulled Nari’s back against me and wrapped my arms around her. As we huddled together, she glanced up at me. “If you look this filthy, I am afraid of what I look like.” She took out an embroidered square and twisted to rub at my cheek.

I admit, I wasn’t really listening. I chose to follow the twists and dips of my mind, and at every bend, I found no peace, for the answers to my dilemma were not easily gained.

Slowly, she stopped what she was doing and lowered the cloth. Cocking her head to the side, she nudged my ribs. “What are you thinking?”

Startled out of my thoughts, I stared out over the treetops, concocting a quick lie. “Well. If you need to know—”

“Truth, Ryne.”

“What?” I slanted a quick look at her.

She pushed out of my arms. “I can always tell when you’re thinking up a lie to protect me.”

She could? “How?”

“Never will I tell. So come clean. Where is your mind?”

In turmoil. In Hades. I slumped forward as defeat rushed through me. “I wish I could bring your father something special, something to show him I would make a good son-in-law.”

Although my father often told me I had more talent than any man he’d ever met–certainly my wife would not starve, but neither would she find abundant wealth—I’d always been taught that a man can never know too much. Success depended upon diversity. I could lay stone, till the soil, and hunt. All good professions in themselves, to be sure, but with my doomed future riding my shoulder, a woman’s father would have to be very sure he did not give his daughter’s hand away in vain.

“You still think of Tait, don’t you? He’s an idiot. Conceited and without worth.”

“My thoughts are far more disturbing than he.” And they shook me to my core.

She waited patiently for me to continue, but I feared her answer.

A gentle hand came to rest on my thigh. “You can trust me, Ryne.”

My gaze softened when I looked at her. “Very well. Can you tell me, is your father superstitious?”

She sighed and lifted her hand to pick at the tree bark. “No more than anyone else.”

“There are a great many superstitious people living around here.”

“You are thinking of the nix.”

I threw her a quick glance. “I’m surprised you dare speak of it.”

“I would dare much for you. Even a curse.”

I looked away. The nix was a sore subject between us. The new wife had made her views known when it came to my family and their odd connection to our village history. Though Nari professed the whole thing a hurtful fancy that only led to gossip and hate, the new wife thrived on keeping the tale uppermost in people’s minds. Who wanted a poor son-in-law, and one doomed to die?

“How can I not think of the tale?”

“My father is as practical a man as the nix is fantasy. You have nothing to worry about.” She flipped my shirt collar and wrinkled her nose. “Except that he will turn you away for the dirt clinging to your shirt.”

“Why disparage the good Lord’s earth? It proves I am unafraid of hard labor.”