A/N:  A hearty appreciation to @Midnight_stxr for the wonderful Elena aesthetic above!😁💃🏽

A blue jay swooped into the pavilion and perched on the table, but its presence was unknown to Kieran, whose eyes had been unblinking for a while. His brother Aaron’s appearance was also not made known to him, until fingers were snapped right infront of his face, causing him to blink and notice his surroundings.

“Ray told me you were out of it in the morning sparring session.  I see he was being truthful.”

Kieran leaned back in the chair with a sigh, just as Aaron lifted Kieran’s cup of cocktail juice and took a sip.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Aaron asked.

Kieran’s eyes were fixed on the bird hopping about on the other end of the table. “When was the last time you bedded a woman, Aaron?”

His brother sputtered a series of coughs before placing the cup back on the table. “This is not the kind of talk I was expecting,” he muttered and wiped a corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

“It has dawned on me…” Kieran continued, ignoring the complaint, “…that I’ve been alone for so long, Aaron.”

Aaron rolled his eyes. “So I’ve been invisible to you all these years. Glad to finally know my actual place in your life, you hurtful goat.”

Kieran shot him a look. “That’s not what I meant. I meant it in terms of…companionship.”

Aaron arched a brow. “I’m not companion enough for you?”

Kieran groaned. “Aaron!”

His brother laughed and patted him on the shoulder, “Only a jest, Kieran.” He smiled. “But hey, you’re getting married soon so your problem shall be solved.”

Kieran snorted. “I don’t know if I can wait,” he said. “Not for the marriage specifically, but for her.”

Aaron furrowed his brows. “What exactly made you think about all this?”

Kieran’s gaze lowered to the cup. “A certain dream.”

“What kind of…” Aaron trailed off amidst his sentence and his voice turned serious as he added, “…that dream?”

“That dream,” Kieran affirmed and looked up at Aaron, only to see a fat grin stretching his brother’s face.

“You’re attracted to Elena,” he stated.

Kieran’s face was blank. “You say that like it’s news,” he deadpanned. “But yes. Although, it’s not just mere attraction.”

“Mm-hm?” Aaron’s grin never left his face as he leaned onto the backrest of a chair with his forearms.

“Well I can’t really explain it.”

“I’m listening.” Aaron’s response was quick.

Kieran sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Last night, everything felt so real; from the slightest of touches down to every sensation evoked by them. It was a lot more real than any of my past carnal encounters.” He shrugged, incredulity lacing his voice as he added, “yet it was only a dream.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Aaron spoke, “Wow. And what do you make of that?”

“Honestly?” Kieran’s eyes flicked to his brother. “I don’t know. I don’t know whether to be excited or scared or…or disappointed. I’m just confused.”

“There is no confusion here, Kieran,” Aaron said, keeping his eyes on him. “You’re attracted to Elena, and you want her.” He clicked his tongue. “You want her bad. And that’s okay – totally normal. Now all you have to do is keep it in your trousers until your wedding night.”

Kieran’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “I like how you say that as if it’s as easy as breaking a rogue’s fingers.”

Aaron shrugged nonchalantly. “A little restraint never hurt anybody.”

Kieran’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Are you hearing yourself right now?”

Aaron smirked. “You can do it, brother. You’ve been celibate for what, two years now? You can go a couple of more weeks. It’s only Elena.”

Kieran began to laugh. A humorless, slightly disillusioned laugh. “Only Elena!” he echoed. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

Aaron was grinning. “Don’t tell me you forgot about dance rehearsal. You’ll have to go and see Elena, dance with her – which involves a lot of touching and proximity.”

All the colour drained from Kieran’s face, much to his brother’s mirth.

Aaron tilted his head. “And who knows? Today might be the day you start on the ‘intimate’ part of your dance.”

Kieran gulped. He ran a hand down his face and cursed under his breath.

************

They were the most trying two hours that he’d ever spent with her – setting aside the time when she got drunk, of course.

He tried to do his best in acting normal, in acting like it was just another dance rehearsal. He tried to pretend that her presence did not affect him, that the fluid motion of her body against him did not spike his hormones.

He tried to erase the dream from his mind, but with her infront of him, he could not help but imagine putting it into a reality.

Aaron’s guess had been right. The rehearsal for the ‘intimate’ bit of their dance was begun, and Kieran could do only so much to keep his senses intact.

He nearly developed tremors in his hands from stopping the roaming they ached to effect upon her; and countless times, he had to remind himself that her lips were not made to be his for the taking – tasting…and neither was the rest of her skin.

His eyes, however, were something he had the least control over.

If she’d caught him staring a little too intently, she chose not to mention it, for she seemed completely oblivious to his feelings, or torture.

He’d been told before that his eyes spoke where he wouldn’t utter actual words, and he could not help but wonder whether she’d figured out what it is he wanted from the way he looked at her.

But unlike him, Elena seemed like…well, herself. Chirpy, chatty, and utterly charming.

He didn’t think he could take on more days without resisting that charm. Then she’d actually be irresistible.

*****************

Elena had thought her heart would explode.

Since two days back, she’d thought it best to pretend that what had happened between her and Kieran had not, in fact, happened. She’d thought it best to pretend those fires didn’t exist.

But with the dance rehearsal the previous day, she’d discovered that pretending would be an extremely trying experience, especially with the way he looked at her with those cyan eyes.

His effect on her was getting worse, and she did not know how to go about it.

She needed answers. Since she could not understand her own feelings, she’d need an interpreter.

“Mara.”

Her sister was in the same sofa as her in the sitting room, reading a thick book while Elena knitted. Well, tried to focus on knitting.

“Yes?” Mara drawled, turning a page of the book.

“Something is happening to me and I need you to help me understand it.”

“Mm.”

Elena braced herself and exhaled. “My stomach feels strange.”

“Go to the latrine,” was the curt reply.

Elena rolled her eyes. “Not like that. I mean, it doesn’t necessarily hurt. It just feels like lots of worms are munching around in there.”

Mara lowered her book, the expression on her face a mixture of horror and disgust. “Okay. You really need to go the latrine. Empty them all out.”

“I am very sure I do not need to go, Mara,” Elena said, dryly.

“Then it’s probably gas. Just bend over and let it all out,” Mara suggested, wisely. “You can even do it right now. I’ll be your lookout.”

“It is not gas!” Elena exclaimed, thrusting her knitting on the sofa, between them. “It is just something that happens occasionally.”

“Well when does it happen?”

Elena looked away from her sister and frowned at her hands, situated on her lap. “Whenever I am with Kieran.” Her voice was soft. “Sometimes it is what he says, what he does, or just when he looks at me. My stomach clenches and it feels like wor-”

“Butterflies.”

Elena turned her head to her sister and tinted her brows when she found Mara beaming like she was the sun’s reflection.

“Butterflies, sister. Not worms,” Mara corrected. “It’s kind of like the knots and jitters you get before performing, only more pleasant, right?”

Elena nodded, still confused. “Yes, that is right. But how did you come up with a description so accurate?”

Mara shrugged. "Because I have experienced it before.”

Elena gasped. “You have! Then you know what it is!”

Mara bit her lip as if to stop the grin from splitting up her face, and nodded. “You, dear sister, have got a crush.”

Elena raised an eyebrow, and her sister giggled.

“You’ve got a crush on your own betrothed!” Mara squealed. “That is so cute! So unbelievably adorable!”

Elena stared at her, and opened her mouth to inquire more about this ‘crush’, but Mara inched closer and whispered, “You like General Kieran.”

And Elena rolled her eyes. “Of course I like him. He is absolutely wonderful; who wouldn’t like him? But what does that have to do with my stomach? I do not need to have pressure in my belly in order to like someone. I like you, but I do not get jitters all over.”

Mara face-palmed. “That is not how it works!”

“Then how does it work?”

“You see, it is different with-”

“You two are still here!”

Both girls flinched at their mother’s booming voice. She marched towards the sofa and stood with her hands on her wide hips, her glare a rain of daggers.

“You are supposed to be on your way to the seamstress to choose the designs for the engagement outfits and Elena’s dress!” she bellowed.

Elena wore a feeble smile. “Oh. Wuh-was that today?”

“Do you not care about your own engagement!” Her mother scolded, causing Elena to lower her guilt-stricken face, finding it difficult to maintain eye-contact.

“Calm down, mother,” Mara cooed, her hand reaching for Elena’s. The latter quickly held on to it like it was her lifeline. “We had just lost track of time, is all. We shall get going now.”

The lady of the house huffed and looked up, fanning herself with her hand. “Get on with it before I collapse on account of your misdeeds.”

Mara mumbled something about ‘theatrics’ before standing up and scurrying away with Elena’s hand still in hers.

*************

From the seamstress’ shop, the two sisters decided to roam about the marketplace for a bit. The streets were busy as usual, and Mara claimed that the business was making her hungry.

“Don’t worry. I will get a pork bun for you as well. Just stay right here,” Mara assured Elena before skipping away in delight.

Elena shook her head with a smile. She went back to looking at the jewellery on display at the stall. She picked up one necklace with a green stone at the dip and studied it.

“Emerald stone,” said the woman selling the jewellery, looking between the stone and Elena. “It’ll cost you a hefty sum, but it’s worth it.”

“But it is not real,” Elena responded casually, her eyes still on the stone.

The woman cackled. “Listen here, miss. The lookalike’s just as good so of course it’s got to be pricy. There ain’t nowhere you’re gonna acquire a real one so you get what you get, honey.”

Elena smiled at that.

“So you buyin’? We can negotiate.”

Elena shook her head no and put back the necklace. A sense of pride swelled up in her at the fact that she already owned a genuine emerald necklace.

“It would look good on you,” the woman insisted.

Elena was suddenly taken back to the first time she’d worn the necklace – the evening of the autumn festival. She vividly remembered his fingers grazing her skin as they traced the ornament around her neck; his voice when he’d told her she looked beautiful.

The memory made her smile.

“I know,” she said and walked to the next stall.

She wanted to see him soon.

“What about you, son? You buyin’?” the woman’s voice questioned from behind Elena as she viewed the trinkets at the next stall.

“Whatsa matter? You mute?” the woman asked, and there was still no response.

Out of curiosity, Elena turned her head to see the person the woman was addressing.

***********

Mara, filled with excitement about the two pork buns she had, wrapped in paper, rushed to the stall she’d left her sister at only to find her lack of presence. Her radiant face gloomed as her eyebrows met in confusion.

“Elena?” she called, turning in all directions to hopefully spot her older sister.

Women passed by, but neither of them was Elena.

Mara asked the stall owner whether she had seen her sister.

“Ah.” The woman nodded at Mara’s vivid description of Elena. “She was here, yes. But she left with a certain lad.”

Anxiety pooled in Mara’s belly. “What lad? What did he look like?”

“Tall, dressed in all black, with a hood.”

“Did you see his face?” Mara asked, her fingers digging into the paper-wrapped pork buns in her palms.

The woman frowned. “Definitely not handsome, I’ll tell you that,” she replied. “Hairless as a newborn all over. Even his head.”

Mara’s heart sank.

She didn’t know anyone who was bald.
“Ma’am.” Mara’s voice quivered. “In which direction did he take her?”

The woman gestured to the west, and the pork buns dropped to the ground just as Mara clutched the skirt of her dress and took off in that direction, her adrenaline running wild.

“Elena!” she cried out.

***************

Kieran had escorted Aaron to the physician’s home that morning. The physician had not been home so they had to wait for him to come back from his appointment.

Instead of the physician reappearing, however, it had been his apprentice, Maruja who had shown up. This was much to Aaron’s delight and her distaste.

Maruja and Aaron had a cat and mouse kind of relationship. Kieran found it amusing.

In the kitchen, he listened and watched the two argue about Aaron taking off his shirt. Aaron wanted to – because it would ‘help her feel his lungs better’ while Maruja found it completely unnecessary.

“Do you take your shirt off when physician Maverick gives you an examination?” Maruja demanded as she furiously pounded away at some herbs in a mortar.

Aaron pouted. “You know you’re the only one I would willingly strip for.”

Kieran snickered as Maruja visibly fumed. Her lips were upturned in a ferocious frown and her face a clear ‘angry red’, almost the same colour as her hair.

She pushed her curls back from her face and kept pounding.

Aaron approached the table Maruja was at and gave Kieran a knowing look. He read that look to mean, “Get out.”

Raising his palms in surrender, Kieran exited the house with a smile on his face.

No sooner had he stepped out onto the veranda than an arrow swooshed right by his ear, striking and sticking to the doorframe behind him.

Alert, Kieran quickly looked up and saw a figure disappear over the brick wall fence, and outside the home.

The perpetrator could have easily struck him down but didn’t…which meant that wasn’t his purpose.

Kieran turned on his heel and noticed a piece of paper strapped to the arrow.

So he was a messenger.

Gripping the arrow, Kieran yanked it out of the doorframe and extracted the letter. His eyes analysed the handwriting and anxiety overcame him when he recognized to whom it belonged.

It’s been a while, General Kieran. I hope you did not miss me too much, although I surely missed you a great deal. I could not forget you for a single moment ever since the day you fled my castle, holding my princess’ hand like she was yours.

To cut the grievances short, you stole my woman, so I have stolen yours.

Kieran’s hand gripped the paper, a whisper of Elena’s name leaving his lips. A mixture of dread and anger filled him as he read the rest of the letter.

You want her back? Of course you do. All you have to do is give me back my woman. I want the King’s approval for me to marry Princess Debra. Bring me a letter of our betrothal written and endorsed by the King himself with the royal seal, and you shall have your woman back.

Twilight, abandoned Demir House in the East.

No tricks or surprise armies, General.

Your woman is very beautiful, and no doubt my men would want a taste…

Your Enemy,
Jairah of Rahandi.

Kieran’s jaw clenched as his hand scrunched up the paper into a ball, holding it there in a vicious grip. Fury consumed him at the threats Prince Jairah had hurled in his letter.

Just who did he think he-

“General Kieran!”

He recognized the voice as Mara’s.

He turned and spotted her, clasping the skirt of her lime green dress as she ran into the front yard. Her face was folded and distraught, her dark hair waving about behind her.

Kieran rushed down the steps to meet her halfway, and her foot tripping over a stone caused her to stumble forward.

He caught her just in time, her grasp on his arms python-like. She was clearly out of breath and despite it being a fairly cool mid morning, sweat glistened across her creased forehead, down the sides of her face to her neck. She looked like she’d been running frantically all over Rievelt.

The state Mara was in, and the letter he’d just received refueled his dread.

“You have to help me…” Mara breathed out, lifting her panic-stricken eyes to him.

“Mara, what happened?” Kieran asked, keeping his voice leveled.

Tears welled up in Mara’s brown eyes, and when she opened her mouth to speak, her bottom lip quivered.

“Elena…” she choked out. “She’s gone.”

The tears fell, streaming down her flushed cheeks, and Kieran wasted no time in enveloping her in a hug.

“I didn’t mean tuh…” Mara sobbed, grabbing onto his shirt. “I didn’t mean to…leave her alone.”

Kieran stroked her hair and rested his chin atop her head.

“It’s not your fault,” he said lowly, remembering the letter. “I will get her back.”

Mara sobbed harder, her tears soaking up his shirt while he comforted her. He hated to see her that sad and helpless, and he hated Prince Jairah’s guts even more for taking Elena away.

“So you’re looking for wrath, Jairah,” Kieran thought, spite burning in his eyes. “I will give you wrath.”

Author’s chatter

Hey there!

It’s been so long since I wrote, I feel like I’ve just run a marathon after completing one chapter.

A very big tremendous thank you to all of you still reading this story. It means so much to me, really.🥺🥺

Don’t forget to vote!

Maruja » Mah.rou.ha.   Ma.ruuu. ha.  Haha, hehe