*Maddy*
I wake with a start to my bedroom door opening. After a week spent living in this castle full time, I’m still not used to the maids fluttering in and out and around the castle day in and day out. They move like ghosts most of the time, save for Hannah, who always stops to talk if she has a moment to spare.
I roll over and find that the young maid who tends to my room in the early morning–stoking the fire and laying out fresh clothes or dropping off baskets of laundry–is not who's currently shutting the door snuggly behind them.
I pull the sheets up to my chest as King Isaac walks into the center of the room, his hands tucked into the pockets of his gray sweatpants. A white shirt hugs his torso, showing off every broad muscle of his chest and shoulders.
Ruffled from sleep, and looking slightly dazed as if he just woke up, he stares at me for a long time before he finally says something.
“Good morning.”
“G-good morning,” I stammer, sitting up a bit and letting the sheets fall to my waist. There’s still a bitter bite in the air at night, and my body is shielded by cotton pajamas, but I don’t any less exposed. In fact, he looks me over intently, his head cocked to the side.
“What are you doing this morning?”
“Uhm… getting ready for our wedding,” I answer. I can’t stop one of my brows from arching. “That’s the plan for today, isn’t it?”
“Of course.” He looks amused. “But not until later. I’d rather not be around and fussed over by Ella and Hannah all day, and I doubt you want that either.”
A smile threatens to spread across my face as I watch him start to walk toward the end of my bed. He places his hands on the footboard, his arms flexed and muscles rigid. “Did you have something in mind? I have lessons–”
“You’re speaking fluently enough. I think you can miss a day.” His expression is almost teasing in nature. “I was planning on going on a run this morning. I’d like you to come with me.”
“A run?” Who does he think I am? “Why?”
“I want to see if you can shift,” he amends with a smirk. “Yesterday I noticed the buds on the trees are about to open. If we leave now, we’ll catch that moment right as the sun comes up.”
I swing my legs out of bed. While I’m touched and surprised by his sentimental side, which I hadn’t expected him to have whatsoever, he must know I don’t have a wolf anymore. “We’ve talked about this. I don’t have a wolf, Your Highness–”
“Isaac is fine,” he cuts in, following me with his eyes as I hastily make my bed out of sheer habit. “It might have been only because you were too weak to harness that power. But, your cheeks aren’t nearly as hollow and you’re not… gray, anymore.”
“Thanks,” I say with a hint of sharpness. I fluff my pillows if only to keep my hands busy. “Can you sense a wolf on me, then?”
“No, I can’t.”
“Then I can’t shift, Isaac.” Saying his name so informally feels odd.
“Then you’ll just have to ride on my back.”
My hands still. I look at him over my shoulder, watching as he sits up and crossing his arms over his broad chest.
When I don’t answer, he shrugs and says, “I’ll see you in the back garden in ten minutes. Dress warm, it’s still kind of cold.”
With that, he leaves, and I’m left reeling over the idea of spending a rather intimate morning with my soon-to-be husband–a perfect stranger.
* * *
There was a moment when I’d been running toward this very gate, tripping over a massive emerald green gown and in slippers made of silk. Now, I’m standing before it watching Isaac take off his shoes with the intention of carrying me through that very gate and into the dense woods beyond.
I’m feet away from freedom, and yet I can only focus on the enigma of a man standing before me starting to take off his shirt.
I quickly look away and fumble with the cuffs of the thick gray sweater Ella loaned me a few days ago. Isaac chuckles low in his throat. “It’s not like we won’t be very intimately acquainted here shortly.”
Ah, yes. The whole “sharing a bed and producing an heir” thing. I glance at him long enough to catch a glimpse of the rippling, well defined muscles of his abdomen before quickly looking away again.
He undresses fully. My cheeks are burning with a deep red blush even though I can’t see him. Finally, a rush of air stirs the crispy, dead leaves around my feet, and I turn with a start, finding my bethroled replaced by a huge, brown wolf. His blue eyes, level with my own, stare me down expectantly.
I close my eyes and reach deep, deep down looking for any hint of the wolf lost within my soul.
Opening my eyes again, I shake my head at him in resigned defeat. The wolf doesn’t seem too bothered. He simply lowers his head and steps to the side, giving me his back.
My nostrils flare as I grip his fur and swing my leg over his wide back. I barely have a chance to get settled before Isaac lights off like a rocket and thunders through the open gate into the thick trees beyond the tall walls enclosing the castle grounds.
The first traces of morning light are just filtering through the trees, casting them in a hazy pink glow. Isaac is right about today being the day spring comes into bloom. I look up into the canopy as we run through the trees along a beaten path. Above my head, the buds have partially opened, revealing soft flickers of pale green and yellow against a sea of deep red that encases the brand new leaves. The air smells crisp and fresh.
It’s still slightly chilly but nothing compared to the frigid early spring temperature that I experienced when I first came to this kingdom. Now, the air feels bright and heavy with scents of new growth and fresh blooms. I have no idea where we’re going or why, but I close my eyes for several seconds and just breathe.
I might not be totally free, but this is the most freedom I’ve experienced in… years. And it is so, so sweet.
Isaac eventually comes to a stop along a bluff with sweeping views of the countryside below. The sunrise is just starting to creep over the area, and I stand in awe, unbothered by the sound of rustling behind me.
“Worth it, right?” Isaac steps beside me, fully dressed.
I look him up and down before turning back to the landscape before us. “This is all yours, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. And after tonight, it'll belong to you as well.”
That strange, unsure feeling settles in my belly again. “Why did you choose me?”
He’s silent for several moments before sitting down right on the moss and spring grass that covers the bluff, stretching out his legs in front of him. I follow suit, but I cross my legs, tucking my chilled fingers in the shelves of my sweater.
“Why did you say yes?”
“I didn’t really have a choice.”
“Well, neither did I.”
That doesn’t seem right to me. Thousands of girls would die to be in my position. He could’ve chosen one of them. Why me? I don’t ask again. “Even if that’s true, it’s not a very good reason to marry someone.”
My words are met by silence, the two of us watching a wide shadow pass below as the sun begins to stretch and illuminate the distant trees in a golden glow. Behind us sits a huge tree, its roots creating a tangled web that stretches around us. I run my hand over the roots, wondering how long it took for a tree this size to grow this large. Decades? Centuries, more likely.
“You really were at the ball, weren’t you?”
Isaac’s voice is heavy with what I can only describe as hope. I turn to look at him, but he’s not facing me. His eyes are watching the sunrise, his hands now encircling his knees. I swallow hard, nodding before saying, “I was. I went to act as a lady’s maid for my stepsister, Elodie.”
“She was the one in that dress with peacock feathers, right?”
“You remember that?” I laughed.
“I remember the look on her face when the dance ended and you walked right past her.” His eyes go a bit glassy with the memory. “I looked for you. You just disappeared after that.”
My heart squeezes, but I find it hard to locate the words I need for what I feel now, and how I felt then. “It wasn’t a ball for me to enjoy. It was for Elodie, and she never forgave me.”
“What do you mean?”
Exhaling deeply, I decide to just tell him everything. Why not? A few hours from now, we’ll be married.
“My father died shortly after remarrying. My stepmother never liked me, and I’m not sure she cared for my father very much, either. He was a merchant and left on a trip shortly after their wedding and wasn’t due back for months. He never returned, and instead of caring for me like his will stipulated, she spent all of his money and eventually left us destitute.” I go on to explain that we had to move to Mountain Spring where her family used to live, and how I began the unpaid help. “The only reason I’m educated is because she had enough money to hire maids and cooks for a while, and they taught me arithmetic and literature and history. But then the money ran out, and I was forced to work to keep all of us alive.”
I explain how we came to Crescent Falls in the hopes that Elodie would win Isaac’s favor at the ball, and how I’d been horribly punished for stealing Elodie’s spotlight.
“I didn’t know,” Isaac says after a moment. “I wouldn’t have asked you to dance if I’d known it would have cost you so much.”
“It’s fine. It wasn’t totally your fault,” I reply, shielding my eyes from the spray of the full might of the sun.
“And she sold you after that?”
“Yes, and now I’m here, about to become Luna of Crescent Falls. Elodie will lose her mind when she finds out.” I chuckle to myself, imagining Elodie learning the news and wishing I’d be there to see the look on her face.
“Maybe we should have invited her to the wedding.” Isaac finally meets my eyes with that boyish, tight-lipped grin that I love, but rarely ever seen.
My mind immediately turns to mush as I stare back at him, my heart racing against my ribs. Again, I’m reminded I dreamt of this outcome once, and now it’s reality.
But he doesn’t feel the way I feel for him. This arrangement is just business. I’m a figurehead destined to give him an heir and try to find something to do to fill my time.
All while he goes to war.
He looks like he’s concentrating hard about something. Whatever it is, I can tell it’s plaguing him. I open my mouth to ask if he’s all right, but he stands, extending his hand to me. “We should get back. I’m sure Ella is wondering where you are.”
* * *
Isaac follows close behind me as we walk into the castle from the back terrace, laughing about something I’d just said about Ella, Hannah, Rosie. They’d bickered relentlessly about the wedding dress, and Ella’s idea had won out.
But Isaac’s laugh dies the second we reach the back foyer.
An exquisitely beautiful woman with thick, golden blonde hair turns to look at us, her blue eyes going wide with shock.
I drop into a curtsy, hanging my head low enough I can no longer see her. Isaac’s hand touches my back in a motion to rise.
When I do, the woman is staring right at me, her brow furrowed in marked confusion.
“Sidney?” she asks, taking a single step toward me, then retreating.
“Mom.” Isaac’s voice is once again all business. “What are you doing here?”