I approach the fountain carefully, as though Lady Elspeth is a white stag and I’m a hunter trying not to scare it off before I can shoot it with cupid’s arrow.
No, that is a terrible analogy. I think it would be best if I left metaphors to the bards.
Summoning all my strength and courage, I call out, “My lady.”
Lady Elspeth startles at my words and nearly tumbles into the fountain. Only her elvish grace helps her regain her composure in time.
I wince, glad for my veil to hide my no-doubt furious blush. “I did not mean to startle you.”
She raises her gaze to see me and nearly jumps back into the water after all.
By the sudden pallor of her expression, I can’t help but wonder what kind of ghastly fright I must look like, standing under the moonlight in pure white. I want to say something to calm her fears, but my tongue has once again abandoned me in my time of need.
Then recognition flashes in lady Elspeth’s eyes. She jumps to her feet before dropping into a graceful curtsy. “My liege.”
“Please, rise.” An Empress is to stand beside her emperor, not prostrate before him.
Lady Elspeth obediently rises, her expression perfectly placid as she smooths out her skirt and waits for my next words.
Which still do not come, thanks to my traitorous coward of a tongue.
So, she mercifully fills the silence. “I am so sorry; I did not realize you would desire to visit these gardens.” Lady Elspeth drops into another curtsy and rises before I can ask her to. Then she moves as if to walk past me.
Desperation grants me speech again. “Actually, it is you that I desire.”
Lady Elspeth halts her departure and whirls around to face me, surprise coloring her lovely face.
I go rigid. Of all the ways to begin the conversation, I feel like there was a far less dramatic way to do so. Why am I such a dummkopf around her?
Her eyes are a very light blue and seem to gleam like the stars above as she studies me. “My prince?”
I clear my throat and call upon every lesson Uriel gave me for speech-making and giving. “That is, I was hoping we could speak again. And what a pleasant surprise to find you in my mother’s garden.”
“I’m sorry,” her words are coming as rushed as my heartbeat now. “I should have known that the Empress’ gardens were sacred. Creator rest her soul.” She touches her forehead and each shoulder in the elvish symbol of the Door in respect and moves as if to leave me again.
Did she not hear what I said? Why can I not communicate with her?
Reaching out, I seize her hand in my gloved one before she can escape. Lady Elspeth and I freeze simultaneously in shock from my forwardness.
She doesn’t pull away, so I don’t release her. Licking my lips, I plunge forward, though my words are but a whisper. “Please do not upset yourself, Lady Elspeth.”
Her beautifully unique eyes widen. “Y-you remember my name?”
I stare back at her in surprise. Can it be possible for one so fair and graceful to think so meekly of herself? “How could I not? You were so different from everything I’ve ever known.”
Lady Elspeth gingerly lifts her free hand to touch the tip of one of her pointed ears.
Since I’m not aware of that particular kinfolk symbol, I just plunge forward. “I would be honored to take a stroll around the gardens with you.”
“So, you can make sport of my heritage?” The quiet rage I first heard when she lay on top of me, asking me if she was welcome in court, is back as she snatches her hand away from me.
I jerk back at the accusation. “What? No! I have not come here to mock your heritage, but to discuss our future.” And there I go, spilling secrets long before they are ripe for picking.
Lady Elspeth stares at me, her plump lips parted. “Our future?”
Now that I’ve looked closely at her mouth, I’m having a hard time turning away. “I mean only that when I saw you, something shifted. I don’t know what, only that I believe it’s worth exploring.” I sigh. Telling her right off about the Blood-Bound ritual would probably frighten her, wouldn’t it? And everything about my Heritage Magic is shrouded in secrecy for national security, anyway. “I’m going about this all wrong, aren’t I?”
She nods slowly. “I am somewhat more befuddled now than when you first approached me, so I would say that there is certainly room for improvement in your communication style.”
Despite myself, I choke on a laugh, and then can’t help the snickers that escape. Funny as well as beautiful and brave. My Heritage Magic is going to ruin me with such a woman.
Licking those lovely lips of hers, Lady Elspeth lifts her chin. “I am quite flattered, my prince, but there are several more beautiful girls far more eligible than I.” She turns away.
Horror grips me at what I’m witnessing. Surely, she can’t leave just like that? “Wait!”
Lady Elspeth pauses and glances over her shoulder at me. There is a defiant spark in her eyes that is mayhap the most attractive thing I’ve ever seen in my life. “Is that a command?”
I lift my chin. “It is if that’s what will make you stay.”
Sighing, she turns back to me. “For only a moment more. It is hardly appropriate for us to both be out here alone, after dark, without even one of the other girls to chaperone.”
“It would be hardly appropriate for one of them to be present when I remove my veil. Even the purest maiden must not be allowed to gaze upon the face of the Sacred Prince before the Sun claims him at his first coronation.” And there goes my tongue again, dispelling words here and there, as though my Unveiling has anything to do with this situation.
“Of course, that would be inappropriate. Wait—” Her eyes widen and somehow find mine through this barrier between us. “Are you saying you intend to remove your veil?”
I believe I am as warm as the actual sun suddenly beneath these layers. “I alluded to something along those lines, yes.” I tug off one of my white gloves.
“But how could you? I am also a maiden.” Lady Elspeth glances around, as if a posse of guards might descend upon us and punish her for my forwardness.
But I would never let one of them touch her. “I believe you are more than a mere maiden.” I don’t look away from her as I slide off my other glove and place both on the fountain ledge. “You are a true hero. After all, you saved my life this day.”
Lady Elspeth’s gaze snaps from my hands to my veil. “I— what?”
“Surely you remember? It was only this afternoon.” There is so much shock in her expression. Surely, I did not make a mistake. Her hair may be down now, and her dress changed, but she looks exactly as she did in my throne room. Surely Lady Elspeth doesn’t have a twin sister?
She still looks so confused, and that makes me feel as though my entire world is becoming a ledge for me to launch myself from. To ground her and steady me, I take hold of her hands in my now bared ones.
I thought I felt all there was to feel when she threw her body onto mine. But now that we are skin on skin, our fingers entwining, I realize that was naïve. Her flesh is so soft and warm, and my Heritage Blood seems to awaken my entire body to the fact that we are touching, even if it is just our hands.
Lady Elspeth’s gaze snaps to mine, and there is recognition there even as her mouth parts into a little ‘o.’
At this moment, neither of us seems to have the right words to communicate with each other. Yet somehow, I know to my soul that she feels the same connection I do. There is a part of her, even without Heritage Magic belonging only to my royal line, that recognizes the destiny we were meant to share.
I can do nothing but kneel before her, my future wife and empress. My fate and destiny. The one I have been waiting for half my life, obeying every stringent rule that I might be ready for her and her alone.
Lady Elspeth blinks down at me, her ‘o’ growing with her shock. She looks ready to join me on the ground, but something regal in her soul keeps her upright and staring down at me. “My prince?”
“Otello. My name is Otello.” Even though she can’t see it with this sun-forsaken veil between us, I smile at her.
“Otello?” Her voice pitches like I expected mine too.
Somehow, faced with her fright, I feel myself becoming braver for her. My words come out strong and clear. “Do you trust me?”
Lady Elspeth stares at me, and I feel empires rise and fall and rise again in her mind as she carefully considers her answer. “Yes.”
My smile deepens as my heart pounds relentlessly within me. “Then remove my veil, Lady Elspeth.”
She shakes her head once. “I cannot.”
“You could, as my betrothed.”
Lady Elspeth steps back, but still her small, soft hands remain clutched in mine. “My prince!”
“Otello.”
“My Otello—” Her eyes widen and then completely shift shades until they are almost green.
She shouldn’t feel embarrassed on my account. That’s my duty.
Sadly releasing her hands, I rise. “Then will you allow me?” My voice is low, like it got caught in my throat. Mayhap it stumbled over the worry that she’ll tell me she never wants to see my face and send me away without giving our Blood-Bound bond a chance.
“I— “ Lady Elspeth clears her throat and drops her gaze. “You may do whatever you wish, Sacred Prince. How can I stop you?”
“With but a word.”
She shivers, but she peeks up at me from beneath her lashes.
Maintaining eye-contact the best I can with this veil still in the way, I reach up and grasp its hem. “Lady Elspeth?”
“Yes?” Her voice is a whisper, and she still hasn’t looked away.
But I need to be sure. “Do you wish me to stop?”
“No.”
I smile. Then I lift the cumbersome thing off my head before turning to toss it with the gloves.
Feeling as though I’m breathing air for the first time after almost drowning, I turn to her. She is, after all, the light that lured me to the surface of the sea the veil trapped me in.
The woman I hope to take as my bride is studying me as if she has been tasked to paint my portrait. Her expression gives no indication of whether she thinks it will be a handsome portrait or not.
“Lady Elspeth?” Despite being free from their gloves, my palms grow sweaty.
“Elspeth. Just Elspeth . . . Otello.”
Grinning, I step toward her, and my eager hands capture hers once again. “I didn’t have a chance to thank you for saving my life.”
“No need. I would do it again.” She grants me the sweetest of smiles, though there is still the slightest cloud of confusion in her eyes.
I move closer, noting that I am indeed several inches taller than she. The Emperor-God was gracious indeed when dictating my destiny. “What an excellent answer from a future empress.”
Elspeth quirks one eyebrow. “A lovely thought, but—”
“Marry me.”