The Hunchback's Reluctant Bride ✔

23 | What Are They?

Silence drifted between them until he said, "But that won't happen to us, I swear." She didn't answer and he said with conviction, "I swear it. I swear it by The Living Goddess. On my life. On the life of my mother. That won't happen."

Vadde stared at the curtain. He waited for her to answer but was she worth all that? Worth his life? Worth his mother's?

"Wife?"

"I'm here," Vadde choked out. "I'm just a little nervous." She was quick to add, "But I believe you."

Heightened smell. Eating people. She cleared her throat and tried to sound casual.

"I—I hadn't known werewolves existed."

"Werewolves?" Wyrn scoffed. "Of course. But we ~~ are never to interact with them. Despite looking like dogs, they are incredibly disloyal."

Teeth gritted, Vadde bit back a scream.

Wyrn started moving around again but not for long.

"I'm ready," his voice said.

Vadde froze then turned to stare at the curtain.

Despite Wyrn's words, he did not reveal himself.

It was almost dark when a low sigh came and then he pulled one end of the curtain aside.

Vadde's lips parted at the sight of him.

She could understand him far better now. From the front, he looked like any man, every muscle on him well-defined. One could easily see that he was a laborer. His height matched her own, but his body was slightly slenderer.

The only thing strange were the two straps around each shoulder which held the shield steady.

Her focus prompted him to explain, "It doesn't move while I'm in motion. Magic keeps it on me, but these belts lock the magic."

Vadde wasn't sure if she could—or should—but she stepped to the right and looked behind him.

It was true. He wore a shield. All the ones she'd ever seen were shallow, but this one was deep to accommodate the hump. Perhaps that was what gave him support enough to strengthen his back so that he could carry heavy loads, or even her.

And he was also right about the metal being unmoving. There was no indication it wasn't a part of his skin at this point, it was so close.

Several black words scrawled on the shield made her curious.

"What are these markings?"

He cleared his throat and coughed out an answer. "A spell."

It was the most unsure he'd ever sounded.

Once she faced him again, she wrestled with what to do. His hands ran up her naked body and she hugged him in kind, savoring the warm flesh against her own. The muscles of his chest and arms alone made her feel the safest she'd ever been.

And it came to her.

She'd run. She'd take a donkey and some food and, in the morning, she'd leave.

All she needed was time to make peace with it. He wouldn't chase her—only think that she ran at the sight of him. That was enough, she decided.

It wasn't true and she'd have no way to take it back but that was the best thing for them both. Maybe he could hate her for it. He needed his family. He needed to stay with them. They could care for him if necessary. They'd already given him an amazing gift with this shield alone. A shield that provided him support in a back that otherwise shouldn't have any.