Prince of the Courts

Prince of the Courts - Chapter 8

The sun shone down brightly on her pale blond hair as she watched the children at play, their shrieks of delight a balm for her broken heart. They were so precious. They had survived the worst disaster to ever strike at the City of Glass, and still they could laugh and love and play.

One of the little girls ran up to her, breathless, and proudly presented her with a bouquet of dandelions. Meri's smile spread across her face like its own ray of sunshine and she reached out to gather the girl into a hug, pulling her up into her arms protectively. The girl nuzzled into her neck, tangling her fingers in the long pale strands, and Meri tilted her cheek down to press against the girl's head.

A very strange feeling swept over her, strong enough to make her open her eyes to search out the source.

A man was standing at the edge of the canal and was looking up at her with such an expression of yearning that she was taken aback. Unconsciously, she held the girl a bit tighter, and her eyes flicked to the others to make sure they were safe and close. He strode forward up the gentle rise of the embankment straight toward her, shoulder-length black hair blowing back from his strong face. When he was just a few feet away he stopped, silent.

"What do you want, stranger?" Meri asked, no longer frightened. His deep-blue eyes were kind, and now that he was closer, she felt oddly safe. There was no threat in this man.

"I do not have an answer to that question, but I think that I may find it with you, Meridian Chasewell," he answered.

She didn't understand – surely she would have remembered meeting him before. She started to shake her head, to ask how he had known her name, but the little girl in her arms had twisted around and reached out to the man.

He stepped forward and stretched out his arms to take her from Meri, his eyes steady and reassuring as they held hers. The little girl threw her arms around his neck and snuggled into his broad chest, completely trusting of a total stranger.

"Who are you?" Meri asked in a whisper.

A sad smile touched his lips before he answered simply, "Ahren Castledown."

It had seemed like the most natural thing in the world for them to gather up the children and walk back to the orphanage together. Meri was absolutely enchanted by him, dazed when he had pressed a kiss to her hand in parting.

Ahren had visited the orphanage nearly every day after that. He worked tirelessly around the big house, fixing small things and helping the women with the washing and cooking. He laughed with them and they fell under his spell as well, unable to resist his easy charm and sincere kindness. The children fell in love with him at once, and Meri had laughed until her sides hurt to see them throwing themselves at him in the yard, bowling him over until it was a thoroughly unfair 7-on-1 wrestling match.

It was the nights that she lived for, though, when he would return to knock softly on the window of her tiny bedroom after everyone else had gone to sleep. She would lose herself in his touch for hours, breathing in the scent of his body and thinking to herself that this must be what Heaven was like.

That summer had been magical, but Meri's uneasy fear grew as slowly and steadily inside her as the new life that had begun there. The heat from the day hadn't yet faded when Ahren knocked softly on her window and she opened it.

His mouth was soft, but urgent as it sought hers, and it took all of her strength to turn her head. "Ahren, please. There's something I need to tell you."

His deep-blue eyes looked down at her and she took his hand from her waist to press it to her abdomen, smiling, her own eyes telling him her secret in an instant.