The weeks trickle away, busied by the most menial tasks. Having recovered from my ailment, Kade teaches me of the chores that must be undertaken, and I do so with little convincing, deciding it will shows just how deeply grateful I am for his hospitality, and the protection he still offers me. I wash the clothes we share; I dice the meat and vegetables for dinner; I dust and tidy the cabin we both reside in. To begin with, he aids me. However, I find that I much prefer to do it alone, considering Kade seems rather exhausted most of the time following his early morning hunts and regular intervals to skim the treelines, checking for things that seem unusual, in any sense. Like Hegemony officers looking for me, perhaps.
At first, he seemed reluctant to allow me to do the cabin chores alone, but he eventually conceded, seeing that I gain quite the thrill from such trivial errands, especially since he offers me a congratulatory grin each time that I complete something perfectly, one that sets my heart stuttering. Of course, he knows I have never had to do anything like this before, and I'm sure it would not be a far stretch to assume he finds my gleeful reactions rather amusing.
Perhaps the most difficult change to my newly settled lifestyle, was Kade trying to convince me to finally find comfort in stepping beyond the safe timber walls of the cabin, if not for anything more than fresh air. The notion terrified me, knowing that anyone could be lingering within the treeline, but Kade joined me for the first few days, encouraged me to enjoy the last slips of sunshine before it disappeared entirely for the winter season and now, I don't feel at all anxious as I trim the tree branch with our wet clothes.
The day is brisk, but not as cold as it has been, and so I am dressed only in one of Kade's large shirts, taking the opportunity to wash and dry the pants I have worn continuously, and I don't haste in admitting are beginning to smell, despite my regular bathes. Kade is away this morning, hunting again I assume, and I have taken an oath to ensure the daily chores are completed before he returns, simply because I would enjoy to spend some time with him.
To say we have lived with one another for nearly three weeks now, it seems ridiculous to admit that Kade and I haven't spoken much, past the small exchanges over meals and moments when we cross paths. It is something that has begun to bother me, simply because I am intrigued. I desire to know why he saved me that day, despite my less than charming first impression, and why he lives alone in the woods. That stacks a plethora of questions in itself – does he have a family, a wife or partner?
The latter, I doubt, or perhaps he is simply a rather flirtatious character, that enjoys the feeling of success he reaps after watching a woman blush when he has said something in a sultry octave. Still, I am curious to understand why I feel the erratic beat of my heart about my chest when our eyes meet. Or if he falls breathless when our skin touches too, no matter how briefly. Or if he finds himself nervous as I watch him, as I do when I catch him watching me.
That – watching me – is something I have come to notice he does often, usually in the evenings when he has returned to the cabin and the pair of us eat together. It does not make me uncomfortable, however, not like how it did when Hernan rested his eyes upon me, simply for the reason that he does not watch me in a lewd way, but perhaps more curiously. He watches me move, potter about the cabin as I try to tidy, because living in squalor has never been much my style. His eyes stay trained on me as I hum the tunes to songs I don't know, not ever deterring when I make it plainly obvious that I see him. He just grins lazily, bringing forth his dimple, and I can only blush in response.
With the last shirt hung to the branch, I chalk my hands together in a job well done. It is the last thing I had hoped to do today, and so now I am free to my own devices until Kade returns, whenever that might be. Rather than return inside, I decide to enjoy the mild day, and so after a few minutes of fumbling, I manage to drag the rocking chair beyond the threshold, placing it at an angle which Kade has informed would offer me the largest stretch of vision.
Across my bare legs, I drape a blanket, soon curling them beneath me as I shuffle to get comfortable. Once settled, I open the book of Kade's which I have been reading privately – long blade of grass holding the page where I pause upon his returns.
It is not one I have read before, but it washes me with a comfortable sense of familiarity, and I feel tranquil and I allow myself to become engrossed in the words that are scrawled across the pages. The book is in near immaculate condition – a few of the pages are creased and their corners bent, and the spine is slightly battered and therefore not quite as sturdy as I imagine it one was. Still, it remans intact, and the literature remains just as brilliant, which I why I fall ignorant to the breeze that soon picks up, whipping my hair in lassos across my face. Eventually, the wind becomes so brutal that I have no choice but to return inside, and so I place the blade of grass to act as the marker of my page once more.
Just as I stand, book in hand, I catch the sights of Kade who has been lingering, watching me again. "It is rude to stare, you know." I tell him confidently, offering him a pointed glare. The corner of his mouth lifts with a grin, and he steps away from the wall he leans on, repositioning the bow that is strung across his back.
"So is touching what isn't yours." He retorts promptly. I hide the book behind my back despite the fact he has already seen it, clutching it within my numb fingers as a wide smile spreads on my face. The wind whips my hair across my face, so I battle it away with one hand, combing it along my scalp and pinning it in place at the crown of my head, the innocent action lifting the hem of my shirt so that it skims precariously across the still naked lower half of me.
His eyes flicker southwards, but quickly return to meet my gaze respectfully. "It has been a long while since I have been in the presence of a book like this," I tell him, slowly walking towards the open door. "I was curious." I add with a nonchalant lift of one shoulder.
He steps closer, tilting his head slightly as his eyes track the features of my face. "Aren't you always." I hum in amusement, teetering on the threshold of the door. "You should get inside, you'll get cold being out here, dressed like that." His eyes flicker downwards one more in gesture.
"Will you join me?" I ask him. He lifts a brow at my hurried suggestion.
"Inside?"
I nod. "Your company is not the worst, Kade." I drawl playfully, tilting my head as he grins, setting a frenzy of heat swirling in my stomach.
He easily picks up the rocking chair, the blanket trailing in the grass, and nods his head to usher me inside. "Careful, that almost sounds like a compliment." I laugh as we both make our way inside, the brutal wind quickly ceasing, more so when Kade bangs the door shut behind him. He readies himself as I sit, shedding his frame of the bow and quiver full of arrows, along with the belt from which hangs a number of rodents – squirrels and hares.
His shoes next, discarded beside the fire heath, then his jacket which is slung across the foot of the bed which he has allowed me to sleep on each night while he rests on the sofa. I watch him with a slight frown as the tidying I have committed is so quickly undone. "You'll wrinkle, scowling like that." He chides mockingly, sitting beside me, a distance safe enough that it is respectful.
"I have spent most of today cleaning up after you, and you cannot even hang up your coat." He rolls his eyes, preparing to stand to meet my request, but I simply extend a leg, pressing the heel of my foot into the steel of his stomach, pushing him backwards. He could resist me easily if he wished, but he appeases my silent demand, sitting back comfortably, his head rolling the length of his shoulders.
"Your foot is cold." He mentions, running a firm hand from my ankles to my toes, an action which feels oddly intimate, despite its innocent, and I feel a heat bridge across my nose. He doesn't wait for me to reply before he reaches over to the rocking chair beside him and covers my lower half with him, taking extra caution to tuck it beneath my foot that still rests on his lap. I cannot find the desire to remove it. "We should get you some more clothes."
I shrug, turning myself to face him, promptly adding my second foot to resting on his lap as I lay his book across mine. "There is no rush, is there? I am rather warm when the fire is burning." The words tumble from my lips and I find myself blooming a vibrant red as I realise just how suggestive I sound – as though I advocate me prancing around his home in the nude. It is not that, but more than Kade already does so much for me, I would hate to hinder him with an additional task.
His head falls back, a hand pressing above his brows to massage the ache that comes with exhaustion. Guilt eats at me as I watch him. "It'll snow soon, and we can't stay here for the duration of winter." He must expect the question I have prepared to retort with. "We'll head towards my home, stay the winter, then we'll move on." I can't suppress the curl of my lips that comes from the mention of us. A pair.
Such a small stretch of time, but I have found an unusual comfort in Kade, and the idea of separating lines my stomach with an odd sort of feeling I struggle to identify. Therefore, I am sure I will go wherever it is he wishes to take me, as long as he finds my company worthwhile. "And where is that?"
"West," he answers vaguely. "Not far. I lived there for a long while, but I never did well with being stuck to one place." He spares a moment to look at me, the honey of his eyes sweet enough to warm me instantly.
"It sounds as though you have commitment issues." I point out, to which he grins.
"To places, not people." He lets his hands rest atop my feet, toes curling as he languidly rubs a thumb along them over the blanket. "My brother's the same – might be the only thing we have in common. That, and our taste in women." I grimace at the insinuation, tutting as he allows a smirk to crawl across his lips. Perhaps I pout too at the twinge of annoyance that fills me, simply at the knowledge that Kade has no doubt laid with many a women and might quite possibly have one waiting for him at home.
"You don't speak much of your brother." He lets his head tilt to face me, pursing his lips in thought.
He hums thoughtfully before speaking. "We haven't seen each other for a while. Six or seven months, maybe? Kian's always been a flight risk – found a reason to stay in your world, I suppose." I nod in understanding.
The conversation had been brief, between Kade and I, when he confirmed that I had passed beyond the reign of the Hegemony Government into a stretch of wilderness claimed to no one. It should have shocked me, but as Kade spoke, I found that I had almost expected such.
"What is he like?" I ask.
"Younger. Arrogant, in a charming way," he begins.
I laugh at him, pulling a grin to his face. "Much like you, then?" He arcs a brow, smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"You think I'm arrogant?" He inquires.
I shake my head. "I find you charming." I correct and he grins shamelessly at the comment, his eyes hooded as he watches me. I squeal then, shocked at the sudden movement that comes as he grips my ankles, tugging me swiftly so I am closer to him. My shirt rises almost entirely, sparing me embarrassment by covering my breasts, just as the blanket does the same over my womanhood. He bears no notices to my current dilemma, however, laying my legs across his lap as he edges only slightly closer.
"You haven't seen charming yet, Allie." He lets his eyes flicker across my face, briefly pausing over my slightly parted mouth and for a moment, I consider that he might kiss me – something I cannot decide whether I want or not. Strangely, I don't feel anxious or scared, almost as though it is instinctive. Intimacy with Eason seemed entirely farfetched, yet with Kade, I find it comes naturally. I find that I encourage it, that I want to feel the things I have read in the forbidden books before. Perhaps because I am attracted to him – that much I can admit.
It is easy to recognise, I spoke to someone about attraction once; I just cannot remember who.
Maybe because I make no move to consent, Kade doesn't dare cross the boundaries set. Instead, he focuses his attention to my throat, studying the places where the bruises once sat. "All gone." He points out, though I had noticed that a few days previous.
"I know." I mutter, my eyes scanning his face in the same manner his had mine. He slowly rises, and I find myself already missing the closeness as the space between us stretches by his doing. "I'm glad – they reminded me of him."
Kade braces a hand on my knee, squeezing it supportively. "You don't have to worry about him anymore. I promise." He assures. And I believe him.
—•—
His eyes linger on my figure curled into bed; curtain behind me pushed aside to allow the moonlight to bleed across the paper pages of the novel. It is not the best reading light, and I have to strain my eyes to focus, but I am not yet tired, and far too desperate to continue reading.
My body warms from the intensity of his stare, eyes noticeable only as a sliver of light slashes across his face, glowing orbs in the dark. Eventually, I find that it makes my body writhe, and the words that I am reading no longer make any sense. I place down my marker and snap the book shut. "What is it?" I ask haughtily, a low and indignant huff escaping from my nose.
I cannot see him, but I hear the humour in his tone, and so I know he is grinning in that mind muddling way he often does. "Sorry, was I staring again?"
I roll my eyes, place the book on the floor beside the bed. "You know you were. You still are." My eyes flit over to his, twinkling mischievously.
He decides to let the conversation die there and begin his own. "You said you've read other Old World books," I hum to answer, though he already knows it to be the case, "where did you get them from? They're forbidden in the Hegemony."
I shrug, knocking the curtain so the room falls into darkness as I settle down, laying on my side to face Kade, despite the fact I can no longer see him. "I do not know. I just remember having them for a short while. Perhaps one of the maids? I was close to a number of them, apparently." I answer, though his guess is about as good as mine. I remember knowing of the Old World – the books and the music – but I do not know who taught me of it. I hardly remember when I learned of it.
"What sort of things did you read?" Kade asks.
"A mixture," I answer into the darkness. "Romance, mostly." I decide to amend, not mentioning that some particular ones were rather explicit in text.
"My brother likes romance. I never used to." He mumbles.
"Do you now?" I inquire curiously.
There is a pause where the only fractures in the stillness is the sound of Kade's steady breathing and my own. Then he answers softly. "I'm starting to."
—•—
We're on a slippery slope folks.
I have a few pre-written chapters left, and I'm going to start writing and uploading this book regularly soon☺️