THE KING
~ Arabella's pov ~
The village was piping with people from each side. The shops were earning enough coins to last them for a little while. I was accompanied with Oden who helps me with the children of the school, they were all surrounding us, begging for a cookie I had battered up. Doe eyes stare back into mine and I am in a puddle mess gazing back at them.
How could the king be so cruel to not change the tax pay? These children needed an education and they cannot have one without any teachers.
We stand far off, away from the shops with the children at bay as they wait in line to get a cookie. Oden is holding onto a basket filled with the doughie sweetness, handing out a cookie for each child that he comes across.
A soft unspoken smile arises upon his lips, my mouth waters at the sight of him being so kind to little innocent balls of sunshine. My heart aches, my stomach flutters with the thought of him staying up all night helping me bake the cookies and seeing him up early with the sunrise handing them off.
Kindness is all I've ever known from Oden. I still remember those words he had spoken to me in the tree. He was going back home, of course, he was. This was only temporary for him since he was a traveler. He had a mother back at home, a family to provide for, but he was to be leaving something behind.
It was I.
I felt selfish for reasoning this way, but I could not help these emotions swirling in my mind. I would become a heartbroken lady if we were to... I could not think like this, I shall not. I must tell Oden what my feelings are truly for him so he could not leave without me, and if he must leave this village, then he would know he had a lady that loved him so.
How can anyone be so in love with a person that they'd let them go? It's a dreadful feeling, really.
Though, he had a life somewhere that did not belong where I was, that is if he does not love me.
Why was I expecting him to run away with me across the seven seas and we live happily ever after in a cottage somewhere, far away from here? It was spoken like a true fairytale that does not exist, only in the back of my mind where it is to be left there.
People would think I have grown mad with these sudden thoughts.
My eyes land back on Oden who is in a squatted position, kneeling for a little girl no older than six. Her hair was curled, pulled back with pins and her little hands were covered in lace gloves. She smiles up at him as if he was her night in shining armor, that could whisk her away from any bad men.
He is now speaking to her, but I cannot hear. The interaction is so sweet, it'll melt your soul. The little girl gushes in conversation, then bracing the cookie that Oden gives her. She leans in, kissing him on his cheek before skipping away to her fellow classmates.
Oden watches her from afar, smiling to himself before standing tall. Both of our buckets were empty, but the hearts of the children and ours were full. Our bodies meet in the middle and our gazes collide, Oden looks down at the basket, picking something up in it.
"I saved one just for you," he utters in a breath, handing over the sweet goodness to me.
I could not help but smile. How could you not with the gentleman? Grasping the cookie, I keep my gaze upon his. "These were for the children."
"I know, that is why I baked another so no child could get left out. I saw your face when we were baking, you looked like a kid in a candy shop." His laughter rings in my ears like bells from the church. Everything about him was beautiful. Dangerously beautiful.
I also could not forget that he was a criminal of some sorts. He was hiding from the guards of the palace and that could only mean one thing. He must have made the king angry- something I would have loved to see.
"Shall we head home?" He tilts his head in question. He opens his arm for me to hook mine around and I take it pleasingly.
"We shall," I answer. We head down the rocky path to my home, I pick up my dress a little to keep it from getting dirty and smile at the people who I pass along the way.
Facing Oden beside me, he looks deep in thought. Like something was troubling him.
"Why the long face? Something troubling you?" I question him.
"I have some news to share with you," he starts.
I frown. "Alright." It could not be any good news of sort with the way he was frowning back at my form. My heart thutters against my chest, my ears ring, my chest heaves up and down quickly as I try to catch my breath.
"I have to take my leave soon," he mumbles and we stop at the walkway to my home. My hand leaves his arm, I'm facing him now fully, and a hurtful gaze meets his. "I have been gone for too long."
"What about working for my family?" I make haste with an excuse for him to stay. I was too selfish to see him leave.
"I am afraid my time is due, your family has been a blessing to get me through this." His eyebrows quirk into a confused state and my chest heaves once more.
"You are leaving just like that? When-when..." I try to tell him. Shout to the world that I love him dearly and would fall to the face of the earth for him, but nothing escapes me. I was like a broken record.
"When what?" He repeats in question.
I could not believe he was acting as if we were nothing. Like we did not start something that I wanted to finish until our end of times. He was planning to leave me high and mighty and never return again. I had to process this.
"When will you leave?" I ask of him.
"Soon," is all he answers.
He could not even give me the date. He was planning to leave like a thief in the night. My heart was slowly cracking, running its course into bursting into flames.
My reaction showed him that he had stunned me, fully hurting me by his words. I enter my home with him calling from behind, he follows me, but stops when he finds my back to him and I am facing the living room.
My mother is on the couch, speaking to a gentleman who is sipping on a cup of tea. When I attained her attention, she stands firmly and the man follows behind her and slides off his hat.
My mother smiles. "Arabella."
"Hello, what is going on?" I eye my mother and the gentleman behind her and he comes to stand beside her.
"This is Lord channings, he has come to us with an offer," my mother introduces the mystery man.
Lord Channings approaches me, holding his hand out. "It is a honor to meet you, Lady Houstings."
"You as well..." I speak awkwardly, holding my hand out thinking he would shake my hand but kisses the top of it, meeting my eyes as he does so. Oh.
"Arabella, Lord Channings would love to take you for a stroll or perhaps, a lovely brunch if you must." My mother was thrilled when sharing the news, but all I can hear from that point on is ringing.
This gentleman was interested in I, he was staring at me as if I was some sort of meat, but the only meat I wished for was the one behind me. Oden rounds from behind me, settling next to me, and I can already feel his anger brewing within him.
"I-" Before I can refuse, my mother interrupts.
"Lord Channing, you would wait outside, she will freshen up and will be out there shortly," my mother tells the man who gives her a gentle nod.
He turns to me, smiling. "I do look forward to our evening together."
He is out the door, and it is just my mother, Oden, and I in a loud tension filled room. Oden is quiet, my mother glares at me in a heated gaze and I am staring right back at her with the same force.
"Mother, I am not going with that gentleman..." I trail, walking near her.
She eyes Oden, facing me. She whispers. "Do not do this to me. Do not make me the fool. I have told that gentleman that you will go, so you must go."
"That will be against my will," I remind. "I cannot go with him."
"Why?" She challenges, harshing her looks toward me. She then eyes Oden who is watching us from the doorway. "Is it because of him?"
My whole world rotates, knocking me off my axis. What gave her that speculation? How?
"Excuse me?" I retort.
"Serena spoke with me about the two of you. You have become close with him and it is not a friendly type of way you two share. You are intimate with him, are you not?" I open my mouth to excuse myself, but she holds her hand up, hushing me. "Do not lie to me, Arabella."
Of course, Serena wanted everyone to think she was the perfect daughter with no flaws. She had found out the night of the ball when sending Lady Browning to dance with Oden. I should have known she was only out for trouble.
"No, no!" I deny. I can feel the pressure of Oden's stare behind me. My eyes tear up at the fact that he is still and will be leaving soon and I do not know when.
"Then go with this man," mother states. "Prove to me that you two have nothing and then I will never make you go with another."
"Mother," I plead with tears brewing my eyes.
Serena steps into the room, my eyes lift to hers and I hold her down with a harsh glare. She cowers from my gaze, looking away in shame. She knows what she has done.
"Arabella," she warns.
The door is slammed shut, leaving mother and I alone. My body shakes, wanting to plummet to the ground. Oden is gone, he has left in a moment of anger and I am left in a horrible predicament.
"I will go, but I cannot promise you anything more," I tell her.
With that, she smiles. "He is waiting."
~ Jaxson's pov ~
Stalking into Bridger's cottage, he is reading a letter at a table and looks up to see the culprit running wild in his home. Bridger stands, noticing my anger fuming out of me and I pace throughout the walls.
"Jaxson, if I had known you-"
"Arabella is spending a brunch with a gentleman and it is taking everything in me not to reveal myself to everyone. It is getting more tough day by day, I am needed home and I cannot come to a decision on whether to take Arabella home with me when I take my leave or wait," I exclaim, breathing out in a harsh breath.
Bridger holds his hands out to calm me. "Alright, we will figure this out. Have you spoken to your courtier?"
"I have written letters to him, but he has not yet responded. I cannot help but feel as though something is wrong." A feeling. A strange feeling is what kept burring at my chest and would not leave me alone at night. Ugene always answers to my letters and wishes to meet that the tree, but I never once received a letter. Something was terribly wrong.
"I would surely return home, speak with your mother about your plans on wedding Arabella and return back here to take your wife," Bridger speaks in a well, calm mind.
"What if she falls for that man while I am away?" I panic. "Beheading is not my taste in killing, but I will surely bring it back whoever takes her hand that is not me."
"Remind me to never anger you." Bridger rolls his eyes in a playful matter.
"I will leave tonight." I make up my mind.
"Tonight?!" He exclaims.
I am the king, I shall not be questioned.
"I will arrive back here by the morning to retrieve Arabella," I explain.
"And what if she does not wish to come with you after knowing your true identity?" There is a dainty smirk I wish to knock off Bridger's face, but somehow I cannot help but smirk back.
"I will follow her to the end of time until she becomes my wife, she has my heart and I am nothing without her."
"You are a mad king." Bridger laughs.
"I am madly in love," I correct.
One is for sure, I will have my queen.